Substantive Summer Reading…
By Kristen on Jun 9, 2008 in Book Club Favorites
Lauren Daley from South Coast Today asked a number of folks to help her create a “list of substantive books that both girls and guys can enjoy this summer“. Try to look past her slight bias toward Massachusetts — otherwise it is a nice counterbalance to the fluffier lists I’ve posted the past few weeks…
From the staff of Baker Books in Dartmouth:
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Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri.
(I look forward to checking out Lahiri’s newest collection of short stories. Her 2000 Pulitzer-Prize winning story collection, Interpreter of Maladies is excellent and I enjoyed The Namesake, too).
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The Great Derangement by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone’s political correspondent.
Daley states that according to the publisher’s comments, Taibbi “set out to describe the nature of George Bush’s America in the post-9/11 era and ended up vomiting demons in an evangelical church in Texas, riding the streets of Baghdad in an American convoy to nowhere, searching for phantom fighter jets in Congress, and falling into the rabbit hole of the 9/11 Truth Movement.”
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Deep Drive: A Long Journey to Finding the Champion Within by Mike Lowell.
Isn’t Lowell the catcher for the Red Sox? Hmmm… did I mention that South Coast Today is focused on Massachusetts…? Might pass on this one…
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The Widow’s War by Sally Gunning of Cape Cod.
Summary: Lyddie was married to Edward, a Massachusetts whaler. But when Edward is lost at sea, Lyddie must struggle on her own.
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Enchantress of Florence by Salmon Rushdie.
Summary: A European traveler arrives at the court of the real Grand Mughal claiming to be the child of a lost Mughal princess. But the locals wonder: Is the story true? I hope to read this soon, too…
Check out this interview.
And from Laurie Dias-Mitchell, director of the Library Media Center at Dartmouth High School, and leader of the faculty book club, said to pack these in your beach bag:
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Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue.
Summary: Set in London in 1748, young working-class girl Mary Saunders’ lust for fine clothes leads her to a life of prostitution. Eventually she tries to leave — but then makes a dangerous mistake.
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The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor.
Summary: Set in Ireland in the 1920s, the Gault family leads a life of privilege until violence causes them to plan to move to England. But when 9-year-old Lucy runs away, their life takes a dramatic twist.
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Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson.
Summary: Ann Holmes, a pill-popping teen runaway, sees a vision of the Virgin Mary and her home town becomes the site of a pilgrimage, with desperate people seeking out the teenager.
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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.
Summary: In 19th-century China, when women were very much second-class, two young women develop a bond that keeps their spirits alive — until a misunderstanding arises. I liked this one better the second time around, when I read it for a kit.
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New England White by Stephen Carter.
Summary: In the college town of Elm Harbor, “a murder begins to crack the veneer that has hidden the racial complications of the town’s past, the secrets of a prominent family, and the most hidden bastions of African-American political influence,” according to the publisher.
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By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho.
Summary: Pilar is a frustrated scholar looking for meaning in her life, when a childhood friend contacts her to tell her he has always loved her.
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A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers.
Summary: A Pultizer-Prize nominated memoir by the Boston author, chronicling how he and his brother dealt with the death of their father and mother, 32 days apart. I reviewed this a few months ago and enjoyed it, despite a desperate need for editing…
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