Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Associate With Summer

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

July 12: Book Covers That Feel Like Summer (Submitted by Ellie @ Curiosity Killed the Bookworm)

For this one I decided to go with books that I associate with summer rather than just covers. For many of them, they were books that I read in the summer and with which I have strong seasonal memory associations.

Sweet Valley series by Francine Pascal- In this case the setting, sunny California, feels very summery. I read these books throughout my childhood (Kids first, then Twins, then High.) I was about ten when I read the Sweet Valley High books and they, along with other things (looking at you, Saved By the Bell) set up some very unrealistic expectations about what high school would be like!

Chain Letter 2 by Christopher Pike – I read this on a camp trip to a baseball game when I was about eleven. I was never much of a sports fan, but I think I actually found a copy of this on the bus on the way to the game. I never read the first one. I read this on the bus ride, through the game, and on the way back. It was dark by then, but I only had a few pages left so I squinted. I remember being scandalized by some of the content!

Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene – Did anyone else live for summer reading at the library? I did, and I remember one summer they were doing some remodeling/reorganizing at the library and these were being kept in what was essentially a large closet. I was really into these books at the time though, so whenever I went to the library I’d have to ask special permission to go to the closet and get these!

Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati – I worked in a library the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college, and I think I may have read more than I worked! This is a standout from that summer. I remember feeling resentful when I had to stop reading to help patrons.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling – I was working at a Barnes and Noble the summer this was released, and it was all hands on deck! I remember it was July 21, 2007 (yes, fifteen years later I remember the exact date) and we had a midnight release party at the store. It was packed with people (probably a fire hazard) and at one point I had to dress up as a witch for some kind of a potions skit. I may have blocked that part out!

The Dive From Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer – One summer when I was in college, I got some kind of insect bite. It was itchy and annoying at first, but no big deal until it got infected. They put me on a medicine for it that didn’t work, so it started to spread. That lead to me being put in the hospital for three days so they could give me meds through an IV. I was reading this at the time, and will always associate it with summer in the ER: lots of waiting and lots of injuries!

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid – My book club picked this as our latest read because we got beachy, summery vibes from the cover. It was a fun book that would make a good beach read, but a bit of a let down for me personally after I loved Daisy Jones and the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I didn’t feel like this quite reached that quality.

Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel – I read this one the summer before I started high school. And by “read” I mean devoured in about two days. It lead to a fascination with anthropology, ancient societies and human evolution ( all of which I still find very interesting.) I read the rest of the series that summer – well all except the last which hadn’t been released yet – and found the quality to vary, but this was definitely the best of them.

The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon – When I was about 12 or 13, my cousins and I went to Florida to spend a some time with our Grandma one summer. I picked this book up in her apartment, and I don’t think I put it back down for the rest of the trip! In retrospect, it was probably pretty rude of me to have my face buried in a book the whole time…

Beautiful by Fran Laniado – I went back and forth about putting this on the list, but I finally decided to do it! Beautiful was released on July 4, 2018. It was supposed to have a book sibling by now, but the best laid plans… But I will always associate the fourth of July with a dream come true for me.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’ve (Probably) Read The Most Books By

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

Today’s topic is:

July 7: Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By

But since Goodreads got rid their Most Read Authors page, I can’t be sure. So I decided to add a “probably”, since this isn’t really scientific.

1. Ann M. Martin- As a kid  I was a Babysitter’s Club addict. I also read her Little Sister spin off series. Since they came out with a new book every month or so (in retrospect I think a ghost writer might have had something to do with it) I’m sure it added up to a lot. Yes, I also watched the film and TV series. I’ve also watched the new netflix series and plan to blog about it soon. At heart, I’m still very much a nine year old girl!

2. Francine Pascal– I also read a lot of  Sweet Valley books in my childhood. There were Sweet Valley Kids, Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High. I was too young for the Sweet Valley University books that emerged at some point. But I’m sure it added up to a lot. And yes, I think a lot of these were from a ghost writer too.

3. Carolyn Keene– Nancy Drew was another favorite series in my childhood. I read the old school series and the newer ones. I’ve since learned that “Carolyn Keene” was the pseudonym that the Stratmeyer Syndicate authors used. Many of the Nancy Drew books were written by Mildred Wirt Benson, but other ghostwriters used the name as well. So I suppose I should say that I’ve read a lot of books by the various authors who used that name.

3.RL Stine– Yet another one from me youth. I read the Goosebumps books when I was little and the Fear Street series when I got a little bit older.

