RSS3 Great Books of Summer
August 10, 2009
Walking for miles and reading for hours are summer’s glories.
Bestsellers are not my usual thing because I don’t enjoy reading about war, torture, abduction, cleverly evil murder, psychotically grisly murder even if it is original, wrongful imprisonment, abuse with its numerous forms and target groups, no matter how poignant the emotion or powerful the literary construction. I won’t watch it either, which doesn’t leave much at the video store.
Since I don’t seem to have the patience for romantic fluff stuff, finding books that take me to new places without fearing that I’ll feel altered for weeks is a thrill. A good friend whose preference runs to much bleaker and more miserable scenarios than mine, often listens to Canada Reads programs on CBC Radio and gave me these.
I do so highly recommend them for being refreshing and imaginative departures from the serious theme and the places you might normally go in books. The first two are spoken in the voice of young adolescents, delivering astutely obvious commentaries on the adult world.
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
Abnormally high and low tides are depositing bizarre creatures on the tidal flats in Olympia, near Seattle. Miles is 13 and his parents don’t watch him closely. He is navigating the world of society’s expectations of the male as he becomes the local celebrity for the sea creatures he keeps finding.
For the descriptions of his world through the eyes of a 13-year old boy, this author is exceptionally observant and accurate. The biology of ocean creatures seems unbelievable, along the lines of “I had no idea barnacles did that!” on every page. The cast of characters is perfect. The book may be written for adolescents but I found it a brilliant summer read, even better if you’re beside an ocean.
The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie by Alan Bradley
Again spoken by a child, this time 11-year old Flavia Sabina (sometimes Dolores) DeLuce. There is everything here – an English village mystery, an intricate plot, two older sisters who are often busy catching up or figuring out what hit them, a preoccupied father, and a Pippi Longstocking spirit.
The bee in Flavia’s bonnet is chemistry…but her passion is poison. Mr. Bradley is sitting on a gold mine. How fast can he come up with another book? I didn’t want this one to end. It is written for kids but sometimes simpler is better for grownups too. There are books scheduled for release in 2010 and 2011.
This review/interview at the National Post tells the story of Mr. Bradley who seems a very nice guy who is also busy catching up and figuring out what hit him.
Rockbound by Frank Parker Day
Here is the great book you’d never pick up unless someone told you to. Written in the 1930s, you are transported to the Tancook Islands, about 4 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia near Lunenburg. Two families of fishermen inhabit the island of Rockbound, in the days when the Bluenose was one of many sailing fishing boats. The dialect is a German/Dutch/English that will remind you of anyone you know from Cape Breton. I can’t imagine how these people survived the hardships of this life.
Living for entire winters alone in a lighthouse, forcing vegetables to grow on a salt-sprayed island, expert sailor men lost at sea, navigating in the fog and dark by the sound of the waves on a nearby reef, the changing appearance of the foam on the water 2 days before a tropical storm, and ships so weighed down with fish that it’s a wonder they ever made it home set the scene. The story and characters are not the stars here so much as the day-to-day battle with the natural world.
This is an amazing story of a time and people about which little is written. Find the book here at Chapters Indigo Canada.
Have you read anything this summer that you still think about each day?
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7 Responses to “3 Great Books of Summer”
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I just finished another wonderful book today. It’s called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon. Told through the eyes of a 15-year-old boy with autism, it’s one of the most original books I’ve read in a long time.
Other recent favorites (not recently written, necessarily, but that I read this year) include:
The Middle Place, by Kelly Corrigan
One True Thing, by Anna Quindlen
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, by Julie Andrews
Given all the press about the book and movie, Julie & Julia, I think I’m going to dust off my copy of Julia Child’s biography (Appetite for Life, by Noel Riley Fitch), which I never made it through on the first attempt.
Happy reading,
Mary-Ellin
Thanks for the recommendations. I can reread ” Harry Potter” cause i love her descriptive language. My addition is ” The Four Seasons” by Laurel Corona. Just stumbled across it in a bookstore. ” A novel of Vivaldi’s Venice”. Two orphaned sisters who grow up in a foundling hospital which is also a music academy. They support themselves by doing concerts for the rich Venetians and Vivaldi comes to teach. The story of the two sisters and their differences and similarities takes you to Venice ( which i have been lucky enough to have been there twice).If you go to the author’s website—she even tells you which CD to buy that has some of the music used in the book.
“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” is a wonderful book—but it talks graphically about foot binding.
Happy Summer–
Taji
Thanks to both of you for these recommendations. I love to keep a list when I’m in my favorite Used Books store. Otherwise I wander and it’s just hit and miss.
The Four Seasons sounds very good. I read a couple of books about the Medicis, slightly gross in parts as historical fiction often is, but I enjoyed learning about the time period since so much very famous art and art history took place then.
And thanks Mary-Ellin for that list. The foot binding… I couldn’t do it. I know it’s pathetic, but I’d think about it for weeks. I still think about Memoirs of a Geisha and that was 4 years ago. The Curious Incident is indeed brilliant, I loved it. Are The Middle Place and One True Thing not too depressingly morose or graphic?
Your note puts me in mind that I should read more biography. Julia Child always seemed one of those extremely funny ladies. I may just start with her.
Please do send any thoughts for books you’ve loved (that were safe for we delicate types).
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: An English reporter right after WW II seeks to communicate with people on the Guernsey Islands. These were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied during the war. She develops a pen pal relationship with some of the residents and eventually goes there to meet them. Lovely book. Not horrifying tales of the war, more uplifting and also funny.
Sonja,
Sounds like a great one. It’s on my list.
Have to say “Not Wanted on the Voyage” Canada’s own Timothy Findley…..brilliant. Okay maybe a bit dark in places but warranted. Let’s face it , it was the end of the world. And when you have grown up with the story of Noah and the Ark (how many of us had the play ‘ark’ and the little animals whether you were steeped in bible stuff or not… come on)
Again brilliant….gotta love Mrs. Noyes and her blind cat Mottyl.
Good one, I’ll go with it. I can make myself cope with some darkness for brilliance. Reminds me of John Irving’s Owen Meany, one of my favorite books of all time.
And I was looking at Amazon this AM and I see Alan Bradley has another book, something about “the hangman’s noose” or “the slipknot” in the title.