Summer Reads

Can't decide what to read during the hot sweltering months that make up Texas' summer? Well kick back, relax, stay in the comfort of you airconditioning and check these out (pun intended)!

Fiction

1) Hot Off the Press!

a) The Vaults, Toby Ball

b) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson

c) The Help, Kathryn Stockett

d) Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, David Sedaris

2) Oldies but Goodies

a) Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

b) Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach, 1970

c) The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

d) Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

3) Spacey/Fantasy

a) Dresden Files (Series), Jim Butcher

b) World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (series), Max Brooks

c) A Game of Thrones (Series), George R.R. Martin

Non-Fiction

1) Encyclopedias

a) Print

i) Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns: Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels, Pulps, Comics, Films, Television, and Games

ii) Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz and William Woys Weaver, 2002

iii) Weird Creatures Encyclopedia

iv) Encyclopedia of the Blues, New York: Routledge, 2006

b) Online

i) Emily Post’s Online Etiquette Encyclopedia: http://www.emilypost.com/etipedia

2) Interesting Reads

a) A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage, 2006

b) Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Tahir Shah

3) Go Somewhere!

a) Lonely Planet (Useful if you are going for cheap travel)

i) China, India, and Asia are good ones

b) Let’s Go

i) I like Let’s Go Mexico

c) Rough Guide (Good if you are interested more in a place’s cultural aspects)

4) Try Something New!

a) Teach Yourself Visually Crochet (Also comes in a Knitting version), Cecily Keim

b) How to Rock Climb!, 5^th, John Long, 2010

c) Poi Spinning, Michal Kahn, 2002

d) Hoop-La: The Ultimate Book of Hoop Tricks, 2002

e) Stand Up Paddling: Flatwater to Surf and Rivers, Rob Casey, 2011

5) App Guides

a) Print

i) Best iPhone Apps, J.D. Biersdorfer, 2010

b) Online

i) Iphone:

(1) http://www.pcworld.com/appguide/index.html?platform=1

(2) http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2044480,00.html

(3) http://bestapps.com/

ii) Andriod:

iii) http://www.pcworld.com/appguide/index.html?platform=2

iv) http://bestapps.com/

6) Relax!

a) Print

i) 1,001 Ways to Relax: An Illustrated Guide to Reducing Stress, Mike George

ii) Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times, Judith Lasater

b) Online

i) Zenguide.com

7) Read for Free Online!

a) http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu

b) http://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu

8) Quirky

a) Darwin Awards, Wendy Northcutt

b) 5 People who died during Sex: and 100 Other Terribly Tasteless Lists, Karl Shaw

c) Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach