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Summer reading

Laurie

Veteran

Hope everyone in the northern hemisphere is enjoying summer.

The last reading conversation is down the page, so thought I'd start a new one. I want to thank whoever recommend the book Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. I really liked it; it was unusual, and quirky, and very touching at several points.

My Libby app served up a beach read I had on hold, 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand. Not exactly going to the beach, but we are going to a wedding in Greenport, NY on Long Island this weekend, so I'll have some car reading time, and maybe a moment between activities, looking at the Long Island Sound.

What's on your summer reading lists?

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32 replies

Latest reply was from Irina

Echo

Veteran

I read almost exclusively nonfiction, and right now I am finishing up Noise by Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein. It is a really important book about how chance leads to different decision-making, even in supposedly science-based endeavors like fingerprint analysis. Anywhere there is human judgement, there is "noise" or unintended variance in the decisions made. This is obviously hugely important in terms of criminal prosecution and the punishments handed down by courts, but it also affects the bottom line of companies.

After this, I will be moving on to a summer of linguistics, with Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different Through Other Languages by Guy Deutscher and then Daniel Everett's book Don't Sleep, There are Snakes. I've read a number of John McWhorter's books, and while a few are fun, I am looking for a little more substance and I think Everett will provide that without going full-on Noam Chomsky. I will likely continue with Everett's other books if this one proves to be good.

JAileen

Veteran

I just got from the library The Daughters of Yalta. The daughters are Churchill’s, FDR’s and Harriman’s daughter. Harriman was ambassador to the Soviet Union.

RoseandJoan

Veteran

Thanks Laurie, I love a book thread.

I recently re-read Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar which I'm looking forward to gifting my teenage girls in a couple of years.

over the past couple of years I have really enjoyed reading re-workings of classic literature from a female perspective. The latest is Jo Baker's Longbourn which centres around Pride and Prejudice but the central heroine of the novel is the servant Sarah.

Since January I have been reading Women who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes which uses folklore as a basis for better understanding the female psyche. There's so much wisdom within these pages and I believe this a book I will return to the book often.

I am currently half way through Room Full of Mirrors a biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R Cross.

MsMary

Veteran

Oh, yay! Anxious People was me, I think!

I loved The Golem and the Jinni a few years ago, and I just finished the sequel, The Hidden Palace, which came out last week. I felt like it started out a bit slow as I scrambled to remember the first book, but I ended up loving it.

I have also raced through the oeuvre of Ben H. King, starting with Underground Airlines and then going back to catch up on The Last Policeman and its two sequels (warning: VERY DARK).

And now I am taking a nonfiction break and am deep into How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning With Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, after hearing him interviewed on NPR. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I just finished Second Place (fiction, Rachel Cusk) which was deeply weird but interesting as all her books are, and Writers and Lovers (fiction, Lily King) which was funny and sweet but also sharply observed. And Letters to Comondo, Edmund de Waal's follow up to The Hare with the Amber Eyes. All on audio.

Thanks for the thread and the recommendations!

Oh -- and may I humbly recommend my own recent release? Great for book clubs and I will visit via Zoom. It's called Big Reader.

Bonnie

Veteran

I finished Nevada Barr's mystery, BOAR ISLAND, on Friday and am now reading A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA, by Richard Hughes (1929). Both books are excellent. I alternate fiction and mysteries with an occasional non fiction thrown in.

Bonnie

Veteran

Suz: I will look for your new book as I really enjoyed your first one. Congratulations!!

Helena

Veteran

I'm reading The Menopause Manifesto by Jen Gunther. She is sort of the anti-Goop of women's health. Recommended by my gyno and apparently very useful during the menopause transition. Not very fun though!

Sloper

Veteran

I'm in the middle of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. I've always admired her commentary and insights on cable news. She worked with LBJ during his last year in the White House and afterwards as he gathered his memoirs. It's an eye-opening book for me about American politics, and a president who often seems more of a caricature. I'd like to read more of her presidential biographies.

Then maybe re-reading one of my many old favorites (I'm a great re-reader).

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I've been reading Sapiens for a year now...and I'm really ready to move on to something else!

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I just finished the second book of NK Jemisin’s “Broken Earth” series, and decided to take a little break from that world so I’m reading Circe.

Hubs and I are rewatching Game of Thrones, and now I kinda want to reread those books!

MsMary

Veteran

Suz, I just bought your book on Kindle!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Helena, I love that -- the anti-GOOP of women's health. Best line of the day!

And thank you, Bonnie and Ms. Mary!

Style Fan

Veteran

I will put your new book on my list, Suz. I really enjoyed your first one. I recommended it to several people.
I am currently reading "Women Talking" by Miriam Toews. It is excellent.

pil

Veteran

Congratulations, Suz!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Thanks, Pil. And I loved Women Talking, Style Fan! I listened to it on audio and it was really terrific that way.

