Let the Summer Reading Begin!

It could not feel less like summer here. It's currently 51 degrees, foggy as heck, and drizzling. It's putting me in an incredible funk because instead of sitting on my sunny back porch playing with G and Q, I'm huddled on the sofa under a down blanket, nursing a luke-warm cup of coffee, wasting time on the Nets while the boys take their morning nap. Surly, I tell you...I'm downright surly.

But despite the very unsummerlike weather conditions, last night I kicked off my summer reading with Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea. Mother's Day weekend I saw the Jane Eyre movie that's out right now, so I decided it was finally time to tackle this book. I'm about halfway through already and love the spooky, slightly disjointed narration (which, incidentally, feels very much like the tone of the new movie). I have a feeling reading this book is going to forever change how I feel about Jane Eyre, making me completely sympathetic to the "first Mrs. Rochester" like how reading Wicked has now made me sad for the Wicked Witch whenever I watch Wizard of Oz.

Next up...John Knowles' The Magus and Caleb Carr's The Alienist. (Think the weather is influencing my decisions at all?) What's on your summer reading list?

p.s. I'm always in love with Ruth Orkin's photos. Don't you want her sandals?