There is nothing better than getting wrapped up in a good book, especially in the summertime, when a great read is key for lounging on the beach or relaxing at home on a rainy day. Plus, the economy sucks, we're all broke and — with a valid public library card — books are free. So I've compiled a short list of books to read this summer:
1. David Sedaris' new collection of essays When You Are Engulfed in Flames. While reading Sedaris' best-selling Me Talk Pretty One Day, published 2001, I laughed myself to tears before finding myself morbidly depressed at finishing it. When You Are Engulfed in Flames is his much-anticipated sixth collection of essays. I would recommend actually buying this one because 1) you'll probably want to keep it around and 2) Sedaris is so good he deserves your money. Click here for an in-depth review by the New York Times
2. The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English by Mark Abley. Abley explores the fluid reworkings of the English language, making his newest book about language a must-read for word-nerds. From Henry Hitchings' review for The Telegraph:
Attuned to pop culture as well as to scholarship, Abley proves a deft social anthropologist. On field trips to Singapore, Japan, Oxford and Los Angeles, he has sampled the plosive rhythms of hip-hop and African American vernacular, the spicy hybrid that is Spanglish, the "gnarled gobbets" of Asian English, and the zippy argot of cyberspace, where novelties proliferate at a particularly startling rate.
3. In honor of Entertainment Weekly's 1,000th issue, the magazine compiled a list of the 100 best reads of the last 25 years. One of my all-time favorites, American Pastoral by Philip Roth, came in at number 5. Pastoral, published in 1997, focuses on Swede Levov and the tragedy that befalls his perfect family when his only daughter becomes a terrorist in a paroxysm of rage over the Vietnam War. When you're done reading that, you might want to check out Roth's anti-pastoral, Sabbath's Theater.
4. If the title alone isn't enough to entice your readership, the past eight years and a recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee by former White House Press Secretary and author Scott McClellan should be. His book What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception is a memoir chronicling his experience as one of the president's closest advisers. Click here to read some highlights.
5. And something for all you fantasy lovers: local author Dora Machado's debut novel Stonewiser: The Heart of the Stone. In Stonewiser, a mysterious rot has been eating away at the entire world, and only the tales preserved in the hearts of the stones can provide the truth. The Stonewisers are the blessed ones able to read what's hidden inside the stones, and the most gifted one is Sariah, Machado's main character. When Sariah discovers untruths in the stone tales she goes on a desperate quest to restore justice. The Heart of the Stone is the first installment of a three-part series. Read the review by Science Fiction & Fantasy Media a.k.a sffmedia.com.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2008.