summer reading list

I’ve finally put together my summer reading list. I doubt I’ll get through all the books over the summer – the only way I could do that is if I still had summer vacations which, alas, disappeared after college. Here’s the list:

Daggerspell, Katharine Kerr – this isn’t normally something I would have picked up, because Epic Fantasy covers weird me out, but I’ve heard there’s some excellent worldbuilding in this series so I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m enjoying it so far.

The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss – I haven’t actually read anything of his, though I’ve heard his name floating around, but he wrote a paean to Neil Gaiman’s forthcoming book, and I bought this based just on how that review was written. Looking forward to it.

The Lives of Tao, Wesley Chu – Read an interview with the author about the book over here and thought it sounded really cool.

In Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin – Again, not something in my “normal range” but I’ve heard he does brilliant characterization, even if most of what he wrote ended up being fiction and not really travel reporting at all.

A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows, George R. R. Martin – because I read the first two and I don’t like to leave things unfinished, though I hear it starts to get even more complicated than it was in the first two books, so I’ll have no problem putting these down if I get tired of Martin’s convoluted storylines and his tendency to kill or maim every character I care about.

The Dog Stars, Peter Heller – You can thank a facebook post by Vintage Books & Anchor Books for my interest in this one. Going on faith here – no idea what it’s about but I hear it’s good.

Neil Gaiman’s Make Good Art Speech – You know why.

A Branch from the Lightning Tree: Fantastic Myth and the Grace in Wildness, Martin Shaw – Recommended to me by a coworker who’s got a huge creative spirit.

The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth, Robert Graves – Linking poetry with pagan worship systems? Sign me up.

The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation, ed. Greg Delanty – To feed my love for all things Anglo-Saxon. Hwaet!

God’s War, Kameron Hurley – another one I stumbled across here. It sounds really, really cool.

The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black, E. B. Hudspeth – Recommended by Erin Morgenstern, whose reading advice I tend to follow. I pre-ordered this one months ago and was SO EXCITED when it came recently. I’m treating it like an addict treats a stash, looking at its cover, petting it, but not cracking it open, not letting myself have the high too soon, not letting it be over before I know it.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman – I don’t actually have this yet; it’s supposed to arrive on my doorstep on the 16th or thereabouts. I’ll probably skip some of the others to read this one, because Neil Gaiman.

What are you reading this summer?