Summer Reading List 2012

June means school is out and it’s time for summer reading again. Last summer’s reading list got truncated quite a bit by a little something called “moving into a house that needs a lot of work”. While I still have lots of house projects to work on, this summer feels more stable and I feel more capable of finishing a few of the books that I didn’t get around to reading last year.

Also exciting, by way of book news, is a new development in my life: a book club! Last month I did something I have wanted to do for many years, but always been afraid to try. I hosted a book club, complete with a Paris-themed party and lively discussion of The Paris Wife. After a great turn out and a positive response, I am planning my next book club party already. This time we will be reading The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom and doing a Southern theme. (See plot description below!)

Here are some of the books that I plan to read this summer, all written by female authors (unintentional), with plenty of history to stimulate the mind, rich settings to satisfy the most hardcore escapists, and a sprinkling of magic for the dreamer inside of us all. What is summer for, if not for a bit of much-needed indulgence?

Blackbird House/ Alice Hoffman: An evocative work that traces the lives of the various occupants of an old Massachusetts house over a span of two hundred years. I am reading this at the moment and completely immersed in the gorgeous prose, magical realism and vivid sense of place. Summer on Cape Cod? Sounds lovely, thanks!

The Kitchen House/ Kathleen Grissom: Set on a Southern plantation in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia in the early 1800's, the story is told from the perspective of a white Irish orphan, Lavinia. While working as an indentured servant in the kitchen house of a plantation, Lavinia discovers the dark secrets of the white family members and slaves alike. She finds herself torn between two worlds: one of the white plantation owner and his family, with whom she shares a racial identity; and the Negroes with whom she works, associates and shares a vocational identity.

The Kitchen God’s Wife/ Amy Tan. Like The Joy Luck Club, this novel focuses on a dysfunctional relationship between a Chinese-American mother and daughter. Dying matriarch Winnie shares with her daughter the story of her upbringing in China in the 1920-1940s, and traces the happy and desperate events that led to her immigration to America. No doubt family secrets will be revealed and new understanding will be built between the two, but it's the journey that makes it all interesting.

Daughter of Fortune / Isabelle Allende. Historical fiction relating the story of a pregnant Chilean woman who follows her beloved to the rough streets of San Francisco, California in the the Gold Rush era of the 1850's. Can you believe it used to be a hard-knock collection of greedy bachelors, prostitutes and East Coast outcasts? Perfect prerequisite reading for a day trip to my favorite foggy coastal city!

The Giant’s House: A Romance / Elizabeth McCracken. In 1950, a small-town librarian meets a 11-year-old giant and the two loners eventually find their lives intertwined in ways that neither one could have predicted. Also set in Cape Cod with magical realist elements, this quirky read has received a lot of praise from other readers and made me curious enough to pick it up myself (finally, since I didn't get to it last year).

2011 Best Reads (So Far)

I can’t believe that it is almost May. Realizing how far into the year we are made me reflect on all of the books I have read this year so far. Some were amazing and absorbed all of my attention for a time. Others were overrated and mediocre- but you won't find them here. Here are some of my favorites of 2011 so far, with a short snippet about each. Coming soon: Summer reading list!

New Must Read

Room/ Emma Donogue: Riveting novel about a mother and son in living in captivity and the world they create for themselves in the single room they occupy. Told from the perspective of 5-year old Jack, this one is making a big splash for being in turns horrifying and inspiring.

Classics

Atlas Shrugged / Ayn Rand: I’m still making my way through this one, just in time for the movie release as it turns out (although I admit this was not planned). As influential as this work has been, it is one probably one that everyone should read. While I kinda hate the philosophy of objectivism, I admire Ayn Rand’s skill as a writer and her ability to force me to see the world through new eyes.

The Enchanted April / Elizabeth Von Armin: Four Englishwomen, near strangers, are brought together by a shared desire to stay for a month in a castle on the Italian coast one April. I could practically see the flowering wisteria, smell the acacia, feel the sea breeze in my hair. Timeless escapism at its best.

Funny

I Feel Bad about My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman / Nora Ephron. A love song to living in New York City along with humorous thoughts on aging, from the writer of “You’ve Got Mail” and “When Harry Met Sally”.

Social Conscience

Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America/ Barbara Ehrenreich. What one educated woman learns when she goes undercover to investigate the lives of the working lower class. She travels all over the US and works as a maid, a waitress at a Denny’s, and a Walmart employee, seeing what it really takes to make ends meet without relying on welfare.

Cookbooks

Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours/ Kim Boyce. This book, written by a pastry chef who knows her stuff, introduced me to the wonders of all new whole grain flours: oat, buckwheat, spelt flours and more. The Peach Ginger Muffins and Oat Molasses Bread were top notch!

Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry/Liana Krissof. A quirky take on canning with unique, updated recipes (Chinese Plum Sauce, North Indian Carrot Pickle, Raspberry Jam with Mint and Lavender, etc.) including both preserved foods, and delicious dishes in which to use them later. If you have a flourishing garden, this would be an excellent resource for preserving your bumper crops in creative new ways.

Historical Fiction

 

These Is My Words / Nancy Turner: I dove into this coming of age tale of a strong woman settlor in the late-1800's Arizona Territories. Fantastic love story and interesting historical information. Truly enjoyable reading, and everyone who reads it seems to love it as much as I did.

Snow Falling on Cedars / David Guterson: A who-done-it mystery written with unusual beauty, and set against the backdrop of anti-Japanese prejudice on a small island in the Puget Sound in the pre- and post-WWII era.

Food Writing

How to Cook a Wolf / M.F.K Fisher. You have to love M.F.K. Fisher, the voice of a past era that reminds me of my grandma - in a good way. She combines frugality and practicality with joie de vivre and her love of everything that a good meal can bring to humanity.

