heres a great song that u should bring to the beach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfUjoVNmEaM

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-38tShbnTg

I queried our readers, and they left a wonderful list of varied titles on the Star Tribune facebook page.

You can see it here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Star-Tribune-Books/54374033570?ref=ts

Tom, I’m afraid you have been pulled into what is simply a marketing campaign by the publishing industry. Summer reading…have you ever tried reading a book on the beach? Lazy hazy days of summer…in this economic environment?

I have great sympathy for the publishing industry’s plight with current economics and the difficulties of accommodating the new internet/electronic world. But let’s be candid what this hour’s program is.

Marty from Leicester, VT

One of the books I’ve been loving lately is a mash-up of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” In “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” Seth Grahame-Smith takes the tired old text and breathes into it new life, or unlife as it were.

Could your guests suggest other great mash-ups like this?

I recently finished a rather depressing but outstanding book: The Vagrants: A Novel by Yiyun Li. It paints a rather unpalatable picture of conditions in China after the Cultural Revolution. It seemed especially appropriate, given the recent 20th anniversary of The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

“Radiant Cool” a good book for the beach.

Am currently reading Every Man Dies Alone – can’t recommend it enough — great character development – literature that reads like a detective novel. 508 pages but I’m plowing through it with relish.

Marty from Leicester VT — take it easy — Summer Reading as a conecept has been around for a while and in these times offers a low-cost escape. Why do some people always look for another motive behind everything.

Go find a good book. Enjoy the summer!

Any of the Kurt Wallander mystery novels by Swedish author Henning Mankell (three of them they were just aired as Masterpiece Mystery shows on PBS starring Kenneth Branagh). They’re gripping and page-turning (great for the beach) but also offer some decent character development and exploration into grander themes and meaning.

I am trying to get my local booksellers to offer Kindles or SONY readers, telling them I could browse their shelves and decide which books to own in print (some books I mark up, tag up, tuck things into), and to be able to access books onto the Kindle say at midnight when I’m listening to an author holding forth on Charlie Rose’s PBS show. Libraries are good for people who can predecide when they’ll have time to set aside to read. With me, at least, that does not work at all. My bookstores won’t. I bring home armloads of books from used-book bookstores, currently on the Mideast.

I am reading NOBODY MOVE by Denis Johnson. Johnson’s work is brand new each time. He is known for JESUS’ SON among other books, which are literary and deep. NOBODY MOVE is a wild crime novel. He has tried his hand at genre, and it is fast-paced and wonderful with many of Johnson’s insights and breath-taking lines that appear in his more serious works. This book is summer read, though. Guns. Gambling. Sex. A wild book by a master!

Just finished Year of Wonders — Geraldine Brooks — seemingly boring topic — the plague in England — but wonderful and even suspenseful — a village decides, with the prodding of their minister, to quarrantine (sp?) themselves rather than spread the plague throughout the country — the main character, Anna,goes through a very powerful transformation while taking care of others.

City of Thieves by David Benioff. Buddy tale during the Siege of Lenigrad. Amazing!!!!

Flannery, the biography of Flannery O’Connor by Brad Gooch is a surprisingly great read. Surprising because her life would seem to be a bit boring. She wrote, she had lupus, she raised peacocks. But the writing is lively and insightful.

I am a historian who rarely makes time to read fiction, but I’ve just picked up a recently-published series of short stories by Wells Tower, entitled “Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned” which I cannot seem to put down. Each story is crafted with beautifully original and witty prose as he explores many of the dark underbellies of American society. His character descriptions are so vivid that I experienced corporeal reactions. Do yourself a favor and read this!

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Wow wow wow. The language just erupts off the page.

This read is especially timely now – for so many of its themes – and its pulitzer well deserved.

A book every American president and farmer should read.

I could not put this book down. It kept me awake far too late many a night, thinking, Just. One. More. Chapter.

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

By Timothy Egan

As profiled in an earlier NPR story -
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5128581

NY Times review -
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/books/review/25royte.html

A great way to bring perspective on the (now oft-evoked) ‘Great Depression’; although the Depression is simply the setting and the perfect storm in this real-life martian landscape.

I would never have known about this unreal American history, had it not been for this special and immersive book.

Betsy Blair, who played the plain Jane in the film “Marty,” died recently. In obituaries I found that she’d written a memoir, “The Memory of All That: Love and Politics in New York, Hollywood, and Paris.” Got it from the library, and it’s wonderful so far. Love refers to her marriage at age 16 to Gene Kelly; politics is her Marxist study group and run-ins with HUAC. Seeking my own copy, I found an unused hardback for 80 cents through an Amazon re-seller!

