Summer nights.. Summer reading!

Gem Weave $48.00
This crafty bracelet; interweaved gold wire round links and color glass beads. Each bracelet varies slightly with various beads. Each link approx. 1.5 inches in diameter.

"Oh, the summer night
Has a smile of light
And she sits on a sapphire throne."
-Barry Cornwall

photo credit

I do not know what it is about summer, but something about the warm breezes at night and a steadiness in the air that makes me feel at peace within myself. Sometimes, I sit outside on my apartment patio and get dizzy thinking that I am sitting in my "dream" house, out on the deck, over looking a mossy and moonlit lake. The breeze is coming from an old weeping willow tree in out and to the left. The frogs sing in perfect harmony and the dragonflies flicker about. I cannot wait to spend my summer nights that way, curled up with a good book. So, for today I thought a list of great summer reads would be in order.

Summer Reading List
(& in no particular order)


THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth SteinA somewhat cute yet extremely heart-wrenching book that carries on with a bit of humor and hope. A story of companionship, love, loyalty and family; it offers a unique look at the wonders of the human life... from a dog's perspective.
Preview the book here.



SHE by Saul Williams
"She divided by he. There's always a division of self and soulmate."
She is a fascinating and unique collection of interconnected poems by this multi-talented star — and marks the beginning of an incredible and totally original artistic career.


Letters From The Earth by Mark Twain
In Letters from the Earth, Twain presents himself as the Father of History — reviewing and interpreting events from the Garden of Eden through the Fall and the Flood, translating the papers of Adam and his descendants through the generations. First published fifty years after his death, this eclectic collection is vintage Twain: sharp, witty, imaginative, complex, and wildly funny.*

THE DOGS OF BABEL by Carolyn Parkhurst
When his wife dies in a fall from a tree in their backyard, linguist Paul Iverson is wild with despair. In the days that follow, Paul becomes certain that Lexy's death was no accident. Strange clues have been left behind: unique, personal messages that only she could have left and that he is determined to decipher. So begins Paul's fantastic and perilous search for the truth, as he abandons his every-day life to embark on a series of experiments designed to teach his dog Lorelei to communicate. Is this the project of a madman? Or does Lorelei really have something to tell him about the last afternoon of a woman he only thought he knew? At the same time, Paul obsessively recalls the early days of his love for Lexy and the ups and downs of life with the brilliant, sometimes unsettling woman who became his wife.

Written with a quiet elegance and a profound knowledge of love’s hidden places, The Dogs of Babel is a novel of astonishing and lasting power—a story of marriage, survival, and devotion that lies too deep for words. *

SUNNYSIDE by Glen David Gold

Sunnyside opens on a winter day in 1916 with the roaring 1920's approaching and so, according to an endnote, “[O]n November 12, 1916, Charlie Chaplin was indeed the subject of mass hysteria in which he was spotted across the country,”. I will also add that this book doesn't necessarily have a plot but does follow Mr. Chaplin through the several mass hysterias that came through times we know of as when when "the Great War" was not the name of a book and when tragedies went from theater to black white film. If the reader reads close enough, there is plenty of history in this book.

Word of the DAY:

deterge • \dih-TURJ\ • verb
to wash off : to cleanse