A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table/ Molly Wizenburg. A fine example of a successful blog-to-book memoir, laced with tempting recipes and finely written anecdotes from the author’s life.

Fall Reading

Who says that reading lists are only for summer? Here are some of my ideas for fall reading.

The Spice Necklace: Remember how I was promised this book for free? I finally received a copy by mail from Houghton Mifflin a couple weeks ago. I have only read a few pages, yet already the exotic descriptions of life in the Caribbean are making my mouth water and appealing to my sense of adventure. I am all about vicarious living, and can’t wait to read more... especially since I could use one last summer vacation.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles: I recently reviewed my goals for the year and remembered that I still have one great classic novel left to read in order to meet my goal of three for 2010. I chose this one, which has long sat on my shelf. I confess that in all of the British Literature classes I took in college, I never was assigned anything by Hardy. Once the weather turns chill, I look forward to a warm cup of tea and a walk with Thomas Hardy through the vicissitudes of Victorian England. When I finish, I will reward myself with a viewing of the 2008 BBC version. Lovely!

The Help: This story of the complex relationships between white residents of Jackson, Mississippi and their black domestic servants in the 1960's has completely absorbed me. I checked out the audio book from my library and am about halfway through. I look forward my daily commute because I know I can listen to the next part unfold. (It doesn't get better than that, does it?) The storytelling is excellent and I feel like I am immersed in the middle of every personal conflict, not to mention the Civil Rights Movement. I am pummelling through it and plan to finish soon.

Why You Should Just Go for It!

A couple of months ago, I did something that was fairly trivial but felt significant and brave to me at the time. I organized a group around something that interested me - food literature. I ignored my inner negative voice and followed an positive impulse. Guess what happened? At first, not a whole lot. And maybe still not a whole lot. But I can’t help but be ecstatic about an e-mail I received this week from a lady at Houghton Mifflin publishers in New York.

Having noticed my group on Goodreads.com and my profile, she wanted to know if I would be interested in being added to a book distribution list for a newly published novel that she thought might interest me. Here is a synopsis of "The Spice Necklace":

"While sailing around the Caribbean, Ann Vanderhoof and her husband Steve track wild oregano-eating goats in the cactus-covered hills of the Dominican Republic, gather nutmegs on an old estate in Grenada, make searing-hot pepper sauce in a Trinidadian kitchen, cram for a chocolate-tasting test at the University of the West Indies, and sip moonshine straight out of hidden back-country stills. Along the way, they are befriended by a collection of unforgettable island characters: Dwight, the skin-diving fisherman who always brings them something from his catch and critiques her efforts to cook it; Greta, who harvests seamoss on St. Lucia and turns it into potent Island-Viagra; sweet-hand Pat, who dispenses hugs and impromptu dance lessons along with cooking tips in her Port of Spain kitchen.

Back in her galley, Ann practices making curry like a Trini, dog sauce like a Martiniquais, and coo-coo like a Carriacouan. And for those who want to take these adventures into their own kitchens, she pulls 71 delicious recipes from the stories she tells, which she places at the end of the relevant chapters. The Spice Necklace is a wonderful escape into a life filled with sunshine (and hurricanes), delicious food, irreplaceable company, and island traditions. "

So basically, I am getting a shiny, brand new novel mailed to me for free. I'm sure the publishing company hopes that readers who receive a free copy will enjoy it and share our impressions with others on Goodreads.com or otherwise like-minded friends. And I am so excited not only to read the book but to pursue more things that I'm afraid of. I have learned that when you listen to the voice that says you can and go for it, you never know what unexpected positive things will happen in your life!

My Summer Reading List 2010

With Memorial Day weekend ahead of us, I wanted to share a list of a few books I intend to check out this summer, either in book or audio form. The summaries are adapted from Goodreads. Feel free to share your comments if you have suggestions or have read any of these! What's on your reading list?

Sister of My Heart: Set in Calcutta, this novel follows two "sisters", beautiful Sudha and passionate Anju, bonded together by love yet torn apart by a family secret. This one was recommended by a dear friend and I am already reveling in the author’s gorgeously lyrical prose.

School of Essential Ingredients: Highly rated by a fellow foodie on Goodreads, the plot of this novel is set up as follows: "Once a month on Monday night, eight students gather in Lillian's restaurant for a cooking class... Over time, the paths of the students mingle and intertwine, and the essence of Lillian's cooking expands beyond the restaurant and into the secret corners of their lives, with results that are often unexpected, and always delicious." Sounds delightful!

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: Murder mystery set in Britain, anyone? "In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction: eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. It is the summer of 1950—and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia’s family calls home..."

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: Or how about a trip to a hot, steamy Southern city? "John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has been heralded as a "lyrical work of nonfiction," and the book's extremely graceful prose depictions of some of Savannah, Georgia's most colorful eccentrics... "

Prodigal Summer: I recently found a copy of this one at Goodwill. It seems to be the sort of literature that asks to be read in the seasonally appropriate period. I haven’t read anything by her since Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but I’m excited to revisit this author. "Barbara Kingsolver's fifth novel is a hymn to wildness that celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature, and of nature itself. It weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives amid the mountains and farms of southern Appalachia. Over the course of one humid summer, this novel's intriguing protagonists face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with which they necessarily share a place."

Madame Bovary: I need to read another great work this summer, as my goal was to read three this year. This classic French novel sounds a lot like Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, which I found very interesting in school. Furthermore, it's so famous that I feel obligated to see what all the fuss is about. "One precious quality distinguishes Flaubert from the more or less exact observers who pride themselves on conscientiously reproducing reality, and nothing but reality: he has style." --Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve