My Summer Reading List

It's summertime, which used to mean carefree afternoons, being lazy and hanging out, until the last couple of weeks before school when I had to start on the dreaded "summer reading list." There was always a test on the first day or two of school to make sure you'd read the books that were assigned. This type of stuff in school is what killed the joy of reading for me. When I was a young kid, I read all the time, and in elementary school they just encouraged me to read all the time.

By the time I hit middle school and high school, there were assigned readings. And it always had to be a "classic," which (almost always) bored me like crazy.

In recent years I've tried to get myself to read more. I found a few books that I really enjoyed. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was one I found, and became one of my favorite books all-time. It's definitely one of the few that I have re-read multiple times.

The Harry Potter Series is a series I was introduced to and loved.

But beyond these books, there was very little I loved reading. There was a book here and there that I enjoyed, but nothing that really stuck with me. So that makes 8 books I loved and a handful of others I enjoyed over a period of about 8 years. Not exactly a great average.
In the last few months, I was introduced to a few books that had me hooked from the start. Books that literally took 2 days to finish because I was reading every free minute I had. This has really left me feeling excited about reading, anticipating the next book, a feeling I haven't really had since I was a kid. Fortunately it will keep going. A few of the books I read are part of a series, and I have to wait until at least September for the next book.

But in the meantime, I've decided to give myself a reading list for this summer. There is definitely a theme to most of these books (which should be pretty obvious), but it's a genre I enjoy.

So in no particular order, here are the books I want to try to get through this summer:

The Living Dead - A compilation of stories, including works by Stephen King and Clive Barker.

Play Dead - A high school football team is killed by their rivals, but a local witch is able to bring the team back from the dead to play for the championship. Combining football and zombies? What could be better!

Ghost Road Blues - Sort of a requirement, since I accidentally bought the second book of a trilogy, and this is the first. Gotta go in order!

Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1-3 - I always see this book in the store, and I'm always tempted to grab it, but something else usually grabs my attention. But I do enjoy Clive Barker's work, so I'm going to dive into this book.