This post was written/compiled by the lovely and hardworking Jennifer Shapland.
Ah, summertime. To me, that means pretty much one thing: summer reading. If only my boss would hand me a stapled list of titles in June with SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER across the top, right? Le sigh.
Summer means freedom. Even if you don’t have time off, there’s something about these months—the sheer length of the days, the sweltering heat, and the way barefoot-summer-night-fun is offset by the dull endlessness of a July afternoon—there’s something about summer that just begs you to do nothing. Or better, as my friend Albert Camus puts it, “The hardest time was summer, when the heat killed even the sweet sensation of boredom.” Okay, Albert is talking about the heat in Algeria, but it sounds an awful lot like summer in Texas to me. Sometimes the A/C just doesn’t cut it.
I asked around the BookPeople staff if anyone has their own summer reading list in mind, to fill the blank spaces or beat the mind-numbing heat. Their answers might surprise you.
Nicole C, Bookseller.
Location: Outside, book on lap and feet directly in the pool; queso nearby.
1. Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson. Hurricane season is upon us. Impending doom! We should never forget that nature is a Mighty Holy Bitch. Commonly enough, I adored Mr. Larson’s novel about Chicago’s World Fair, The Devil in the White City. His research is illuminating, connective, wide-ranging, and makes for really readable nonfiction. As a populace we are constantly reminding ourselves to “never forget” tragedies but we quickly do in favor of more recent ones. Seeing as I was born 50 miles (and a mere 84 years) from a catastrophe in Galveston that killed 8000 people, I feel both curious and obligated to learn more about it.
2. My First Five Husbands and the Ones Who Got Away by Rue McClanahan. McClanahan is a giant: a Choice Feminist before that was even a thing. And, I, for one, want the real story behind Blanche (whom I’ve always thought of as a Tennessee Williams character). Admittedly, her recent death spawned this desire, but I don’t regret that. How better to eulogize someone than to experience her life in her words?
3. Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann. Coming of age stories are both universal and done to death. As someone who cut her teeth first on Judy Blume and later JD Salinger, I am partial to this kind of tale. For me, reading about someone figuring out where they belong (which is usually on the heels of realizing that belonging is overrated) has such a cathartic, homey, and distinctly summertime feeling. When I think my childhood self reading Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret or my teen-aged self reading Franny & Zooey the backdrop refuses to be anything but summer. In addition to maintaining that (real or imagined) tradition, I’m intrigued that this initially self-published novel found its way into such wide distribution.
Chris H, Receiving.
Location: A garden in Luling, TX by day, a candlelit cabin by night; beverage evolves from coffee to beer to scotch, according to the book in hand.
1. Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls. Why? Cause it’s summer and I get sentimental towards that kind of shit. Also, it’s one of the best YA books I could recommend. Sure, it’s no Harper Lee, but I read that last summer so deal with it.
2. The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Do you really need a reason why? It’s Steinbeck and I haven’t read it in a while. Get off my case for Christ’s sake.
3. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. I enjoyed Walk in the Woods and the boss gave me this ARC. And besides, I need to fill in my non-fiction summer requirements and it’s either this or a book on the history of salt. I’m taking my chances with Bryson.
4. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. I read this book every summer and haven’t been let down yet. Yeah yeah, roll your eyes at it cause it’s a western but oh wait….what is that??? Oh, is that a Pulitzer?? How good does a frontier western have to be to win a Pulitzer? Maybe you should find out for yourself.
And last but not least,
5. Short story collections: That Thing Around Your Neck by C. N. Adichie; The Egg and Other Stories by Sherwood Anderson; There Once was a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbors Baby by Petrushevskaya; Girl with Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace.
Doug S, Bookseller on hiatus.
Location: Reading in Michigan this summer, in a cool, dim library.
1. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. Like many others who enjoyed Franzen’s The Corrections, I’m expecting this to be a cathartic experience. I had the pleasure of reading an excerpt from this novel in a recent of issue of the New Yorker and was wowed by it.
2. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. This book is based on accounts of six defectors from North Korea. It should provide an interesting perspective on the reality of that nation’s current situation and how state propaganda warps local perspectives.
3. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. I’ve been continually blown away by the whimsy, power and sensuality of this author’s short story efforts. I’m not sure how that talent will translate to a novel-length work, but it should be an interesting experience.
4. Googled by Ken Auletta. As a library science student, I’ve heard repeatedly that the decisions Google makes now will have large ramifications for the dissemination of information in the future. This book should provide insight into the current modus operandi of the company.
5. Conquest of the Useless by Warner Herzog. This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for a while. Herzog is famous for this cinematic depictions of outsiders and obsessives. This is the diary he kept during the three years that he filmed Fitzcarraldo in the unforgiving Peruvian jungle.
Deblina, Bookseller.
Location: Reads anywhere and everywhere, especially whilst riding a bike.
1. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. I didn’t intend to start this book. Quite casually, I began reading the first few pages and could not put it down.
2. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago. He is one of my favorite authors and he just passed away. Moreover, I have heard he does justice to his own skepticism without disrespecting faith.
3. Sherlock Holmes Vols I & II by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is just one of those cases where I know all the stories, but I have never actually read them myself.
Paul B, Manager.
Location: Undisclosed.
1. Crash by J. G. Ballard
2. Atomik Aztex by Sesshu Foster
3. The Theory of Light & Matter by Andrew Porter
4. The Interrogation by J. M. G. Le Clèzio
5. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Feel free to come in and ask for recommendations based on these lists. And definitely check in on your booksellers’ progress. The thing about summer reading lists is that they tend to be disregarded, in the end.
And me? I like to set totally unattainable goals for myself, like digging through entire bodies of work. That way I can stray from the list at will. My plan is to first work my way through the rest of everything David Foster Wallace wrote, then spend more time in the Algerian sun with Camus, and cool off in Paris reading Sylvia Beach’s memoirs and living vicariously. Summer reading is a geographical experience for me. It’s about travel. I’m also looking forward to reading A Very Bad Wizard by Tamler Somers, this philosopher who explores free will by interviewing moral psychologists. And I can’t wait for Christie Hodgen’s Elegies to come out in July. I read mostly in the exact middle of the night, when it’s darkest and coolest and I absolutely can’t sleep.
What’s on your list this summer?
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