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, The best book I’ve read in many a year. Will re read it. summer, dogs, beautiful poetic portions. Hamlet, retold. — Readng, Vermont

‘The Bridge of Sighs’ – Richard Russo
Novel (Vintage Contemporary)

What exactly is a Summer book?

I mean, really. One of my favorite memories of Summer reading is lying on the grass in a Toronto City park, reading Dostoyevsky’s “Notes from Underground”. Not exactly Summer fare by most standards.

Hi Tom,

I’ve been looking forward to _Stone’s Fall_, Iain Pear’s latest novel ever since I first heard of it.

Pears is one of the most gifted and agile narrators I’ve ever encountered and his earlier novels — _An Instance of the Fingerpost_ and _The Dream of Scipio_ are two of the finest examples of historical fiction I’ve ever read.

Read The Prospector by LeClezio while visiting family on Hatteras Island. The descriptions of the sea and of Mauritius were absolutely hypnotic! BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN! Joan

One of the most memorable books I read recently was Richard Russo’s ‘Nobody’s Fool’. He’s better known for his book ‘Empire Falls’ but I found ‘Nobody’s Fool’ a lot funnier.

If you like great characters, you’ll like this book. It centers around a 60-year-old unemployed construction worker Sully in a small town called North Bath, NY. While reading this book, I constantly broke out in laughter. Enjoy!

GO EAST! I’ve been on a non-Western writers:

Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra! This book totally ruled my life for the week it took me to read it. Yeah, it’s 800 pages – but it’s no Anna Karenina – even by the time i finished it, i could have gone for 800 more. It’s got it all: beauty, violence, love, intrigue, and Baliwood! One of the THE BEST reads I’ve had, maybe ever…

Also, i just heard you mention Waiting by Ha Jin. Another, absolutely wonderful book…

… And the Buru Quartet, which is actually a series of four books: This Earth of Mankind, Child of All Nations, Footsteps, and House of Glass by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. They’re some of the most beautiful and powerful books about colonialism and I’ve ever read; they take place in Java in the early 20th century.

God’s Debris by Scott Adams

a package delivery boy talks witha an old man that explains how the universe and people work.

All hail caller David – P G Wodehouse is incomparable – try Right Ho Jeeves folks.

I suggest picking up almost anything by Georgette Heyer. Her books are being republished by Sourcebooks. She’s so well known in Romance, but her books are brilliant. Funny, smart and engaging with sparkling dialog. My favorites are Devil’s Cub and the Grand Sophy.

There is a community on LiveJournal for recommending books by non-white authors:
http://community.livejournal.com/50books_poc

I’ve read some, and enjoyed them, and plan to look for more.

I have read and listened to a wonderful book called” the
book thief” by Markus zuzak. I have enjoyed another book by him, called the Messenger. Both were read beautifully and richly. I listen while commuting and pick up the book when I am static.

I love to talk, I love to write, I hate to read. I was diagnosed with a reading comprehension disorder in my twenties. It’s actually a really common condition. It takes effort I don’t want to spend on understanding what I read. However, when I HEAR a story I’m immediately engrossed. This is why I get most of my info from the radio. Can most books be found on tape? We definitely need more of that.

For laugh-out-loud dark humour – anything by Tom Sharpe. These are every-summer reading for me

I absolutely loved Shadow of the Wind, but hated Edgar Sawtelle (sorry). Geraldine Brooks’ newest, People of the Book, is also quite good. This summer I plan to re-read David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas” which was terrific first time around.

This probably won’t make it onto the show but A Breed Apart by Pierre Davis is a great summer read. A thriller with people trying to recapture a really smart dog. It is a mass market paperback and the only reason I read it is because it got a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. A fun read. I also think The Moonflower Vine is a really wonderful book.

“Still Alice”
A story about a harvard professor in her early 50’s who is diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. It is a warm and touching story. The author explains the process of the disease so clearly. I cried, but it felt good.

Hi — I have a used bookshop in Vermont and people seem to be into reading. Sales are up, especially with paperbacks. I’m selling a lot of classics: Madame Bovary, Portrait Dorian Gray, Ironwood, Love in the Time of Cholera, etc.

