Summer Reading Challenge 2014

 Summer is here! I never check the calendar to see if I'm right. As long as I can roast marshmallows, wear a t-shirt, and sit outside after dark without getting hypothermia, then spring is over.

Why do I like this particular season? Well...it's my busiest season, as well as the most fun (think dancing, friends, travelling, adventures, dancing, warmth, sunshine, opportunities to wear cool costumes...did I mention dancing?) Every year, I put together a list of things I want to do between the end of spring and the first day of fall, and summer isn't over until all are done or I can't feel my toes while wearing flip-flops anymore.

Among the usual items on my list, I have a few new entries, which I will be writing about on this blog.

• ·         Camp counseling in California (things I've learned from being a counselor)
• ·         Vacationing in California
• ·         Going to my first concert (Daughtry!)
• ·         reading every book on my shelf that I haven't read yet

This particular post is about the last goal on that list. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm horrible about buying cheap books at used bookstores and then forgetting to read them for different reasons ( most often because I find another cheap book, ha ha).  The other day I actually counted them, and there are over twelve novels in my possession which I've never even opened. Well, that's going to change this year. Longer days equal more time to read I hope, which equals some bookshelf exploration on my part.

So, this is my personal Summer 2014 Reading Challenge. I will list all the books I own that I haven't yet read, along with a brief description taken from the back cover. Then, between now and September 30th, I will try to read every single one and review them on this blog. No more library visits for me until I can pick up any book on my shelf and tell you all about it.

The Black Arrow, by Robert Louis Stevenson:  England is in the throes of the War of the Roses. As the houses of Lancaster and York vie for the crown,  young Richard Shelton eagerly serves under his guardian, Sir Daniel Brackley, whose lessons he hopes will make him worthy of becoming a knight. But Sir Daniel and his allies have been targeted by the outlaws known as the fellowship of the Black Arrow. This band of archers has a different lesson to teach Richard about loyalty, honor, revenge, and the ambiguities between good and evil. Originally serialized in a periodical of boys' adventure fiction, The Black Arrow furthered the genre of the historical novel through its swashbuckling action and its portrayal of a young man's journey to discover the heroism within himself.

Silas Marner, by George Eliot: Silas Marner, the heartwarming novel of a miser and a little child, is one of the great all-time classics, a tale so rich in human understanding that it will capture hearts and minds as long as books are read. Filled with the qualities that made George Eliot world famous as a writer, it is a narrative at once bold, compassionate, and dramatically powerful.

The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The restless, questing intellect of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spurred him far beyond the ingenious puzzles he constructed for Sherlock Holmes. In The Lost World, Doyle, a devotee of the occult and fantastic tales of adventure and discovery, introduces his readers to Professor Challenger, an eccentric paleontologist, on his suspense-filled search for prehistoric creatures in the wilds of the Amazon. Professor Challenger's doughty troupe includes a skeptical sportsman, Lord John Roxton, and the narrator, the intrepid reporter Edward Malone. When their bridge to civilization collapses, the explorers find themselves marooned among the dinosaurs and savage ape-people.

Ben-Hur, by Lew Wallace: No description available.

Rainbow Valley, by L.M. Montgomery: Anne's wonderful, lively children found a special place all their own. Rainbow Valley was the perfect spot to play, to dream and to make the most unusual friends, like the Merediths. They were two girls and a boy who had no mother. What they did have was a minister father who was looking for a wife but so far had found nothing but heartbreak. Between the minister courting a young spinster and the escapades of the restless children, the town was bubbling with scandal. But in the end, the warmth and laughter of Anne of Green Gables taught all an unforgettable lesson of love.

Hans Christian Anderson Classic Fairy Tales: No description. I actually have read several stories from this book, and I've read them all at one point or another in my life. But I want to read this book in its entirety.

Austenland, by Shannon Hale: Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man — perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaption of Pride and Prejudice. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths to her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

The Prince and the Pauper, by Samuel L. Clemens: Slum urchin Tom Canty and Edward Tutor, heir to the English throne, looked enough alike to amaze themselves, and when they met at the Palace, it was fun — just briefly — to exchange clothes. But then Fate stepped in and...  (I think pretty much everyone knows what the rest of the story is about)

Shadows on the Rock, by Willa Cather: In 1697, Quebec is an island of French civilization perched on a bare gray rock amid a wilderness of trackless forests. For many of its settlers, Quebec is a place of exile, so remote that an entire winter passes without a word from home. But to twelve-year-old Cecile Auclair, the rock is home, where even the formidable Governor Frontenac entertains children in his palace and beavers lie beside lambs in a Christmas crèche. As Cather follows this devout and resourceful child over the course of a year, she re-creates the continent as it must have appeared to its first European inhabitants. And she gives us a spellbinding work of historical fiction in which great events occur first as rumors and then as legends — and in which even the most intimate domestic scenes are suffused with a sense of wonder.

The Mutual Friend, by Frederick Busch: No description available. All I know is that it's got something to do with Charles Dickens.

Cold River Rising, by Enes Smith: While on a spring break from college, Native American Tara Eagle was kidnapped in a foreign land. She and her friends struggle for survival, first against terrorists, and then against the army. Her relatives become frustrated, and then angry at the slow response from the United States Government. There are over five hundred Indian tribes recognized by Congress. In modern times a group of Indians used their sovereignty for something other than a casino. The Cold River Indian Nation of Oregon declared war on a foreign country. They were joined by others.

Julius Ceaser, Troilus and Cressida, and Twelfth Night, by Shakespeare: No description available (or necessary, ha ha). These are the old English versions. Thank goodness they come with footnotes on every page!

Fourteen books — four months, give or take a week.

I've got a pretty interesting mixture of light and heavy reading and every kind of reading in between. If you see something you're interested in here, then keep an eye out for reviews.  Right now I'm starting Austenland.

Anyway, that is my Summer 2014 Reading Challenge. What will you be up to during this wonderful season of sunshine and warm weather?