Summer Reading~Books on the Common Suggests...
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- Category: Local Business
- Last Updated on Sunday, 24 July 2011 20:25
- Written by Terri Garlick
By Ellen Burns, Books on the Common
We’re already half way through Summer, but it’s not too late to get some great reading in! Summer is a time for escapism – there is nothing like a good novel to put you in another place and time. Here are some of our favorites this summer:
The Paris Wife, a novel by Paula McLain, is the story of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley, and their time as ex-patriots in Paris. Their amazing life together in Paris, the Riviera, and Pamplona (with friends and sometimes enemies like Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and many others), the drinking, fighting, traveling and partying, are artfully described. It’s a nice tie-in with Woody Allen’s popular film, Midnight in Paris, and has generated some new interest in those great 20th century American writers.
While we’re in Paris, you might try French Lessons by Ellen Sussman, in which a single day in Paris changes the lives of three Americans. It’s a charming, sweet and romantic romp through the City of Lights.
Moving over to the United Kingdom, we highly recommend One Day by David Nicholls, to be read before the movie (starring Anne Hathaway) comes out on August 19th. A perfect summer read, One Day tells the story of Emma and Dexter, who meet for the first time on July 15, 1988, the night of their graduation from University, and Nicholls takes us through the next 20 years of their lives, always on one day – July 15. It’s a sweet, sad and funny story of two young people making their way in the world, where their lives intersect over the years in surprising ways.
Coming back stateside, another great summer read is Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan. This wonderful novel brings together a dysfunctional but loving family every summer at their Maine beachfront home. Years of summers spent there by the Kelleher family have provided memories – both happy and tragic – that the Kelleher children cling to in their own ways. The story combines the tragic and secret history of the family matriarch, her long marriage, and the divergent lives of her children, with sibling rivalry, alcoholism, and Catholic guilt. Anyone with sisters and brothers will recognize the finely drawn relationships among these three – and the ties that both bind and destroy them.
Ann Patchett (Patron Saint of Liars, Bel Canto) takes us on an exciting and mysterious trip in State of Wonder. Marina Singh works as a research scientist for a large pharmaceutical company, having abandoned obstetrics after a terrible tragedy during her residency. Her company is financing the research of Dr. Annick Swenson in the Amazonian jungle, and her friend and colleague, Anders Eckman, has been sent there to assess the work and rein her in. When, after months of no news, Marina learns of his mysterious death, she is sent there to find out what happened, and to finish what he has been unable to do – to bring reports of her research, and determine when a viable drug might be produced. But nothing is as it first appears. Marina’s journey to the outpost of Dr. Swenson, the work she is doing, the fate of Dr. Eckman, and Marina’s own heart of darkness are revealed in this gripping and wondrous tale.
For mystery lovers, we highly recommend the novels of Peter Steiner: Le Crime, L’Assassin, and The Terrorist. Steiner is a former New Yorker cartoonist who turned to writing (and painting) later in life. His protagonist, Louis Morgan, a former rising star in the US State Department and CIA employee has a mid-life and career crisis. He abandons his marriage and children and winds up in a small French village in the Loire Valley where he makes a new but unassuming life. But his sordid past follows him to his new life, endangering his life and those of the villagers in his adopted hometown. Atmospheric, thrilling and great fun.
And you won’t want to miss Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker, also set in rural France (we seem to be reading a lot of books set in France lately!). Walker’s hero is Municipal Policeman Bruno, of the bucolic town of Saint-Denis in Perigord. His duties are normally mundane in this safe enclave, but a brutal murder occurs: the father of a local school teacher is found dead, an elderly Arab decorated for his military service to France. Swastikas were carved into the corpse, attracting the attention of Paris and national law enforcement. Bruno, Chief of Police is a great police procedural with loads of French history, sociology and some tourism.
Finally, we highly recommend the recently released Unsaid by Neil Abramson (who lives in South Salem!). We’ll be hosting him for a discussion and book signing at the store on Friday, August 5, 7:30 p.m., as a benefit for ROAR. Unsaid is a poignant, heart-felt story of love, loss and forgiveness. The story is narrated by Helena, a veterinarian who died young, leaving her grieving husband David (an attorney) with a hole in his heart and a large number of animals to care for. Helena’s story, and that of David’s life without her, is told in her voice as she watches those she loves struggle to move on. She must come to terms with her own mistakes as a veterinarian, and the suffering of the animals she left behind. Unsaid will make you cry, but, more important, it will make you contemplate the human relationship to animals, both domestic and wild. A wonderful book for animal lovers, those who like a good courtroom drama, and anyone interested in human/animal communication.
