Every summer, our local paper, the Swarthmorean, solicits lists from readers. They ask for your five favorite books of the year and five on your summer reading list. E and I received a personal request from the editor to submit ours, so we did. Having my reviews on Goodreads was helpful, but paring it down to five was hard...and of course there's the fact that this is a public announcement of my reading habits, so I felt somewhat constrained by that. How to look somewhat erudite without totally disowning the YA books? I included comments about each book because it drives me crazy that a lot of people just have lists of titles with no explanations.
My favorites:
The World to Come, Dara Horn (F)
This book starts with an awkward singles cocktail party at the Jewish Museum and Ben Ziskind’s unlikely theft of a small Chagall painting. The narrative spins out forward and backwards in time from there, both detailing the consequences of his action and slowly filling in the pieces to explain how it became a family heirloom. Horn repeatedly returns to the themes of memory, beliefs, and trust in relationships.
Away, Amy Bloom (F)
It is amazing how many vivid environments Amy Bloom manages to create in this fairly short novel. Lillian Leyb leaves Russia after her family is killed in the pogroms and settles in New York in the 1920s. As she says early in the novel, “Az me muz, ken men” (When one must, one can), which describes Lillian’s approach to her new life. On her cross-country quest to find her lost daughter, Sophie, she moves through the worlds of other marginal people, adapting to their rules.
Lady of the Snakes, Rachel Pastan (F)
We follow Jane Levitsky during her first year as an assistant professor, dealing with the grind of all-new preparations and the pressure to publish; in addition, she has a toddler and a husband in law school. Meanwhile, the subject of her research, the wife of a 19th century Russian writer, becomes more than the breakthrough that might make her academic career. Jane measures herself by the Masha she knows through her diaries, and the parallels between them exacerbate but also vindicate her feelings. As Jane’s tenuous balance between her career and family starts to slip, we feel Jane’s anguish and desperation as she keeps looking to her Russian alter ego for answers.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver (NF)
I love Barbara Kingsolver’s writing, and I am a firm believer in seeking out locally-produced food, so I was pretty sure that I’d like her account of her family’s attempt to live a year as true locavores, growing much of their own food and finding local producers of anything they couldn’t grow themselves. I especially enjoyed her anecdotal sections about her daughter Lily, who was 9 at the time, and her budding chicken farm; trying to figure out how to encourage her turkeys to have sex; and her trip to Italy. I came away from reading this book with a strong desire to can tomatoes and make my own cheese.
The True Meaning of Smekday, Adam Rex (F)
This is an account of an alien invasion of Earth, written by 11-year-old Gratuity “Tip” Tucci for a time capsule contest. Her journey across the country with an alien named J.Lo. in a car that is souped up with alien technology would be harrowing if it weren’t so funny. Adam Rex punctuates the story with drawings and drawn “photos.”
To Read:
Lloyd Alexander’s Westmark trilogy (F)
I read and re-read his Prydain chronicles when I was a kid, but I’ve never read these.
Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery (F)
One of my best friends from college was appalled to learn that I’ve never read this, so I promised to read it this summer.
The Red Queen, Margaret Drabble (F)
Recommended by Rachel when I said how much I enjoyed The Commoner.
Your Inner Fish, Neil Shubin (NF)
My token non-fiction for the summer, Penn’s One Read pick for this year.
Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin (F)
A reworking of Vergil’s Aeneid by a wonderful writer.
5 comments:
I think you picked a great list, JNJ, and it seems to be a good cross-section of what you like to read! (go Smekday!) You'll have to tell us when it hits print--we can check out E's then too!
Unfortunately it's a small enough paper that it's not online. I'll post E's list shortly!
After reading my list, A asked if I would request Smekday from the library for him. I also looked at Adam Rex's website - http://adamrex.blogspot.com/ - really entertaining!
It was entertaining! I sent J. the link--figured he'd like to see the time capsule info!
I love how intertwined all our reading lists now are. I have to say I enjoy that fact that my to-read list is huge and I have all you folks to thank for that.
JNJ. If you think of it, I'd love a copy of the article when it hits the stands (to see others' lists as well.)
It was on newsstands last Friday, print only. Unfortunately most people just did lists of books, so it's really hard to get a sense of whether they would be things I'd like to read, and I wasn't able to glean much in the way of suggested reads.
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