My recent reads are Laurie R. King’s newest The Language of Bees. A great summer read. Also, Richard Russo’s The Risk Pool. His characters are bigger than life.
Patty
Poultney, VT

The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova (2005) – a thinking person’s Dracula tale??? Wonderful writing, fascinating settings (e.g. Bulgaria, Istanbul), moves through locations and time. Addictive. Passed it on to my 16-yr. old son who loved it, then on to my husband. Ditto.

For real-time and armchair travelers- Disappearing Destinations. It’s about all your favorite places (or ones you’ve been dying to see) and what’s happening at them. The writing is beautiful, and it just brings these places to life and makes you think differently about travel. Highly recommended.

When something old is new and proclaimed “eternal” could be the read of the summer.
Armenian Golgotha (Knopf)
A memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918

by Grigoris Balakian

Translated by Peter Balakian with Aris Sevag

Google this and get 10s of thousands of click points, and start with todyas New Yorker, May’s Harpers, April 5 Washington Post and eCognoscente stating;
“It is an unfortunate fact that Armenian Colgotha to be relevant…
This is one of the amongst the great survivor literature
That which is human and eternal – HOPE

Books for adults and teens: Temeraire, by Naomi Novik; The first one is “His Majesty’s Dragon.”

The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Housseini–definite do not misses.

This summer I’ve come back to a book I read years ago and now love again – The Gate to Women’s Country by Sherri Tepper – an amazing look at an extreme society separating the lives of men and women.

I kept listening very hard hoping one of your guests would recommend my husband’s posthumously published novel The Jerusalem File. They didn’t so I shall. It’s a great read, a beautifully written page turner set in the limbo land of Israel, where Levin, a former secret service agent (retired and in a limbo land of his own) is drawn into serving as a Private Eye for a friend, who want s evidence that his wife is having an affair. The suspected lover is murdered, and when the wife approaches him with a request, Levin becomes intrigued with her, and complications ensue, all set against the daily reality of living and adjusting to danger. Wonderful for a book discussion group, so much is there that it’s even better on a second read. Try it!

Also currently reading Blink – fascinating! And novels of Neal Stephenson are also making the rounds of my family. Started with Cryptonomicon, then The System of the World trilogy. Went back to the beginning with Zodiac, Snow Crash, etc. I highly recommend that you read his works in order. The way he works with language and the scope of his novels develop from book to book, and the stories and characters (or their family members) tend to interconnect. Highly recommended for people who enjoy history, technology and (in later works) a big book.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I always love this show and use it to start my summer reading list.
Unfortunately I missed the complete title of the book
by Huff about the Battle of Gettysburg. Could you send me that title??
thanks again, Michelle Payne

For the reader who wanted more “mash-up” texts, see the delightful Jasper Fforde’s “Lost in a Good Book,” “The Ayre Affair” and “Something Rotten” books. They describe the wonderful experience of readers being able to enter into books — and of characters being able to escape from books and needing the “jurisfiction” police to bring them back in so they won’t do too much damage in other settings.

And for those who love P.G.Wodehouse, also see Jerome K. Jerome’s “Three Men in a Boat” and Connie Willis’ “To Say Nothing of the Dog.”
–Judy K.

Donna Leon, an American prof. living many years in Venice, writes about a warm, intelligent Venetian Commissario of Police, who investigates crime, but also lives a normal life with a fiery professor wife and two realistically portrayed teenagers, the beauty and real problems of Venice and Italy.

I’m a big fan of books on CD as I’m in the car a lot. Some of the best audiobooks I’ve found are:
-The Harry Potter series read by Jim Dale. I’d listened to the sixth and seventh books multiple times (in addition to having read them) but recently, I went back to the beginning and listened to them all the way through. It was wonderful. Jim Dale maintains distinct voices without being ridiculous and/or annoying and in general, is heavenly to listen to.
-The Sue Grafton alphabet mysteries read by Judy Kaye. If not for her, I wouldn’t have read past “A is for Alibi.” When I listened to “B is for Burglar” on CD on a drive from Massachusetts to Virginia, I was hooked. By the time I got to “G is for Gumshoe” I was reading the books myself but also listening to the audiobook afterwards.
-anything written and read by Neil Gaiman especially “Stardust” and “The Graveyard Book.” He has a beautiful voice and he expresses his love of reading and imagination every time he reads out loud.

Two all time favorites that would be great for adults and families are the novels: “A Far Off Place” and “A Story Like the Wind”, both by Laurens Van Der Post. They tell the story of a young boy growing up in Africa. He is an only child and his English parents are wrapped up with themselves. He is close with the female nurse/housekeeper and male groundskeeper who work on the farm (they are from different tribes, Bantu and Masai possibly?)and as they nurture him he absorbs their culture. Later in the story he befriends a young Bushman, so a third layer of culture is added. The 2nd book is a sequel to the first. I remember picking up them up and saying, “I’m going to Africa now.” They really took me to a different time and place.

