If you read yesterday, you know I liked Glen Duncan’s The Last Werewolf a lot. For those of you who weren’t compelled to run out and buy one in the last twenty-four hours, we’ve got just the thing.
The good folks at Knopf have offered Three Guys One Book three finished copies of The Last Werewolf to give to our readers. These are the lovely first editions with the blood red page edges. Awesome.
All you have to do is comment below with one of your favorite summer reads.
I’ll start with John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany which I read on vacation after my graduation from high school many years ago.
Have just read Among the Bohemians, Experiments in Living 1900-1939 by Virginia Nicholson, on the English Bohemian movement of the (mostly) early 20th Century. It’s a fun read, looking at different aspects (such as clothing) of the unconventional artists and art lovers who tried to find new ways of living, in contrast to the stifling Victorian/Edwardian mindset; tho’, too, Ms. Nicholson does not shy away from the tragic consequences that also transpired (but no morbid dwelling here). Ms. Nicholson’s father was Quentin Bell, who was born into a Bohemian household, of the first generation of English to be so; she is also a grand-niece of Virginia Woolf.
James Salter is good for summer. Light Years, especially. What a way to infuse a day thick with heat with an airy lightness.
I read A VOID by Georges Perec a couple weeks ago. It’s a 300-page lipogram in E and it’s an amazing, frustrating, and hilarious read.
The Beach by Alex Garland
Spent a very memorable June vacation in New Hampshire reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Not a prototypical summer read, but I spent most of my mornings that week sitting on a dock with a cup of coffee while my young son tossed pebbles into the water. One eye on him, the other on the book.
“When God Was a Rabbit” by Sarah Winman is simple and beautiful. I love authors who can take the everyday and make it sparkle.
I just finished CALEB’S CROSSING by Geraldine Brooks. She si such a fantastic writer.
When I was living in England one summer I picked up a copy of A Confederacy of Dunces and couldn’t put it down. That was by far one of the best books I read that summer. I still re-read it every few years and find myself laughing out loud every time.
I remember reading 1984 as summer reading and staying out of the pool one afternoon to finish it. At that time I hadn’t read anything like it and it opened my mind to what good reading could be.
Light in August by William Faulkner
Totally devoured(?) THE MAYFAIR CHRONICLES by Anne Rice during One of Nyc’s infamous blackouts. Love a good family history, especially with witches and ghosts.
The Stand by Stephen King and Jane Austen.
The Stand by Stephen King and Jane Austen.
The Passage by Justin Cronin — absorbing. Like a big book-shaped sponge.
Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
Crossing California by Adam Langer
I’ve had an extraordinary run of really great book picks these last few months but the one that says summer most to me is Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin…slow, southern and seductive. But two more stand out…This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Holmes (hilarious) and State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.
I find myself re-reading “Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett every summer or two. It’s a funny, easy-to-digest tale of the end of the world. I think I’ve gone through at least a few copies because I tend to loan it and not get it back!
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.
(If I had to mention 2, the second would be The Life of Pi)
I have a bunch of favorite Summer reads, but a few that stand out are The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, Walden by Thoreau (read for the first time one Summer when I was in college, and which I now re-read every Spring), and this Summer I am really enjoying reading up on David Foster Wallace.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer…the perfect antidote to the heat!
I’ve read a lot of good stuff, lately, but I think my favorite summer read thus far is The Funny Man by John Warner. Just finished it today – wow.
[Also reading all of Ian Fleming, which is great fun.]
Wow, that Jane Austen really got around…
I’ve already advocated elsewhere for Dan Simmons The Terror as a great summer read — it’s fat, spooky, and full of Arctic chill. But to keep it current, this year I loved Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder and its fantastic descriptions of the Amazon Basin. Perfect for reading in an un-weeded garden.
Dandelion Wine!
And Summer reads from the past would be Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus when I was 12 (that would be 1971), which was slow going (for me) at first, but then really got into it. The following Summer was the first time I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which, despite it’s flaws, is still a fave (growing up I was very into horror movies, especially the titans Dracula and Frankenstein & his creation).
The first Summer in college is when I “discovered” Fydor Dostoyevsky, through a collection of short works, which was quite an eye-opener. He remains one of my favorite authors.
Wizard’s First Rule – Terry Goodkind
The Grapes of Wrath and The Secret History (Donna Tartt).