Beach Bag Books: My Summer Reading List

I just got back from a bike ride and even though I'm in my 30s now, every time I get on my bike and take a ride at dusk, I am immediately transported to 1985 and those balmy summer evenings full of fireflies in the Atlanta of my childhood. My other summer childhood passion was reading, and so tonight I am inspired to sit down and create a list of books I want to read this summer. There is a healthy combination of fun and substance in this list, I think. Here's what I've got so far:

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Digging to America by Anne Tyler

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The World According to Garp

Just 20 pages into The World According to Garp, I knew it would become one of my favorite books. The 1978 novel from John Irving is funny and tragic and ironic and believably absurd....or shall I say absurdly believable? The main character, T. S. Garp is a writer (don't ask what T.S. stands for--it doesn't stand for anything) and therefore within the novel we find stories he writes. The first one, called "The Pension Grillparzer" is pure genius, if you ask me. We follow Garp from his conception to his death and by the end of the book, you too will say under your breath "beware of the Under Toad" when your gut tells you something bad is about to happen. Don't know what I'm talking about? I highly recommend you read this book--it is well worth finding out. I have yet to see the 1982 movie starring Robin Williams (imdb). I am hesitant to do so because I have found that good books rarely become good movies (but that the reverse is almost always true). However, it does get good reviews, so I think I'll go ahead and add it to my netflix list.