Local book lovers reveal their summer reading lists
BOOKS
reading, writing, running, and reflecting. That daily practice helps me work and learn in the right spirit.
Dennis Holzman, rare book dealer and owner of Dennis Holzman Antiques, Cohoes
Q: As a rare and out-of-print book dealer, do you read new and popular stuff, too?
A: Since what I do to earn a living is also my passion, what I read for pleasure is often intimately tied to what I do on a daily basis. I tend to have a stack of "history light" or narrative nonfiction in my life. I’m a fan of Candace Millard and thoroughly recommend “The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey” and “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.” I’m also a David Grann groupie; “The Lost City of Z” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” are both riveting. And for a kid whose parents took him to the local library every week, “The Library Book” by Susan Orleans about the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library is an all-time favorite. Not only is it an examination of the devastating fire, but also a book about people, politics, and the awe-inspiring nature of libraries.
Q: What’s required reading in your business?
A: The world of autographs is rife with forgeries, minor and spectacular. I am drawn to books which help me avoid falling prey to the forgers. A book I have all
my employee’s read is Simon Worrall’s “The Poet and the Murder: A True Story of Literary Crime and the Art of Forgery.” It checks a lot of boxes for me: the escapades of one of the country’s most infamous forgers (Mark Hofmann), the world of one of the more mysterious poets (Emily Dickinson), and the manipulations of the marketplace by major auction houses.
Q: What’s on your nightstand right now?
A: “The Personal Librarian” by Marie Benedict and Victoria Murray. Historical fiction of J.P. Morgan's personal librarian who hid her racial identity.
Anita Jack-Davies, Ph.D, deputy chief diversity officer, Wyckoff Center, Skidmore College
Q: Hands down, what’s the best book you’ve read this year?
A: Actually, it’s a reread, of Audre Lorde’s “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name.” I read it first when I was a doctoral student at Queen’s University in Canada, and I came back to it this year for inspiration as I was finishing my own memoir (which comes out this fall). Lorde is one of the best writers of the last century on issues of race, intersectionality, identity and what it means to live as a Black person in America. Her writing is poetic, unforgiving, complex and simple at the same time.
Q: As an academic do you find the summers to be a time when you can get more reading done?
A: Are you kidding me? I have a 13 year old, so summers are a mixed bag. As a university administrator I do not get summers off, however, things do slow down. Can we talk about finishing books? This summer I hope to finish “A Place of Yes” by Bethenny Frankel and “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” by Danzy Senna. And start “The Cocoa Panyols of Trinidad” (by Sylvia Moodie-Kublalsingh) and a volume of Maya Angelou poetry that my mother-in-law gave me last Christmas.
Q: Wyckoff Center, the space you run at Skidmore, is devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). What would you say is required — or at least recommended — reading in this field?
A: At Wyckoff, we value DEI, but the space is devoted to scholarship on difference as experienced by faculty, staff, students, alumni, community members and university partners. There are so many facets to it! Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist” is an excellent starting point.
Alexandra Stafford, cookbook author and blogger, Niskayuna
Q: Rumor has it your home library contains over 500 cookbooks and continues to grow. What are your three recent favorites?
A: “Snackable Bakes” by Jessie Sheehan, “Salad Freak” by Jess Damuck, and “Gullah Geechee Home Cooking ” by Emily Meggett, all published this spring.
Q: When you want a mind-break from the kitchen, what do you tend to read?
A: I love light, funny novels without complicated plots
(because I read about one page a night before falling asleep). Loved “Nothing to See Here” by Kevin Wilson, about a family whose children self-combust when they are upset, “Joan is Okay” by Weike Wang (an ICU doctor’s story about motherhood, daughterhood, and belonging), and “Last Summer at the Golden Hotel,” set in the Catskills. Great beach read. I also listen to audiobooks on long walks with my dog.
Q: What’s do you hope to get to over the summer?
A: I'm excited to read “I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood” by Jessi Klein (recommended by a favorite cookbook author, Jenny Rosenstrach) and “The Puzzler,” which I bought after listening to a conversation with the author, A.J. Jacobs, on The Armchair Expert Podcast (a great listen!). I also want to get to the food memoir “Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner, the lead singer and guitarist of the band Japanese Breakfast, which I love.
Pam Abrams, a Saratoga Springs-based writer, reads mostly fiction, memoirs and cookbooks. Her top recent pick: Amy Bloom’s “In Love.”