Salon.com > Summer reading http://www.salon.com Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:02:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Must-see morning clip: Your summer “do not read” book list http://www.salon.com/2013/06/04/must_see_morning_clip_your_summer_do_not_read_book_list/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/04/must_see_morning_clip_your_summer_do_not_read_book_list/#comments Tue, 04 Jun 2013 13:27:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13316766 Jimmy Fallon prepares you for summer reading by recommending what not to read, including "How to Dissappear Completely and Never Be Found" (yes, misspelled in the title) and "Dating for Under a Dollar," which suggests date ideas like a "double date with your parents" and a "visit to a friendly stranger's house":

For a more helpful list of great summer reads, check out Laura Miller's recommendations here.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/04/must_see_morning_clip_your_summer_do_not_read_book_list/feed/ 0 What’s 2013′s “Gone Girl”? Here are this summer’s best reads http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/whats_2013s_gone_girl_here_are_this_summers_best_reads/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/whats_2013s_gone_girl_here_are_this_summers_best_reads/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306792 Step away from that Dan Brown novel! Better yet, don't let summer's distractions lead you to consider picking it up in the first place. Take our advice now and you won't find yourself scanning the shelves of dispiriting airport bookshops and beach-town drugstores before settling on yet another routine thriller. Contrary to what some mega-selling authors seem to believe, not every page turner has to be packed with ham-fisted clichés, wooden characters, pointlessly frenetic action and cheesy dialogue. Somewhere between Brown's "Inferno" and "War and Peace" lies the sweet spot where literary quality mingles freely with crackerjack storytelling.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/whats_2013s_gone_girl_here_are_this_summers_best_reads/feed/ 14 “Broken Harbor”: Suburban gothic http://www.salon.com/2012/07/22/broken_harbor_suburban_gothic/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/22/broken_harbor_suburban_gothic/#comments Sun, 22 Jul 2012 22:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12953383 The very first detective story, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," was a locked-room mystery: Poe's sleuth was presented with a crime committed in a space seemingly impossible for the perpetrator to enter or exit. The fourth book in Tana French's brilliant, genre-busting series about the (fictitious) Dublin Murder Squad, "Broken Harbor," looks, at first glance, like a similar puzzle. A family of four has been attacked in their locked-and-alarmed suburban home. Only one member, the mother, survives, and she's unconscious, hovering near death. Everyone agrees that Jennifer and Pat Spain had a golden marriage, the union of childhood sweethearts who have never glanced twice at anyone else and who are blessed with an adorable son and daughter. So who smothered the kids in their beds and stabbed the parents? How did he get in, and out again? Be advised: In French's novels, there's no such thing as a locked door, only the illusion thereof. All boundaries are permeable.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/22/broken_harbor_suburban_gothic/feed/ 7 “Tigers in Red Weather”: Massachusetts gothic http://www.salon.com/2012/07/15/tigers_in_red_weather_massachusetts_gothic/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/15/tigers_in_red_weather_massachusetts_gothic/#comments Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12955814 It's tricky, explaining the allure of Liza Klaussmann's "Tigers in Red Weather." To judge by the qualities easiest to convey in a review -- setting, characters, premise -- it might sound like a readily identifiable type of novel. The action takes place on a series of hot days between 1945 and 1969. The characters, each of whom gets a section told from his or her point of view, are members of an extended family that has summered in a big old house on Martha's Vineyard for generations. At the beginning of the book, they're listening to Count Basie and drinking gin and tonics. By the end, they're listening to the Doors and drinking gin and tonics. They sail. There's an intense, ambivalent sister-sister relationship (even though the two women, Nick and Helena, are actually cousins) and an intense, ambivalent mother-daughter relationship.

If this were the type of novel it sounds like, there'd be a fatal accident or an extramarital affair or a cancer diagnosis -- or maybe all three! Soapy but ultimately redemptive developments illustrating the saving grace of female friendship and familial love would ensue. The book's cover would feature a photo of bare feet in the sand. (And I, personally, would not be able to get past the third chapter without dozing off.)

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/15/tigers_in_red_weather_massachusetts_gothic/feed/ 1 “Agent Garbo”: Wartime’s greatest double-cross http://www.salon.com/2012/07/08/agent_garbo_wartimes_greatest_double_cross/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/08/agent_garbo_wartimes_greatest_double_cross/#comments Sun, 08 Jul 2012 22:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12950737 "Tangle within tangle, plot and counterplot, ruse and treachery, cross and double-cross, true agent, false agent, double agent, gold and steel, the bomb, the dagger and the firing party, were interwoven in many a texture so intricate as to be incredible and yet true."

