... And when God created the Earth, beaches came into being.
Man, following suit, created patios, fans, icy drinks, cool tubs and swimming
pools. All beckon readers—not for us the surf-side volleyball nets, max-sweaty
hot yoga, lawn mowing. Sure—some things are inevitable, but in the back of our
minds as we pursue the "musts" and "shoulds" is the impulse
to read.
Authors are the same. In fact, while they may be writing,
editing or teaching, they too plan summer reading. And today some of them share
their book choices for the hot months. I asked, they responded.
Hallie Ephron, whose "Night Night, Sleep Tight"
made the New York Times best-seller
list, has a couple of recommendations.
"On the light side, looking forward to reading Lucy
Burdette's new one (July) 'Fatal Reservation.' Key West, food, always fun. At
the other end of the spectrum, I've set aside Greg Iles' nearly 800-page
behemoth 'The Bone Tree.' Might take me all summer to read." Iles' book is
the second in a trilogy that began with "Natchez Burning."
Concidentally, regional mystery writer Barbara Ross
("Clammed Up," "Musseled Out," "Boiled Over,"
"Death of an Ambitious Woman" and more) is an Ephron fan. She plans a
busman's holiday in her reading—a generous helping of mysteries.
"Right now I'm on a book deadline, but as soon as I
press SEND (June 1) I've promised myself the treat of reading Hallie Ephron's 'Night
Night, Sleep Tight,' a suspense novel about an infamous Beverly Hills murder
that took place when Hallie was growing up there in the '60s," she says.
"Later in the summer, one of my favorite mystery authors has a new book
out. I'll be first in line to purchase Louise Penny's 'The Nature of the Beast.'
On the lighter side of mystery, on the beach I'll be reading Edith Maxwell's 'Farmed
and Dangerous,' Sherry Harris's 'Longest Yard Sale,' Lucy Burdette's 'Fatal
Reservations' and Lea Wait's 'Threads of Evidence.' "
James Lee Burke (his Dave Robicheaux character has been
portrayed by Alec Baldwin in "Heaven's Prisoners" and Tommy Lee Jones
in "In the Electric Mist") says he's most likely to pick up his
summer reading on a whim, passing through bookstores. But he has one
recommendation: "I just finished 'Dead Wake' and thought it a smasher of a
book."
Ann Packer, author of "The Dive From Clausen's
Pier," "Swim Back to Me" and "The Children's Crusade,"
(among others), suggests two books.
"I can't wait to read 'Saint Mazie,' Jami Attenberg's
follow-up to her extraordinary novel, 'The Middlesteins.' And Kate Walbert's
'The Sunken Cathedral' is a sublime book, which will surprise none of her
fans." (Walbert, noted author of "A Short History of Women,"
"Our Kind" and "The Gardens of Kyoto," will be at the
Harvard Book Store in Cambridge on June 17.)
From mystery writer Kate Flora (author of 14 mysteries and
true-crime books including "And Grant You Peace," and "Finding
Amy") splits her reading list into fiction and non-fiction choices:
She suggests Anthony Doerr's amazing novel of a blind French
girl and a young WWII German soldier during the bombing of Saint-Malo,
"All the Light We Cannot See." She'll also read "H is for
Hawk" by falconer Helen Macdonald, an award-winning memoir about finding
her way through grief with hawks. Also, Roxanna Robinson's "Sparta," a
novel about the complex layers of PTSD, and conservation activist Terry Tempest
Williams' "Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place," which
describes her Utah family's struggles with cancer, living downwind of a nuclear
test site, along with recounting how the Great Salt Lake flooded wetlands that
were a refuge for migratory birds in northern Utah.
Jenna Blum ("Those Who Save Us," "The
Stormchasers") has returned to the Boston area. She recommends a book
she's just completed, Celeste Ng's "Everything I Never Told You," and
two others.
"'Everything I Never Told You' is newly out in
paperback—as is Laura McBride's stunning debut about culture and class clash in
Las Vegas, 'We Are Called to Rise' and Courtney Maum's delightful 'I Am Having
So Much Fun Here Without You,' about a philandering British man who wants
nothing more than to woo back his French wife," she says. "There you
go, readers: paperbacks for your book clubs and the beach!"
