Summer Reading 2013

Summer Reading 2013. As I did last year (Summer Reading 2012), I'm going to share ten books I plan on reading this summer (time permitting). As I read them, I will update this post with links to my reviews. As I've stated in some posts before, I've been working on Modern Library's Classics List (posts tagged with Modern Library's Choices identify those books I've already read and reviewed). I realize this list isn't complete of all the classics, but my grandfather gave it to me (with the one's he'd read) before he passed, so I have a goal of eventually finishing it as a tribute to him. Posts with a (100) represent this list. Anyway, here it is...summer reading! 

1. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (100): the tragic story of Lily Bart of New York City's social elite during America's Gilded Age. POST
2. Tales from 1,001 Nights by Anonymous: to postpone her execution, Shahrazad tells stories of adventure, love, riches, and wonder; these stories have inspired writers across the centuries. POST
3. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid: the tale of a young Pakistani-American whose life is changed irrevocably after the September 11 attacks. POST
4. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry (100): the tale of an alcoholic British consul in the small Mexican town of Quauhnahuac, on the Day of the Dead, November 2, 1938. (postponed for now)
5. The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinback: A retelling of Malory's beloved Arthurian stories POST
6. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (100): tells of the clash of cultures in British India after the turn of the century 
7. Unbroken by Laura Hillbrand: the story of Lt. Louis Zamperini in WWII whose bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean then is faced with the dangers of a failing raft, the ocean, starvation and the enemy.
8. Nostromo by Joseph Conrad (100): A tale of capitalist exploitation and rebellion, "set amid the mist-shrouded mountains of a fictional South American republic"   
9. Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser: a literary portrait of France's most iconic queen
10. Dispatches by Michael Herr: written on the front lines of Vietnam, an immediate classic of war reporting. 

I tried to cover all the bases, from non-fiction to ancient story collections to classics to contemporary fiction and historical retellings.

Happy Summer!