GET LIT: Be it beach, campsite or couch, relax with some words this summer.
SUMMER GUIDE
Whether you’re camping at Lake Kissimmee State Park, lounging by the Gulf at Fort DeSoto, or camping out on the couch, summer’s an excellent time to feel literary. Here’s our short list of this summer’s word candy. We’ve included new releases and some old favorites.
Oh, Florida! Craig Pittman (Manatee Insanity, Scent of a Scandal) explains why Florida isn’t all that bad, but, despite it all, we’re not exactly North Dakota, either and, in reality, we’re kind of trendsetters for the rest of the country. You’re welcome, America. July, in stores and online.
What he reads:
"In June I accompany my kids to Boy Scout camp for a week, and I always take a few paperbacks along. One time I read three Lee Child thrillers in a row and was dismayed to discover the week wasn't over. I also try to read at least one baseball book during the summer. One I highly recommend is Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy by Jane Levy," he says.
Skyway: The True Story of Tampa Bay’s Signature Bridge and the Man Who Brought It Down Ever heard that the man who piloted the Summit Venture and took down the Sunshine Skyway in 1980 was drunk? Yeah, that’s bullshit. Bill DeYoung tells the real story of that early summer tragedy. Now in paperback in stores and online.
What he reads: Manhunt: The Twelve-Day Search for Lincoln’s Killer, by James Swanson.
“It’s a breathless, blow-by-blow narrative that’s expertly crafted from all known, reliable sources. Swanson sets you right into April, 1865, and doesn’t let you out until the final drop of the gallows trapdoor. It’s like a really riveting episode of The Twilight Zone, rendered even creepier because you know it all actually happened.”
Eco-Tourist Guide to the Everglades and the Florida Keys A million years ago (OK, 1999), a guide series called Longstreet Highroad published a entertaining (and comprehensive) guidebook to the Everglades and the Florida Keys. Apparently, though, this guidebook was part Brigadoon, only appearing every 100 years or so, because it promptly disappeared. Robert Silk’s book comes damn close — and in many ways, comes closer — to the ultimate guidebook of how to do the Everglades and Keys. Available now in stores and online.
What he reads:
"This summer I plan to reread Tom Rachman's brilliant and hilarious 2011 offering The Imperfectionists: A Novel. It's ostensibly about the staff of an English-language newspaper in Rome. But it's really about the personal quirks, foibles, eccentricities and insecurities that drive the human experience.
"I'm a year behind, but I'm also going to read Erik Larson's 2015 offering Dead Wake. It's about the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania. But if it's anything like the other Larson books I've read, it will also offer a vivid picture of the times in which it is set and contain compelling subplots."
The Grandfather Clock By day, Jonathan Kile sells oil. By night, he writes our Self Publishing Notebook blog and writes mysteries that make for perfect reading on a stormy July afternoon. He promises you’ll be able to buy The Napoleon Bloom this summer, but until then, quench your mystery itch with the sweet balm of his first novel. Available now at Amazon.
The Weekenders and Lickety-Split Fun fact: Mary Kay Andrews set Lickety-Split in her hometown of St. Pete. Another fun fact: You can only get it on Kindle and you won’t see it advertised on her website. We don’t know why. We do know we’re chomping at the bit to sink our teeth into The Weekenders, her latest, which should ooze romance and island intrigue. Available now in stores and online (Lickety-Split on Amazon only).
What she reads: Several.
Crazy For You, Jennifer Crusie "Nobody does rom-com (romantic comedy) better than Crusie. Do yourself a favor and look her up. Small-town school teacher Quinn is leading a perfect boring beige life, engaged to the high school football coach. Suddenly a man from her past arrives in town, and to Quinn’s amazement she finds herself back on his radar, and in his arms. Only problem is both the coach and her ex are crazy for her."
Forever Amber, Kathleen Windsor. "Waay back when I was at Lakewood High in St. Pete, I think I probably read a dog-eared paperback of this classic at the beach at Pass-A-Grille. It was the smuttiest thing I’d ever read —and I loved it. At 947 pages, it probably took me all summer."
A Year in Provence, Pete Mayle. "Summer is the perfect time for virtual vacations — and I adored Brit ex-patriate Mayle’s travel memoir about fixing up a broken-down villa in the South of France"
The Family Man, Elinor Lipman. "I read this while I was renting a tiny cottage on the Outer Banks, working on my own beach book, Summer Rental. Lipman always writes with such heart, wit and warmth, and this time around, she tells the story of Henry Archer, successful retired Manhattan lawyer who’s recently tiptoed out of the closet. Over-joyed at reconnecting with his long-estranged ex-wife’s daughter, whom he helped raise, he quickly finds himself a very untraditional family man."
Enchanted August, by Brenda Bowen. "Set on a tiny, remote island off the coast of Maine, four relative strangers share a beach house for a summer to remember. Do yourself a favor and escape from the withering heat and humidity of a Southern summer by steering a course for Little Lost Island."
Kick Ass Carl Hiaasen’s columns in this, his first compendium of writings from the Miami Herald, aren’t new, but they’re a great reminder that no matter how messed up things are nationally, Washington, D.C. has nothing on Florida when it comes to political chicanery. You’ll get angry, you’ll laugh, and then you’ll get pissed. Somewhere along the way, you might stop eating sugar and remember to vote in those small elections, because, well, Everglades. Available now; stores and online.
What he reads: Mr. Hiaasen does not apparently have the inclination to answer such questions. We get that. He's too busy saving Florida and all. That's fine. We didn't want to know anyway.
Looking to take a literary vacation? Head to Manhattan with Manhattan Mayhem. Mary Higgins Clark is on the cover, but don’t let that stop you. This is actually a collection of mystery stories from several writers, each story independent of the others and consumed in one sitting (think an afternoon on the boat). They all take place in Manhattan, but that’s where the similarities end. Available now in stores and online.
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 2, 2016.