That's how Winston Churchill described the campaigns of deception practiced by British intelligence services during World War II, and it's also a pretty good characterization of the tale told by Stephan Talty in "Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day." When, in 1984, a group of D-Day veterans gathered on Omaha Beach in Normandy for the 40th anniversary of the fateful invasion, some of them had heard of the double agent who was code-named Garbo, but even they were astonished to learn that the diminutive, balding gentleman being nudged forward by a journalist was the very same. One of the soldiers took him by the hand and introduced him around as "the man who saved our lives."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/08/agent_garbo_wartimes_greatest_double_cross/feed/ 12 Laura Miller: What to read this summer http://www.salon.com/2012/06/18/laura_miller_what_to_read_this_summer/ http://www.salon.com/2012/06/18/laura_miller_what_to_read_this_summer/#comments Mon, 18 Jun 2012 14:24:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12940416 Need a beach read? Salon's own Laura Miller stops by NPR's "Weekend Edition" to discuss some of her favorites this year. Listen in:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/06/18/laura_miller_what_to_read_this_summer/feed/ 0 What did you really read this summer? http://www.salon.com/2011/08/27/summer_reading_slideshow/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/27/summer_reading_slideshow/#comments Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2011/08/27/summer_reading_slideshow For readers, summer often starts with grand ambition. This will be the year we really tackle Roberto Bolaño or David Foster Wallace; it will be the summer of nothing but lemonade and Alice Munro. Or perhaps we'll educate ourselves by delving deep into accounts of the financial crisis or the war on terror. Then the days turn lazy and even the most sincere intentions wilt in the heat.

With September looming, we thought it would be a good time to check in with some of our favorite authors -- and some of the writers you're likely to be reading this fall -- to see what they really read this summer. Click through the following slide show to see what they had to say.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/27/summer_reading_slideshow/feed/ 22 2011′s best — so far! http://www.salon.com/2011/07/04/midyear_must_dos/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/04/midyear_must_dos/#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/feature/2011/07/04/midyear_must_dos OK, it's a little more than midyear at this point. The days are already getting shorter, and that stack of books on your nightstand is only getting taller as your DVR queue gets longer. It's time to concentrate on what matters. So we've asked our crack culture team to pick what you need to experience to be the well-rounded, culturally fluent smarty you want to be, and ordered them by importance. See how many you've already checked out, and dive into the rest.

You'll be better for it --  and seriously entertained.

URGENT (Do this right now!)

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/04/midyear_must_dos/feed/ 9 “War and Peace” made easy http://www.salon.com/2010/06/30/audiobooks_2/ http://www.salon.com/2010/06/30/audiobooks_2/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:45:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2010/06/30/audiobooks A friend of mine has been vowing to read Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain" every summer for the past several years. Yet once he nestles into his seat on the plane or flops down on the grass in the sun, he just can't bring himself to crack open that hefty chunk of 20th-century German bildungsroman. The handful of times he has summoned the discipline to try, he found himself falling asleep or swiping a friend's copy of the latest Michael Connelly mystery instead. After all, isn't he supposed to be on vacation?

Many people swear that, come summer, they'll finally get around to reading a classic work of literature they missed during their student years; "War and Peace" is a perennial candidate. For some, this is the intellectual equivalent of using a week of paid vacation to finish a big household project, like installing a patio. Others honestly believe that a 900-page Russian novel that seemed too daunting a prospect in November will somehow be easier to scale in a hammock. Too often, these grand plans end in shirking and a vague sense of failure. "Moby-Dick" the novel becomes almost as elusive as the white whale himself.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/06/30/audiobooks_2/feed/ 56 Your sons’ summer vacation reading list http://www.salon.com/2010/06/03/summer_reading_for_boys/ http://www.salon.com/2010/06/03/summer_reading_for_boys/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:03:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/06/03/summer_reading_for_boys Last week, we hoped to spark conversation -- and further suggestions -- with a list of five amazing books to hand daughters this summer. We’re not leaving the boys behind. Here is our list of five great books for boys of all ages (books that will also, of course, appeal to girls, too). If your (or your kid’s) favorite book has been left off this list -- John D. Fitzgerald’s "The Great Brain"? Norton Juster’s "The Phantom Tollbooth"? The Lemony Snicket books? Or, for the sports-minded child, Dan Gutman’s Baseball Card Adventure Series, or Kadir Nelson’s remarkable "We Are the Ship"? -- blog about it on Open Salon: Just make sure to tag your post "Building a bookworm," and we'll cross-post the best ones onto Salon itself.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/06/03/summer_reading_for_boys/feed/ 6 Book owners have smarter kids http://www.salon.com/2010/06/02/summer_book_giveaway/ http://www.salon.com/2010/06/02/summer_book_giveaway/#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2010/06/02/summer_book_giveaway When I was 12 years old, I read most of the plays of George Bernard Shaw. That's not to say that I understood the plays of George Bernard Shaw, or even that I passionately loved them. They just happened to be around the house, in a set of neat little green paperbacks left over from my father's college days. I doubt that puzzling over the mysteries of "Pygmalion" taught me much about the British class system, but it definitely got me into the habit of searching for understanding in the pages of challenging books.