I just finished Olive Kittridge, mostly because of what I heard on your show a week ago (my husband is from Maine and every story put me right there on the rocks in Harpswell). I would echo what others have said of The Worst Hard Time and Year of Wonders, and I would add to the list anything by Sarah Vowell (Assassination Vacation), and The Highest Tide (Jim Lynch).

I missing the presence of Chicana/os-Latina/os this year… What happen? I heard that “The Mariposa Club” By Rigoberto Gonzalez is fantastic!. The Story of four teenagers in senior year, try to open a LGBTQ club in their High School! Sweet, moving and real.

Thanks for all the great recommendations. So many wonderful books, so little time….!
I recommend the following:

Fiction: With by Donald Harington, What is the What by Dave Eggers, The Book Thief by Zusak

Nonfiction: The Tender Bar by Moehringer, Falling through the Earth by Trussoni, Mayflower by Philbrick.

I didn’t hear any one talk about getting books from the library. When you responded to an email from Marty of Leicester VT, you spoke of discounted books, used books, etc., but no one mentioned the library. I go there to get all my books and its free!!

I recently listened to a CD of Hillary Jordan’s Mudbound. The brilliant audio rendition further augments a stunningly powerful first novel. It is a grim reminder of the racial strife that dominated the Deep South during the immediate post W.W. II era.
Debby G.

I was driving when as I listened to the first portion of today’s summer books show, including some calls from other listeners with recommendations. Unfortunately, the website I counted on for a list has only the guests’ lists. I would love to have a list of the books callers mentioned!

I posted recently on facebook for a list of books to read while i spend 7 weeks on the road this summer while my band is on tour.

i’ve had some excellent suggestions and also gained some through listening and reading both here and elsewhere on NPR.org.

here are some of the suggestions that i’ve had that i will be buying and reading this summer.
and i was surprised and greatly pleased to discover (and hear from you) that my favourite author has written another book: charles baxter.

dark places – gillian flynn
castle – j. robert lennon
herzog – saul bellow
the soul thief – charles baxter
Naked Lunch – William S. Burroughs
On The Road – Jack Kerouac
House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
James Wright – Collected Poems
the dance most of all – jack gilbert
Poetry as Insurgent Art – Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers – mary roach
The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them) – Peter Sagal

Hi Tom,

Great reads all and I am so pleased you invited an independent bookseller, but I am so disappointed that, at the very least, you didn’t link the titles recommended by Jamil to his bookstore. I work at an independent bookstore and though I understand linking to Amazon, why not link to http://www.indiebound.com as well and give people the choice to choose an independent. My other concern is the use of “Kindle” as a generic reference for all ebook readers, which is not the case. Please give us independents a chance. We do so much to support our local communities financially as well as with our expertise, service and free events. All that being said, thank you for presenting such great book recommendations.

Check out Jean and Roscoe, vanno a perugia by Jean L. Farinelli. Unbelievable!

I was very pregnant during summer three years ago and on bed rest. Got completely engrossed in Until I Find You by John Irving. I’d love to find a book that captivates me the same way again, any time of year.

Now, I’m hoping to get my hands on “Slavery by Another Name” http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780385722704-1

Thanks for the show.

Perhaps little known outside the Navy, we have a professional reading program with recommended “reads.” Even less known is my blog about the program (smile).
Latest comments to a review of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner come from sailors serving in Afghanistan… They offer recommendations, and one lieutenant shares what’s on her Kindle.

On Point is my favorite podcast. Thanks.

Some recent reads I’d highly recommend (in no particular order, although the following sequence provides a good mix of reading experiences!):

1. T.C. Boyle ‘Drop City’ -Begin your summer reading on a high note.. literally and figuratively
2. Mohsin Hamid ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’-Quick, relevant and quite entertaining
3. Beth Goldner ‘The Number we end up With’- Witty and quirky
4.John Wray ‘Low Boy’- How can so much talent be packed into so few pages? Unpredictable and as twisted as the subway track setting of Lowboy’s adventure.
5. Jayne Anne Phillips ‘Lark and Termite’- Wonderful story of two incredibly interesting siblings
6. Andrew Davidson ‘The Gargoyle’- I won’t even attempt to do this one justice by describing it. Just read it and thank me later.
7. Michael Greenberg ‘Hurry Down Sunshine’- Well written and gut wrenching memoir of a 15 year old daughter’s psychotic break. Not exactly a beach read, but “important” nonetheless.
8. Muriel Barbery ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’- Funny and intelligent novel set in a French apartment building. Will make you (happily) question your assumptions of others.

