Summer ’24 and the Reading is Easy
July 2, 2024
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One summer long weekend behind us already! Hope you’ve been finding some reading delights. As is tradition, I’m here to share a few of my own summer recommendations. As is also tradition for a few years now, Amy of Redfern Book Review and I have cooked up a podcast version to listen to for full discussion of these books and some random meanderings. Come join us! You can tune in to anywhere you listen to podcasts or simply click here.
You Are Here by David Nicholls – The latest from the British writer best known for the novel and recently televised One Day. This focuses less on young love and more on the mature variety. The charming story follows two single middle-agers who through circumstances (and best intentions of friends) end up hiking through all manner of weather and emotional drama across Northern England. There is delightful and funny repartee and some pretty relatable predicaments. A blend of humour and poignancy along with some travel makes for an ideal summer escape.
Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes – Speaking of escape… and England … and humour. Check, check check! But quite different adventures. This one promises full on farcical fun. Set in the linked villages of Little Bottom, Middle Bottom, Great Bottom and Monkton Bottom for starters, a cast of Gucci-clad socialites gets wound up in all sorts of shenanigans. “Take a grand English country house, one (heartbroken) American divorcee, three rich wives, two tycoons, a pair of miniature sausage dogs and one (bereaved) butler; put them all into the blender and out comes the impossibly funny Wives Like Us, the new novel from the best-selling author of Bergdorf Blondes and Party Girls Die In Pearls, Plum Sykes.” Just add a beach if you wish and you’re set for an ideal summer read.
The Glass Maker by Tracy Chevalier – She’s back! Prolific historical fiction writer Tracy Chevalier has found a new milieu. Not Vermeer (Girl with a Pearl Earring) or textiles (A Single Thread, The Lady and the Unicorn) or fossils (Remarkable Creatures) or the underground railway (The Last Runaway) or … this time it’s Venice and specifically, Murano glassworks. The story follows a family of glassblowers from Renaissance times to present day, through rivalries and love stories and historical events that challenge the family and the women who work to keep their glass legacy alive. A writer with a talent for immersing her reader into exotic worlds of art and significant times in our history. Looking forward to the journey!
Sandwich by Catherine Newman – Catherine Newman cornered the market on honest new parenthood tales some years ago and has become a treasured voice we turn to for guaranteed hilarity and frank commentary along with a little heartbreak. She is a frequent essay writer, blogger (I find her contributing to Cup of Jo or on her own substack Crone Sandwich) and She recently wrote We All Want Impossible Things about the loss of a best friend which was an emotional rollercoaster (laughter! tears!) and a moving tribute to long term adult friendships and having to say an early good-bye. Sandwich is a novel that follows a mid-life menopausal mama through a week of the annual multi-generational family vacation on Cape Cod. And what a week it is. While working on hormonal anger management and empty-nest syndrome, she is also grappling with the reality of independent but aging parents. Her long-suffering husband and their marriage demand her attention too. Meanwhile, sandwiches need to be made! Humorous and poignant … sensing a theme yet?
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman – Unlike the other books on this list, Anxious People is not a new release. It was published in 2021 after Fredrik Backman’s other hits, A Man Called Ove and Bear Town perhaps the most familiar. Backman has great range in topics and deftly handles all aspects of the emotional spectrum. I was prompted to head to the back list after viewing the most hilarious video of the author presenting his thoughts on “Creative Anxiety and Procrastination” (click link to view) to a group of writers gathered by Simon and Schuster. It is comic gold.
And all the motivation I needed to order up Anxious People – the story of a group of people randomly taken hostage at a real estate Open House. A couple of retirees who may have outgrown one another, an overworked executive, confused expectant parents, an emboldened 87 year old woman, a realtor and a mystery man each struggles with their own challenges and emotions. Together they try to find a way through this highly anxious experience. Apparently, a similar encounter of his own prompted Backman to pen this one.
The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard – This squeaked onto the list at the end as it’s one I’d just recently read and enjoyed. Captivating and creative, kind of in a category of its own: a little time travel and fantasy with emotions tied to friendship and family and identity and big choices. This follows a young woman who lives in a community located in a central valley. A valley to the East and one to the West are populated by Life Past and Life Future and travel between is forbidden except in very special circumstances. Any movement is secret and tightly managed and monitored. When a visitor from a neighbouring valley is accidently noticed by our protagonist, she becomes part of an upper echelon and is swept up in a close friend’s family story. A debut Canadian author. Looking forward to what’s next already!
