My good friend and college roommate (we're going way back here!) has written asking for summer reading recommendations.

She says the last list I sent her took a couple years to get through...but of course, we all have to stop to read the new Harry Potters, and that slows us down!

I thought I'd share my reading recommendations with the blog-o-sphere this time around. It's an eclectic mix, so hopefully everyone will find at least one book to take to the beach.

I will start with fiction, and I will also include the first line of the book; it should tell you something about where you are going-or at least how you will go there. I always read at least the first page, if I'm thinking about reading a book, but with limited space, we'll take the first line.

Let's start light. I'm a big fan of brain candy-books that take little effort and are lots of fun. They're the perfect plane ride/poolside/back porch readers. If you're truly kicking back on vacation, you should take more than one.

First up, One For the Money by Janet Evanovich. I finally gave in and read the first in her series that follows a Jersey girl, Stephanie Plum, who turns bounty hunter to pay the bills. She's got that same smart-alecky, wise cracking patter I've loved for years in Robert Parker's Spenser books, but unlike Spenser, Stephanie is pretty clueless about the bad guys.

That leads to a very steep learning curve, which is fun to follow! So far, Boston-based Spenser has more class, he can cook a gourmet meal for his girlfriend, Susan, then outwit the bad guys with the help of his sidekick, Hawk.

Stephanie's frig is nearly bare, and she depends on the kindness of her parents, and a felon on the run who enlists her aide in proving his innocence.

First line: There are some men who enter a woman's life and screw it up forever. Joseph Morelli did this to me--not forever, but periodically.

I'm looking forward to reading book two in the series: Two For The Dough. Pick up both of them, or, get one Stephanie Plum and one Spenser. Which Spenser to get?

That's a tough one, Parker's been at this character since bell-bottoms and afros, but you don't have to go that far back. On the off chance that you may only read one, I'll start you with one of the best, Small Vices, number 24 in the series. Parker's at the top of his game here as Spenser faces his own humanity.

If you love this one, pick-up the series wherever you like, no matter what order, you will savor your moments with Spenser as much as he savors a fine meal and a cold beer.

First line: The last time I saw Rita Fiore she'd been an assistant DA with red hair, first rate hips, and more attitude than an armadillo.

Prefer Sci-fi? I'll dip into Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series another day, but for now, let's stick with a wonderful Colorado author, a Hugo and Nebula winner(she's good!), Connie Willis.

It's summer, and you've got free time, right? So I'm assigning a big fat helping of Doomsday Book. You'll start in the near future (mid-21'st century) Oxford University, but you'll soon time transport to 14 th century England where the black plague is messing with the middle ages and putting innocent time travelers at risk.

Back in Oxford, folks are under the weather too, and they're having trouble retrieving their time traveler. You'll learn a lot about the 14 th century-and the plague-along the way.

First line: Mr. Dunworth opened the door to the laboratory and his spectacles promptly steamed up.

Enjoy the time travel concept but prefer a different venue? Try To Say Nothing of the Dog. Willis sends her travelers to Victorian England this time for a more humorous adventure.

First line: There were five of us--Carruthurs, and the new recruit and myself, and Mr. Spivens and the verger. It was late afternoon on November the 15 th and we were in what was left of Coventry cathedral, looking for the missing bird stump. (a little extra there.)

Feeling like a classic from the not-too-distant past? Willa Cather won the Pulitzer for One Of Ours (think Midwestern kids go to WWI) but personally, I love other of her books more. My favorite, My Antonia, is set in Cather's signature early Nebraska of immigrants and homesteaders. Cather clearly understood the spirit and fortitude it took to settle America's breadbasket, but with Antonia, she also brings its heart.

First line: I first heard of Antonia on what seemed to me an interminable journey across the great midland plain of North America.

Prefer the southwest, read Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop. It's not so much a story, as it is a fictionalized, bit by piece chronicle of Father Latour, the first bishop of Sante Fe, and his lovable Vicar, Father Joseph. Cather has the incredible ability to take what can seem to be unforgiving landscapes and their unassuming inhabitants, and paint a picture that reveals their most compelling qualities in language that is as fulfilling as a gourmet meal. Hungry for good writing? Visit her table.

First line: One afternoon in the autumn of 1851 a solitary horseman, followed by a pack-mule, was pushing through an arid stretch of country somewhere in central New Mexico.

That's all for fiction for today. Look for a second installment soon of non-fiction...so many books and so little free time!! Enjoy!