A study recently published in the journal Research in Social Stratification and Mobility found that just having books around the house (the more, the better) is correlated with how many years of schooling a child will complete. The study (authored by M.D.R. Evans, Jonathan Kelley, Joanna Sikorac and Donald J. Treimand) looked at samples from 27 nations, and according to its abstract, found that growing up in a household with 500 or more books is "as great an advantage as having university-educated rather than unschooled parents, and twice the advantage of having a professional rather than an unskilled father." Children with as few as 25 books in the family household completed on average two more years of schooling than children raised in homes without any books.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/06/02/summer_book_giveaway/feed/ 51 Your guide to nail-biting summer reads http://www.salon.com/2010/06/02/summer_reading_thrillers_crime/ http://www.salon.com/2010/06/02/summer_reading_thrillers_crime/#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:20:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/06/01/summer_reading_thrillers_crime Summer's arrived, and that means you're probably getting ready to pack some choice crime fiction and thriller offerings into your bag or onto your e-reading device for that long-haul flight or scorching stay on the beach. But why not venture beyond the big names -- like Stieg Larsson, Janet Evanovich and Lee Childs -- this season, with some nail-biting books by underrated or emerging writers?

Here are seven great smart and thoroughly entertaining crime novels and thrillers to consider for your seasonal-reading pleasure. They'll transport you to exotic locations, help you travel back in history -- and, most important, take you far, far away from your days of multitasking at the office.

"A Fierce Radiance" by Lauren Belfer (June 8)

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/06/02/summer_reading_thrillers_crime/feed/ 2 Your guiltiest summer reading pleasures http://www.salon.com/2010/05/30/romance_summer_reading/ http://www.salon.com/2010/05/30/romance_summer_reading/#comments Sun, 30 May 2010 15:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/05/30/romance_summer_reading The days are getting longer, the weather is finally getting warmer, and your beach bag is devoid of the perfect summer reading material? Heaven forbid! It's not just any book you need: Summer reading is as much a vacation for your imagination as an endless day at the beach is a vacation for your overworked self (you look marvelous, by the way).

Even if you're not at the beach or anywhere near sandy relaxation, a great romance novel can provide the perfect escape from everyday stress. The best part of romance fiction is that happy endings are guaranteed. While the perfect tan requires careful sunscreen, enjoying a romance requires only two things: a belief that everyone deserves a happily-ever-after, and the ability to ignore anyone who sniffs at your choice of reading material. A good romance novel is like the perfect day at the beach: wonderful and restorative from start to finish.

Allow me to help take some of the risk out of summer book shopping, courtesy of some of the best writers in the romance genre. I divided the list into three helpful categories: the long-ago, the here-and-now, and could-be-today-with-creepy-things, so take your pick.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/05/30/romance_summer_reading/feed/ 7 SheWrites.com: A salon of one’s own http://www.salon.com/2009/07/30/new_york_writers_salon_goes_online/ http://www.salon.com/2009/07/30/new_york_writers_salon_goes_online/#comments Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:29:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet//feature/2009/07/30/new_york_writers_salon_goes_online Last month, when Kamy Wicoff launched the beta version of a networking site called SheWrites.com, she knew it was a good idea, but she may not have guessed quite how good. She Writes is an online community of female writers that works like Facebook: Anyone can join, and members can create groups, post work, and advertise readings and workshops. The forum features memoirists, biographers, erotica writers, bloggers and journalists, and it counts feminists like Elaine Showalter among its number. Within days of its launch, She Writes had several hundred members. Within a week it had a thousand.

Wicoff ran a real-life literary salon in London (along with her friend, the late Diane Middlebrook), and then another in New York (with Nancy K. Miller) before setting up She Writes. She spoke to Salon about the voracious response to her online forum, and why women still need a support site of their own.

Why did you choose to set up SheWrites.com now?

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/07/30/new_york_writers_salon_goes_online/feed/ 13 David Foster Wallace lives on for an “Infinite Summer” http://www.salon.com/2009/07/14/infinite_summer/ http://www.salon.com/2009/07/14/infinite_summer/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:20:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/07/14/infinite_summer There are many ways to cope with death, but founding an online book club is a pretty unique approach. "When I heard that David Foster Wallace had died, it was like remembering an assignment that had been due the day before," said Matthew Baldwin. A blogger who regretted never having finished "Infinite Jest," Baldwin founded InfiniteSummer.org, a Web site and collaborative reading experiment that creates a vast literary support group for completing the late author's 1,079-page tome over the course of this summer.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/07/14/infinite_summer/feed/ 34 Summer reading: True confessions http://www.salon.com/2009/06/09/memoirs_2/ http://www.salon.com/2009/06/09/memoirs_2/#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:40:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/summer_reading/2009/06/09/memoirs Last week Laura Miller recommended great thrillers to keep you chilly on a long, sultry afternoon, and some of our favorite authors talked about their summer reading picks (which ranged from Balzac to Sherman Alexie to Michael Pollan).

