What is Your Favorite Book to Read on Vacation, by the Pool, or at the Beach?

Top Choices:
1. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling 
2. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg
3. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams 
5. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

Also Mentioned (in no particular order):

The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian
Cozy mysteries by Any
A-Z by Sue Grafton
Beach Music by Pat Conroy
Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen
Any by Louise Penny
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Any by Susan Wittig Albert
Any by Jodi Picoult
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
You Slay Me by Katie Macalister
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones
Eleanor Olyphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Any by Mary Alice Monroe
Kitchen Wife by Kathryn Grissom
Nancy Drew Mysteries by Carolyn Keene
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Any by Nora Roberts
The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
Worthy Brown's Daughter by Philip Margolin
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
Shibumi by Trevanian

​Thank you for Voting!

We Asked-You Answered! 

Your Top Choices:
1. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
2.  All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
3. The Murder House by James Patterson
4. The Book Of Speculation by Erika Swyler

Almost Mentioned (in no particular order):

"Charley Davidson" series by Darynda Jones
Daemon  by Daniel Suarez
Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb
Johannes Cabal, Necromancer by Johnathan Howard
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick
Earthly Remains by Donna Leon
Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible by Charles Einstein
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
The Gentleman of Moscow by Amor Towles
We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen
Come Sundown by Nora Roberts
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel Brown
First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones
Zoo Keepers Wife by Diane Ackerman
Any by Colin Cotterill
Any by Wallace Stegner
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
Any by Patricia Gibney
The Widow by Fiona Barton
Maisie Dobbs series by Violet Winspear
Charcoal Joe by Walter Mosley
Command and Control by Eric Schlosser
Just Mercy by Jodi Picoult
The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman
The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour
Any by Vince Flynn

The children and teen segment of the book industry has grown by leaps and bounds in the past several years.  The number of young adult titles doubled between 2002 and 2012, with over 10,000 young adult books published in 2012 alone. The juvenile section of our store is taking over more and more space.  A recent survey showed that the majority of young adult books are purchased by adults and most of them are buying for themselves!
 
To my thinking, a major influence on this phenomena was the publication of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling.  The Harry Potter series has become the bestselling book series in history.  The books were well received by critics, hugely popular with young people, and made into blockbuster movies. Many parents like to read some of the same books as their children and then set aside a time for a family discussion. Adults became interested in what had so captivated their children and most loved the series as much as their kids did.
 
Another young adult series popular with both adults and teens is the Suzanne Collins Hunger Games series. The Katness Everdeen character is such a great role model for girls and I loved the movies. Along those same lines is the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, his classic fantasy series, was one of the first series to achieve popularity with both young people and adults.  A series not well received by reviewers, but very popular with teens and adults, is the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.
 
I have noticed an upsurge in local book clubs choosing to read young adult books.  One very popular choice is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  It was chosen by someone in my book club and all the members were impressed. It is a wonderful story of a young girl that takes place in Germany during World War Two. Another popular choice is The Fault Is In Our Stars by John Green.  It is a story of two teenage cancer survivors but really is a celebration of life. All the books mentioned so far were also made into popular movies, which definitely helps propel book sales and makes them more appealing to kids.  Some other juvenile books that could be appropriate for book club choices are:  The Giver by Lois Lowry, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.
​
One other suggestion is to consider reading juvenile books written by your favorite adult writers.  Another fairly recent trend is for well established authors of adult fiction to write the occasional children's book.  As an avid mystery fan I can now read juvenile books written by my favorite writers in the mystery genre:  Harlen Coben, Robert Parker, Ridley Pearson, Carl Hiaasen and David Baldacci have all written books for kids/teens.  James Patterson has also written several series for young readers.  Readers of historical and contemporary fiction such as Phillipa Gregory, Margaret Atwood, Isabel Allende , Alice Hoffman, Jane Smiley and Judy Blume can also check out their favorite author's offerings in the young adult category. 
 
So to answer the question I posed at the beginning of this article, the answer is a resounding YES! Young adult books can make great summer escapism reading for you and it may be a good way to connect with your teenagers.  My daughter has a tradition of reading books with her children and then watching the movies based on the books.  The kids have always enjoyed knowing they were going to get to see a movie after the reading was done! 
This process will help your kids develop an appreciation for literature, it will help you gain insight into how your children think, and it can open the door to some great conversations with your kids or grandchildren.

