San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Summer is fun with books like these gems
“Summer fun” means different things for different people, but for the bookish among us, it means it’s time to finally get to those books we’ve set aside since the fall. So for this Summer Fun reading guide, we asked 10 of our favorite independent booksellers to tell us which books from the past year we would be fools not to cross off our list by Labor Day.
“America Is Not the Heart: A Novel” by Elaine Castillo
“Alternating between the Philippines in the ’70s — when dictator Ferdinand Marcos ruled under martial law — and the Bay Area in the ’90s, Castillo’s novel is truly a breathtaking achievement. Her characters have stayed with me. So much so that I find myself idly wondering what Hero or Roni are up to, like they are old friends I haven’t seen in a while. There is so much heart and beauty and anger and love and ugliness — all the things that make up entire lives — packed into this wonderful book.” (Penguin Books; 432 pages; $17)
— Emily Ballaine, Green Apple Books on the Park, San Francisco
“Light From Other Stars” by Erika Swyler
“My favorite kind of summer reading: speculative, a little strange, delightfully wellwritten, with a story that opens your eyes and changes the way you think about important things. In this case, the important things are childhood, parenthood and the passage of time. ‘Light From Other Stars’ is anchored by one very real and memorable moment in 1986 — the day we lost the space shuttle Challenger — and spirals out from there to tell a riveting tale of time, love and science.” (Bloomsbury Publishing; 320 pages; $27)
— Christie Olson Day, Gallery Bookshop, Mendocino
“Courting Mr. Lincoln: A Novel” by Louis Bayard
“Bayard’s excellent portrayal of Lincoln’s early years in Springfield is told through the voices of his dear friends: shopkeeper Joshua Speed, and Mary Todd, newly arrived and the belle of the town. Showing a deft touch for employing just the right amount of historical detail, the author manages to convey a very personal story without betraying an essential truth about Abraham Lincoln: that his core remained a mystery to all who knew him.” (Algonquin Books; 352 pages; $27.95)
— Janis Herbert, Face in a Book, El Dorado Hills
“City of Girls: A Novel” by Elizabeth Gilbert
“This is the perfect dishy drama for summer. Vivian Morris, the protagonist, tells the story of her long life in response to an unexpected question: ‘What was your relationship with my father?’ In answer, we’re taken back to 1940 when 19yearold Vivian, flunked out of Vassar, is sent to Aunt Peg. Peg runs a secondrate theater in Manhattan, where naive Vivian doesn’t stay naive long. Viva la vie Boheme! Gilbert’s written a raunchy romp that’s filled with colorful characters, period detail and enthralling storytelling.” (Riverhead Books; 480 pages; $28)
— Susan Tunis, Book Shop West Portal, San Francisco Read more: Thrilling ‘City of Girls’ is vintage Elizabeth Gilbert
“Inland: A Novel” by Téa Obreht
“Take a littleknown piece of the epic that is the settling of the American West — the use of ‘cameleers’ and their charges — and mix that with the extraordinary storytelling skills of Obreht and you have a fine and spellbinding novel. Both the living and the dead follow their desires in dreams both literal and aspirational that are rendered in colorful and heartbreaking fashion. We join as folks stake their claim on prosperity in an unknown land that is swept through with hardship. Marvelous characters bring wily skills to bear as they leave their mark on the land, their loved ones and their adversaries. This is a novel one will not easily forget.” (Available Aug. 13; Random House; 384 pages, $27)
— Sheryl Cotleur, Copperfield’s Books, Sebastopol
“Rules for Visiting: A Novel” by Jessica Francis Kane
“At 40, May Attaway, the protagonist, finds herself alone and feeling profoundly disconnected from her life and from herself. When she receives an unexpected gift of time off, she seizes the opportunity to visit four old friends. May is smart, funny and more than a little prickly. Readers will love her and find her story both moving and reassuring.” (Penguin Press; 304 pages; $26)
— Michael Barnard, Rakestraw Books, Danville
“Gingerbread: A Novel” by Helen Oyeyemi
“The novel reads like a trail of sweets leading through a dark forest: It’s delightful, but it doesn’t feel entirely safe. The mother and daughter at the center of the narrative possess rapidfire wits and deep love for one another. They are expats from another country which lies in a fairytale dream space that one cannot enter through conventional means — and they are driven back by forces that will remain a mystery until you read this fearless, inventive book.” (Riverhead Books; 272 pages; $27)
— Lila, Pegasus Books College Avenue, Oakland
“Before and Again” by Barbara Delinsky
“Maggie, a makeup artist and sculptor, will hook you with her emotional intensity and her painfully gripping story. After her first life fell apart, she’s now living in an idyllic Vermont resort town and she is hiding ... So. Many. Things. Survivor of a devastating car wreck, reviled publicly, shamed and estranged from her family, she rebuilds her life in this new town one treasured friend at a time, but will it last?” (St. Martin’s Press; 427 pages; $16.99)
— Claire Teel, Hicklebee’s, San Jose