Not really "Literary" as most of the world would call it, but something I know many Buffistas and the Smart Bitches Trashy Books enjoy...Suzanne Brockmann has a new book Troubleshooters book coming out this summer (her Navy SEALS books that are now not all SEALS). One thing I love is that she writes about gays, alcoholics, interracial romances, and in this one apparently a character who is deaf (due to injury, but still). I love that for an author who started writing about buff military men, she doesn't just write about straight perfect white people.

I'm going to have to go through my romances when I get home tonight--I have an old Silhouette Special Edition in which the hero is a double amputee (both legs near the knee) which I thought was a Brockmann, but according to her backlist, I guess not. It's a really good book, too.

Damn, it's going to drive me nuts until I can find out who wrote it!

Kathy, if you can't find it on your shelves, I bet you could track it down with a Help a Bitch Out request on the Smart Bitches blog.

I know I have it somewhere in my romance bookshelf (I have all of my romances crammed into a 1-yard-square bookshelf in my bedroom--double-stacked two deep and with more books on top, and that was after I weeded out about 3/4ths of my romances before I moved two years ago).

I can see the cover in my head, and I'm pretty sure I have more books by the same author, but I'm damned if I remember who that is. Oh, well, I'll find out when I get home tonight.

I have a heckuva reading list for the summer. I just found out that I'm definitely teaching a 12th grade non-AP class, and I'm inheriting a summer reading list from the teacher who was supposed to have the class originally. The students can choose two books from a list of about ten. I've read only a few of those ten, and I should probably re-read them as well since they aren't fresh in my mind.

Here's my list, in case anyone would like to chat with me about any of these books as I read or re-read them this summer:

They all have to read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers.

Then they have to choose at least ONE other non-fiction OR fiction selection from this list:

FICTION:
Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy O’Toole
Neuromancer – William Gibson
Beloved - Toni Morrison
The Passion – Jeanette Winterson
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingslover

NON-FICTION:
Naked or Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster - Jon Krakauer
Running with Scissors: A Memoir - Augusten Burroughs

Wow, this is a *non* honors class, Kristin? A Heartbreaking Work... isn't exactly a quickie.

I would love to reread Beloved with you. It's been so long, and I adored that book. Broke. My. Heart.

I have to read The Poisonwood Bible, too. Or at least I've been meaning to.

Sounds great! I'm going to start once classes are done and my grades are in--first week in June sometime. I started The Poisonwood Bible earlier this year and then never went back to it, so I might start there.

And yes--this is not the list I would have put down for a non-Honors class, motivated students or not. My colleague who was going to teach it may have been reaching a bit.

If I wre one of your students, and I were lazy, I'd read the Krakauer: it's a fast, easy read with a compelling narrative. Also very well-written (even if to this day I think he should have waited longer before writing it...).

Huh, that's a fascinating list, Kristin! I've read most of those, but I'm a little surprised to see the Jeanette Winterson title on there. The Passion is my favorite of her books, or was when I went through my huge Jeanette Winterson phase -- which, actually, was in high school, now that I think about it -- but I'm pretty sure it has a fair amount of explicit sex. I'd have to reread it to be sure I'm remembering it correctly, though.

I mean, obviously I think there's nothing wrong with high school students being exposed to books with some sexual content, but it still surprises me to see a school recommending the book, as opposed to a teenager just picking it up on their own at the library.

Anyway, there are some great books on that list. The Poisonwood Bible is another of my favorites. Have fun!