The rest of this list is PG but this one is definitely Rated R! But why not start w/ the hot stuff right? Ok so yes I have heard a lot about "Fifty Shades of Grey" and no I have not read it yet. I just can't. In college I read Pamela and got my kicks from Story of O but I think at this stage of life my fantasies just are not about being tied up by immature powerful older men...however, flip that scenario and you have something! So...with that in mind I encourage you to read Eat Me - as the book jacket says, "The opening chapters make the famous fridge sequence of 9 1/2 weeks look about as explicit as a public information film."
2. Historical Fiction Favorite: The All True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton by Jane Smiley
I love Liddie - a heroine with "a sharp tongue and backbone; who prefers to swim, shoot, ride and fish rather than spend a minute over the stove or with a darning needle." This book includes action, romance, and I learned about a chapter in American history I knew very little about - the fight for the independence (and anti-slavery ideals) of the Kansas Territory.
Now most of you know that I have a special place in my heart for Amazon warriors (like Wonder Woman). So, how fun is it to take a moment to escape from reality and consider what would happen if an Amazon Warrior from antiquity were to find herself propelled into modern day United States? Find out by reading this fun, smart, perfect beach read!
Lauren Laurano, Manhattan PI and former FBI agent, is 40ish, feisty, quick-witted and gay. In her engaging debut she solves a complicated case that begins with the rape and subsequent murder of a young woman named Lake Huron, who ran a computer dating service. I love this whole series. A funny, smart, lesbian detective. What is not to love?
5. Favorite Love Story: Passionate Minds by David Bodanis
A male author?!? I know, but this is the coolest book. It tells the true life tale of "the great love affair of the mathematician and scientist Emilie du Chatelet and the poet Voltaire." Who knew? The romantic pairing of two strong dynamic minds; poetic verse; sword fights; scientific inventions; book burnings; tragic love...so good first you'll read it and then you'll run to find your favorite female teen or college student to loan it to.
6. Just the Most Mind Blowing Awesome Thing to Read this Summer:
Sex Wars: A Novel of Gilded Age New York by Marge Piercy
this book is a revelation and a revolution! "Life is hard in post-Civil War New York, but change is in the air. Women are agitating for the vote and immigrants are pouring into the city, bringing a new spirit in their wake." Starring Victoria Woodhull, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and a young russian Jewess named Fredeh just trying to make a way in New York on her own..the book is filled with humor, and the prose is so beautiful and so "real" that you will feel that you are walking the streets of New York with these early American women entrepreneurs, activists, presidential candidates, stock brokers, and madames. Woodhull, the first woman to run for President in the U.S. and the first female stock broker is complex and fascinating. Shame on all of us for knowing so little about her and applause for Piercy who brings this lost historical character to life in this memorable and utterly enjoyable novel.
