Summer Reading 2013

J

JasonA

Jason Adams
Summer and all its glories are upon us (well upon us). Time to put forth your summer reading recommendations. Aside from finishing Consider the Lobster (Left it on a plane) and finishing V (left that one in a rental house), I'm up for suggestions.

I do recommend the whole Game of Thrones series if you are into that - nice easy beach reading and will do much to enhance viewing the TV series.
 
"Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" By Maria Semple (former Arrested Development writer). Really fun and funny with an unusual structure and one of the best female characters in recent fiction. Highly entertaining and well-written.
 
originally posted by maureen:
"Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" By Maria Semple (former Arrested Development writer). Really fun and funny with an unusual structure and one of the best female characters in recent fiction. Highly entertaining and well-written.
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I'm about 2/3 of the way through this one, and I too find it highly entertaining. The short piece "Dear Mountain Room Parents" included at the end (at least of the Kindle edition) has parts that made me laugh out loud.

Not beach reading, but an interesting read nonetheless, is James Salter's "Light Years", which I finished a week or two ago. Salter has a distinctive writing style and interesting, episodic approach to narrative.

Finally, my daughter played the first two seasons of "Game of Thrones" for me and got me hooked. I've picked up "Game of Thrones", the first book in the "Song of Ice and Fire" series. As Jason notes, it would make good beach reading. Easy to read and entertaining.
 
I'm working my way through Song of Ice and Fire, too. I'll also plug a Maureen recommendation from last year, Jennifer Egan's "A Visit From the Goon Squad," which is superb. And of course I'm eagerly awaiting Cole's translation of "Natural Woman."

Mark Lipton
 
For all of you starting Song of Ice and Fire I'll warn you that Feast of Crows (Book 4) is a pretty rough slog. I considered giving up on the series several times while reading it as he did a good job of destroying all interest. He was back on form with Dance with Dragons though.
 
Terrestrial Ecosystems in Changing Environments, by Hank Shugart? No, but seriously, for the (amateur) chemically-minded, Oliver Sacks's childhood memoir Uncle Tungsten is a surprisingly nice read. Reprints of Simeon's Maigret books are decent mind-candy.
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
For all of you starting Song of Ice and Fire I'll warn you that Feast of Crows (Book 4) is a pretty rough slog. I considered giving up on the series several times while reading it as he did a good job of destroying all interest. He was back on form with Dance with Dragons though.
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My fear mounting throughout was that there seems to be no chance he'll make any sort of sense of the story before he runs out of gas.
 
I'm reading a work book that Disorderlies might enjoy, though certainly not beach material: The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War, by the Swedish journalist (a war correspondent) and historian Peter Englund. It is a very well done effort to capture the experience of the war in personal terms, from a wide range of perspectives, men and women, soldiers and civilians, across Europe, from their point of view.

For fun, I've been enjoying the French answer to The Wire, Engrenages/Spiral -- not reading but worth checking out on Netflix. If only Grégory Fitoussi did not look exactly like John Stamos, I'd like it even more.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Jay Miller:
For all of you starting Song of Ice and Fire I'll warn you that Feast of Crows (Book 4) is a pretty rough slog. I considered giving up on the series several times while reading it as he did a good job of destroying all interest. He was back on form with Dance with Dragons though.
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My fear mounting throughout was that there seems to be no chance he'll make any sort of sense of the story before he runs out of gas.
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I'll probably be too senile to tell by the time the last book comes out.

I bought the first book in regular pocket paperback in a book store.

I bought the second book in trade paperback in a book store.

I bought the third and fourth books in hardcover on Amazon.

I bought the fifth book from Amazon for my Kindle.

Between the pace of technology and his leisurely writing I expect to have the last book beamed directly to my brain.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by SFJoe:
Mosquito Empires.

History I never knew.
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Ooooh! For someone like me who's a fan of Roueché and Zinsser, that's like a slab of red meat.

Mark Lipton
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Yes, I think it's for you.
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A terrific book. Check out his father's work, too, and Alfred Crosby, Ecological Imperialism.

For summer, in a vaguely related vein, try Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power, a fascinating history of sugar, which argues that sugar was the essential ingredient in the industrial revolution.
 
I'll toss in the Kilmartin revision of the Moncrief translation of In Search of Lost Time. I've been reading that in a leisurely fashion over the last 8 months and it's a delight. And with the sole exception of footnotes I find reading it on the Kindle much, much easier.
 
originally posted by Jay Miller: I find reading it on the Kindle much, much easier.
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Jay, I MUCH prefer reading ebooks on my Sony ereader rather than reading paper books.

I had to read a paper book recently and found it to be a hassle...plus, I kept tapping words expecting to see the dictionary pop up with a definition!

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

originally posted by Jay Miller: I find reading it on the Kindle much, much easier.
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Jay, I MUCH prefer reading ebooks on my Sony ereader rather than reading paper books.

I had to read a paper book recently and found it to be a hassle...plus, I kept tapping words expecting to see the dictionary pop up with a definition!

. . . . . Pete
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I grumbled at e-readers for several years before giving in. After a month of use I would never go back. I'm reading so much more since I got my Kindle it's a delight.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

originally posted by Jay Miller: I find reading it on the Kindle much, much easier.
Click to expand...

Jay, I MUCH prefer reading ebooks on my Sony ereader rather than reading paper books.

I had to read a paper book recently and found it to be a hassle...plus, I kept tapping words expecting to see the dictionary pop up with a definition!

. . . . . Pete
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Damn youngsters!! I much prefer the experience of reading a book that I hold in my hands, turning the pages, etc. Maybe I just spend too much time on the computer at work. And get offa my lawn, too.

Mark Lipton
 
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