ENJOY and happy reading!

Far from being a publishers’ ploy, the concept of summer reading is , for me, a tradition that embraces one of the fondest traditions of a reading family. My late mother and I would listen to a program such as this, or with the New York Times Summer Reading Issue as a reference, skip joyfully to local, independent booksellers to arm ourselves with a tower of books to trade, savor, and enjoy. Sadly, she is no longer part of that tradition, but a new generation has stepped in to fill the void. My grandchildren allow themselves to be snuggled and read to on our screen porch on summer afternoons. I’m not sure if these daily hours together mean as much to them as to me, but they certainly are good sports. “The Penderwicks”, “”Nurse Matilda”, and Don Robertson’s classic, now re-issued, “The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread” have made for many giggles and hugs. For more recommendations for Read=Aloud books, I recommend David Trelease’s “The Read-Aloud Treasury”.

So many great recommendations. I have a few additional suggestions:
1. Family read alouds (caller asked for ideas for kids 9 and 16): The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. These could take you through the fall – wonderful, I read these aloud to my two girls. They loved them. Also: Richard Peck’s A long way from Chicago and A Year down Yonder. Don’t be fooled into thinking they are for younger kids – they are not – really, really funny. Other great family books: Tangerine, Holes, E.L. Konigsberg’s From the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The View from Saturday, and Silent to the Bone. Also, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Finally, if you want to introduce them to Dickens, I would suggest Oliver Twist first (rather than David Copperfield), then watch the musical movie version together.

2. I listen to audiobooks at the gym a lot and would add to the good suggestions that Barbara Rosenblatt is a very very fine reader – in quality of voice and reading close to Jim Dale but American: Two very good mystery series that she reads are by Lisa Scottolini and Diane Mott Davidson (both by the way good summer reads as well).

in advance of a trip to Japan to visit a son studying abroad, younger son and I are reading the Sano Ichiro mysteries by Laura Joh Rowland, set in 1600’s Japan. terrific!
my city’s Community Read book, Dark Tide, by Stephen Puleo, was fascinating for the story about the Molasses Flood in Boston, the anarchist’s movement, the resulting legal case and the resolution. One of the first successful class action lawsuits against a corporation, the book caught us all by surprise – great read, great history, the lives of great and not-so-great men and women.

I have finished one and have started another of the Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison. These books are fantastic! They are supposedly for teen-age readers, but I’m not. Perhaps this read is controversial in the manner the TV show “Married With Children” is, some said America was shown in a bad light. The series is British, though.
For Claudia Yellin on June 4th, 10:35, I’ve just finished “After London; or, wild England” by (John) Richard Jefferies published a few years before his death in 1887. A WORLD classic for sure. Part of it tells of a red ooze where London had been previously.
I read a book of some of the collected writings of Paul Goodman which included the essay “The Chance For Popular Culture”, originally published in Poetry Magazine (June 1949). If you are concerned about the loss of interest in the printed word exacerbated by digital devices consider joining Patrons of Print at:
http://patronsofprint.org/
For Bill Doughty, consider hard this book, “Kokomo Joe, The Story of the First Jockey in the United States” by John Christgau, U. of Nebraska Press. If you can’t see your way thru this one then perhaps this one, “I Cannot Forgive”, by Rudolf Vrba & Alan Bestic. I have not read either of these books, in part because I have not had the opportunity to acquire them.
Public libraries are going out of the business of lending books and not just by shuttering their doors but by discarding books at an increasing rate.

My advice to Tom who wanted to try – Stone’s Fall…. go for it! I just finished it and was enthralled. It bogs a bit in the middle, but the rewards of his tying up all the ends of the plot are so worth it.
My best recommendation is The Woman in White by Willkie Collins. I work in an independent bookstore and have sold 330+ copies of this in the past 2 years to people looking for a compelling read. Many have returned with great comments.

I did not see mentioned (and these are older books) but my favorites have been Dorothy Dunnet’s 2 series: The Lymond Cronicles and The House of Nicolo. These historical fiction tales take place in the 15th-16th centuries in Scotland and England and have wonderful detail and plots. Not for the light-hearted but wonderful to read.

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