My Summer, 2017, Reading List

What those who regularly read here already know, Summer is my favorite season of the year. Not only is it a time to wander outdoors bare, unburdened by clothes, but as an professional educator, it’s the time of year with no lessons to prepare or lectures to give. Much of my free time, spent outside, is in the company of a book. Reading mostly for pleasure and not research. Being bare at will and with books in the heat and humidity are the major reasons why I enjoy summers.

“It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own.”  ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes

During the late Spring and throughout the Summer, I mainly read fiction because it is fun, interesting and doesn’t require note-taking. I read non-fiction, mainly biographies and historical works, because the topics appeal to me.

Towards the end of summer, I have to devote most of my reading to the subjects that I’ll be teaching during the upcoming academic year. That’s why I try to keep the majority of my pleasure reading fairly light and mindless – an escape from the analytical reading that I must do throughout the academic year.

Eyes Wide Open                    Andrew Gross

The Camel Club                     David Balducci

Counterplay                           Robert K. Tannenbaum

The Bone Tree                        Greg Iles

Everything To Lose                Andrew Gross

The Rainmaker                       John Grisham

The Known World                  Edward P. Jones

The Last Witness                    W.E.B. Griffen

The Polaris Protocol               Brad Taylor

No Fortunate Son                     Brad Taylor

The Nomination                       William G. Tapply

Infamy                                       Robert K. Tannenbaum

Days of Rage                             Brad Taylor

The Whistler                             John Grisham

Night Life                                  David C. Taylor

The Confession                         John Grisham

Turning Angel                           Greg Iles

Dead Or Alive                            Tom Clancy and Grant Blackwood

The Summons                           John Grisham

Alex Cross Trial                        James Patterson and Richard Diallo

Cross                                          James Patterson

Cross Fire                                  James Patterson

One Mile Under                        Andrew Gross

Zoo                                             James Patterson

NYPD Red                                  James Patterson and Marshall Karp

Unlucky 13                                James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

The Forgotten Soldier             Brad Taylor

Third Degree                             Greg Iles

The Victim                                  W.E.B. Griffin

3rd Degree                                  James Patterson and Andrew Gross 

4th of July                                   James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

5th Horseman                            James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

6th Target                                  James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

7th Heaven                                James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

And This Too Shall Pass          E. Lynn Harris       (third reading)***see continuation below

The Second Life of Nick Mason      Steve Hamilton

Along Came A Spider                James Patterson

Act of War                                  Brad Taylor

My Summer, 2017 reading also included the following non-fiction titles. These were all not work related in any way. Two are historical, George, Nicholas and Wilhelm about the three emperors (Great Britain, Russia and Germany) and the period leading up to the First World War. Sisi: Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary is about the life and unusual marital arrangement of the wife of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary. Born A Crime is a humorous and lively account of the South-African born comedian, Trevor Noah, and an honest perspective on growing up colored (mixed-race) in apartheid South Africa. Writings On The Wall is another interesting and well-researched assessment of the current state of dysfunction in the USA. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in addition to his achievements in the National Basketball Association (NBA), is gifted with an analytical mind and the ability to convey both message and concepts to readers.

Born A Crime                             Trevor Noah

George, Nicholas and Wilhelm      Miranda Carter

Sisi: Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary     Allison Pataki

Writings On The Wall                Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

My bare practitioner (naturist/nudist) and same gender loving (gay) close friend, Jay, and I are re-reading all of E. Lynn Harris’ novels together. Our appreciation of Harris as an author was one of the main reasons that we became friends. This past August, we read (again) his third novel, And This Too Shall Pass. Jay has volunteered to co-author a post with me about E. Lynn Harris in the future. Harris’ unexpected and untimely death in the summer of 2009 has left the world of gay literature bereft of one of its talented and gifted writers.

Naked hugs!

Roger/ReNude Pride