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In high school, I complained every summer about my summer reading books. It’s not that I don’t like to read, it’s just that I never really liked any of the summer reading books I was assigned, like The Natural by Bernard Malamund, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson¹, The Odyssey by Homer, or A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez², and The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea. This summer, I have no assigned readings, so I’m going to do the crazy thing and assign myself some reading in order to maximize the free time I have to read whatever I like!

• All of Sarah Dessen‘s books
  I am a huge Sarah Dessen fan; I think she’s an amazing YA author. Having recently finished her book Lock and Key, and with her newest book, Along for the Ride, due for release next month, I think now is the perfect time to reacquaint myself with Sarah’s books and some of my favorite characters, such as Halley from Someone Like You and Dexter in This Lullaby!
• The entire Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
  I’ve read the first six books countless times, but I’ve only read Deathly Hallows once. I can barely remember what happened in the Deathly Hallows other than the major plot points, so I’m going to start from the very beginning and reread the Harry Potter series, and then finally read The Tales of Beedle the Bard once I’ve finished rereading all seven of the Harry Potter books.
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares
  Like the Harry Potter series, I’ve read the first three Traveling Pants books many times, but I’ve only read the fourth one once. Watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 movie made me realize that it is high time for me to reread this series again! Out of the four girls, Bee is my absolute favorite, closely followed by Lena.
• The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde
  I love Jasper Fforde, I think he is a very, very clever author and I love his writing style, and how he plays with literature and words with Thursday Next. I especially love how he included the Red Queen as one of the characters in the BookWorld! This series is definitely one of my favorites, so a reread is a must.
• A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
  I loved this series, but I haven’t even read the 13th book, The End! However, I can’t really remember what exactly happens later on in the series, particularly with the little details, so before I read the last, and final, book in the series, I want to start from the beginning and be able to recall each and every one of the Baudelaire’s adventures (or misadventures, as it may be) before I read the final book in the series.

1. I quite liked this one, but it wasn’t a traditional summer reading book. Still good, though. [↩]
2. I didn’t like A Hundred Years at all, but I know I am in the minority since almost everyone I know that’s read the book loves it! [↩]