Fly - House of Design

image: www.bookpublishing.com

Summer Reading List:

Oh if only I were 12 again and I had a teacher mandating that I finish all of these by mid-August, oh well - I'll just have to keep my own bubble butt in check.

Here's what I was thinking-

The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton

I loved The Age of Innocence, so hopefully her 2nd most well-known novel will be rewarding as well. My dear friend Edith, is very descriptive when it comes to the interior sets that her characters inhabit - a writer with a designer's eye, this will make for a good time even if I abhor the actual story.

Available in used paperback form on Amazon.com for $1.99 plus shipping.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

I've seen the movie (who hasn't?) and I believe I was supposed to read the book in the 11th grade but I had Mr. Culkin that year and he loved me so I got away with not absorbing this classic. I guess I'll try again for the sake of fabulous but slack English teachers everywhere.

Available in used paperback form on Amazon.com for $2.50 plus shipping.

Skeletons at the Feast, Chris Bohialian

Awwww a World War II love story sounds just perfect doesn't it? I simply adore historical fiction, its one of the things that make me truly and incandescently happy, which is my goal in life-a must read!!!

Available in hardcover form on Amazon.com for $11.00 plus shipping.

The Virgin's Lover, Philippa Gregory

This is the author of the book (with a film recently based poorly on it) The Other Boleyn Girl. I actually loved the book and despite Eric Bana's efforts to please me, I thought the movie was wretched. Don't you hate it when that happens??? Anyway, this novel is better synopsised by the author's website so I'll leave it to the experts:

As a new queen, Elizabeth I faces two great dangers. The French threaten to invade Scotland. But more perilous still is her passion for the convicted traitor, Robert Dudley.
Dudley is already married. Amy, his wife, refuses to set her beloved husband free to marry the queen, but she cannot prevent him from becoming the favourite of the plotting, pleasure-seeking court. Yet the queen must marry. Her wisest councillor, William Cecil, knows it must be for policy, not for passion; meanwhile, Elizabeth's uncle hates Dudley and swears he will murder him rather than have him as part of the royal family. Behind the triangle of loves, the factions take up their places: the Protestants, the priests, the assassins, the diplomats and the moneymakers.
Then, someone acts in secret, and for Elizabeth, Dudley and the emerging kingdom, nothing will be as planned.
Blending historical fact with contemporary rumour, Philippa Gregory has created a dark and tense novel of Tudor times which casts Elizabeth I in a light that no-one has suggested before. Passionate, fearful, emotionally needy, this is a queen who will stop at nothing.

I, for one am a fan of any book or movie that explores this particular love story. . .I think that is because I secretly always picture Dudley looking less like this:

and more like this:

image: Jeremy Irons, in Elizabeth I.

or even better, this:

image: Joseph Fiennes, in Elizabeth.

I'm terrified to bite off more than I can chew, since that is what usually happens. I am, of course, already finishing like 5 other books right now - so I'll get through those 1st and then start adding to this list whilst reading away!

Have a fabulous weekend. I'll be stuck, sick with a sore throat in bed with a good book.