Days of reading wonder: Summer reads, the special edition
Quite of ten, I am asked to recommend books for people who just come up and seek a reading list. And honestly, that is a far better query than when people ask “Do you really read all the books you review?” And yes, am often tempted to reply that they just come out of the blue or I just read the blurbs and liner notes of the books but I hold my tongue, because it is more likely that they will then smile and say, “So, that’s your secret!” So, for those in the first group, while it is hard to recommend without knowing your personality and predilection for reading material, here are some fiction titles that should translate to countless reading hours of enjoyment this summer.
The first three novels today make for a wonderful “mixed bag.” That old, familiar Nick Hornby takes us on a journey to the early days of television comedy while Peter Stjernström takes a gleeful poke at the world of publishing and best sellers. Patrick Ness revives an old Japanese folk tale.
Funny Girl by Nick Hornby (available at National Book Store) With such gems as High Fidelity and About a Boy under his belt, Hornby takes us back to the early ‘60s to watch the birth pains of a young TV comedienne. As Miss Blackpool, Barbara relinquishes her crown to fulfill her dream of traveling to London and making a name for herself in sitcoms, inspired by her idol from across the pond, Lucille Ball. With steely determination and a change in name, Sophie Straw, Barbara defies the odds and becomes a household name. With this fully entertaining and engaging story, we are treated to co-stars, writers, agents and producers taking as much of the spotlight as our plucky heroine. A tribute to the advent of the Golden Age of TV comedy, the novel is also a loving look back and closes with our cast of characters well into their seventies.
The Best Book in the World by Peter Stjernström (available at National Book Store) One drunken evening, blocked novelist Titus and performance artist/poet Eddie ruminate about what either would really need to solve all their worldly problems is a best seller. They joke about how it should be a cookbook, self-help blockbuster and romance/mystery novel all rolled into one “best book in the world.” What follows is one truly great book idea, two authors and a race, by hook or by crook, to create that book and be proclaimed its author. What follows is a hilarious tale about writing, the world of publishing and the how values, scruples and friendships get a beating on the road to success. Between the fragile ego of Titus and his paranoia on one hand, and the flippant, cavalier attitude of Eddie, we are in for a treat of a reading experience.
The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness (available on Amazon. com) Working with a sly, subversive tone, this retelling of an old Japanese folk tale nimbly mixes modern day domesticity with a dash of exotic elements, to fashion a tale of Western magical realism. George Duncan owns a print shop, dabbles in making art pieces out of discarded books and lives alone, having been deserted by his wife. He has a grown daughter, Amanda, who has her own domestic problems as the French father of her son has since departed. One fateful night, George hears a strange keening from outside his house and discovers a crane with an arrow shot through her wing. He helps the bird, and the very next morning, Kumiko appears in his shop. What follows is a story of art, of passion and sacrifice and unexpected shafts of humor mixed with tragedy.
These three wonderfully written novels take us to worlds that seem familiar yet aren’t. Whether the canals of France, or a Russia we only know from news headlines, we get a glimpse of the world beneath the surface. Plus a great new sci-fi release that features a mirror-image of earth called Duplica/Gartien!
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (available on Amazon.com) From his barge moored along a Parisian riverbank, Jean Perdu runs his very unique business. Not just an ordinary book store, his barge is home to his “gift” of dispensing books like prescriptions or cures to his clientele. But when it comes to problems of the heart, Perdu is his own worse enemy. For 21 years, he has not opened a letter left to him by the love of his life, a married woman from Provence. The discovery of what she wrote sends him on a journey south, via the canals, accompanied by a blocked writer and an Italian chef. Together, they bring the readers to an illuminating and entertaining picaresque. Lessons in life, the joy of living, the folly of recapturing the past, all form part of the wonder this book conjures up.
Zero World by Jason M. Hough (available on Amazon. com) Masterfully blending an action thriller with sciencefiction, this latest of Hough delivers the goods. Agent Peter Laswell is a trained assassin for a cryptic conglomerate known as Archon. His guilt and conscience over his work are expunged via an implanted nodule that leaves all memory of his work and “kills” expunged after each mission. When sent to a spacecraft to eliminate a surviving crew member, he is sucked into a drama that involves a world in another dimension that uncannily looks like earth in the late ‘50s. In this Duplica world, there is only north and south, and it seems the missing scientist has installed herself as technological “savior” of one side. Also a “buddy” story thanks to the female spy Laswell encounters, this has film adaptation written all over it.
The Librarian by Mikhail Elizarov (available at Fully Booked) Winner of the Russian Booker, this novel is both fantasy and social realism. Taking books of pedestrian Russian authors and investing them with magical powers, this novel of Elizarov imagines with stark reality a world where book clubs and libraries compete via ritualized but blood-soaked battles for possession of these extraordinary books. Alexei, nephew of a murdered librarian, inadvertently stumbles into this sub-world and finds himself thrust, against his will, into the role of new librarian, caretaker of one of these Gromov books. Along with this privilege comes danger and a perilous journey that consumes Alexei and his band of elders who form the book club where Alexei’s uncle had found purpose in life. A flight of imagination that manages to mirror modern Russia.