Summer Reading (Keeping Me Honest)

So, in an attempt to ensure that I do some quality reading this summer instead of just junk, I am keeping a running list of the books I consume...starting about a week and a half ago, when part of me gave up on reading for my thesis and started lusting after regular books. This list will updated regularly and a link will be available on my sidebar all summer.

1- Names My Sisters Call Me
by: Megan Crane
Classification: Chick Lit
Starting off with chick lit is not the best of signs, but I love Megan Crane (author of grad school centered book, "English as a Second Language"), so I'm not sure I feel the need to excuse her. Also, the MC has my name, which NEVER HAPPENS, and she is trying to get over the ex-love of her life who has a name that may be very familiar to some of my readers as well...
2- The Midnighters, Book 1
by: Scott Westerfeld
Classification: YA
Read at the youngest sister's recommendation. Not as good as the Uglies series, but I'm still planning on reading the whole set.
3- Duke of Shadows
by: Meredith Duran
Classification: Romance
Okay, I may be straying out of acceptable literature here, as the cover of this books does show a man's naked chest. I picked this one up because these gals gave it a decent review and because someone, somewhere related it to this book (also possessing a naked man cover), which I loved. Also, I suppose, one of the first romance novels I ever read was about the Indian revolt (Victoria Holt's The Indian Fan , which I discovered in Reader's Digest Condensed form) and who doesn't love a romance about the Victorians? And maybe that's enough justification for the one romance novel on my list thus far.
4- Anybody out there?
by: Marian Keyes
Classification: Chick Lit
Love Marian Keyes. This is not my favorite book of hers about the Walsh sisters, but it was a quick read and rather moving at parts.
5- Gingerbread
by: Rachel Cohn
Classification: YA
Rachel Cohn is the co-author of one of the best books I read in the past year, Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. I'd been meaning to read Gingerbread for awhile, and I found a $2 copy at a local used bookstore. Huzzah! It was pretty darn enjoyable- Cohn creates eccentric and compelling characters- and I'm looking forward to reading the two sequels this summer.
6- Jinx
by: Meg Cabot
Classification: YA
Maybe this will be my summer of YA reading instead of quality reading. I am attempting to become a high school English teacher AND write a YA novel this summer so, professionally, the choices make sense. I've been looking forward to getting my hands on Jinx for awhile and I found it at the local library and snagged a copy. Not Cabot's best YA book (in my opinion, that would be Avalon High), and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't a Cabot YA fan, but it was a quick, decent read.
7- Everything Else in the World (Currently Reading)
by: Stephen Dunn
Classification: Contemporary Poetry
I'm hoping that reading a bit of contemporary poetry will inspire me to get back into the writing of it myself. I've been a fan of Dunn ever since I read "Poe in Margate" in his Local Visitations my sophmore year. I fell a little in love with the first two poems in this book and though none of the others have packed the same punch, I've enjoyed reading most of them. I like poetry occasionally, as a change of pace, and I prefer poems that deal not so much with The Human Experience as my human experience.
8- Shrimp
by: Rachel Cohn
Classification: YA
Sequel to Gingerbread (see number 5)and just as good. Can't wait to get my hands on the third and final book in the series.
9- Women: A Novel (ABANDONED)
by: Charles Bukowski
Classification: Literature with a capital L
Fifty pages into this book I'm still not seeing what all the hype is about, but I'm going to keep persevering...One hundred and some pages and I have left it in Maryland so I can read more entertaining things while in NYC. Hopefully will finish on my return. I like Bukowski's prose...just not his story. Update: Returned to the library, unfinished. Good prose could not win out over story.
10- Tantalize
by: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Classification: YA
A YA novel of the "OMG, Everyone around me is being turned into a vampire!" variety. Enjoyable but not fantastic. Read it on the bus on the way to NYC.
11- Sense and Sensibility (Currently Reading)
by: Jane Austen
Classification: Classic
To my great shame, I fell in love with this story through the movie, so now I'm giving the book a try.
