I’ve always thought, and I’m guessing some readers will agree, that “What are you reading?” can be a much sexier question than “What are you wearing?” So it’s no surprise that, in my view, one of the great things about my job is that I get paid to read, and read a lot.

Summer is here, the hammock is up, and I’ve been reading up a storm lately, so it’s occurred to me both that I’d like to make a more regular practice of sharing with you about what I’ve been reading, and that it would be great to get you, our readers, involved in sharing your favorite reads with all of us. So I’ll volunteer to begin, not because I’m paying for this microphone, but maybe because over the years I’ve become a bit less shy than I once was about such things. And then we’ll get to a new idea to encourage our readers to overcome any such shyness by actually giving you an incentive to share. And yes, I’m talking about … wait for it … free stuff!

Speaking of shyness, one of the most remarkable books I’ve read this year has been Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain (photo at right). I’ve been known to make some large claims for books that I like a lot, and while I won’t go so far as to guarantee that this book will change your life, I’m certain that it will change the way you think about English majors (like me) and other shy people including, quite possibly, yourself and your loved ones. I love the answer Cain gave when asked why she wrote the book: “For the same reason that Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique in 1963. Introverts are to extroverts what women were to men at that time–second-class citizens with gigantic amounts of untapped talent.”

What else? I’ve been a loyal New Yorker fan since I discovered the cartoons at 16. Usually I get more from nonfiction pieces like Nathan Heller’s current TED story, but one night last week I stumbled onto “Another Life,” a rather dark and dry story by Paul La Farge, and I was enjoying it so much half-way through that I went back to the beginning and read it aloud to Betty. (Say what you like about Mars and Venus, but she liked it too!) 

I’m pretty steadfast about not letting short-form stuff keep me from “real books,” and lately I’ve kind of been all over the place, rereading Samuel Beckett’s Molloy trilogy and Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, listening to John Lithgow’s wonderfully gathered and performed anthology of dozens of great poets’ lives and works on Audible.com, dabbling in some James Ellroy noir and some Graham Greene regret (exquisitely read by Colin Firth). I also get to read lots of KND sponsors’ books, usually leading to several dazzling discoveries each month, and my current favorites include Kathryn Harvey’s Butterfly and Pardu Ponnapalli’s Just a Bunch of Crazy Ideas.

But enough about me! What have you been reading lately? Share some of your recent favorites with us below, make sure you opt in to our our newsletter subscriber list, and you’ll be entered in our ongoing daily drawings where we will select up to 10 readers a day to win free stuff, including free Kindle books from our KND sponsors!