Let us know what makes its way into your book bag. Happy reading!
Beach Bag Books
June 2, 2013
As the month of June and a whiff of a promise of summer arrives, book columns inevitably turn to “The Beach List”. Summer reading seems to have a sensibility all its own – an excuse to read something lighter in most cases; I think perhaps fresh and light does feel more right. Last summer I read Beautiful Ruins and it was a perfect sunny days experience – I may not have been on the Italian coast but I felt its warmth just the same. Add that one to your list if you haven’t enjoyed it yet. (You can visit previous years’ lists here and here.) This summer, my list seems to embrace fresh characters … and primary coloured Primary art work if the covers are any indication! I didn’t notice the trend in quirky cover art until I started positioning the images for you. Is this a greater trend or am I just drawn to drawing? Let us know what your own reading recommendations are and if you have anything fresh and light on your list.
This story was recommended by the well-read manager of my favourite local bookstore. She seemed to have been enchanted so I was won over. “A novel as creative, brave, and pitch-perfect as its narrator, an imaginary friend named Budo, who reminds us that bravery comes in the most unlikely forms. It has been a long time since I read a book that has captured me so completely, and has wowed me with its unique vision. You’ve never read a book like this before. As Budo himself might say: Believe me.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Sing You Home
There are a few hits on my shelf with a Canadian/Irish connection – Janet E. Cameron is a Canadian (a Maritimer) living in Ireland. Her author Bio and Website entries confirm she’s witty and warm and evidently a nice blend of both her cultures. When asked to describe “Cinnamon Toast” she wrote: “It’s funny, it’s sad, and we’ve all been there. Plus there are drunken house parties, midnight confrontations, the Cold War, hippies in cabins, pick-up trucks, cherry-vanilla ice-cream, bar fights, prom night, Star Trek, a roll in the hay (literally), gratuitous 80s song references, and a happy ending, even after the end of the world. What more could you want?”
Author Mark Watson is an English stand-up comedian though from reviews I’ve read this isn’t an entirely comic piece and, in fact, features a “dark secret”. Perhaps I’ve been hoodwinked by the pastel cover?! The story of a Wedding Photographer who captures moments in families’ lives explores his own family experiences. ‘A pitch-perfect tragicomedy of ordinary – and not so ordinary – family life‘ –Jonathan Coe
This story almost had a blog entry of its very own. I’ve been waiting for its Canadian release ever since reading Australian and English rave reviews. It’s been called ” The feel-good novel of 2013.” The Harper Collins description: A first-date dud, socially awkward and overly fond of quick-dry clothes, genetics professor Don Tillman has given up on love, until a chance encounter gives him an idea. He will design a questionnaire—a sixteen-page, scientifically researched questionnaire—to uncover the perfect partner. She will most definitely not be a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker or a late-arriver. Rosie is all these things. She is also fiery and intelligent, strangely beguiling, and looking for her biological father a search that a DNA expert might just be able to help her with.
The Rosie Project is a romantic comedy like no other. It is arrestingly endearing and entirely unconventional, and it will make you want to drink cocktails.” Summer cocktails I presume …
Capital is a modern day tale, featuring a cast of many – a creative peek behind the curtains in London in 2008. “John Lanchester’s new book Capital tells the story of the residents of Pepys Road, and how their lives are changed by the global financial crisis; a post-crash, state-of-the-nation novel told with compassion, humour and truth.” This one brings the recent headlines to life and may not be as light as the others but offers fresh (fictional) insight.
I have been increasingly curious about The Fault in Our Stars as I’ve watched it become cult-like in status. The writing has been described as “exquisite” and “devastatingly beautiful”. The premise seems less than cheery, two cancer-stricken teens form a romantic relationship, but it is apparently a study in how we live life, love, and leave legacies. While categorized as a YA (Young Adult) novel, it has gained a huge following among adults as well. Reviews indicate the tears flow but the story sticks with you in a most inspiring way. Pop on your biggest sunglasses and enjoy.
So that’s a little list I’ll be working through. The sun is shining this morning and I’m off to travel back to Nigeria in Will Ferguson’s 419 for a while … Happy Reading!
