{"id":4321,"date":"2011-07-28T15:56:02","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T19:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/?p=4321"},"modified":"2011-07-28T15:56:02","modified_gmt":"2011-07-28T19:56:02","slug":"summer-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/summer-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4322\" title=\"summer books, Kalyn Johnson, Possess Your STYLE\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/summer-books.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"470\" height=\"470\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">I come from a family of readers. \u00a0As a kid, we usually spent family time shopping at the mall on Saturdays. My dad was a good sport; he often joined me, my mom and my sister on these excursions with a book in his back pocket. \u00a0He&#8217;d walk from store to store with us and pull out his book at each stop. \u00a0My father still carries a book in his back pocket just in case and has been know to read a book a day on vacation &#8211; something my husband just didn&#8217;t understand about me until we went on vacation with my whole family and everyone had their nose in a book. \u00a0So, I guess you could say that I come by my love of reading and writing naturally. \u00a0I&#8217;ve read some great books this Summer! \u00a0If you&#8217;re like me and looking to escape the Summer&#8217;s heat or enjoy a world far far away, here are my top contenders for Summer 2011:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<ul>\n<li><a id=\"static_txt_preview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0553386794\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=stybykaljoh-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0553386794\">A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">&#8211; I picked up the first of this 5 part series this past Winter when I learned that HBO had made it into a mini-series. \u00a0HBO rarely picks wrong. If you like lords and ladies and kingdoms far far away with lots of intrigue, this series is for you. I&#8217;ve finished the first 2 books so far.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a id=\"static_txt_preview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0307338789\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=stybykaljoh-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0307338789\">The Billionaire&#8217;s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World&#8217;s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">&#8211; I&#8217;m a closet foodie. \u00a0If I had the time to have another blog, I&#8217;d write one for my husband about our dining exploits around the world. \u00a0I&#8217;m a little bit of a nerd, ok well probably more than a little bit, and I like to know the history behind things like wine, the gourmet food movement in the U.S., the history of the tomato (I told you I was a bit of a nerd), etc. \u00a0I knew there were high stakes in the world of oenology (the study of wine and winemaking), I just had no idea to what extent!<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a id=\"static_txt_preview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0385344074\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=stybykaljoh-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0385344074\">South of Broad: A Novel<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">&#8211; When my friend Lybra heard I was going to Charleston, she insisted I read this book. \u00a0Hands down, one of the best books I&#8217;ve read all year &#8211; just a really well told story.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a id=\"static_txt_preview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0743298039\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=stybykaljoh-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0743298039\">The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel<\/a><span style=\"color: #000080;\"> &#8211; If you love windswept moors, bleak houses and strange families, this book is perfect. \u00a0It&#8217;s a masterful, deliberately old-fashioned story of secrets, ghosts, sexual obsession, murder, madness&#8211;you name it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a id=\"static_txt_preview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0345505344\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=stybykaljoh-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0345505344\">Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">&#8211; One of the better love stories I&#8217;ve read in ages. At one point on our flight to Italy I was crying so hard (I a sentimentalist; I tear up very easily) my husband got worried that something was really wrong and forced me to look at him and tell him why I was crying. \u00a0He&#8217;s seen me tear up before at movies, a picture, books &#8211; you name it &#8211; just never like this over a story. A real tear jerker.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a id=\"static_txt_preview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0743410106\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=stybykaljoh-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0743410106\">Douglass&#8217; Women : A Novel<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">&#8211; My friend Davia finished this book while we were on vacation last week. \u00a0It so intrigued me &#8211; a story told from the viewpoint of the 3 women in Fredrick Douglass&#8217; life: his wife, his white mistress and his daughter. See . . . gotcha, right? I bought it on the spot. \u00a0It&#8217;s next on my reading list.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a id=\"static_txt_preview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0195385837\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=stybykaljoh-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0195385837\">Murder of a Medici Princess<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">&#8211; After touring all around Italy and spending time in the Florence (the city built by the Medici&#8217;s) visiting<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Uffizi\">The Uffizi<\/a><span style=\"color: #000080;\">,<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pitti_Palace\">The Pitti Palace<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">and<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Boboli_Gardens\">Boboli Gardens<\/a><span style=\"color: #000080;\">, the<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ponte_Vecchio\">Ponte Vecchio<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">&#8211; all apart of the<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Medici\">Medici<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000080;\">empire &#8211; I needed to become fully ensconced in their world. \u00a0So, I&#8217;m making my way through a long list of books about the Medicis, various Popes and Italy in general. \u00a0There&#8217;s nothing like a little royal intrigue!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">So tell me dear readers, what are you reading this Summer? \u00a0Have you read any of the above? What say you?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #000080;\">(oh, and yes, I generally read 2 or 3 books at a time . . .)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I come from a family of readers. \u00a0As a kid, we usually spent family time shopping at the mall on Saturdays. My dad was a good sport; he often joined me, my mom and my sister on these excursions with a book in his back pocket. \u00a0He&#8217;d walk from store to store with us and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalynjohnson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}