Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid is my current summer read, and perhaps pick another of her books up. Also, more of the Slow Horses series and either a Stephen King or Blake Crouch!
I’ve recently discovered the “Lincoln Lawyer” series by Michael Connelly. (No I never saw the movie but I did watch the first season of the TV show.) The show led me to the books: I wanted to discover what had or hadn’t been changed.
"Working" (is it really work when you enjoy it so much?) through Fatal Grace by Louise Penny now, and hoping to knock out one or two of Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud before summer's end. The latter was turned into a good series on Netflix... that was canceled after its pilot season. I also have some church planting books in the docket.
I was so sad when I finished the last Gamanche book, I was rationing them and was convinced I had one or two more, so now have to wait impatiently for the autumn.
I loved My Life in France by Julia Child. In preparation for the new biography on Child's editor Judith Jones, I'm reading Jones' memoir "The Tenth Muse," which has forced me to add several other food authors/chefs onto my summer reading list. The list includes the new "Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food," "Bite by bite: nourishments & jamborees" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, "Invitation to a banquet: the story of Chinese food" by Fuchsia Dunlop, and "The taste of country cooking" by Edna Lewis.
I'm reading the new Aimee N book Bite by Bites in little bites (sorry, couldn't resist). It is a lovely meditation on food and the author's cultural backgrounds.
I'm mostly reading for our show now, which is a nice 'problem' to have, but on the personal side of my TBR, I always get really excited about the new Gabriel Allon book from Daniel Silva. The next book 'A Death in Cornwall' https://danielsilvabooks.com/books/a-death-in-cornwall/ comes out on July 9, and we're leaving for a vacation two weeks later. Waiting to read it will be hard, but I couldn't be happier about the upcoming 10-hour train ride that starts our trip.
I’m looking for some backlist reads - paperbacks - that I can easily take along while I’m traveling. Nothing too heavy - nothing too emotionally gripping.
Can I recommend a book for you? It's light and fun and very summery - Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland. It's like if the movie 'Dirty Dancing' was a novel and tells the story of a family hotel in the Catskills that's on the brink of being sold to a hotel chain. I loved the dynamics between the characters in the extended family and the hotel seting. https://strongsenseofplace.com/books/last_summer_at_the_golden_hotel_friedland/
Another great but fun read is The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce. Set in 1980s England, in a record shop. A friend gave it to me, I read it (twice), gave it to so many friends and everyone loves it.
I am the kind of person who likes the idea of an easy beach read more than I actually like the book itself. We do have a vacation coming up where I plan on some serious reading and I’m hoping to work through Peter Heller’s latest, and the River We Remember by Krueger. I always tend to turn to nature based books during the summer. Reminds me of t he summer vacations KD my youth.
I’m off to Iceland for a two week road trip so plan to read The woman at 1,000 degrees before travelling. Likely to pick up Project Hail Mary at some point and may give Moby Dick a go too
I am also going to Iceland this summer! In preparation I read two memoirs: Wild Horses of the Summer Sun and Names for the Sea. I also really liked Miss Iceland and Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir.
Over the past weekend I picked up the whole Slough House in a used bookstore, so depending on when I get around to book one that may be my whole summer.
I picked up a few books this weekend at my bookstore that I’m looking forward to reading this summer. James by Percival Everett, A Man of Two Faces, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s memoir and The Wonder of Small Things:Poems of Peace and Renewal, ed. By James Crews. I will also read a couple more Agatha Christie’s while on vacation, and borrow a friend’s copy of Table for Two by Amor Towles.
Thanking my lucky stars we still have Salman Rushdie with us, and while I do want to read Knife, I'm going to be reading Victory City after my wife got it for me last year and it kept getting supplanted by more "urgent" books. I've never read a Rushdie I didn't like, and few I didn't outright love. His prose is always gorgeous (I mean, he gave us the Incredibubble ad campaign for Aero candy bars, what does one expect?), but it's his ability to see the beauty in humanity, even after the very ugly things he has seen and experienced, that really comes through in his writing. Two years ago, The Enchantress of Florence shot to the top of my favorite reads of the year, and, two chapters in, I have a feeling Victory City will pull a similar trick.
I just started Madeleine L'Engle's book of short stories, The Moment of Tenderness. I'm also on the hunt for a little book called The Moustache by Emmanuel Carriere (1986), which has been popping up in social reviews here and there and sounds intriguing.
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid is my current summer read, and perhaps pick another of her books up. Also, more of the Slow Horses series and either a Stephen King or Blake Crouch!
I’ve recently discovered the “Lincoln Lawyer” series by Michael Connelly. (No I never saw the movie but I did watch the first season of the TV show.) The show led me to the books: I wanted to discover what had or hadn’t been changed.
I wish I was just starting this series. The Lincoln Lawyer turned me on to Michael Connelly and now I have read him all up.