Connie’s Pics
 
.    The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin
.    The Run of his Life by Jeffrey Toobin
.    The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
.    UnBroken by Laura Hillenbrand
,   Defending Jacob by William Landry
 
I often wonder (and sometimes ask) customers and friends what draws them to choose a particular book cold off a shelf for their next read. Answers are as varied as there are choices and are always interesting to me. My choices are varied as well but usually, when starting from scratch on a new stream of reading the subject leads me from one book to another. My latest choices started with a jury duty notice for me on a murder case. I sat one whole week while a jury was seated. My number was never called but I was fascinated and slightly appalled at the process. So began my next book obsession.
I started with Jeffrey Toobin’s The Nine, Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. It starts with the death of William Renquist in 2005 and paints a troubling picture  of the power they have and how often it comes down to one person making the decisions on how to interpret laws that have been passed. Whenever a new Justice is seated it can shift the direction of the whole court’s rulings overnight. Issues such as abortion, civil rights and church-state relations have been interpreted by the supreme court in different ways,  depending on who those nine judges are, without the original law being changed.
That led me to The Run of His Life, also by Jeffrey Toobin about the O.J. Simpson case. As a journalist he covered the trial for The New Yorker magazine. He was in a unique position to talk to both the Defense Team, Prosecutors, Judge Ito and all the witnesses on both sides. He was in court for the whole trial and was able to observe the jury and report on the unprecedented number of conflicts and removal of jury members during the course of the nine month “ trial of the century”.
Of course my obsession with our system of justice brought me to read other Jeffrey Toobin books: A Vast Conspiracy (about Clinton) and American Heiress (about Patty Hearst). He writes about complex issues but makes them thoroughly understandable and fascinating.
 I must mention here that years ago I was reading a lot of true crime books.   Ann Rule tells riveting tales which start with descriptions about the place, time, and families of both the victims and perpetrators.  She also recaps the trials and the effects of them on the families and the jurors. An interesting side note:  Ann Rule used to work with Ted Bundy.
Next focus… World War II. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. In depth reportage of the 1936 Olympics and the boys who rowed to victory over Hitler’s boys. A close look at how this team of nine unlikely winners came to find success through shear hard work and determination and a look into Hitler’s tyrannical hold on the Germany of that era.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand set in 1943 tells the story of a long distance runner who became an airman who crashed in the Pacific and ended up in a life raft miles out to sea. He survived sharks, enemy air craft, near starvation. A miracle of a story and interesting book.
Switching gears again I picked up William Landay’s book – Defending Jacob a mystery (fiction)  in which the murder of a young boy is blamed on the son of a District Attorney. It contained a lot of information about the jury trial and that intrigued me. It raises some interesting ethical/moral questions which I am still pondering long after I put the book back on the shelf.
I would love to hear from some of you about your favorite reads…. It may start my next stream of reading.

​     As a baby boomer I was raised on westerns. I remember spending many nights in front of our old Sylvania black and white TV watching episodes of “Bonanza”,”Gunsmoke”,”the Rifleman”, and other western shows that were the staple of early television. I had on my cowboy hat and my cap gun and would disappear into the adventures of my favorite western heroes.
                                                                                                                                   Not much has changed, I still watch the repeats on TV of those same heroes. But I also read of their exploits in books. The great thing about books is that all the action takes place in my imagination. I’m riding the range on my favorite noble steed, upholding the virtue of a pioneer woman, and clinging to the code of the west. All of these things are available in the western section of our store.
                                                                                                                                   I first began my literary journey in the writings of Americas preeminent western writer, Louis L’amour.  In his series of novels about the Sackett family (many of which have been adapted for film) I was transported through the history of our nation. From the earliest settlers to the western expansion. Mr. L’amour has written well over 100 novels and short stories.
                                                                                                                                   There are many other western writers available in our western section. Max Brand, William Johnstone, Zane Grey, among others, but there are also authors that have written great western novels that are mostly known for their writings in other genres.
                                                                                                                                   Robert B. Parker, better known for his Spencer and Jesse Stone Mysteries, first wrote of the adventures of Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch in the novel “Appaloosa” (later adapted for film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortesen). He wrote three other Hitch and Cole novels before his passing and the mantel has been passed to Robert Knott. Check them out.
                                                                                                                                   Ron Hansen has also written three novels of western historical fiction. The first was “Desperados”, a telling of the Dalton Gangs failed attempt to rob two banks in Coffeyville, Ks. on the same day. “The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford” was next and made into a film starring Brad Pitt. His newest novel is “The Kid” (I bet you can figure out who it’s about).
                                                                                                                                   Then there’s Mary Doria Russell who has written two outstanding historical novels about two of the greatest western icons ever. “Doc” about the famed southern dentist Doc Holliday during his time before the history making shoot out at the OK corral and “Epitaph” on the life of Wyatt Earp.
                                                                                                                                   So come on in and lose yourself in the history of the old west. Maybe we’ll see each other down the trail.
Curtis

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