Summertime, Summertime, Summertime Reading

Every year the “beach reads” display goes up and we try to define the quintessential summertime read. Should it be light and fluffy or be dense and deep? Just like the choice of reading at the beach, dockside, by the pool or inside in the air conditioning, the choice is up to you.

Here’s what we’re reading and enjoying this summer:

Camila: Elizabeth Gilbert’s CITY OF GIRLS – It’s an easy story to get into and read anywhere… especially outside in the shade next to the pool (while keeping an eye on my boys, of course). CITY OF GIRLS is a sexy coming of age story, it’s well written, full of NYC 1940’s glamour, lots of sex.

Gianelle: I am listening to CITY OF GIRLS on Libro.fm. I’m not very far in, but It seems to fit the summer read vibe. It is a coming of age story, full of excitement & attraction of theater culture in 1940’s NYC. Vivian is not interested in conventional standards for young women of her time & as a consequence is kicked out of school & her parents send her away to live with Aunt Peg. There she encounters the freedom to explore life as it interests her.

This week I finished THE INVINCIBLE SUMMER by Alice Adams selected by the military spouse book club. It follows the lives of four friends over the period of twenty years beginning at university, detailing their struggles & successes of their personal & professional lives, and how friendship supports resilience.

Judy: I’ve listened to two very different, but very good books recently. Each is wonderfully read. Sally Rooney’s NORMAL PEOPLE is a contemporary Irish love story of two young people who meet in high school and go through college together. It’s beautifully and simply told.  But, oh, the details. And the families. The best part of listening is the narrator’s Irish accent, making you feel you’re in Dublin or the countryside with them.

The second book is a mystery. Laura Lippman’s LADY IN THE LAKE, (Coming July 23) the story of a lovely and intelligent Baltimore girl who does what’s expected of her, marries well, has a child, keeps a beautiful home. When it all falls apart she has to make a new life for herself. That’s when the story and our heroine heat up. Loved the details of the setting (husband is from Baltimore) but you don’t have to be to get lost in this story. Either book would be a pleasure to read but listening via Libro.fm was an excellent change for me. Happy Summer!

Emily: I’m tackling an epic read, THE OLD DRIFT by Namwali Serpell. It follows the curse down a Zambian family line for generations. Each section of the book follows a new member of the family, acting as novellas of their own. It makes it easy to take little “side trips” and pick up a different book before jumping right back in.

On one of these side trips, I read RABBITS FOR FOOD by Binnie Kirshenbaum. This book centers around Bunny, a middle-aged woman with clinical depression. Doesn’t sound like something for the beach? You’d be surprised at the humor packed in this one. It’s great for anyone who liked ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE but doesn’t mind going a little darker.

These first weeks of summer I’ve also spent some time paging through WAITING FOR THE PUNCH by Marc Maron and rereading favorite interviews. On Maron’s podcast, WTF, he interviews everyone,  writers, actors, comedians, musicians and even a politicians or two. I love listening to the podcast but the book is the perfect bring along for the boat or beach because you can open to any page and it’ll be thoroughly entertaining.

George: For the beach I can recommend Peter Heller’s THE RIVER, a thrilling adventure of two young men on a canoe trip in the trackless Canadian wilderness threatened by a raging forest fire and sinister men sharing the river.

For a long summer read, nothing beats the biography of FREDERICK DOUGLASS by David Blight. It’s both a mesmerizing story of a magnificent life and a history of America’s racial turmoil from the abolition struggles of the 1840s through the Civil War, and the ups and downs of reconstruction through the rest of the century.

Michael (Key West librarian and bookstore volunteer): For a super-fun summer beach read, I recommend THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH: LIFE AFTER WARMING by David Wallace-Wells. It outlines how few enjoyable summers the planet may have left, sketching the probable horrors from food shortages, deadly heat, rising waters, the certain mayhem of mass migration and likely death of millions or billions of people around the globe. Kick back and grab a Margarita, and focus on the fragility of our planet and our little lives on it. Additional Margaritas may be required.