In addition to Team of Rivals, which I'm reading now, I have The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store on the top of my pile on the nightstand!
I am reading Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy and a few of Steinbeck's later works.
As a retiree, I’m trying to read books that were too demanding to attempt during my working years. Also, trying to work in some lighter non-fiction.
"Working" (is it really work when you enjoy it so much?) through Fatal Grace by Louise Penny now, and hoping to knock out one or two of Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud before summer's end. The latter was turned into a good series on Netflix... that was canceled after its pilot season. I also have some church planting books in the docket.
I was so sad when I finished the last Gamanche book, I was rationing them and was convinced I had one or two more, so now have to wait impatiently for the autumn.
I loved My Life in France by Julia Child. In preparation for the new biography on Child's editor Judith Jones, I'm reading Jones' memoir "The Tenth Muse," which has forced me to add several other food authors/chefs onto my summer reading list. The list includes the new "Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food," "Bite by bite: nourishments & jamborees" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, "Invitation to a banquet: the story of Chinese food" by Fuchsia Dunlop, and "The taste of country cooking" by Edna Lewis.
I'm reading the new Aimee N book Bite by Bites in little bites (sorry, couldn't resist). It is a lovely meditation on food and the author's cultural backgrounds.
I can't wait to start it!
I'm mostly reading for our show now, which is a nice 'problem' to have, but on the personal side of my TBR, I always get really excited about the new Gabriel Allon book from Daniel Silva. The next book 'A Death in Cornwall' https://danielsilvabooks.com/books/a-death-in-cornwall/ comes out on July 9, and we're leaving for a vacation two weeks later. Waiting to read it will be hard, but I couldn't be happier about the upcoming 10-hour train ride that starts our trip.
I’m looking for some backlist reads - paperbacks - that I can easily take along while I’m traveling. Nothing too heavy - nothing too emotionally gripping.
Can I recommend a book for you? It's light and fun and very summery - Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland. It's like if the movie 'Dirty Dancing' was a novel and tells the story of a family hotel in the Catskills that's on the brink of being sold to a hotel chain. I loved the dynamics between the characters in the extended family and the hotel seting. https://strongsenseofplace.com/books/last_summer_at_the_golden_hotel_friedland/
Thanks for the rec - sounds great! I’m a big fan of Dirty Dancing.
Another great but fun read is The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce. Set in 1980s England, in a record shop. A friend gave it to me, I read it (twice), gave it to so many friends and everyone loves it.
Sounds fun, I’ll check it out!
You're welcome! I hope you enjoy it.
Nora Ephron. "I Remember Nothing" entertained both of our neighbor couple on their trip. I loved it, too, also there is "I Feel Bad About My Neck"
I am the kind of person who likes the idea of an easy beach read more than I actually like the book itself. We do have a vacation coming up where I plan on some serious reading and I’m hoping to work through Peter Heller’s latest, and the River We Remember by Krueger. I always tend to turn to nature based books during the summer. Reminds me of t he summer vacations KD my youth.
I’m off to Iceland for a two week road trip so plan to read The woman at 1,000 degrees before travelling. Likely to pick up Project Hail Mary at some point and may give Moby Dick a go too
I am also going to Iceland this summer! In preparation I read two memoirs: Wild Horses of the Summer Sun and Names for the Sea. I also really liked Miss Iceland and Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir.
Thank you, these sound like some great recommendations - noted for my Iceland immersion. I hope you have a fantastic trip!
Over the past weekend I picked up the whole Slough House in a used bookstore, so depending on when I get around to book one that may be my whole summer.
They are so worth it! I hate that I have read them all and have to wait for the TV show to come back!
Many mysteries and The Bee Sting and 3 other VLNs(haven'tpicked yet)
I picked up a few books this weekend at my bookstore that I’m looking forward to reading this summer. James by Percival Everett, A Man of Two Faces, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s memoir and The Wonder of Small Things:Poems of Peace and Renewal, ed. By James Crews. I will also read a couple more Agatha Christie’s while on vacation, and borrow a friend’s copy of Table for Two by Amor Towles.
Thanking my lucky stars we still have Salman Rushdie with us, and while I do want to read Knife, I'm going to be reading Victory City after my wife got it for me last year and it kept getting supplanted by more "urgent" books. I've never read a Rushdie I didn't like, and few I didn't outright love. His prose is always gorgeous (I mean, he gave us the Incredibubble ad campaign for Aero candy bars, what does one expect?), but it's his ability to see the beauty in humanity, even after the very ugly things he has seen and experienced, that really comes through in his writing. Two years ago, The Enchantress of Florence shot to the top of my favorite reads of the year, and, two chapters in, I have a feeling Victory City will pull a similar trick.
I just started Madeleine L'Engle's book of short stories, The Moment of Tenderness. I'm also on the hunt for a little book called The Moustache by Emmanuel Carriere (1986), which has been popping up in social reviews here and there and sounds intriguing.