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Summer Reads

My summer reads have been so much fun. Instead of buying 86 more books, I decided to revisit some old friends from my bookshelf. Once I finished my journey with Josephine Tey, I started my summer of re-reads with Tolstoy’s War and Peace. From Russia, I moved on to 19th-century Britain and the Brontë Sisters. I may or may not have thrown in a random Elizabeth Gaskell novel, too. I’m currently re-reading Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, which is so good.

Re-reading your favorite book is like returning home to relax with your good friend. Once I finish my current book, I’m going to reread my Jane Austen collection. It will be so fun to go back to an era in which I’d love to live. Truth be told, I want to live in the Jane Austen world with modern medicine. I have no desire to die from communicable diseases that have been largely snuffed out in the Western world.

Here is my summer reading list:

In re-reading the Brontë sisters, I find that I’m really drawn to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It tells the story of a woman who makes a poor choice of husband and has to live with the consequences. More than that, it told the story of what 19th-century British society allowed men to get away with and demanded their women accept. Which Brontë sisters’ book is your favorite?

Ann Brontë was ahead of her time, and this book was controversial at the time. In fact, Charlotte tried to make excuses for Ann’s and Emily’s take in Wildfell Hall and Wuthering Heights, respectively. Emily’s version of romance between Heathcliff and Catherine upset a lot of people. It should be noted that Charlotte’s take on all of their novels was given in the forward of their re-released after both Ann and Emily had died. Lastly, I really enjoyed Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell. It was sweet, well-written, and ahead of its time.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: still training, signed up for a 5k on 9/20!
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: finishing 2.0 this week!
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): I made it into September and haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: went to Vegas, but lots of work to do here.
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins as part of my summer of re-reads.
  • Get out of debt: in progress, but still poor
  • Financial independence: in progress, but still opt

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

I had to look it up, but the furthest I’ve been from home is Trondheim, Norway. At first, I thought it may have been Helsinki, but that’s only 5,200 miles from home. Trondheim, on the other hand, is 5,800 miles from Palm Beach. We drove from Oslo to Trondheim with baggage in tow the day we landed in Norway. It was so cold that I had to wear a scarf under my collar even though it was the middle July.

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Reading My Way Back to Health

In order to keep myself sane and intellectually engaged,  I’ve been reading my way back to health.  Over the past eight months, I’ve been out of my normal routine due to injury and health concerns.  Sadly, I often found myself too exhausted to write.  Fortunately, I was able to draw my reading list off The Greatest Books.  First, of all I like the site because it has a thoughtfully curated list of the best fiction and non-fiction works of all time.  Secondly, I love that you can track what you’ve read and what you want to read.

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I’ve read some amazing works from a myriad of different genres and authors across time.  Since I’ve read some wonderful works of fiction, I’d thought I’d share some of them with you.   Here’s the list of my favorites:

If you’ve never read Wilkie Collins, your missing out.  He’s a one of kind author, who narrates his stories from multiple viewpoints.  His plot development and character development are amazing.   Collins was a contemporary and good friend of Charlies Dickens.  He was also a huge influence to Edgar Allen Poe.  Once you read both these books, I think you’ll find that the great Agatha Christie was influenced by him as well.

When I first picked up Ana Karenina, I was a bit intimidated.  It is a thick book. As I got into it, I loved it.  Tolstoy doesn’t waste a word.   I was happy to find that Tolstoy didn’t incorporate essays with in the books or long tangents like those found in his contemporaries works.  Both Ana Karenina and Resurrection are beautiful stories.  In Anna Karenina, he tells the story of the titular characters life and the consequences of her choices.  It’s a tragic story told beautifully.  In Resurrection, he tells the story of man confronted by the impact his choices had on someone he loved.   In the end, he finds his redemption in a most obvious spot.  Truly, after finishing both novels, I feel compelled to travel to Saint Petersburg and the rest of Tolstoy’s Russia.

After finishing Nabokov’s Lolita,  I needed a literary pick me up and a shower.  That book will leave you feeling dirty…. I turned to Hesse’s Siddharta.. Hesse, of German-Swiss descent, bring a unique east meets west perspective.   This novel follows the spiritual journey of Siddharta.  His quest for enlightenment puts him in places and situations he never could have imagined.  It’s a beautiful book.

I loved Narcissus and Goldmund, which tells the tale of two best friends who are diametrically different, but still love each other.  While Goldmund leaves the monastery in search of the meaning of life.  His mentor and friend Narcissus stays in monastic life.  Throughout their lives they take different paths, but eventually their paths reunite.  It’s a beautiful tale of friendship and life.

It took me awhile to get into Steppenwolf, but eventually I was pulled into the world of Harry Haller.  Like the other two Hesse books, this one explores the duality of human nature.  This time in main character Harry Haller and not two separate characters like in Narcissus and Goldmund.   At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with any of these books by Hesse.

Since I was heading to Scandinavia this fall, I wanted to read something that was Scandinavian.  After much research and a couple of recommendations, I decided to read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. While in Finland, I finally started reading the book and I couldn’t put it down.  I loved that I could imagine where they were in Gamle Stan in Stockholm since I was just there.

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It’s an awful tragedy that we lost Stieg Larsson before these books were publishes.  He turned in the manuscripts for the first three installments in the Millennium Series, but died shortly after.  His books are incredible.  There are few characters in literature as vivid, damaged and bad ass as Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander.

I’ve already read the first four books in the series and cannot wait to read the fifth.  Since Larsson’s premature death prevented him from finishing the Millennium series, David Lagercrantz took up the mantle.  I was worried that Lagercrantz’s take on Larsson’s characters would be unfaithful to the original.  Lagercratnz had huge shoes to fill, but he did it beautifully.  The continuity between the characters and stories between Larsson’s and Lagercrantz’s books is seamless. If you haven’t read this series yet, I highly recommend it.  If you love Daniel Craig, like I do, you’ll love him in the movie version.

These are just a few of the books I’ve read since last summer that really resonated with me.  I’ve included links to Amazon for each of my recommended books.  I’m always looking for good book recommendations.  What’s your favorite book?  What books do you recommend?