To me, June signals the beginning of summer reading season. Last summer I set myself the goal of reading 20 books between June 1 and September 1. This year I don’t think I’ll be quite as ambitious; maybe I’ll read that many books and maybe not, but I am not going to be so focused on the number. Here are some of the titles I have stacked up for my summer reading. As usual, I will mail a box of books to Maine and then, inevitably, buy a few more books here and there at my favorite independent bookstores. Plus I already have some titles on my Kindle waiting to be read. So, here goes!
What titles are on your summer reading list? I’d love to have you share a title or two.
FICTION—More Serious or Literary
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson. A debut spy novel that deals with race and gender.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman. Backman is a very popular Swedish author and this book was a recommendation from a good friend.
Clock Dance by Anne Tyler. I never got to this novel last summer so this year I will.
Exposure by Helen Dunmore. A much praised author whose work I’ve never read. This novel is set in London in 1960. Dunmore died fairly recently.
Florida by Lauren Groff. I don’t often read short stories, but, I live in Florida, so I thought I should give this highly praised collection a try.
The Huntress by Kate Quinn. I thoroughly enjoyed Quinn’s earlier historical novel, The Alice Network, and expect this one to be equally riveting.
Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford. A New York Review classic originally published in 1989. Bedford was born in Germany in 1911, but lived in several different countries including briefly the U.S. She died in 2006.
Middlemarch by George Eliot. A classic I’ve had on my list awhile now to re-read. Originally published 1871-72.
FICTION—Mystery, Crime, and Beach Reads
The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow. I’m aiming to shake up my reading selections and this novel of the drug trade was on a list I saw.
A Question of Trust by Penny Vincenzi. Women’s fiction for sure, and the last novel by this very popular British author whose earlier books featured power-hungry men, love-seeking women and lots of romance, conflict and affairs. Vincenzi died last year.
Shadows on the Lake by Giovanni Cocco and Amneris Magellan. A mystery translated from the Italian set around Lake Cuomo that was on one of the many book-related e-mails to which I subscribe.
When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton. Continuing my novel reading about Cuba. This is the sequel to Cleeton’s Next Year in Havana.
MEMOIRS
Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl. Reichl’s account of her time as editor of Gourmet Magazine before its demise.
She Read to Us in the Late Afternoons: A Life in Novels by Kathleen Hill. My regular readers know I am a big fan of memoirs. This one looks like it combines the personal with a love of books.
Notes: All text ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved). Header photo of reader couple from www.nymcpl.org.