Synne

Veteran

My local charity/thrift store has had a book sale going on for the longest time (and refuse to accept donations anymore, because their storages are stacked after everyone is home spring cleaning!). And by fluke I picked up a book from the (covered in cobwebs) Christian section. It is a a book about parenting and pedagogy, "How to really know your child" by author and Dr. Ross Campbell. I burst into tears reading it. I have never read anything similar. So important and simple and logical. And a beautiful approach. So yeah, I'll be spending more time in that section of the thrift store this summer.

Laurie

Veteran

SUZ! Congratulations, and I am ordering it right now. I would love to have a YLF Book Club with Suz -- can we make that happen?!

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Suz, your book is on my TBR list. Thanks for telling us about it!

Also, Ms Mary, I also really enjoyed The Golem and the Jinni, and didn't know the sequel was out, so that's exciting!

On the recommendation of my neighbor, I just caught up on two series.

Maisie Dobbs is a mystery series, set in the "greatest generation" years starting shortly before WWI and currently well into WWII. It's been a great pandemic distraction, as I read them all over the past year.

The Murderbot Diaries is a fun science fiction series about a hybrid computer/organic construct breaking free of its programming and discovering its place in a world not built for organisms like itself (mostly it wants to be left alone to watch soap operas.)

I've also been trying to add more diverse authors in my preferred genres, so to that end I've been devouring N.K, Jemison's work (everything, all of it, she's so good) and started on Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series. That one's been fun for me, because it's set in mid-century Los Angeles.

kkards

Veteran

I love these what are you reading posts
i just returned from a week at the beach, not great weather, but managed to find beach and porch reading time

~Beach Read, by Emily Henry. As its title implies, its a great beach read, its a good read, well written, but not particularly deep
~The Last Romantics, by Tara Conklin. I loved the way it showed a family changing and growing, coming apart and coming together.
~Baker Towers, by Jennifer Haigh. Another story of a family over time. But this is also the store of an industry (coal) and a town and what happens as industry changes and the impact of the change. Sounds dry the way i wrote it, but its not, great story. Also recommend this book by the same author Mrs Kimble.

doggeh lover

In honor of Father's Day I started reading a book from my Dad's favorite author, Mickey Spillane, which introduces his most famous character, Private Investigator Mike Hammer who is checking into the murder of his best friend. Title is 'I, The Jury'. It's a murder mystery set in the 40's and has a lot of the slang used at the time (which I like a lot.) Good read!

rachylou

Veteran

I started Shadow and Bone on Netflix and realised I’d only read the Six of Crows books, so now I’ve switched to Shadow and Bone. I was reading The Water Rat of Wanchai by Ian Hamilton… it’s basically a Food Safety mystery, lol, so I’ll have to return to it!

Staysfit

Veteran

@Suz, congratulations! I just ordered both of your books available for Kindle.

I have started to read the books that are written by the authors that come to our city as part of our Friends of the Central Library Author Talks.

1. The Library Book - Susan Orlean
2. Stamped - Jason Reynolds

3. Transcendent Kingdom - Yaa Gyasi
4. Begin Again - Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr
5. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

I try to read at least one, if not two books by each author before they give their talks which start in September and continue through May every year.

My friend recommended The Monster of Florence, so I also have that sitting on my shelf at the moment as well.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

A lot of your Fab reading sounds much more highbrow than mine! I just finished a bestseller: Lucinda Riley’s The Missing Sister, only came out last month. I have read the whole Seven Sisters series by her in the past year.
As I love historical fiction, the series has been perfect for me. And you get to travel virtually to all the different locations

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Oh, and I am impatiently awaiting the arrival of Suz's book, since I ordered it last week!

Sara L.

Veteran

Ha, Jenni NZ - I was thinking the same thing. I decided a few years ago that I don't like to read anything that feels like homework. And I don't have to because I'm adult and reading is a fun hobby for me. Here's a few recent 5 star reads:

One Day All This Will be Yours - Adrian Tchaikovshy - Darkly hilarious

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert - Grumpy/sunshine diverse romance that's charming and funny.

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall - Absolutely hilarious if you've watched any of the Great British Bake Off. I probably read about half of it out loud to my husband. Also very British which had me occasionally Googling words or phrases. It's marketed as romance but it reads more women's fiction to me (can a man write women's fiction?)

Laurie

Veteran

@Suz - just ordered your book (an actual physical one!). Excited.
Also put a hold on Libby for Writers and Lovers at your suggestion.

@Sara L - put a hold on Act Your Age

I really appreciate our book threads!

Laurie

Veteran

Just finished Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener. For anyone in tech, or living in San Francisco, this captures the insanity of Silicon Valley over the last decade and a half. Excellent writer. She is funny, modest, insightful, and disturbing. I have lived through so much of this in my career as a non-technically- trained female selling software, mostly for CA-based startups. Highly recommend.

Irina

Veteran

Awesome, Congratulations, Suz! I’m going to read your book!

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