Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 4

It was brought to my attention that I missed posting Marisa's summer reading list, so on this Indian Summer day, here's a bit of summertime (or, really, anytime) reading for you:


1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
An otherworldly circus, open only at night, is the setting for a duel between two young magicians. The imagery is amazing and the story compelling. It's a hard book to put down!

2. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Budo is the imaginary friend of a boy named Max. He gives us the inside scoop on what it's like to be an imaginary friend and a close look at the trials and tribulations he goes through to save Max's life, at the risk of his own.

3. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
I got so attached to the characters in this novel that when I was through, I seriously considered starting over again. A novel about baseball, family, friends and love.

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In this futuristic dystopian novel, 24 children ages 12-18 are pitted against each other in a televised fight to the death. It's now a movie but as is often the case, the book is better.  It's worth a read, even if you've already seen it.

A few other books I liked: The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, Cutting for
Stone by Abraham Verghese and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving
by Jonathan Evison.

I also read Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Half the time I loved it and the other half I felt like "accidentally" losing it so I wouldn't have to read it anymore. Some classics make me feel that way. I know I'm supposed to like them, but sometimes it's hard.

Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 3

The next bookseller to weigh in on the question, "What did you read this summer?" is Sandy Scott.

My summer reading list is shorter than I'd like, but I've managed to get
a few good books under my belt. My favorites have been:
1. The Borrower, by Rebecca Makkai, which is a novel about a 26 year old librarian whose involvement in a young patron's life leads to an unplanned kidnapping.
2. Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman, a young adult fantasy with a main character who pulled me right into her story. Seraphina is a talented musician whose world is built on an uneasy truce between humans and
dragons, who are able to shift into human form. With the 40th anniversary of the original peace treaty approaching, tensions are high and a dangerous secret that Seraphina guards is threatened with discovery. Excellent writing, fascinating dragons, and a strong female lead character should appeal to fans of the Eragon series and Kristin
Cashore's Graceling trilogy.
I've also enjoyed Tina Fey's Bossypants; Archer Mayor's forthcoming novel, Paradise City; Privacy, by Garret Keizer; Penelope, by Rebecca Harrington; The Diviners, by Libba Bray; and Liar & Spy, by Rebecca Stead.

Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 2

Diane Grenkow is the second bookseller to ring in with an answer to our "back to school" question: What did you read this summer? 

Here are some of the books I've read this summer.  I really did read The Pickled Pantry even though it is about pickling and doesn't really tell a story exactly.  Except maybe the story of summer.  I read it cover to cover anyway and stuck slips of paper in where there are recipes I want to try.  It turns out, it would have been easier to mark the ones that I DON'T want to try.  I have been reading Anne of Green Gables books to my daughter and wishing we could run off to Prince Edward Island.  My son suggested I read the Ranger's Apprentice series and I'll admit I picked up the first one just to be nice because he asked me to.  Then I couldn't put them down and neglected the things that should have been pickled because I was too busy reading the whole series.  Whoops!  The Man Who Quit Money provided food for thought about how to live one's life and how to relate to money and what we do to get it and keep it that might not be in our best interest.  I love Archer Mayor and Toni Morrison, whatever they write.  Birds of a Lesser Paradise, a collection of stories, and Wild took me places the way you want a good summer read to take you.  Right now I am reading Louise Erdrich's forthcoming novel, The Round House.  It tells a brutal story but I'm completely taken with it so far.

Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 1

Hey! We're back! And we're turning a (virtual) fresh page on the blog with a new series of bookseller Q&A.

For the first question, we're tweaking the quintessential "What I did on my summer vacation" a bit and asking, "What did you read this summer?"

Our first answer comes from Edgar Davis, who has two books to recommend:

Blonde Faith, by Walter Mosley, is part of the Easy Rawlings Detective Series which includes Devil in a Blue Dress and Little Yellow Dog. This installment deliver the same detailed, imaginative and introspective narration from the story's hero, Ezekial Rawlings, a private-eye and Korean War veteran who makes his home in the L.A. of the 1950's, 60's and 70's. While using his detective's skill  to aid a member of of his close-knit African-American community, Easy's own life becomes complicated when he's abandoned by Bonnie, the love of his life.

