2016 Reading: Summer Reading Picks
It’s not that summer is my favorite season to read because, really, any time is a good time to read. But summer means long daylight hours, reading on the porch or in the hammock, or reading a bit extra while waiting for a flight to board.
As you know, I’ve been participating in the MMD reading challenge this year. But for some reason I have fallen off of the wagon just a little bit because the summer categories have not felt very inspiring (June was a book recommended by someone else; July was a book written before you were born; and August is a banned book).
Let me start with this — Sergio is certainly not my reading twin.
I think I gravitated towards this reading challenge because a) I couldn’t buy books for awhile and this helped distract me and b) MMD is certainly a reading twin of mine. But I’ve never had a problem choosing books for myself. At this point, then, it feels
So instead I’m going to just tell you the books I’ve enjoyed this summer and finish up with the next five or so books in the queue, and we’ll call it a day.
Read and Recommended
For the secret YA fan: Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell): I am a big fan of Rowell’s snappy style and likable teen characters. Fangirl follows twins Cath and Wren as they leave for college. They are lifelong fans and fan-fic writers of the Simon Snow series (unfortunately totally cribbed from Harry Potter). Because it’s YA, it’s a good breezy summer read, but her novels have more character development and substance. Nerds are finally the cool kids and hobbies like writing are seen as fun.
[Note: I tried to read Rowell’s companion piece, Carry On, and it was awful. It goes into the world of Simon Snow and I felt like I was reading a second-rate Harry Potter book. I really expect more from her as an author.]
For the free spirit: Leaving Before the Rains Come (Alexandra Fuller): I first found Fuller through her book Don’t Let’s Go to The Dogs Tonight, an autobiographical work that detailed her unconventional childhood in Africa. In some ways, Leaving Before picks up where that book left off. Fuller is a young adult and explores falling in love with her then-husband as well as starting her own family. The book is rather episodic, making it easy to read a chapter at once when you have five or ten minutes. The stories seem a bit hard to believe at times, but they are in-line with her first book, so if she’s making it up, at least she’s consistent. It almost made me want to move to Africa. Almost.
For the casual reader: Big Little Lies (Liane Moriarty): I keep waiting to dislike one of Moriarty’s books. They’re pop-y. They have some cliches. And they rely on snappy dialogue that borders on too-witty. But damn it — these are the perfect dessert books to savor! Madeline, Jane, and Celeste are three moms in a small Australian town who are at a school gala when someone is killed. Which one of them is it? Now we step back in time to learn more about the primary school politics (oh my goodness, awful! is this what it’s really like?) that bring them together (and possibly tear them apart). Big thanks to my mom and dad for recommending this one!
For the news junkie: Missoula (Jon Krakauer): With the hype around the Stanford rape case hitting a fever pitch, it’s a great time to educate yourself about the realities of rape and sexual assault on college campuses. With his trademark story-telling style, Krakauer decides to dive into an average college town; Missoula, Montana. He weaves the stories of women who accuse men of rape or assault and how the men respond. The book is chilling not only because of the facts (when an individual is raped in the U.S., the rapist is not convicted of the crime ~90% of the time), but because of the way that police officers, first responders, and sometimes colleges themselves react and respond (or don’t act and respond). Something needs to be done about rape culture in this country — read this book to better inform yourself about the issue!
For the historical-fiction-lover: The Lake House (Kate Morton): It’s summer — it’s okay to read a guilty pleasure book or two! And Kate Morton’s books are the best sort of guilty pleasure reads because they are character-driven, historical, and always include some twists. Like most of her novels, Morton bounces between past and present, weaving stories across multiple generations and places. If you’d like a good pool, beach, or plane read, this is it!
For the wannabe comedian(ne): The Book of Joan (Melissa Rivers): I’ll be honest — I’ve never particularly been a fan of Joan Rivers. She seemed larger-than-life in a Kardashian-type way. But I was intrigued by this book (S’s mom read it and loved it) and wanted to see what I might have missed about the late comedienne.
Written by her only daughter, Melissa, this book was more than a string of one-liners. Through it I gained a greater appreciation of a honest, hard-working woman who fought her way into the comedy business, watching less-talented men get all sorts of breaks before she did. She once said, “I succeeded by saying what everyone else is thinking.” And this memoir succeeds because Melissa Rivers also goes there and shares touching, funny stories about her mom.
For the sequel-seeker: After You (JoJo Moyes): If you’ve read Me Before You (or cheated and saw the movie — I still can’t bring myself to do it), you might have shared my enthusiasm when this sequel came out.
But if you haven’t seen or read Me Before You and you still want to, stop reading. Seriously, spoilers are coming! Scroll until you see the next section with the In the Queue headline.
…
…
…
…
…
Okay.
So when Me Before You finished, I was so devastated. I think I threw the book across the room. I don’t condone violence against books, but JoJo Moyes had really pissed me off.
After You only came about because so many readers asked, “What happens to Louisa after Will dies?” So she decided to sneak back into this world again and write the story.
It’s about a year later and Louisa is working at a crappy airport bar, living on the outskirts of London, and adrift. It takes a kid entering her life (not hers), a grief group, and a possible new love-interest to snap her out of it.
And… get this. Word is that Moyes is thinking of making this a trilogy. Is it too much to hope? We will have to wait and see.
In the Queue
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry (Fredrik Bachman): I loved Bachman’s first novel about a grumpy man named Ove. Since I’m trying to purchase books that a) are by authors I know or b) I can get at a great price. This one happened to be both. And the premise sounds fascinating — batshit crazy grandmother dies, leaving behind her young granddaughter with a list of apologies to make. Let’s hope this isn’t a sophomore slump for Bachman!
A Jane Austen Education (William Deresiewicz): Sorry to be predictable… but I’m predictable. Whether it’s reading actual Jane Austen novels (minus Sense and Sensibility — watch the movie instead) or the millions of adaptions (The Jane Austen Book Club, The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, etc., etc.), I do love new takes on Jane. See, when an author is 200+ years dead, you know nothing new is coming out. Deresiewicz’s book is about how he goes from an Austen super-hater to super-fan and what he learns in the process. I’m super-intrigued!
Geek Love (Katherine Dunn): A modern take on a (self-proclaimed) circus freak show, Dunn’s book shot to the top of my to-read stack after her recent passing. The Binewskis run a traveling circus and freak show and decided to try to breed freak children by consuming drugs or doing other things you might cringe at. Told by dwarf-albino child Olympia, the story follows the siblings as they grow and change.
My Life in France (Julia Child): It’s about how Julia Child fell in love with cooking. Enough said.
That’s it! Happy reading, friends!
xo, Sarah
