summer reading

This summer I have been doing a lot of reading.
At first, reading was a goal of mine. I wanted to read 10 non-school related books in 2011.
Then, I wanted to read 15 more in 2012.
So far I have already surpassed that number and it's only June.
Now reading is more of a favorite hobby. One that I had forgotten about in the midst of school. Having finally graduated and now having way too much free time on my hands, I've falled back in love with books. The library has even become my favorite spot again.

So what have I been reading?
The current books on my selves (and library card) seem to be from one of 2 categories: Tudor era (Henry VIII of England) and comedy. 

I'm not entirely sure why, but ever since my trip to England (back in '97) I have been extremely interested in the Tudor reign. My interest was especially that of his wives and in particular Anne Bolyen. As I've gotten older I think my interest in that era is due to a couple things. One, to think that one lady changed the fate of an enitre county (and perhaps even ours) is astounding. Due to the lust and manipulation of Anne Bolyen, England completely changed it's country's religion from Catholic to Protestant, which many countries are still fighting about. The other reason for my interest in this subject is somewhat silly. For whatever reason the Medieval era seems romantic. Definitely not romantic as in love (because let's face it love doesn't exactly mean beheading your wives) but more in their style. The clothing style. The architecture style. It seems goregous and (that word again) romantic.

While my roommates have had a little fun in teasing me for my constant Tudor books, here are the ones I have so far read.....

The Constant Princess is about Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine of Aragon. It follows her as a child, destined to become the Queen of England, through her adulthood (and marriages to 2 Princes of England) and ends with the trial of marriage.

The Queen's Rival is about Henry VIII's first serious mistress, Bess Blount. The first woman to ever give him a son.

The Other Boylen Girl is probably well known due to the movie. It's the life of Mary Bolyen (future Queen of England, Anne Boylen's sister).  While the movie wasn't my favorite, a co-worker had been reading this book and told me that it was pretty awesome and much more informational than the movie had been. So of course, intrigued I picked it up at the library (and thus an obbession had begun..haha).

Mademoiselle Boylen is the book I am currently reading. It follows Anne Bolyen's life starting as a little girl.

The Bolyen Inheritance is another Philippa Gregory book and I loved it. It told the story of Henry VIII's 4th and 5th wives (Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard). It also told the story of another Howard woman.... Lady Rochford (Anne Boylen's sister-in-law).

Then of course, there are the more light-hearted books that have had me actually laughing out loud.

Bang Bang is actually a pretty good book and I had asked for it for my birthday (thanks Steven!!). While Chelsea Handler is insanely inappropriate and hysterical, just a warning she talks about sex and drinking a lot.

While wandering through Walmart one night, I ran across this book. The cover alone told me I would enjoy it and I honestly did. It is a little like Chelsea handler (only without the drinking and as much sex talk). Samantha Bee is extremely funny (if you didn't already know that from Jon Stewart's show). The only thing I didn't like was how randomly her stories were placed (and sometimes caused confusion since the timing was off).

Okay, who doesn't like The Office? Amazing show. Amazing cast. Amazing writers. So when I found out "Kelly" from The Office (and co-writer) had her own book out, I again asked Steven for it. It wasn't as funny as I had hoped, but it was interested to see how she grew up and got started in her career.

One of Steven's cousins introduced me to Jenny Lawson's  (also known as The Bloggess) blog last year. It was kind of love at first read. She's insane. And amazing. And her book was everything and more. Everytime I opened it I laughed my ass off. I even had to start reading it in opposite rooms from my roommates because my laughing would interrupt their tv time. Plus they constantly gave me funny looks for laughing so hard at a book. But her short stories are wonderful. And so is her blog. Just one question......when is the next one coming out?!?!?!?

What have you been reading this summer??

-kel

PS- Thanks to my pal Christen, I was introduced to Goodreads.com (where you can see all these books and others I intend to read). If you haven't checked it out already, you should! And then let's be friends!