Have you read any good books lately? By yourself…or to others? Today we offer summer reading suggestions. On Monday, we will offer a suggestion on how you can change a life by becoming involved in teaching literacy.

We asked a few readers we know to recommend books we all might enjoy this summer. Please add to that list by posting your own suggestions via our Comment option at the bottom of this entry. You can order these books online via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but we hope you will also consider supporting your local independent bookseller.

Erika: I recommend WATER, ICE & STONE: Science and Memory on the Antarctic Lakes by Bill Green. A classic of contemporary nature writing, this book is about seven field seasons spent in Antarctica—a key continent for charting the effects of climate change—by a geochemist who writes like a poet. What better way to keep cool in the summer than to take an imaginative voyage to this starkly beautiful icy wilderness?

George: Ian McEwan’s ON CHESIL BEACH will be released in paperback June 10, eponymously timely for beach season. As readers of ATONEMENT and his other novels know, Ian McEwan is a fine storyteller, an acute observer of character and an exquisite writer. He is the master of the defining moment. On Chesil Beach, a short novel, tells the story of a sweet, promising young English couple, virgins in the quaint summer of 1962: their courtship, disastrous wedding night and its brutal aftermath. The ingredient which makes the most compelling love stories so achingly tragic is inevitablity: Couldn’t Aeneas have stayed with Dido, what if the messenger had reached Romeo in time, and, in On Chesil Beach, why did Edward and Florence find it so impossible to talk about it?

David: Jeffrey Toobin’s superb book about the Supreme Court, THE NINE. Just in case we are all lulled into a stupor in the dog days of the presidential campaign, this colorful examination inside the secret world of the Court reminds voters why their vote this November matters, not just for the next four years, but for the next generation.

Ruth: WHEN A CROCODILE ATE THE SUN: A Memoir of Africa, by Peter Godwin. The New Yorker wrote: “Godwin, the author of a previous memoir about growing up during Zimbabwe’s war of independence, has written a sequel of sorts, tracing the collapse of his country in the course of the past decade.. in tandem with the decline of his father.” I found this book fascinating–with a surprising twist near the end. With the Mugabe saga unfolding there now, it’s even more interesting. Godwin’s writing makes the story come alive. One definitely feels they’re part of the happenings.

Larry: TIME AND AGAIN by Jack Finney. A blend of mystery and science fiction in which a man who can travel back and forth in time discovers even the slightest contact can have profound changes. I recommend this over the bestselling Time Traveller’s Wife. Other favorite mystery writers: Clive Cussler (start with Raise the Titanic); Robert Tannenbaum books with Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi; Dennis Lehane; John Sandford with Lucas Davenport; and Michael Deaver with Lincoln Rhyme.

In the Ampolo household Steve’s recent favorite is THE BLUE STAR, Tony Earley’s simple, lyrical tale about a teenager in rural North Carolina in 1941. This is a sequel to the equally wonderful JIM, THE BOY. Critics who have raved about these books describe them as “children’s stories for adults.” Also for fans of political writing, check out Matt Bai’s, insightful and witty, THE ARGUMENT. What’s it about? The subtitle says it all: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.

Sharon says, “Amy Bloom is a wonderful writer whose short stories take readers to unexpected places. But none of her stories prepared me for the ‘unexpectedness’ of her most recent novel, AWAY. I can’t think of a more compelling summer read–or listen–since it’s read on CD by Barbara Rosenblatt, a champion reader/narrator/actress, in my opinion. I began listening to the novel in the car and when my trip ended, I had to pull out the hardcover book and read it myself until I was finished, so I can vouch for both methods. I loved this book.

“And for an intellectual, yet mystical, magical, and often hilarious summer book? Anything by Stephen Millhauser. MARTIN DRESSLER is probably his most well-known, but for sheer brilliance, his first novel, EDWIN MULLHOUSE: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF AN AMERICAN WRITER, is a gem. And if your summer vacation isn’t as long as you’d like? Pick up LITTLE KINGDOMS, a volume containing three of his novellas–each of which are mini-vacations in themselves.”

Now it’s your turn. What ya’ recommend?

First-daughter Jenna Bush’s wedding (and some upcoming weddings of our own) got us thinking. We know that couples recycle wedding gifts (Admit it, you’ve done that. Better yet, take a moment to use our “Add a Comment” option to tell us what you’ve re-gifted). But surely, brides and grooms can demonstrate their love by recycling more than blenders, croquet sets, and label makers. (Those of you who were at our wedding should not draw any conclusions from that list about what became of your presents.)

What about recycling wedding gowns?