Ng's book is a novel, by a writer with links to Boston's
Grub Street writers collaborative. "It's about how attitudes in and around
a mixed-race family in the 1960s have a trickle-down effect to the children,
with heartbreaking results." She describes it as "a great emotional
cause-and-effect book ... it reminded me a little of 'The Memory Keeper's
Daughter,' with its emphasis on the sadness and destruction of secrets kept,
but I thought the writing in 'Everything' was less melodramatic and much
better, with beautiful similes.
Hank Phillippi Ryan also ventured forth. "I remember
wonderful summers reading 'Winds of War' and 'Bonfire of the Vanities' and oh,
my gosh, 'Ragtime,' says award-winning Boston writer Hank Phillippi Ryan
("Truth Be Told," "The Other Woman" and "The Wrong
Girl"). "There's always 'the book,' right? And it gets sand in the
pages and thumb-printed with sunscreen." Her recommendations follow.
"I'm reading the chilling 'Missoula' by Jon Krakauer
(partly for research for my next book), and 'The Wright Brothers' by David
McCullough, since I am fascinated by flying, and by people with passionately
new ideas. I just finished the amazing Lisa Scottoline's 'Every Fifteen Minutes.'
Looking forward to 'Hover' by Anne A. Wilson, a debut thriller author who was a
Navy helicopter pilot. And the irresistible Joe Finder's new 'The Fixer'— I am
afraid to start it, because I know I won't be able to put it down and I have
writing to do!"
I'll include other authors' suggestions for summer reading
in next month's column.
Book groups, authors
Why do we do this, anyway? Claudia McNeil of Chapters Book
Discussion Group in Spencer, has an answer. "We've been going strong since
1986," she said. "We have read the best books (and of course, some
were horrible picks), including many I would never have chosen on my own that
were wonderful. And there have been some that I swore I disliked at the
beginning of our discussion, only to really appreciate them after discussing
them." Thanks, Claudia.
Author James Patterson will be featured at the Hartford,
Conn., Mark Twain House and Museum. He'll appear at 7:30 p.m., June 17. Author
and former inmate James Tillman ("The Power of Conviction") speaks of
his 18-year wrongful conviction before DNA made him the first overturned
wrongful conviction. He will appear on June 8 at 7 p.m.
Shrewsbury Public Library kicks off summer reading with a
June 26 carnival featuring area authors. Check with the library for more details;
its web site also includes summer reading tips.
Women's Issues Book Group has slated "Americanah"
a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, for its Monday, June 8 meeting, 7 p.m. in
Barnes & Noble Booksellers 541 Lincoln St., Worcester. Its story: a young
woman leaves Nigeria to attend college in the United States and experiences
racism for this first time—in this country.
This coming week, there will be a reading/book signing by a
former member of the Women's Issues Book Group, Judith Ferrara. Beginning at
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, she will read from "The little O, the earth:
Travel Journals, Art & Poems" at the Gene J. DeFeudis Italian American
Cultural Center, 26 Mulberry St., Worcester.
The Douglas Library Book Group invites interested readers to
attend a discussion of Garth Stein's "A Sudden Light." Session begins
at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 9. Stein, author of "The Art of Racing in the
Rain," has written about a 14-year-old who confronts his father in order
to protect his grandfather. To reserve a library copy of the book call
508-476-2695.
Northborough Public Library Friday Morning Book Club members
are reading John Bunyon's "Pilgrim's Progress" for a 10 a.m., June 12
meeting. They rotate classics with contemporary monthly. July 10's selection is
"The Wedding Letters" by Jason F. Wright.
Jodi Picoult's "The Storyteller" is up for
discussion at Gardner's Heywood Library Book Group, June 24 at 4:30 p.m.
The Contemporary Book Group at Gale Free Library, Holden,
will meet at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, June 2, to discuss JoJo Moyes' "Me
Before You." The Classics Book Group has slated a poetry share for 6:30
p.m., Thursday, June 25.
Off-Track Bookies in Lancaster closes out its season with
"An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy
Sales Executive and an Unlikely Meeting." This nonfiction work by Laura
Schrod and Alex Tresniowski unfolds the story of a boy who encounters a woman
who will change his life... and vice-versa. Meeting is at 7:30 p.m., Thursday,
June11.
Robert Haston's "Fatherland" is the subject of
Haston Library's book group meeting, 7 p.m., June 30.
Members of the Crawford Memorial Library, Dudley, will
discuss "Becoming Finola" by Suzanne Strempek Shea at 6 p.m., June 5.
