We asked our top 20 readers from the Summer Reading Challenge about what they read and how they read it. Here are some of their responses.
What was the best thing you read this summer?
“Probably Arundhati’s The God of Small Things, a very poignant novel about a set of Indian twins’ childhood trauma and attempts to recover and process their experiences.”—Lydia Craig
“Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.”—Margareth Schubert
“Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. It was rough because the subject matter was disturbing – a young man is paralyzed in an accident and wants to go to Switzerland to an assisted suicide clinic. But the book talks a lot about making the most of what you have and not wasting opportunity. I also really liked All The Light We Cannot See. I could feel, smell and see along with the characters, which to me is a good sign of a good book.” –Michelle Lia
Where do you usually read? Do you have a favorite place?
“I usually read wherever, whenever I can. I’m always reading. My favorite kind of day is sitting on my chair in the living room or sitting on our balcony, reading all day. It’s so relaxing.” –Donna Olsen
“I read everywhere – on the train, in my house, in waiting rooms. My ideal place would be on the seashore (with some shade) or high atop a mountain, but this is Chicago.” —Lydia Craig
What are some of your favorite books/magazines/articles/blogs?
“I’m a huge fantasy fan, so Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles and George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire and Stephen King’s Dark Tower Series.” –Brian Anderson
The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky is probably my favorite book, closely followed by Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. I’m a lifelong fan of NatGeo, American History, and UK magazine History Today. I recently read Judith Butler’s 2012 article “What Shall We Do Without Exile? Said and Darwish Address the Future” which I liked very much. Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog” still amuses me, though I wish there were more regular posts.”—Lydia Craig
Anything else you are looking forward to reading?
“The new Louis de Berniere book: The Dust that Falls from Dreams – one of my favorite writers (Birds without Wings, Corelli’s Mandolin, The Partisan’s Daughter) and The Hummingbird’s Daughter, Luis Alberto Urrea.”—Janet Campbell
“Hoping that The Girl on the Train and Fish in a Tree are as good as people are saying they are.”—Michellle Lia
How did you pick what you read this summer (recommendations, online reviews, word of mouth, etc.)?
“When I go to bookstores, I write down books that sound interesting or have cool book covers. So I have a massive list in my google-drive, so I went to that list and picked what was interesting. I was also in a class this summer on the Theology of Christian Morality, so some of my reading came from my course syllabus.” –Brian Anderson
“I attended a conference for teachers called All Write in Indiana, and Donalyn Miller and Franki Sibberson were there sharing their favorite books of 2015 so far. Donalyn Miller is known as The Book Whisperer, after her professional teaching book of that name a few years ago. I added many of those titles to my wish list on the Chicago Public Library site so I can read them as they become available. I also follow @NerdyBookClub on twitter which is written by teachers. I look at the bestseller lists in the newspaper. I also look at the Chicago Public Library and Amazon lists of most popular books. I follow City Lit Books and the Book Cellar, independent book stores in Chicago, on Twitter and Facebook, too, to see what they are recpmmeding. “—Michelle Lia
Did you use the bingo sheet?
Janet Campbell finished all of the squares except books for six! Her uncompleted squares were a book young adults, a book in a trilogy, a book set in the future, one with a color in title, a pre-1900 publication, and a book that has been made into a tv show.
“To make bingo, I completed the row with one word title, an author new to me, free space, book published in 2015, and trilogy. In total, I completed about 15 random squares, but the others did not line up to form a bingo.”—Margareth Schubert
Did participating in the Summer Book League change your reading habits (For example, did you read more? Talk about what you read with others more? Check more books out of the LUC libraries?)
“Participating definitely got me back into reading for pleasure instead of just for research.” –Brian Anderson
“I checked out actual books from the library and not just e-books”—Jenna Roberston
“I did check out books from LUC; read poetry that I haven’t done in a very long time, and reminded me to keep poetry current in my repertoire”—Janet Campbell
“Ordinarily I get most of my books out of LUC’s excellent library, so my borrowing habits remained the same. However, I noticed what I read more in terms of quantity, and maybe read three or four more books than I ordinarily would have done in the spirit of friendly competition!”—Lydia Craig
Thanks to everyone who participated!
