The Twenty Books of Summer

I've been so intrigued to read the 20 Books of Summer lists that everyone has been posting. Thanks to Cathy of 746 Books for having instigated all of this busy summertime reading so many years ago now. 

Of course, I'm hoping I'll be able to read 20 books this summer, but I know my schedule may not afford me all the time I need to complete it. But I'm feeling optimistic at the end of this first official weekend of summer, Memorial Day Weekend.

Twenty Books of Summer  2024

1.     An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin  Audible  17+ hours

2.     Shadow in the Glass by M.E. Hilliard  (#2 Greer Hogan Mystery) Set in Lake Placid

3.     Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell (2020) Her highly acclaimed thriller fr. 2020  finished!

4.     North Woods by Daniel Mason

5.     The Women by Kristin Hannah

6.     God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Starred reviews fr. Library Journal, PW, Kirkus, Booklist)

7.     History:   The Deerfield Massacre by James L. Swanson

8.     Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck  Winner of the International Booker Prize in Translation 2024

9.     The Last Word by Elly Griffiths

10.  Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell  by Ann Powers  Audible

11.  The Storm We Made  by Vanessa Chan  WWII Malaya  finished!

12.  The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes   Germany 1946

13.  Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles

14.  The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill

15.  History/Biography: This Spot is Open!

16.  All the Broken Places by John Boyne

17.  A novel or memoir by Paul Auster, cherished author, (1947-2024)

18. This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud  A Must-Read! Highly acclaimed!

 I am keeping #s 19-20 Open. And #15, which will be History or Biography. 

I realize that this list is incomplete. I hope to fill the slots as time and...BOOKS...become available.

The very best wishes for a sunny, but NOT TOO HOT summer for us all, and, of course, plenty of time to indulge in BOOKS.

 

 

 

Hoping to Post a "20 Books of Summer Post" This Weekend!

It has been such an eternity since I last posted anything, that it makes me wonder if any of you are still blogging about books!  I do hope so!

Despite the genealogical business mayhem that seems to consume my life these days, I very much want to list 20 books I'd love to read this summer. It's certain that I won't be able to plow through all 20 that are pressing on my mind and finish them all by Labor Day in early September, but I hope I'll be able to spend some QUALITY time with at least a good portion of these books during the hottest weeks of the year. And write about them.

I hope to connect with some of you about all of this. I have never intended to drop out entirely, as it must seem I must have done, but I have been much more fully occupied than I ever imagined. It has been rewarding, yes, but also limiting.  

So here goes! 

A Catch-Up Post of Sorts--Though Not Really Possible!

I had such high hopes in early June that I'd have time for at least some reading this summer. And I have, though those moments for "some" reading have been very few. 

I am swamped with genealogical work, and I don't regret that, really, but I do need to actively and purposely plan time into the week for reading and relaxation. I have made the time for walking, though it's been a pretty lousy sport these days with tropical dewpoints in the 70s. I can't complain, though, given the severe, unrelenting heat confronting much of the country. 

Books I'm Loving:  I have so enjoyed Nancy Thayer's latest summer Nantucket novel, All the Days of Summer. I'm listening to it while I knit an incredible, multi-color  scarf of Italian wool. It's self-striping and wild-- and what's more important it's been relaxing, when I do manage to make myself take the time to listen and knit for 30-45 minutes in the late afternoons. I have only about two hours of listening to go, and I'm already sad to see it end. Heather, the main character, leaves her husband in her late 40s to spend a summer in a run-down cottage on Nantucket. She finds a new life, and because her son is marrying into Nantucket royalty, a new "family," of sorts. Reading this one has made me dream at night of renting a place on Nantucket for a month. An unattainable dream! I'd probably hate it; the island has been taken over by billionaires. Crowded! So, no! But the fantasy provided by this novel makes me dream it. You know, I do miss the ocean. Sigh.

I'm also reading Love and Ruin by Paula McLain, about Martha Gellhorn primarily, but also about her relationship with Ernest Hemingway. Gellhorn was a war correspondent in the Spanish Civil War, and the Russo-Finnish War of 1939, and afterwards... Set in Key West, Cuba, and in Europe, it's a great read, and frankly, very well done. Huge acclaim for this book, which made me read it. But frankly, Ernest Hemingway, in my book, was a loser as far as a man to have a relationship with!!  But that adds to the drama and conflict, doesn't it? 

 

 

Elizabeth Gilbert Decides Not to Publish Her Russian Novel

 Here's to hoping that I manage a good and proper post in the next two days! So hard to believe it's already the 13th of June. 

But I have read the first two books on my list, and I want to report on them very soon. I'm due to pick up four books on hold at the library, all of which are on my list, and will not be able to read in two weeks! 

If you haven't heard about this story in book news, I will let you know that I was very disturbed to learn that Elizabeth Gilbert has decided to pull back her 2024 novel The Snow Forest from publication. It's unclear whether this is a postponement or something more dire. It was Gilbert's decision, allegedly based on hundreds of one-star reviews on GoodReads. 

