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Summer Reading List 2020
Photo credit: Olivia Krajnak
With Spring on its way out the door here in the Northern Hemisphere later this week, it’s time to put my Summer Reading List out there.
As you can see in the photo above, shot by my daughter, I’m already getting started on my list in the new hammock I hung up a few week ago. The pile of books below me looks small, but that’s because I have many more ready to go on my Kindle. Thought I do prefer paper books, I haven’t ordered any lately, and only just recently stopped by a Little Free Library I like to visit.
That said, I’ve been able to get a stack together. Here’s what I’ll be reading:
Crime Fiction:
Coldwater by Tom Pitts (halfway through now)
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Lina White
Hard Cash Valley by Brian Panowich
Fiction:
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang
Seven Ways to Get Rid of Harry by my friend and New Jersey writer Jen Conley
South by Java Head by Alistair Mclean
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Short Stories:
Raise High the Roof Beam by JD Salinger
Self:
All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten by Robert Fulgrum (I read this 30 years ago. Might be time for a re-read)
Books That Movies Are Based On:
The Desperate Hours by Joseph Hayes
The Hustler by Walter Tevis
The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout
The Searchers by Alan LeMay
Photography:
The Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally (I read this when it first came out, and flip through it, but now that I know my camera and flash better, I think it’s time for a re-read.
Magazines:
Smithsonian Magazine
As much as I like to read, this is a challenging list. And I also expect to come across books not yet known that will leapfrog over some of these titles.
But that’s what summer is. A little looser schedule. No rules. Lazy days in the hammock with a cold drink.
A perfect time to take in words.
What’s on your summer reading list? Drop suggestions in the comment below!
I’ll read them in my hammock.
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2020
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Summer Reading List 2019
Shot on the beach in Asbury Park
Time for my yearly Summer Reading List post!
I’m a pretty good reader all year long, so it being summer doesn’t really spur me into any other action more than what I’m already doing.
But, because all the pubs are running the readings lists of various people, I’ll kick in with mine.
I split my reading between paper books and Kindle books. For about two years now, I have to read on my Kindle before I go to sleep. I know all these studies say the blue light is bad for sleep…well, not for me.
I can get home from shooting a concert at 12:30 a.m. download my photos to a USB drive, spoon down an almond milk vanilla yogurt, do a super quick edit of 5-10 images so that the band has them when they wake up, then do a second back up to my DropBox and THEN go up to bed around 2-2:30.
And I STILL have to read for 10 or 15 minutes to completely wind down.
But anyway, the image above shows what my paper copies will be:
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe ~ C.S. Lewis. I’ve never, ever read this but pulled it out of a Little Free Library, so I thought I’ll give it a go. It may go with me to Yellowstone in July as it’s small to keep in my carry on.
The Front ~ Patricia Cornwell. I haven’t read her in about 15 years. It’s small. I’ll try it.
Bleachers ~ John Grisham. I haven’t read him in about 17 years. It’s small. I’ll try it.
Shelter ~ Harlan Coben. Back when my wife and I were dating in 2001, we took a trip to the Dominican Republic. I remember reading a Myron Boliter crime fiction book by Harlan Coben. I loved it, devoured the series. Plus, Harlan is from North Jersey, the books are set in Jersey and I thought this was cool. I finished the series and started to read Harlan’s one-off books, and just didn’t dig them as much. Then I came across this one, and saw it’s a MICKEY Boliter book (Myron’s nephew). So, I’l give it a try.
Invisible Man – Harlan Ellison. Another classic I’ve never read.
East of Eden/The Wayward Bus ~ John Steinbeck (the book without a spine) I’ve been reading, in fits and starts, East of Eden for about a month. It’s really good, but it’s long. This ain’t no novella, it’s an epic. I still have 100 pages to go. So, that’s not really on the Summer Reading List but it’s June and I’m still reading it.
The Midnight Line (A Jack Reacher novel) ~ Lee Child. I’ve never read a Jack Reacher book, but this cover pulled me in so I’ll try it.
