Something I love to do during the summertime is catch up on classics. The desire is connected to the memory of the required summer reading lists I used to get for school when I was a young reader. Here's what I've "assigned" to myself this summer.
Category: Other Books
Getting on with one’s life ambitions
"Play it Again: An Amateur Against the Impossible" is about mastering Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor for the piano, as well as the ever-present overtaxed schedule that keeps us from doing the things we love. It reminded me of my own journey with the piano.
The book list on the napkin
This blog post could've been titled "the power of book cover illustrations" or "why carrying a print book (versus an e-reader) matters". That's because it shows what happens when people see the book you're reading.
The miracle of Peter Lake
Mark Helprin’s “Winter’s Tale” hit the New York Times best-seller list 31 years ago in 1983. This past February, it hit movie theaters, and the bad reviews drove me to read the novel. Here’s more about that experience.
“Ich bin ein Berliner”
These four German words, translated "I am a Berliner," concluded President John F. Kennedy's Berlin speech Wednesday, June 26, 1963, and went down in history. Hamburg photographer Ulrich Mack was among the press corps capturing the event, as well as the prior days Kennedy spent in other German cities. "Kennedy in Berlin" is Mack's collection of unpublished black-and-white photographs. Here's a peek.
Translating the natural world
This is one of those books I fall for, not because of story, but because of the way it informs about the world, in this case, the natural world. Also for the way it's illustrated. "Field Notes on Science & Nature" may be a far cry from the literary novels I read voraciously, but it nevertheless caught my interest.
What books do you reread?
I know someone who rereads Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles." I know someone who rereads the books of Charles Dickens. Me? I don't reread. But that doesn't mean I don't want to reread. Here's my wish list, and why the books are on it.
By the stars, sun, wind and ocean swells
How's your sense of direction? Can you find your way without the GPS on your Smartphone? "The Lost Art of Finding Our Way" is about how we can orient ourselves, and find our way, by natural direction indicators. Without that knowledge, you could find yourself in a situation similar to two girls kayaking off the coast of Cape Cod. The book is dedicated to the memories of those two girls.
The Longlist: What you can read now
It's that time of year -- Britain's Man Booker longlist is out. And so begins the anticipation for which books will make the shortlist, and then which one of them will win the prestigious annual prize for best novel. Being the prize is for novels by British, Irish and Commonwealth authors, including Zimbabwe, the books may or may not have been published in the U.S. So here's the longlist, with short summaries and links to their Man Booker pages, plus identification of the novels we Americans can get our hands on.
What if there are no more books like these?
Looking for a summer reading list? It's right here in James Patterson's call-to-action advertisement about saving books, bookstores and libraries.
An accidental crime
Michael Kardos published his debut novel this fall, a thriller that starts with an annual golf get-together among three Princeton grads and turns nightmarish. His narrative style is brisk, making "The Three-Day Affair" a fast-paced read with surprises you won't see coming.
Confessions from American suburbia
The University of Georgia Press announced this week the winners of the 2012 Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Awards, but I've been hooked by a previous winner -- Andrew Porter's "The Theory of Light & Matter." Here's why, plus an "all hail the short story" burst of thought.
Blunders of the lonely in 1950’s England
I purchased Peter Cameron's new novel "Coral Glynn" at Crawford Doyle Booksellers on Madison Avenue during a trip to New York. The clerk asked if I'd read Cameron before, and I said I had not. "You're in for a treat," she said. She was right. Also, heads up to those who love the book arts. Read the last paragraph to learn about the author's endeavors in this field.
Out of sync with the world’s ambitions
Mention the hippies of the 1960s and 1970s and those of that generation will instantly remember their peace signs, tie-dyed clothing, LSD trips and anti-government protests. Reading "Arcadia," a novel set in a hippie commune in upstate New York, those memories came back, only I experienced what felt like a more intimate view of this countercultural group. A moving fictional story written by the talented Lauren Groff.
18th century greed and utopia
In 1992, Michael Ondaatje won Britain's top literary prize, the Booker, for "The English Patient." But he didn't win it alone -- he shared the prize with Barry Unsworth's "Sacred Hunger," an involving novel about the British slave trade in the 1700s. The author's death last week brought the epic to my attention for the first time, a masterpiece likely unknown to many of us. Here's what we've been missing.
The Longest Chapter 