4.Dean Koontz– I had a whole shelf full of his books at one point. I think he was the first “adult” author I read, when I was about 12. I was really interested in scary stuff  and someone recommended them to me. I think I was as enthralled with reading “grown up” stuff as I was with the books themselves. I haven’t read anything by Koontz in years.

5.VC Andrews– These were my 12 year old guilty pleasure. I devoured them! Though VC Andrews herself only wrote the Dollangager series, My Sweet Audrina (the sequel to this one was written by the ghostwriter), and the first books in the Casteel series (Heaven, Dark Angel, Fallen Hearts) before her death. The rest of the books were penned by a ghostwriter hired by her family after she died. Supposedly the ghostwriter had a lot of notes and drafts for other books to work from. I used to imagine exactly when he/she ran out of material is when the quality declined sharply. I’d try to identify where that was. Again, I haven’t looked at most of these in years.

6.Sidney Sheldon– I stayed with my Grandmother one summer when I was about thirteen and she had a lot of these books. I devoured them and then sought out more! I remember very little about them except that everyone was beautiful and had evil secret plans. According to wiki he wrote 18 books but it feels like I read more than that… It’s been many years since I’ve read one of these though.

7. Lisa Gardner- For years Lisa Gardner has been a go to writer for me when I want a fast moving plot that will absorb me while I  read it, but not as too much of me in the way of outside investment. I think she’s got about 25 total. She also writes romance under the name Alicia Scott but I haven’t read any of those yet.

8. Karin Slaughter– I got to this author for the same reasons as the author above. The quality of her work has been pretty consistent over the years. But she does sometimes get a littler darker than I’d like for “mindless reading.” I think I stopped reading her Grant County series at one point when I was upset about a plot development but I picked the series back up and went along with it as it morphed into the Will Trent series) According to wiki she’s written 18 novels, but again it feels like more.

9.LM Montgomery– I’ve loved LM Montgomery since I was a kid, and that love has continued into adulthood. In this case I’ve read most of her novels (she wrote 20: 8 “Anne” books, 3 “Emily” books, 2 “Pat” books and several stand alones) but I also have several volumes  of her short fiction. I still love her work.

10.Sophie Kinsella– I think Sophie Kinsella might also deserve a place on this list. I gave up on the Shopaholic series about  5 books in (around the time when the main characters antics crossed the line from cute to grating, IMO) but I’ve also read most of her stand alone titles and the books that she wrote under her real name (Madeline Wickham) She’s good for a laugh and an escape from reality, which is why I find myself returning to her often over the years.

 

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Sidekick Characters

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday

July 9: Character Freebie (any topic you want that deals with book characters!)

 

1. John Watson from Sherlock Homes by Arthur Conan Doyle- He narrates Homes’ adventures and sort of helps him function. Because while Sherlock Homes is pretty intelligent he doesn’t really thrive in all situations. Watson smooths the way for him at times.

2. Tinkerbell from Peter Pan by JM Barrie – Because every permanently immature boy hero needs a slightly homicidal pixie to hang out with.

3. Nelly Dean in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte -Sidekick and confident for several characters and she narrates the whole book. She’s a frequently overlooked character but an important one.

4. Diana Barry in the Anne books by LM Montgomery- No she’s not as fun or adventurous as Anne, but few people are! She’s a great foil though, and their friendship gives Anne some of her best moments.

5. George and Bess in the Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene – One’s a tomboy, the other is very feminine, but both are willing to question suspects, follow clues and chase villains, simply because that’s what Nancy does.

6. Ron and Hermione in the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling – Arguably these two are more active than Harry.  They’re certainly along for the ride no matter what. They’re true friends and they often call Harry out when he’s wrong. That’s an important service!

7. Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell- Most readers were left wondering what would become of Scarlett without Rhett at the end. I was just as interested in what she’d do without Melanie. Throughout the entire novel Scarlett had seen Melanie as a rival, but Melanie had behaved as a best friend and Scarlett relied on her far more than she realized.

8. Bob from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher- Because every professional wizard needs a snarky skull sidekick.

9. Barbara Havers in the Inspector Lynley novels by Elizabeth George- I’m less enthralled with these after the last couple of books have been disappointments but Barbara makes a lovably fashion challenged cop sidekick. She’s definitely a favorite character who is too often sideline in favor of other, less interesting, characters (IMO).

10. Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien- I’m actually not the world’s biggest Tolkien fan (I know, kind of sacrilegious for a fantasy writer to admit!) but come on, this kind of goes without saying…