Conversations Book Club's 25 Summer Reads, 2012

(This post will  appear as an article in the July/August issue of Conversations Magazine. See www.conversationsmag.com for details and to order your copy.)

by Cyrus Webb

It is no secret that reading is one of the greatest pleasures of my life. I have been a fan of books for as long as I can remember, a passion that was fed by my family and continued in my adult years. It was because of this passion that I founded Conversations Book Club in November 2006. I wanted a place where men and women alike could come together and discuss books, sharing lessons and a form of entertainment that can be found no where else. Since then I have had the privilege of hosting book discussions in my home state of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee: all of them have been focused on titles that I personally loved and wanted to share.

With Summer here it is once again time for me to not only reveal my picks for the season but share with you probably one of the best collection of books I've had the privilege of reading. I literally devour hundreds of books a year, and that insatiable appetite makes these kind of lists extremely difficult, however, I think I have done right by you as readers with my choices. As with all of my lists, you will find books by established authors as well as those who are rising stars in the industry. It is my hope that you will find the pleasure in them that I did, and share them with others that will surely enjoy them as well.

Without further ado, here are this year's Summer picks...

Conversations Book Club's Non-Fiction Summer Reads, 2012  (In no particular order)

1. "Dear Marcus" by Jerry McGill (Spiegel & Grau/Random House)
2. "Find The Upside of the Down Times" by Dr. Rob Pennington (Resource International)
3. "Chicken Soup For The Soul: Find Your Happiness" (Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing)
4. "Single, Black, and Government Owned" by O. Keeys (Passionate Writer Publishing)
5. "Creating Time" by Marney K. Makridakis (New World Library)
6. "This Is How" by Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin's Press)
7. "Drunken Angel" by Alan Kaufman (Viva Editions)

Conversations Book Club's Fiction Summer Reads, 2012 (In no particular order)

1. "Watch Me Die" by Erica Spindler (St. Martin's Paperbacks)
2. "The Collectibles" by James J. Kaufman (Downstream Publishing)
3. "Payback Ain't Enough" by Wahida Clark (Cash Money Content)
4. "The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D." by Nichole Bernier (Crown/Random House)
5. "One Dead Doctor" by Tony Lindsay (Penknife Press)
6. "The Lost Daughter" by Lucy Ferriss (Berkley Publishing/Penguin)
7. "Aloha"/"Adios!" by Stephen A. Enna & Dennis J. Wootten (Authorhouse)
8. "Sea Change" by Karen White (New American Library/Penguin)
9. "Tony's Tiffany" by John Mobley (Freedom Ink)
10. "Just Tryin' To Be Loved" by J'son M. Lee (Foresight Publishing)
11. "California Girl Chronicles: Brea & the City of Plastic" by Michelle Gamble Risley (3L Publishing)
12. "The Safehouse" by T. Thomas Ackerman (Outskirts Press)
13. "Married in the Nick of Nine" by Alretha Thomas (Diverse Arts Collective)
14. "The Hum and the Shiver" by Alex Bledsoe (Tor)
15. "When Rain Falls" by Tyora Moody (Urban Christian/Kensington)
16. "By The Light of the Silvery Moon" by Tricia Goyer (Barbour Publishing)
17. "Coming Home" by Stacy Hawkins Adams (Zondervan)
18. "Alligator Lake" by Lynne Bryant (New American Library/Penguin)

Want to share your thoughts about some of the titles I've picked this year? Feel free to do so online at www.conversationsbookclub.com or www.conversationsmag.com or you can drop me an email at cawebb4@juno.com. Have a great summer!