Each June, I set myself the goal of reading a set list of books over the summer. Most years, I read some of them, but seldom all. Along the way, I purchase or borrow books, and they end up taking priority. This year’s list is a mix of notable books and bestsellers, both fiction and nonfiction.
I’ve read many of Verghese’s earlier works and almost all Toibin’s and Strout’s novels; they are favorite writers of mine! Years ago, I read Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips for my book group and then later her Quiet Dell.
Claire Keegan is a recent discovery, and as part of becoming a Tar Heel, I will read Wilmington’s Lie. Sadly, Jacqueline Winspear is giving up Maisie Dobbs, detective, and the title here is her last appearance. Overall, this list includes many writers whom I’ve read previously.
MY SUMMER READING LIST
The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear (#18, end of the Maisie Dobbs series)
Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
The Demon of Unrestby Eric Larson (Abraham Lincoln & the months before the Civil War)
Homecoming by Kate Morton
Long Island by Colm Toibin (return of Ellis Lacey of his earlier Brooklyn)
With music and lyrics by the Gershwin brothers, this classic of American musical theater was an afternoon of romance, some hijinks, and lots and lots of dancing! In 1930 in a dead-end town in Nevada, earnest Bobby Child tries to revive the theater he’s been sent to shut down. Captivated by Polly Baker, the town’s postmistress, and indulging in some theatrics of his own, he and the cast tap dance their way to a successful finale. Along the way are some all-time favorite songs such as “Someone to Watch over Me” and “Embraceable You.”
(Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
It isn’t profound drama, the plot is simple and predictable, but overall, it’s uplifting and a great respite from the politics of today. If you’re local, see it before it closes in early January!
SOME FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023
(courtesy Basmo)
I liked many of the books I read this year, so it’s hard to choose, but here are a few that have stayed with me. Happy reading to you!
NOVEL ABOUT A HOT BUTTON ISSUE
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer. F. Boylan
NOVEL BY A FAVORITE AUTHOR
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
NOVEL BY A NEW AUTHOR
Lessons in Chemistryby Bonnie Garmus
NOVEL THAT READS LIKE A MEMOIR
Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls
MYSTERY
Exiles by Jane Harper
Runners up: Small Merciesby Dennis Lehane
And White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear
HISTORICAL NOVEL
Horse by Gwendoline Brooks
Runner up: Bookbinder by Pip Williams
NOVELLAS
Fosterby Claire Keegan
And Small Things Like These, also by Keegan
NONFICTION/MEMOIR
Enough by Cassidy Hutchinson
Runner up: Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel
To all my readers, best wishes for a most happy, healthy holiday season!
Note: Header photo of open book courtesy of Unsplash.
I set myself a goal of reading 12 books from the summer reading list I created. True to form, I did not read all the books on the list, but I read some other good books in addition. Here’s my reading report.
I did well on the fiction side and read seven of the nine titles. They were as follows:
Fiction
Many Rivers to Cross by Peter Robinson(this instead of the listed mystery I discovered I’d already read)
Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls(excellent!)
Hello Beautifulby Ann Napolitano(4 stars)
HorsebyGeraldine Brooks (5 stars)
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy(3 stars)
Trust by Hernan Diaz(appreciated it after I finished it)
The White Ladyby Jacqueline Winspear(Winspear is back on her game!)
Note that I still plan to read This Other Edenand Three.
Nonfiction
As for nonfiction, I still have The Grimkes and The Lobster Coast on my stack. I read a long Atlantic excerpt of The Best Minds and so decided to skip reading the entire book.
(wired.com)
OTHER NOTEWORTHY READS
Fiction
The Majorityby Elizabeth Silver(Supreme Court justice loosely based on RBG, a fast read)
Tom Lakeby Ann Patchett(coming in a future post)
The English Teacherby Lily King
Think of Horses by Mary Clearman Blew
Nonfiction
Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron (memoir of illness & love, coming in a future post)
Giving Up the Ghostby Hilary Mantel (memoir)
The Codebreakerby Walter Isaacson(biography of Jennifer Doudna & history of gene editing; reading currently)
Note: Header image of row of readers is courtesy of lifeisthisway.com
Like many people, the Chief Penguin and I have fond memories of visiting Maui over the years and being treated to insider tours with good friends. It is wrenching to see the wildfire destruction of so much of historic Lahaina and its residential neighborhoods.
On those earlier trips, we enjoyed meandering Front Street, checking out the small shops, and then tucking into a tasty lunch at the fun and funky Lahaina Yacht Club, now completely gone.
Other club pennants on display in Lahaina
Our hearts and thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones and their homes. (Our friends were fortunate that their property was not affected.)
RECENT READING
A WOMAN WITH AN INTRIGUING PAST
The White Ladyby Jacqueline Winspear
Author Winspear (Mystery Scene)
This latest novel by Winspear is a standalone one. I’ve owned it for several months but put off reading it. Now I wonder why as I found it fascinating, engaging, and occasionally suspenseful. Elinor DeWitt, also known as Elinor White, was a practically a child during the First World War I when she and her sister were recruited to help the Resistance effort in Belgium. Their assignments completed, not without danger or continuing mental anguish, they and their mother were taken safely to London, their mother’s early home.
Elinor completed her education and embarked on a career as a language teacher before being importuned to assist the war effort, this time against the Nazis. The book goes back and forth in time between the war years, and the present London setting in 1947. Elinor finds herself drawn to investigate a neighbor family’s business dealings. This leads to re-connections with former colleagues and reflections on her wartime experiences.
I found Winspear’s more recent Maisie Dobbs’ mysteries a bit tired. Thus, I was pleased that Elinor White is a complex and intriguing character. I stayed involved wondering what her fate and that of others would be. Recommended! (~JWFarrington)
CREATIVITY OUT OF MISERY
Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel (Published in 2003)
Author Mantel in 2000 (ew.com)
It was an interesting pairing to read Winspear’s novel right after Hilary Mantel’s haunting, graphic, and sharp-edged memoir. Mantel was born in 1952 in a Britain still suffering the shortages and exigencies of the Second World War. Much of her childhood was spent in a politically provincial village outside Manchester. The tensions between Protestants and Catholics reigned supreme, and which you were governed your schools and your daily routine. Living near multiple sets of older relatives, Hilary received much in the way of family lore and readily accepted that there were ghosts, even recounts personally experiencing sightings. And to a great extent, she took the teachings and warnings of the family’s Catholicism to heart.
As a teenager, her mother moved her and her siblings to another town along with her live-in partner, Jack. A life that was already fraught (her father and Jack had both lived with the family before the move) continued to be so in the new setting as Hilary worked to stay under the radar and quiet, if not invisible. Plagued by illness which became severely painful in her late teens, she spent years being misdiagnosed, mistreated, patronized, and ultimately operated on.
Having lost the ability to have children, she turned to writing. For anyone who has read Wolf Hall or Bringing Up the Bodies, award-winning novels in Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, it’s easy to see the seeds of those historical works here in her approach to life.
This is an unconventional and brilliantly written memoir. Those novels came much later. Hilary Mantel died in 2022 at the age of 70. Thanks to my friend Margaret for passing this book on to me. (~JWFarrington)
