Labor Day sneak up on you again? Didn't get to read one of the summer's best-sellers? Well, you're in luck, because we have a little pile of recent releases here, just looking for the right home. Just leave a comment & we'll select a book to send to you. Don't post your address here -- we'll be in touch for those details.
Then you can sneak off a corner later and pretend it's still summer.
Ann Hood talks about knitting and her novel The Knitting Circle.
What are you reading this summer? Share the title, author and a comment about why you're reading it. We'll share reader's picks throughout the summer on the Read pages.
On the June 22 Read pages, our columnists let us know what book they will be reading this summer. Here are more books on their list:
Richard Krawiec, Under the Radar:
Summer reading can be fun and entertaining without requiring your brain be ut in a deep sleep. These three novels are all entertaining, thought-provoking and, in two of the cases, extremely funny.
Durham writer David Guy’s “Jake Fades” is a witty, well-plotted story about Jake, an aging bicycle repariman/zen master, and his attempts to convince his student Hank, a happy-go-lucky middle-aged screw-up, to take over the role of teacher when Jake dies. Although death is central to the story, there is nothing morbid in this novel. It is really about how you live your life. Full of good-humored sarcasm, ‘Jake Fades’ offers trenchant explorations of sexual love, fatherhood, friendship, and the value of living fully in the moment.
British novelist Nick Hornsby’s “How to be Good” also asks us to examine our lives, but in a fast-paced entertainment of a book. This novel will make you laugh out loud – repeatedly, constantly – even as it forces you to consider the question raised by the title; How does one live in a way that is good? The book follows the foibles of a liberal English couple – she’s a doctor, he an angry leftist columnist – their children and neighbors, as they come under the sway of a young man known as DJ Good News. DJ, a nouveau-hippie healer of the soul, challenges everyone to live out their beliefs; give away your computer to a women’s shelter,; welcome a homeless person into your house. The results are hilarious and thought-provoking. “How to be Good” is a page-turner of the heart and mind.
For those who like epic, Dickensian novels, it’s hard to beat Joseph O’Connor’s ‘Star of the Sea’. The story is absolutely riveting. It begins with the ship of the title leaving Ireland for the New World in 1847. On board are a hold full of Irish peasants fleeing the famine, a would-be nobleman and his family, and a killer who seeks revenge. It isn’t until you’re halfway through the book that you realize you’ve been so busy turning the pages to find out what happens next that this is actually a novel of ideas. Behind the brisk read is an incisive examination of class warfare, the limits and possibilities of love, and the difficulty of ever escaping the violence of one’s past.
Greg Cox, Food for Thought:
Come summer, I like to unwind from my job as restaurant critic and food writer by reading about - um, food. What can I say? I love my job.
And when I finish Murder on the Menu, here are a few more mouthwatering summer reads on my plate.
America’s Best Lost Recipes, by the editors of Cook’s Country magazine. America’s Test Kitchen, 2007.
Best Food Writing 2007, edited by Holly Hughes. Perseus Publishing, 2007 (paper).
Eat This! 1001 Things to Eat Before You Diet, by Ian Jackman. Harper, 2007 (paper).
Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook, by Martha Hall Foose. Crown Publishing, 2008.
Things Cooks Love: Implements. Ingredients. Recipes. by Sur la Table with Marie Simmons. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008.
Bridgette Lacy, Audiobooks:
This summer, a lot of us may be staying home with gas and food prices on the rise. Personally, I’m planning a “staycation” under my ceiling fan with a few of my favorite audiobooks. And I will share my selections with you which range from the inspirational to naughty and thrilling. So when you need a break, pop in one of these newly released audios and relax in a favorite chair on the porch and sip on a nice cold glass of iced tea.
“The Quickie ” by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Read by actress Mary Stuart Masterson. (Hachette Audio, $14.98) Unabridged, six hours.
This thriller has more twists and turns than the Blue Ridge Parkway and it’s clear that homicide detective Lauren Stillwell hasn’t investigated her leading man. So when Lauren and her husband both decide to get a little extra on the side, all bets are off and murder is on.
“The Last Lecture ” by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow. Read by Erik Singer. (Hyperion Audio, $21.95) Unabridged, 4 and 1/2 hours.
This inspirational story is in effect the last lecture of Carnegie Mellon computer science professor Randy Pausch, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Designed as a gift to his three children, this lecture is a gift to anyone, who really wants to live more fully everyday. Pausch, who actually met his wife at UNC-Chapel Hill while he was giving a guest lecture, advises all of us to use our time wisely. Pausch spouts a lot of wisdom as a man who realizes that every encounter could by a goodbye.
The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman. ( Random House, 29.95)
Read by actress Nancy Travis. (Unabridged, 8 hours)
These three connected stories are centered on the imperfection of romantic love. These flawed characters are both delicate and resilient in their ability to survive love and loss and all the complexities of giving yourself to the wrong person.
“When You Are Engulfed In Flames” by David Sedaris. (Hachette Audio, $34.98) Unabridged, 9 hours)
Who needs company when humorist David Sedaris is in the house? You can listen to his sixth collection of essays with friends or by yourself. The naughty, funny man is at it again spinning tales about everyday events ranging from accidentally coughing up a throat lozenge that lands in the crouch of a woman he’d been arguing with to warding off suicidal birds with old album covers. You will feel better after listening to this.
On the June 15 Read pages, William Grimes reviews "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" by Peter Boxall. In an excerpt trimmed for print space, Grimes tests the premise of the book:
"As an experiment, I picked three novels, more or less at random, to see how they might change my quality of life: “Castle Rackrent” by Maria Edgeworth; “Tarka the Otter” by Henry Williamson; and “The Invention of Curried Sausage” by Uwe Timm.
Two of the three definitely provided a lift. “Castle Rackrent” (1800), a rollicking satire about trashy English aristocrats who bring ruin to an Irish estate, is worth reading just for the name Carrick O’Fungus, although literary historians prize it for being the first regional novel. That’s fine. Bonus points for getting there first, but the real reason to pick it up is Edgeworth’s slyly vicious picture of slovenly aristos on the loose.
Uwe Timm, a contemporary German writer unknown to me, now flies very high on my mental Amazon rankings. “The Invention of Curried Sausage” (1993) is an offbeat quest novel. The narrator, seeking the origins of currywurst, a German fast-food specialty, quizzes an elderly vendor and winds up with a big, fat history lesson. The issues are big, the prose brilliant, the execution deft. Eternal gratitude to Andrew Blades, theater reviewer for Stage magazine, who convinced Boxall that this novel belonged on the list.
Tarka turned out to be too much otter for me, even though the back story is compelling. Williamson, returning from the trenches after World War I, took up a hermit’s life in north Devon, where he lived among the plants and the animals, observing closely and shunning humankind. “Tarka,” published in 1927, tells the story of a young male otter and its day-to-day struggles for food, a mate and security in a world populated by baying dogs and evil men. T.E. Lawrence loved it. I didn’t.
Since Boxall is keen to start an argument, let me oblige. Drop the bloated, self-indulgent “Ada” from an otherwise correct Nabokov list (“Lolita,” “Pale Fire,” “Pnin”) and insert “Laughter in the Dark” or “The Gift.” J.M. Coetzee, with 10 novels, can afford to lose 1 or 2. That would open up space for “The Cossacks” by Tolstoy and “A Hero of Our Time” by Mikhail Lermontov. There should be another five Balzacs. I could go on and on.
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