Before you accuse of us heresy, consider the dress you or your spouse wore. Where is it now? Have you had it on again? Did you put it away with all the best intentions that some day your daughter would be married in it? Did you have a daughter? Will she/did she wear it? Has your relationship with the gown become ‘til death do we part? Please comment on these questions, too, for your answers will help future vow takers to determine whether to say, “I do” to the following options.

You can donate used wedding dresses to the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. This not-for-profit Foundation resells the dresses and uses the proceeds to fulfill wishes of breast cancer patients across America. To date the Brides Against Breast CancerTM program has received more than 50,000 wedding gown donations, with an estimated resale value of over 4 million dollars. For more details, visit Making Memories.

Another organization, the Chicago-based Glass Slipper Project, collects new and almost-new wedding gowns, bridesmaids dresses, and formals as well as accessories and provides them, free of charge, to Chicago high school students who are unable to purchase their own prom attire. The not-for-profit distributes the dresses at Glass Slipper “boutiques,” where each student receives individual assistance from a volunteer “personal shopper” as she shops. The Project has helped more than 10,000 young women attend their proms in style. If you’re in the Chicago area visit Glass Slipper Project. For those not in the Chicago area, a list of similar projects around the country can be found on the same site. Timely information, considering that this is prom and wedding season.

If you want to hold on to your dress, there are other opportunities to recycle your joy. Most nuptials begin with the wedding ceremony itself and end with the ceremonial proffer of centerpieces and leftovers. What guest hasn’t been implored to, “Take it. It’ll just go to waste.” Remains of the day like these can also go to nursing homes, hospitals, shelters, and similar venues. Food banks and shelters do have rules about what they can accept, so it’s a good idea to check with them first before showing up with trays of shrimp puffs or cream puffs.

As for flowers, centerpieces, and the like, for those of you who live in New York or Los Angeles there is an organization called FlowerPower that will take the flowers from your weddings or other events and put them to good use. FlowerPower, which we first heard about on the inspiring NBC Nightly News’ “Making a Difference” segment, is the brainchild of Nancy Lawlor, a clerical worker and aspiring actress who saw floral arrangements in the Waldorf Astoria and imagined what pleasure they could bring to others.

Since February 2003 the not-for-profit organization Nancy founded has collected over $2,500,000 of donated flowers, re-assembled them, and then given them to thousands of elderly, sick and terminally ill in New York City and Los Angeles have been touched. Among those donating flowers from their wedding: Law and Order SVU’s Mariska Hargitay and her husband actor Peter Hermann.

FlowerPower hopes to expand its mission of uniting and healing generations throughout America. You can learn more, including how to set up a branch (stem?) in your area by visiting their website.

That’s it for today. Please recycle this entry and our website address www.ampolo.com to your friends. And please add a comment of your own. See you Wednesday.

More on Project Exploration from Ampolo Team on Vimeo

Project Exploration from Ampolo Team on Vimeo.

Watch the extended interview with Gabrielle Lyon to learn more about Project Exploration.

Every so often Ampolo will feature the stories of individuals who have followed through on their own great ideas to make the community/world a better place. The wife and husband team of educator Gabrielle Lyon and paleontologist Paul Sereno, who created Project Exploration, fit the bill. Visit the website of this remarkable organization at www.projectexploration.org to see how you can become involved in helping make science accessible to everyone and/or go on a dig with one of the premier dinosaur hunters in the world. We hope this story inspires you to take your own ideas–whether dinosaur-sized or smaller–and run with them.

Welcome to Ampolo from Ampolo Team on Vimeo.

Usually this space is reserved for us to ask you questions, but this week we wanted to do something a bit different and answer the questions that many Ampolo viewers have been asking us: Where did the idea for a site about ideas come from? What are you trying to accomplish? What does Ampolo mean?

To address these and other questions, we are reprising our introductory episode. But make no mistake, we are not in fall re-runs. We just finished shooting several more episodes that will feature new product ideas, new book and movie ideas, new fundraising ideas, and interviews with heads of not for profit organizations and ordinary citizens who have ideas for making the community a better place.

We’re happy to say that many of the episodes you’ll see in the weeks to come were generated by viewers, who sent their ideas in the form of videos, drawings, or simple text. That, friends, is what Ampolo is all about: encouraging people to be creative and to share their ideas, large and small, with others who believe in the power of ideas to make life better or just plain more interesting.

We hope that to date our episodes have got you thinking, talking round the kitchen table, looking in the attic for that old story outline or product design you thought of years ago. We hope that some of you may even have seen an episode that you are currently taking and running with. And we hope that you will consider sending us ideas you may have.