12- Blood Brothers
by: Nora Roberts
Classification: Romance
First in Nora Roberts new trilogy. I wasn't crazy about it. The entire thing just seems very familiar. Stale. Read it anyway, because it's Nora Roberts, but I hope I'm not outgrowing her. Still, didn't stop me from reading...
13- The Hollow
by: Nora Roberts
Classification: Romance
Better than the first book. Still, not that exciting, which it should be, considering all the demonic possessions and blood curses and what not. I'm sure I'll read the third book when it comes out, but I'm in no hurry, and I'm not keeping the series around for a re-read.
14- The Midnighters, Book 2: Touching Darkness
by: Scott Westerfeld
Classification: YA
Now that I'm familiar with the premise, I didn't find this book as exciting as I found the first one. But I like Westerfeld and his ideas a lot. Also, didn't feel like reading this book next, but I had to so my little sister could return it to her friend. Will definitely read the third in the series.
15- Pop Princess
by: Rachel Cohn
Classification: YA
I continue to pretty much adore Rachel Cohn (she is, thus far, the author of one fifth of the books on this list- a statistic that will soon change, no doubt). I love her character names, too: the protagonist in this book is Wonder Blake, and her other series has Cyd Charisse and Shrimp. How can you not like an author who thinks, "Convention be damned, these are my special characters, and I will name them whatever special thing I want?"
16- The Host
by: Stephenie Meyer
Classification: They're calling it fiction for adults, but it deserves the same label as the Twilight books, so YA.
I really enjoyed this book- like the Twilight series, it was a quick read, with engaging characters. It does worry me slightly that Meyer seems to find a legitimate way within the plot to get her female characters severely beaten, often by the men they love, and that achieving love often requires great change/sacrifice on the part of the female character only. Feminist issues aside, Meyer just knows how to tell a good story, and this book also fixes one of the major problems I have with the series thus far (can't go into more detail, as it would be a major spoiler). If you want to give her a try without slogging through all the teen-angst vampire drama of her more famous series, I definitely recommend this book.
17- A Crazy Little Thing Called Death
by: Nancy Martin
Classification: Mystery
I had every intention of picking up something hefty- something brimming with literary merit- after The Host. I read the first few pages of Shriver's critically-acclaimed The Post-Birthday World. I thumbed through the critical darling Johnny One-Eye, a book I had reserved at the local library- a book I went on a waiting list for. Instead, I chose Martin's fun and frivolous series about the Blackbird sisters, centering on Nora Blackbird, a fallen Philadelphia socialite who is forced to make a living as a society columnist, while solving murders and dating mobsters on the side.
18- Daring to Dream
by: Nora Roberts
Classification: Romance
A friend and I were recently discussing our favorite Roberts' books (in light of the Blood Brothers trilogy and other disappointments) and she listed the Dream series, which I could not remember reading. So I picked up the first one at the library, started to enjoy it, and a couple of chapters into it, realized that while I didn't know the story, I knew small details about the characters' lives; at some point, I had read this book. Still, I didn't remember, and I did a re-read, so it counts.

Reflection 1: Keeping a list of my reading sins is supposed to encourage me to read works of greater literary merit this summer. Obviously, this plan is not working thus far, as looking back ath the list, it contains mostly romance, chick lit, and YA novels. Here's the thing: I don't feel at any way ashamed of my reading preferences. I just want to make sure I read something of quality this summer.

19-And Only to Deceive
by: Tasha Alexander

20-A Room with a View
by: EM Forster

21-Queen of Babble in the Big City
by: Meg Cabot

22-Queen of Babble Gets Hitched
by: Meg Cabot

23-From Dead to Worse
by: Charlaine Harris

24-Death on the Nile
by: Agatha Christie

25-Midnight Brunch
by: Marta Acosta

26-Where Angels Fear to Tread
by: EM Forster

27-Wicked Lovely
by: Melissa Marr

28-Again the Magic
by: Lisa Kleypas

29- Water for Elephants (Currently Reading)
by: Sara Gruen

Summaries to follow