The Devil's Storybooks, by Natalie Babbitt, is a delightfully collection of fables written with a rare combination of light-heartedness and sharp wit. The tales are both funny and profound. A good book for anyone from 13 to 30.

Book review round-up

As I mentioned last post, I have been reading some excellent books recently, and today I've got a blurb for each.



I'll start with Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, which is likely to be my favorite book of the summer, if not the year. Little Bee isn't brand new--it was first published in the States last year--but it took me a while to get to it. I am so glad I finally did. Cleave's writing is simply brilliant, and Little Bee is a heartbreaking and beautiful character. Little Bee is a 16 year old Nigerian refugee whose escape to the UK awarded her a two year stay in a detention center. She speaks to the reader as if over a cup of tea, with candor and with patience for all that you do not understand about the world. Her story is one that you will not soon forget.

Having struggled through The City & the City last year, only to realize as I closed the book that I really liked it, I was excited to read China Mieville's new novel, Kraken. This is a novel for fantasy readers, certainly. Reminiscent of books like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, our Everyman in this story is Billy Harrow, a curator at the London Museum of Natural History. The museum has recently acquired an enormous giant squid specimen that has been getting a great deal of attention from the public. When the squid mysteriously vanishes--tank and all--Billy is sucked into a strange layer of London life that encompasses cults of all descriptions (including, naturally, a group of squid worshipers), gods, monsters, angels, an evil tattoo, and two especially horrifying assassins. It's a chaotic ride, but a fun one, full of literary references and Mieville's playful use of language.

I found The Tale of Halcyon Crane, by Wendy Webb, to be a perfectly delicious ghost story with a splash of romance. Halcyon lost her mother in a fire when she was young but had a perfectly happy childhood with her loving father. It comes as a shock to receive a letter informing her that her estranged mother died a few weeks ago. Hallie's grief and confusion are compounded when her father passes away soon after. Determined to unearth the mystery of her own past, Hallie travels to the island where her mother had been living and where--though she has no memory of it--she spent her earliest years. Just creepy enough for a few shivers without being the stuff of nightmares, The Tale of Halcyon Crane is  a light, cool breeze of a book, perfect for summer reading.

Currently, I'm in the middle of two books by authors on our summer schedule: Imperfect Endings, by Zoe Carter, and The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want, by Garret Keizer. Carter's book is an honest and intimate memoir of her mother's decision to end her life after a long struggle with Parkinson's Disease. Keizer writes about the history of noise and its often overlooked consequences. While very different in style and subject, both books are excellently written and captivating.

To wrap up, a teaser for three books that will be published in the coming months. Dennis Lehane fans will be thrilled to learn that he is bringing back Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro for his new mystery, Moonlight Mile (November). Revisiting the case that tore them apart twelve years before, Kenzie and Gennaro's investigations put their lives and the life of the girl they're searching for in grave danger. Though I felt this was missing some of the grittiness of previous books in the series, it's good to be back on the case with these two Boston detectives.

I was privileged to have dinner with Joyce Hinnefeld a couple of years ago, when her novel In Hovering Flight was published. She is a lovely woman, and I was delighted to receive an advance copy of her new book, Stranger Here Below (October). In it, Hinnefeld introduces three generations of women, their individual strengths and fragility, and explores the sometimes tenuous bonds of friendship. This is an excellent book to share among sisters, mothers, daughters, and friends.

Finally, one for the YA crowd (though I highly recommend these books for adults, as well.) The Chaos Walking trilogy is the series I most expect and hope will get a big boost from the end of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy (the final installment, Mockingjay, arrives August 24). It shares some similar elements--a corrupted world, far removed from our own, in which two teenagers may be the last hope for humanity's redemption--but is completely original in its characters and style. Beginning with The Knife of Never Letting Go, the reader journeys with Todd and Viola in search of hope. Todd was born on the planet called "New World," and has grown up in a village where men's (and animals') thoughts are always "heard" by everyone around them and all of the women died long ago. Viola is a newcomer to the planet, ejected from a scout ship that preceded a larger ship bringing a new group of colonists to New World. Together, they are pitted against the cruel Mayor, who has plans to conquer New World and reshape society to his own wishes. You will quickly find yourself caring deeply about the characters that Patrick Ness has created and his pacing will put you on the edge of your seat as they battle against the Mayor as well as with their changing understanding of themselves and their world. The final installment, Monsters of Men, will be on shelves at the end of September, which means that if you haven't had a chance to check out this series yet, you'll be able to race through the books back to back, all the way to the thrilling conclusion.

