june book update

I love summer and I love reading in the summer. Ever since I was a kid, summers meant running around outside, swimming, and reading. However, June was kind of busy and I only got through a few books. I finished The Art of Racing in the Rain and read two others.

The Art of Racing in the Rainby Garth Stein

When I first put this on my list of books to read, I incorrectly assumed this was about running. I was wrong. However, this didn’t make this book any less good. The story is from a dog’s point of view, a first for me. Enzo chronicles his life with his owner, Denny, over the course of love, marriage, birth, death and other ups and downs.

I highly recommend it. Too be honest I wasn’t expecting to like it very much. I’m not interested in car racing and I didn’t know if I would like to read a book from a dog’s perspective. However, it was way better than I expected. I’m telling everyone that reads to read this book. So this is everyone.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

I decided to read another classic but took me a while to pick which one. I finally landed on The Age of Innocence since the length wasn’t too terrible. However, it still took me a while to get through. Mostly because of busy June weekends.

The book centrals around Newland Archer in 1870s New York society. He’s about to embark on a desirable marriage with May, when his fiancé's cousin returns to NYC after leaving her husband in Europe. Newland falls in love with Ellen, but proceeds with marrying May anyway. Over the course of many years, their love never dies, but eventually they both move on with their lives. I would go back and forth and want Archer to suck it up and admit this to May and other times not, so that May isn't hurt. He doesn't end up having an affair, and moves on with his life. But it ends up being a bit sad since Archer and Ellen couldn't be together because of certain society "rules".

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This was another book club book. Obviously there’s one a month. Assuming I can attend the meeting and read the book. I wasn’t sure about this since it’s a young adult book and it sounded like a happy high schooler book based on the descriptions I had gotten. It’s not a happy book. There’s a variety of topics covered like drugs, suicide, and homosexuality. Charlie writes letters to his friend (you never find out who) throughout his freshman year of high school during 1991-1992. A friend of his just committed suicide and he starts high school friendless. But that changes. I recommend this book and you should read it before the movie comes out in September.

20/30 books in 2012.