By popular request, I'm revitalizing our blog, EHS Readers Roundtable.
You do not have to be part of the EHS community to join in; I intend to invite some of my bookish pals as well.
We'll see where this leads us, but I hope you will enjoy contributing your comments of books mentioned and you will submit your own books that you've found provocative, enjoyable and worthy for other's interest and stimulates conversation. Everyone has different taste in reading; same as shoes! Right?

Before I put in my summer reading, I'd like to say that reading has not gone out of fashion! and there are an enormous amount of sites that will encourage your reading taste. Most often I do a quick survey of Goodreads, Kirkus Review, New York Times Book Review, PBS, New Yorker.

In Houston there are remarkable sources like Inprint (*don't forget to attend the Reading Series - best entertainment for almost no money! the first program is coming up on Monday August 26) check out the website for details. As well as Half Price Books and Barnes & Noble, there is the always innovative Brazos Bookstore on Bissonnet (get on the email list to find out what's going on). Blue Willow Book Shop and River Oaks Book store are both excellent independent book shops for those of us who like to browse.

Currently, I am reading Ian Rankin's Exit Music on my Nook. This is a mystery thriller that moves fast through 400 or so pages.

In early summer I read Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour book store.  Manuscripts and mystery and librarians!
The I tackled David McCullough's 1776.   Easy breezy US history and a start to my neglected education on the subject.
Next I read a most delightful, and probably a future classical favorite by Molly Peacock Paper Garden: an artist begins her life's work at 72. Mary Delany's life story revolves around her amazing artistic creation of collaged flowers. Starting in 1772 she hand made these exquisite pieces until her death in 1788. This is a work to take slowly and savor.
Timothy Egan wrote a biography called Short nights of the shadow catcher. Edward S. Curtis' photographs of the American Indians and his life's work of gathering the cultural practices of 80 different tribes in the early 20th century make this a fascinating book to read, along with the images that we are all so familiar with. I remembered that Marianne Wiggins had written a novel The Shadow Catcher, on the same subject so I read that companion piece, and thoroughly enjoyed the story she weaves of Edward and Sara's relationship and how she mixed in her own remarkably coincidental connection to the true story. In case you get as carried away as I did, the Hirsch Library at the MFAH has many books by and about Curtis and his monumental accomplishment.

I have Transatlantic by Colum McCann started and the following books  top of the stack on my desk:
In the shadow of the banyan
Panopticon by Jenni Fagan

Join in and let us have your comments both pro and con.
Jenni

Madeleine Albright's memoir of her wartime childhood in Czechoslovakia records the period between 1937 to 1948, with all the intricacies of Hitler's rise to power and defeat, the ensuing changes in Europe following the war and the resulting effects for the world and a small child who ultimately became U.S. Secretary of State.

Just finished The Call by Yannick Murphy. I recommend this book to adults as a refreshingly different family oriented mystery. A vet records each "call" and the action taken, followed by what his children say to him on his return home and what his wife cooks for dinner. Gradually the whole cloth is made of the threads. An affecting piece of literature, deceptively simple.

The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey.  Twice the winner of the Booker Prize, the author may be in line for another accolade. Set in contemporary London, a conservationist of automatonic robots, is drawn into the past by her work on mysterious containers and the written accounts that come with the project. Grieving for her dead lover, Catherine's heightened emotional state allows her to discover the past and the present for herself.

The Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth. Set in 18th century England the tale brings to light the serious nature of the slave trade and the coal mining practice of using young children. The characters, both men and women, are well drawn with human psychology and the possibility of change for the better.

Wild : from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail  by Cheryl Strayed. A memoir by a talented writer reveals her inner strength. Undertaking a solo hike from Mojave to the Canadian border, facing challenges both physical and within herself, Cheryl Strayed reforms her life and recovers from the grief of her mother's death.   

Death comes to Pemberley by P.D. James.  


Using the characters from the classic Pride and Prejudice, a classic mystery is borne.