Random Ten Contemporary Novels to Read for Summer

Today, we are finally getting to our random ten books to read for summer list, which seems appropriate given that I am in a public library in New Haven, Conn., where we have a heat index of 110 degrees today (I am actually in North Carolina, but it is really that hot up there, and down here as both Raleigh and Charlotte are 'code orange' in terms of heat index today).

We are also including a list of ten random classical novels worth reading on our other blog, and we thought we's include books on each list that were the basis for Tim Burton movies as is the case with "Big Fish" here.

Our apologies in advance to some of my favorite writers like Jay McInerney, Tom Perrotta and Barry Griffith who did not make the cut here.

I will put indicate which books I have actually read with an asterix (*).

Four of the books on this list had films based on them, including Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men" that became an Oscar-winning movie for the Coen Brothers.

Stephen King's "Misery," a book which came from a dream that King had on airplane flight to London has been made into both a play and a film.

"The Shipping News" by E. Annie Proulx is the other film that became a movie, and I was surprised to see it on a reading list of novels to read by King in the back of his book for would-be writers called simply enough "On Writing," which is quite brilliant.

Here is the list:

1. "Tell All" (2010) by Chuck Palahniuk. He is actually my favorite novelist, but I have to read his most current novel.

2. *"Imperial Bedrooms" (2010) by Bret Easton Ellis. This sequel to "Less Than Zero" is yet another quirky, witty book from Ellis who was a published writer by the time he was 25!

3. "Libra" by Don DeLillo (1988). This controversial novel about the John F. Kennedy assasination seems like it would be quite a unique read. It was criticized by many people, including conservative pundit George F. Will, who also thinks global warming is somehow not happening?!

4. *"The Big Fish" (1988) by Daniel Wallace. When I heard that novelist Daniel Foster Wallce had committed suicide a few years ago, I thought they were referring to this Daniel Wallace who is very much alive and teaching writing at The University of North Carolina. This is a nice feel-good story which can actually be read in one reading.

5. "The Museum of Innocence" (2008) by Orhan Pamuk-Amazingly enough, I have yet to read the latest offering from Turkey's most acclaimed novelist.

6. "Misery" by Stephen King (1987) by Stephen King. At 325 pages, this King novel will make for a quicker read than the new unedited version of "The Stand" which has cracked the best-seller list.

7. *("No Country for Old Men" (2005) by Cormac McCarthy. Along with "Trainspotting" by Irvine Welsh, this is an example where both the book and the film work well together.

8. * "Super Sad True Love Story" (2010) by Gary Shteyngart- The author made my long names list. This novel proved that his prior novel "Absurdistan" was no fluke.

9. "I Am Charlotte Simmons" (2004) by Tom Wolfe. This novel, which is set in the fictional DuPont University that is partly based on Duke University, is about the sexual practices of college students. Amazingly enough, Karen Owen, the infamous sex columnist who outed many, many BlueDevils she made love to, including at least one lacrosse player, may have proven the story to be unsettling true.

10. "The Shipping News" by E. Annie Proulx_ As we said earlier, Stephen King recommended this prize-winning novel, so it must be good!