This post was meant for Tuesday, but I have been pretty busy this week between my job wrapping up, taking a day trip to Lyon (fun!), and watching 3 matches of the World Cup every night, so Top Ten Tuesday has become Top Ten Thursday for me this week :)
Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR List:
Here are the books that I’ve already started and hope to finish this summer :)
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle – I have always been a big Robin Hood fan, I even dressed up as Robin Hood once for a British-themed costume party, and last month we went and saw a Robin Hood musical that’s touring France at the moment (it was really cool!). So since then I’ve been on a bit of a Robin Hood kick and I’m in the process of reading Howard Pyle’s version of my favorite legend :)
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott – I read Little Women last month (review still on the way) and loved it! I knew the story since I grew up watching the 1994 film version, but the book was so much better. So after I finished it I started reading the sequel, Little Men, but I’m still in the beginning chapters. The reason for that is because I started the book below…
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – About a month and a half ago I posted on Twitter about how Les Misérables was a book that had been on my TBR/Classics Club list for a while, but because it intimidated me so much I had been procrastinating on reading it. Well, someone else had been feeling a little similar to me, and so we decided to read it together this month :) I really had been wanting to read it in French, but this book is massive, and I am maybe 2% finished with it right now. We’ll see if I can persevere in le français, or if I’ll have to switch to English.
Books I want to start this summer! (Click on the titles for the Goodreads links)
Heart & Soul by Lee Strauss – Lee Strauss (sometimes Elle Strauss) is one of my favorite contemporary YA authors. I’ve read two of her other series, Clockwise (a YA time traveling series) and Perception (a YA futuristic sci-fi series), and loved them both. So last week when I saw she was giving out ARC copies of her new novel, Heart & Soul, in exchange for reviews, I jumped on board :) I hope to be reading this one within the next couple of days so check back for my thoughts!
If I Stay by Gayle Forman – I recently saw the trailer for this upcoming book-made-film and instantly became intrigued. It looks like a major tear jerker, but I love stories that make me cry (it’s a powerful emotion) so I can’t wait to delve into this one.
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson – I’m in an online book club, and last week we read Morgan Matson’s most recent book Since You’ve Been Gone, and I fell in love with her writing style. That book had me laughing, sighing, and even holding back tears. So now her other novels Second Chance Summer and Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour are now on my TBR list, SCS being a hopeful summer read since, you know, summer is in the title ;)
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord – Another book with the word summer in the title, this book seems similar to Since You’ve Been Gone, and I’ve heard some good things about it, so I’m excited about reading it for myself. I’m thinking a Kindle download to keep me occupied on our 8 hour drive to the west of France next month.
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne – Two French novels on my Summer TBR list! I plan on reading this one next month. For those of you who actually know me, you know that I have a lot of national pride for my two countries. I am glued to the television watching the Olympics and now the World Cup, cheering on the U.S. and France, and for both national holidays I like to celebrate by doing American and French things. Last year for Bastille Day I read Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days to celebrate. This year, my husband and I are going to read Journey to the Center of the Earth (hopefully in French!). We both love Verne’s novels, and the fact that my husband likes to read his books really says something since Matt doesn’t really like to read anything ;)
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen – I put this book on my previous Top Ten Tuesday post about Spring Reads, but I didn’t get a chance to read it. I read Northanger Abbey instead, since that was the only Austen novel I still hadn’t read. I haven’t picked up Sense and Sensibility since high school, though, so I think I’ll be reading it later this month when all the Austen in August events reappear :) In any case, every season is a good season to read Jane Austen.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell – I read this book for my Victorian Lit class in college, but after watching the miniseries a couple of years ago, I’ve been wanting to reread it (and then rewatch the miniseries because it’s so good). Also, knowing me, if I read any Jane Austen novel, I’ll immediately be stuck in a Regency/Victorian reading pit (a pit of lace and ribbons and chivalry, that is), and I’ll be looking for some more classic female masterpieces to read.
What are some books on your Summer To-Be-Read list? Do you have any other suggestions for my list?
macarons & paperbacks 
Great list! North & South is such a wonderful read (one of my favourite books ever!), Sense and Sensitivity too. I don’t know if I’ll ever get around Les Miserables, despite having read chunksters like War and Peace there’s something about that book that’s putting me off. Must be nerves, lol :)
Happy reading! My TTT
Looks like a fun list, Maggie. Where do you get your books in France? Do you rent ebooks from a library in the states?
Hey! Thanks Kelly :) I either download books from the Kindle store or I read ebooks from my library back home. Technology is great, especially since they don’t typically have very many contemporary books over here in English. The classics are easy to find (most of them are free in the digital format).
Thanks Lianne! I’m looking forward to rereading North and South :) Les Miserables really intimidated me because it’s this huge classic, especially over here in France, but now that I’ve started it I’ve found it easy to get into. Hugo is a great storyteller so this book has kept me interested so far.
Thanks for sharing your list with me!
I like Little Men WAY more than Little Women. What do you think of it so far?
I read Les Mis years and years ago. Just bought a copy at the used book store a couple months ago, and am contemplating delving in again. Some time.
I haven’t read Pyle’s Robin Hood since I was a kid, but I remember I loved it!
My summer reading plans are to finish The Lord of the Rings (3 chapters left, I think!), reread “The Old Man and the Sea” for the readalong I’m hosting next month on my blog, finish Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey at last, and then I’m hoping to read either Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell or How the West Was Won by Louis L’Amour. And another “Boy Sherlock Holmes” mystery by Shane Peacock. And maybe Heather Vogel Frederick’s The Mother-Daughter Book Club too — been wanting some YA for a while, and I really enjoyed a later book in that series, Pies and Prejudice
I’m enjoying Little Men so far! I haven’t read enough of it to really compare it to Little Women, but I have heard from several people that they preferred Little Men, so we shall see :)
Some other things that compelled me into finally reading Les Miserables is that everyone over here knows and references it (French classic and everything), and I also want to eventually watch the movie!
My favorite adaptations of Robin Hood are when he is witty and cocky, so I am liking Pyle’s version so far :)
I have been wanting to give LOTR another try. I read it once a few years ago and was a little bored with it. I got through half of Two Towers before stopping, and I haven’t picked it back up. Have you read the series before? I love your summer reading list! Lots of good reads. You’ve got me interested in the last two YA books you mentioned. I have been more into YA this month than usual.
The Two Towers is reeeeeeeeeally hard for me to get through. This is my sixth reading of the trilogy, and TTT is still a struggle. I get to the part where Sam and Frodo are plodding their way toward Mordor and I get very sleepy. It does help if I pay close attention to Sam, the way the character grows and changes and deepens, but even so, it’s a slog.
I’ve read the first two of Peacock’s “Boy Sherlock Holmes” books and really enjoyed them. He’s got a very different take on Holmes’ origins than I’ve encountered before, but one that makes quite good sense too. And the Mother-Daughter Book Club series is a bit more… girly than I usually enjoy, and yet such good, clean fun that reads very swiftly. I’m going to try to find used copies of the whole series so my kids can read them when they’re older.
I go through YA spurts, it seems. Won’t read any for months, and then suddenly I read 3 or 4 of them.
I am the same way with YA novels–I read them in spurts :)
And I’m so happy that I’m not the only one who feels that way about The Two Towers! It’s very sluggish indeed.