Fun Summer Reading

The gardeners among us usually read more in the winter time. Once it’s time to start digging in the dirt, we don’t see as much of them at the library. Yet, for many of us, summer is the time of reading, kicking back on vacation at the beach or by the lake with a good book. There’s a long list of new best sellers that most everyone wants to read this summer, from the Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest to Sizzlin’ Sixteen. If you’re stuck in the holds queue and desperate for something to read, don’t forget there are a lot of good books out there; the oldies but goodies of the book world.

If you love southern fiction, try Brighten the Corner Where You Are by Fred Chappell. The story of Joe Robert Kirkman’s day as a school teacher in North Carolina during World War II, Brighten the Corner was one of my first exposures to the “southern” story and it’s still one of my favorites. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel like you’re sitting on the front porch with an old friend telling stories and drinking ice tea. But make mine unsweetened please.

For a light run read, I love Lorna Landvik’s Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons. Landvik is one of my personal favorites. She creates stories of women friends that make me want to go out and join the koffee klatch. Angry Housewives traces the friendship of 5 women over the course of twenty plus years, as they fall in love, marry, raise children, divorce, and discover things about themselves and each other. And all the while, their friendship grows and sustains them. Yet, don’t mistake it for a sweet story. This book is also a laugh out loud hoot.

For a literary pick, I love Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety and Birds in Fall by Brad Kessler. Kessler’s language is down right poetic. It’s a story about a woman who researches migrating birds and tries to find meaning after the death of her husband. Stegner’s book traces the fifty year friendship of two couples who meet out of graduate school in the 1930’s. Both husbands are English professors and writers. Kessler and Stegner both use language and metaphor beautifully as they tell their stories, but it’s the characters, as always, who keep us turning the pages. Here’s warning though, both stories are tearjerkers. So don’t read them while operating equipment!

If the sweet and literary doesn’t send you, here’s my suggestions for thriller and dog lovers. Play Dead by David Rosenfelt is about lawyer Andy Carpenter, who saves a dog from death row and then realizes the dog was witness to a crime. Andy now has to keep himself and the dog alive while trying figure out who done what. Then there’s Dog Gone It by Spencer Quinn. The story is told by Chet, the dog of a private investigator. With his easily distracted doggy memory, a great nose and an inability to communicate in human language, Chet has to solve the mystery and then make Bernie understand what happens. Rosenfelt’s books may be a little more serious, but Chet has to be one of the greatest characters to ever come to life on the page.

For lovers of Doug Adams A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy try almost anything by Christopher Moore or Terry Pratchett. My favorite’s by Moore include Practical Demonkeeping, Coyote Blue, and for the truly daring Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff Christ’s Childhood Pal. Be warned though, Moore is an acquired taste with language, sex and a high degree of irreverence. So, don’t try this at home if you aren’t prepared. Pratchett writes fantasy that takes place on Discworld, a flat disc that sits on the backs of 5 elephants, who are standing on the back of giant turtle, who is floating through space. Sir Pratchett (he’s actually be knighted by the Queen!) is a first class satirist, who can rip on anything from Shakespeare to Rock and Roll, or vampires to sorcerers, the army to the postal service. I prefer any Terry Pratchett novel that includes Death, his trusty steed Binky and Death’s granddaughter Susan, or Granny Weatherwax. Try Soul Music, Mort, or Lords and Ladies.

Finally, for something that defies categorization, I love anything by Connie Willis. Considered a fantasy writer, Willis has been doing time travel novels before it ever became popular. One of her best though has nothing to do with time travel and everything to do with life. Passages is an incredible story about a researcher who studies near death experiences and she discovers more than she ever imagined.