A word about this stack: All these books were free. I swing by a few Little Free Libraries around me, drop off a couple of books and maybe pick one or two up. A few of the others were rescued from the recycling plant. I don’t understand why people throw books away – schools, libraries, senior citizen homes are always looking for books. Why throw them out, to recycle or otherwise?
My Kindle Stack (it’s not a definite as I often come across something and just add it in. We have Kindle Unlimited so there are a lot of books to choose from)
Sherlock Holmes and the Vampire Case Files ~ Mark Coggins. Seems like a strange twist on the Holmes cannon but it’s short and Mark and I have been internet friends for about 10 years. He’s a really good photographer too.
This Storm ~ James Ellroy. I have a confession: I’ve tried reading Ellroy quite a few times and while I like the pictures he paints…I just don’t love him like it seems like I should. I have come to love historical fiction set in the 1940s and 1950s, and this one is set right after Pearl Harbor. I don’t know much else about it, don’t wan to know.
The other thing I’m going to read a lot of is the New York Times. I’ve been getting the Sunday Edition these last few weeks and daaaaaammmmnnnn it’s fine. Especially the NY Times Magazine. And the photography. And the profiles.
Oh, and I’ll probably get a book or two about the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, since we’ll be visiting them in late July.
And, of course, there’s always something on the internet to read.
It’s all about finding the time.
So, there’s mine. What’s on YOUR summer reading list? Drop me some titles in the comments!
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2019
Summer Reading List 2018
Happy First Day of Summer!
Time to put together my summer reading list…officially anyway. Here’s what I’ll be reading this summer:
In hard copy:
- But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz by Geoff Dyer
- Noir by Christopher Moore
- Under Magnolia by Frances Mayes
- Bone Games: Extreme sports, shamanism, zen and the search for transcendence by Rob Schulthesis
- Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Five Red Herrings by Dorthy L. Sayers
- Cylops by Albert Watson (photography book)
- A collection of science fiction short stories. (Won’t read them all but the book was given to me, so I’ll check a few out.)
On my Kindle:
- Night Freight Murders by Robert Flemming
- The Black List by Eric Beetner and Frank Zafiro
- The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles
- The Pulp Crime Megapack – Various
In general:
- Esquire magazine
- Smithsonian magazine
- Financial Times
This is the first summer we have an actual pool in the yard. I hope to do a lot of reading poolside!
So…what’s on your reading list this summer? My list is ever evolving, happy to entertain new titles!
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2018
Eye Candy: Summer Reading List – The Finale
So, this is how my Summer Reading List ends.
The Rest:
- The Beast Time Forgot – Jim Harrison
- Cannibals: Stories From The Edge Of The Pine Barrens – Jen Conley
- Man From B.A.R. (short story) – Richard Ford
- Golden Land (short story) – William Faulkner
- They Only Hang You Once (short story) – Dashielle Hammett
- A Man Called Spade (short story) – Dashielle Hammett
- Westward Ho – Jim Harrison
- The Bear – William Faulkner
- Off To The Side (A Memoir) – Jim Harrison
- Alvin’s Secret Code – Clifford Hicks
- Cimarron Rose – James Lee Burke
- Something on the American Civil War (vacation house read)
I read what I wanted to, didn’t get to some (yet), stopped reading a couple that I started and just couldn’t get into.
I realize, too, I really like the novella. Very underrated.
And it was fun to read Alvin’s Secret Code, one of my favorite books as a kid around 4th Grade. I bought it for Olivia to read on vacation. I don’t think she digs it unfortunately. I highly recommend it for if you know a kid in that age bracket. It’s a little dated, what with all the gizmos out there now, but still fun. Also fun to re-read this Hardy Boys book now.
These three are a still in progress. In a couple days, summer ends, and so does this reading list. Already compiling for the fall, of which I have a few in the hopper.
How about you – what did you read this summer that you liked? Put it in the list below.
(Speaking of reading, THIS contest is still going on. Get in on it.)
(c)Mark Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | 2016