This week, we shine the spotlight on first-person narratives: A young backpacker's life unravels on a trip to China; a novelist traipses around Italy in search of adventure; a girl grows up with a white dad who wants her to act black; a movie star helps a sensitive young woman make it through a turbulent childhood and a "mean little deaf queer" comes out (and grows up) with honesty and good humor.

 

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven

By Susan Jane Gilman

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/06/09/memoirs_2/feed/ 3 Summer reading: Killer thrillers http://www.salon.com/2009/06/02/thrillers/ http://www.salon.com/2009/06/02/thrillers/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:20:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/summer_reading/2009/06/02/thrillers When the days grow long and hot, some readers reach for fizzy novels about sex and shopping, or warm-hearted accounts of potato peel societies and ya-ya sisterhoods. Not me. I want blood and murder, intrigue and treachery, dark secrets and paranoia. A good thriller is what keeps me devouring the pages through summer's sultry afternoons and long flights.

Yet despite the vast popularity of the genre, decent thrillers are hard to come by. Even a writer who's delivered the goods in the past (I'm looking at you, Carlos Ruiz Zafon!) can disappoint. Some of the worst specimens have hokey plots whose "twists" you can spot a mile away; others feature characters so flimsy and dialogue so clichéd they make your average Stephen Seagal movie look like Ingmar Bergman. Most are just plain dull -- and can there be anything more dispiriting than a thriller that fails to thrill? Yes, there can: the knowledge that said thrill-less thriller is the only book in your beach tote or carry-on bag.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/06/02/thrillers/feed/ 9 Summer reads http://www.salon.com/2008/06/16/summer_reads4/ http://www.salon.com/2008/06/16/summer_reads4/#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:26:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2008/06/16/summer_reads4 Salon's staff is recommending summer books that will whisk you to another time and place without making you go through airport security. Previous weeks featured thrillers, chick lit and memoirs.

In this fourth and final installment, we focus on historical novels: a gripping fictional portrait of Queen Elizabeth's early years, when she was still just "Lady Elizabeth"; a Victorian thriller featuring a mysterious housemaid and a gentleman obsessed with anthropometry; a juicy girl's-eye view of Louis XIV's court; and an intellectual romance that spans two centuries, partly set in Venice, where novelist George Eliot is on honeymoon.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"The Lady Elizabeth" by Alison Weir

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/06/16/summer_reads4/feed/ 6 Summer reads http://www.salon.com/2008/06/02/summer_reads2/ http://www.salon.com/2008/06/02/summer_reads2/#comments Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:51:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2008/06/02/summer_reads2 Salon's staff is recommending summer books you can really sink your teeth into. Last week we featured killer thrillers. In this second installment, we spotlight four novels that loosely fall under the category of chick lit. They range from a black-humored romp about a spurned MBA student seeking romantic revenge to the saga of New England belles living it up in a gothic manse on the Maine coast to a single city girl who sets off on a round-the-world adventure to a funny mother-daughter duo in need of some serious bonding -- and a good bat mitzvah dress.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"This Is How It Happened (Not a Love Story)" by Jo Barrett

"The problem," confides Madeline, the heroine of Jo Barrett's "This Is How It Happened," "was he was beautiful."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/06/02/summer_reads2/feed/ 9 Summer reads http://www.salon.com/2008/05/26/summer_reads1/ http://www.salon.com/2008/05/26/summer_reads1/#comments Mon, 26 May 2008 11:31:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2008/05/26/summer_reads1 Memorial Day brings the promise of summer: languorous days spent lounging at the beach or by the air conditioner with the perfect page-turner. A mesmerizing potboiler, a heady historic tome, a gripping memoir -- you want a book that transports you to exotic places without making you go through airport security. You want something you can really sink your teeth into, but that won't leave you feeling overstuffed. In the coming weeks, Salon's staff will recommend a selection of summer reads -- mysteries, chick lit, memoirs and fiction with a historical twist.

This week's focus is thrillers: a suburban family is menaced by shady secrets and unexpected dangers; an art forger gets sucked into a bizarre conspiracy; a Stalin-era communist apparatchik seeks to redeem himself by uncovering a crime; an enigmatic college professor asks his class to unravel a hypothetical (or is it?) murder; and a divorcee becomes a mother-avenger as she searches for her missing teenage daughter.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Hold Tight"
By Harlan Coben

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/05/26/summer_reads1/feed/ 26