Marie’s Summer Reading List

Though I grew up in Texas, most of my summers were spent riding out the oppressive heat on the beach in a small town in Oregon.  One of my favorite pastimes there was going to the local library and scoring an impossibly tall stack of books to devour, due back in a week.  Even though summer is traditionally a time for vacationing, and everyone deserves a little bit of book candy, I like to mix it up with a few challenging reads as well so as to stave off the slow brain melt that results from too many moments of mental lethargy/100+ weather.  Here is a mixed CD of titles that will satisfy all of one’s book moods during the holiday.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuinn

Sometimes I like a good quickie, and the Lathe of Heaven‘s lithe silhouette was quick indeed.  It certainly doesn’t skimp on intrigue or mind-tickling ideas, though.  What if there was someone who dreamed a dream, and when he woke up, his dream was his reality?  What would happen if such a man with such a gift were to land in the hands of a benevolently ambitious psychiatrist?  What would this doctor-man do with such a power?  More importantly, should he even be having his hand in it at all–even if it is for the greater good?  A great read, and fits nicely into most reasonably sized purses.

Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Although this book was published over a century ago, it remains amazingly relevant and accessible.  Dorian is blessed with astonishing good looks, and lives a charming, naive life.  One fateful day, Dorian encounters Lord Henry, the nefarious and slyly manipulative socialite, who collapses Dorian’s perfect world and dashes his cherubic innocence on the rocks of reality.  People get old, and life takes its toll; one day, even you young Dorian will be shriveled and decrepit, marked by your transgressions.  Refusing to accept this newly revealed truth, Dorian prays his looks will never leave him, and somehow…they don’t.  What follows is a beautiful, inevitable descent into madness and debauchery, a careful inspection of the philosophy of hedonism, and the ultimate reality that we all must face.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

In honor of Ray Bradbury, and his gentle passing into the night, I harken back to Fahrenheit 451.  I read it long ago as a middle school student, and was intrigued with the things I found in its pages, though there were still several of the more nuanced themes in it I didn’t quite appreciate at the time.  When I re-encountered 451, I was spending a lot of time in my car, and took a shining to audio books.  I picked up 451, as read by Ray Bradbury, and was overcome by this terrible and wonderful story, told with deftness, and read in the way he had imagined it to be read.  I listened to the sentences he crafted, the characters he created, and the world that he paints for us.  What a world, and what a warning of our need to hold on to the important things in life: books, and all the amazing information they hold, locked in their pages, waiting patiently for us to discover them.

Pulphead: Essays by John Jeremiah Sullivan

I don’t necessarily think of essays as good summer reads, but why not?  If there’s a good story to be told, and it is told exceptionally well, what’s holding me back?  As I mentioned, I like to keep my thoughts and mental skills honed, and not exclusively for academic purposes.  Why not take the opportunity to sharpen my acumen as I lounge on the grassy knoll at Barton Springs? John Jeramiah Sullivan writes sentences that flow along as smoothly as the Colorado River, naturally leading you through pages and pages on topics you never thought you would care about.  And yet, carried on his swift voice and descriptions with just the right amount of detail, you find yourself engrossed in these stories he crafts.  This was one recommended to me by a coworker, and I’m glad I deviated from my normal path of fiction to venture into the (surprisingly) exciting world of essays.

Just Ride by Grant Peterson

This summer is going to be a bit different for me.  My new husband and I are going to take an epic biking adventure trip for our honeymoon.  We are familiar with Grant Peterson’s website and bicycle shop, and enjoy his frank writing style and no-nonsense approach to one man’s philosophy according to bikes.  I saw he had a book out, and acquired it forth with.  It is a compilation of his most relevant advice on how to see riding a bike not exclusively as a commute, or a means to an athletic end, but as a joy in life, a wonderful activity that does so much good for one’s well being, and ways you might find help you do it well.  What is most important to remember about everything in life is that we are all unique, and all do things just a little differently.  Use this book as a method to which you apply your own technique.  Take the opportunity to experience the world by bike, and just ride!

(Editor’s note: You can ride with Grant Peterson here in Austin on Saturday, June 23 after he speaks & signs Just Ride up on our second floor at 5pm. The ride will leave BookPeople around 6pm.)