The truly awful thing is that the Ukrainian women blasting Gilbert on that site appear to have absolutely no clue what The Snow Forest is about. No ARCS are available, so they haven't read it. Clearly it was a misinformation social media campaign, having read all the comments. The commenters knew absolutely NOTHING about the book--first and foremost. What the commenters have NO CLUE about is that this is not a book about any ordinary Russian family, but an historical novel about a Russian family in total opposition to the Soviet government, which had imprisoned members of its family in Siberia.

Self-censorship is a huge issue in writing and publishing these days, and I feel compelled to write more about it in the future. Elizabeth Gilbert says she is withdrawing the book because of the pain it is causing Ukrainian women. (But, I want to say to her, they don't seem to know what your book is about.)

But, in the larger picture, the constant topic seems to be this: Who has the right to write FICTION about another country's people, about another culture, about anything? And I will ask you this: Is a white writer raised in the Northeastern U.S. compelled to write only about her own culture and environment and her own ancestors' history and nothing else? I'm talking fiction here.

I truly believe an author has the absolute right to withdraw a book from publication, regardless of what her publishers want. (As far as I know, her publisher has not fought her on this.) But I question Gilbert's motives. And for that reasoning, I will have to pause until I can pick up this conversation again. I hope you will weigh in!

And I believe that a writer has the RIGHT to write fiction about whatever he or she chooses. People have been doing it, for better or worse, for hundreds of years. Maybe no publisher will publish an Asian American woman writing a saga about a Muslim community in Dearborn, Michigan. But somebody might, especially if she had years of experience living in such a community. 

I guess I just hate these barriers that have been created.

 

The Twenty Books of Summer!!

 I've been formulating a list for several weeks now.  I must admit I'm not sure how the books will travel down the transit line. (Books on hold at the library.) And I must admit, I can be a MOOD reader, especially when life gets too busy or stressful. I also have not had the time to be as alert as I used to be about new books and recommended books. Despite these quandaries, I'm really looking forward to this event! The heat got up to 87 degrees here today, so I'm all in for reading the summer afternoons away. 

Okay—here’s my list so far. Right now I feel my list is unbalanced, and I feel I may be missing titles I really want to read. Please be prepared for the possibility of a new and refined list in the next week or two.

Please note that I’d love to read every book on this list, yet new or older books may fly across my path to tell me they must be read immediately. That’s the beauty of The Twenty Books of Summer. Substitutions okay!

1.     The Flaw of the Design by Nathan Oates  (2023)

2.     Lost Son: An American Family Trapped Inside the FBI’s Secret Wars by Brett Forrest (2023)

3.     The Body in the Web by Katherine Hall Page (2023)

4.     The Midnight News by Jo Baker  (2023)

5.     The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz  (2023)

6.     The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes

7.     Killingly by Katharine Beutner  

8.     All The Days of Summer by Nancy Thayer (2023)  audio

9.     The Last Honest Man: The FBI, the CIA, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator’s Fight to Save Democracy by James Risen (2023)1

10.  The Senator’s Wife by Liv Constantine

11.  Seems to be missing! I'll fill in soon!

12.  The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand on audio

13.  Another Martin Edwards Lake District Mystery??

14.  The Covenant of Water

15.  Fatherland: A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets by Burkhard Bilger (2023)

16.  Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues by Jonathan Kennedy  

17.  The Only One Left by Riley Sager

18.  The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge by Martin Edwards.

19.  Tom Lake by Ann Patchett  (2023)

20.  The Lock-Up by John Banville (2023)

 

Having Trouble with Blogger Comments--Will Respond Soon!

 I'm sorry not to be able to respond sooner to all the wonderful posts replying to my "Twenty Books of Summer" initial post. Blogger (yes--it's really Google) is giving me trouble. I will deal with this on Thursday, tomorrow. Thank you to all who responded!

I had work in Lake Placid today--it was snowing! It was 32 degrees at 10 am. When I left at 2 pm the sun was shining and the temps had risen to an astonishing 38 degrees! Tonight, we're many miles to the south and at a much lower elevation, but we're going down to 26 degrees. 

The Twenty Books of Summer: Are You In? I Do Hope So!

 I so loved the entire experience of The Twenty Books of Summer last year! It was Katrina, of Pining for the West, that hooked me into it, and a big thank you to her for a really fun 2022 Summer that I will never forget. So, indeed I am making a List!

You've no doubt noticed my absence here:

What's new and different with me: I went back to working, back to my professional genealogy practice, which is so far proving to be a full-time occupation. Right now I'm happy about this, but I wouldn't mind if it were a part-time practice. Much of the work is at home, but I recently spent 4 days on a research trip to the mid-Hudson River Valley researching court records from the early 1800s. This work is challenging, incredibly mentally stimulating, and I feel happy about it, and a bit sharper than I've felt in a long while. I tell my friends that I think retirement didn't like me, but I think it's much more that the pandemic flattened my spirit.

About my Twenty Books of Summer List: If my work continues as it's going now, there is no possible way I'll finish reading 20 books by September 1st, which I've decided is really Labor Day, September 4th.   BUT!  Take note! I'm going to make the list anyway, and I'll devour as much as I can. One of the benefits of summer reading. So many days are so DARN HOT that I find I can't exercise as much and thus end up reading more than at any other time of year. So here's hoping!  My list to come! Please do join me!