V C Andrews Books

Summer reading should be fun

For many of us, summer means it's time to find a shady porch or comfy hammock, pour a glass of iced tea and open up a good book.

Whether you are turning pages or powering up the e-reader, summer reading takes on a languid, lethargic quality. This is not the time to tackle "War and Peace."

Still, I can recall one summer where I made my way through "Nicholas and Alexandra," happily devouring every word of the sweeping biography. I was swept away by the bleak Russian landscape and the complexities of European royalty portrayed in the book. Rather than a history lesson, I regarded the book as a leisurely stroll through a slice in time.

That is the beauty of reading in the summer. Life seems to slow down, and so should the reading. Savor the book, don't hurry through it. This isn't the time to take notes and memorize.

There are formal summer reading programs for children and teens at the C. Burr Artz Public Library and Barnes & Noble. But for some, summer is a time for less-structured reading, a time for getting lost in the story.

Mandy Moore, assistant manager at Wonder Book and Video, a used bookstore in Frederick, suggested author Anthony Horowitz, a young adult author. Horowitz writes the Alex Rider series about a 14-year-old British boy who reluctantly takes on work for Britain's intelligence agency.

She also suggests the Percy Jackson five-volume series of books by Rick Riordan. These books bring Greek mythological characters into the life of a modern-day teenage boy who lives in New Jersey.

Then there are K.A. Applegate's "Animorphs" books, a science-fiction series of three children growing up in a difficult world.

Moore, who is 25, prefers reading young adult books. "I feel like they're more engaging," she said. She also likes the character development.

Tawn O'Connor, book manager for Wonder Book, recommended the fictional adult book "The Help," by Kathryn Stockett. This best-seller is set in Mississippi in 1962, at a time when black maids were known as "the help." The book is told from the points of view of the black and white women whose lives were intertwined in the segregated city of Jackson, Miss.

"'Gilead' is a slow-moving book, so if you have more time, that's a good one," O'Connor said. This is a saga of three generations of American men. The book, by Marilynne Robinson, was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the 2004 National Book Critics Circle for Fiction.

"Geraldine Brooks is an author definitely worth reading," O'Connor said. Brooks is the author of "March," a historical fiction work about Louisa May Alcott's father, who left his family behind to serve the Union cause in the Civil War, and returned a changed man. This book won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

O'Connor also recommends Brooks' "People of the Book," another historical fiction piece about the journey of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a Hebrew manuscript from 15th-century Spain.

Summer is a good time for genre reading, and for this, O'Connor recommends mysteries. "You can't go wrong with Daniel Silva," she said. "These are very well-written." Silva writes spy novels, which may remind some of Ian Fleming. He has created the recurring character Gabriel Allon, a sometime art restorer and Israeli secret agent.

Kate Carlisle is another favorite author of O'Connor's. Carlisle writes the "Bibliophile mysteries," mysteries that feature book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright. This character is close to O'Connor's heart. O'Connor has a small book and Bible restoration business.

O'Connor, who clearly reads a lot of books, also suggested a fictional Civil War series by author Owen Parry.

For those who like memoirs, she suggests "Life and Death in Shanghai," by Nien Cheng, about a woman who was persecuted and imprisoned during China's cultural revolution.

Other employees at the store had their own recommendations. Christian Schley suggested anything by historian David McCullough, or the poetry of Ovid, who died around the year A.D. 14. This Roman poet wrote "The Art of Love."

John West suggested Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" books, about the adventures of a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars. Another book for fans of Civil War fiction is "In the Hands of Providence" by Alice Rains Trulock, about Joshua Chamberlain, a college professor turned soldier.

Jennifer Lipscomb spent an entire summer reading V.C. Andrews' "Dollanganger" series, a five-book saga of jealousy, tragedy, survival and revenge. Virginia C. Andrews, who died of cancer in 1986, wrote modern Gothic novels.

Coffee, Books and Laundry: Throwback Thursday: Heaven by V.C. Andrews

Heaven Leigh Casteel was the prettiest, smartest girl in the backwoods, despite her ragged clothes and dirty face...despite a father meaner than ten vipers...despite her weary stepmother, who worked her like a mule. For her brother Tom and the little ones, Heaven clung to her pride and her hopes. Someday they'd get away and show the world that they were decent, fine and talented — worthy of love and respect.

What a great Throw Back Thursday and a trip down memory lane. I discovered V.C. Andrews books back when I was 15 years old and I haven't looked back, since. Only for me, it all started with my favorite book by her of all time - My Sweet Audrina - and Flowers In The Attic, the first in the Dollenganger series. I've read the Cutler series and have really enjoyed and I've read the Casteel series. Pretty much all of V.C. Andrews books that she wrote herself.

Flowers in the Attic

Secret Whispers

Garden of Shadows

My Sweet Audrina

Broken Wings