Served with a twist of lemon

After a couple of long, hot weeks, my brain feels something like butterscotch pudding, so even though I've read a number of wonderful books I'd like to review, I don't see that happening today. Instead, here are some tidbits from the wonderful world of books.

NPR invites you to vote for the most thrilling books of all time. The Top 100 list will be announced August 2.

Also from Shelf Awareness, my friend Michele Filgate received high praise from Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Harding, who called her "one of the patron saints of  the book world." I would wholeheartedly agree with him, and am renewing my vow to visit RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, where (St.) Michele organizes a fantastic roster of events year-round.

One way some publishers are competing with growing e-book sales is to create books that can't possibly be replicated in a digital format. These "luxury editions" might come with, say, a piece of moon rock or a bit of the blood of your favorite cricket start. (Um, ew?!) Most of us may never have the kind of money that would allow us to own a $15,000 biography of Muhammad Ali (comes with four autographed photos and a Jeff Koons sculpture), but it's a fun bit of "book porn" to ogle.

Booksellers reminisce about their first "summer book" memories.

And while you're reading that nice, fat novel--whether you're on the beach or in a lawn chair--wouldn't a tall, cool glass of lemonade be nice to have at hand? I found a great, simple, recipe at Our Best Bites that I've been making a lot this summer. Of course, I can't ever follow recipes to the letter, so I use about half of the sugar, and instead of simmering it in water to dissolve, I pour a cup or so of warm-to-hot tap water in my container, stir in the sugar till dissolved, then add the rest of the ingredients; prepare a glass with ice, and enjoy!

The Books of Summer: Part 1

Though summer isn't officially here, we are into the longest days of the year, school's out (or nearly), and the summer reading lists have hit newstands and airwaves.

This week, a small selection of lists found around the internet--stay tuned for our personal picks, coming next week!

National Public Radio has a lot of good recommendations, from mysteries to cookbooks; they also link to excerpts from some of their picks.

Also from NPR, bookseller recommendations (always among our favorite lists to peruse).

The L.A. Times book blog Jacket Copy takes the long view with a list of over 50 books that are being published in the coming months.

Wall Street Journal offers their five choices for vacation reading.

Entertainment Weekly has the PopWatch edition and Steven King's picks.

The Seattle Times shares picks from librarian Nancy Pearl.

International summer reading: from Canada - some of these won't be available in the states, but others, like Guillermo del Torro's horror-fest The Strain, are being published simultaneously in Canada and the U.S.

The Indie Choice Awards provide a list of bookseller-approved reading, good for anytime of year (actually, that applies to all of these books, really). Highly recommended: Sarah Vowell's funny acceptance video.

The Onion's A.V. Club has introduced Wrapped Up in Books, an online book club to introduce or re-introduce readers to modern classics. Currently on the table is Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Another online book club idea is Paste magazine's Infinite Summer Reading Group, which is honoring the late David Foster Wallace by reading Infinite Jest.

Author Kenneth C. Davis gives history buffs a list of his favorites. (Enough with the "not all summer books are light reading" disclaimers already, though, Mr. Davis. That's been done to death.)

Salon interviewed authors about their favorite books and/or books they plan to read this summer.

Are these some of those frothy books Kenneth Davis was referring to?

[Edited to add:] There it is - thanks, New  York Times, for a list of fiction by women, for women. There are some really good books on this list, though I think we could all do without the condescension towards "chick lit."

And let's not forget younger readers:

The Horn Book has some great suggestions for kids and teens.

ReadKiddoRead says Summer Reading Doesn't Have to Be Punishment, and provides a long list of reasons why, including books like Adele & Simon, Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, Coraline: The Graphic Novel, and The London Eye Mystery.