Summer reading
It’s summer and who isn’t thinking about what books they will bring to the beach, the mountains or even to the hammock in the backyard? I am at the lake right now, on our third day of rain and clouds; oh, well! It’s still peaceful and beautiful, and one can always lie on the couch and read if the beach or hammock are sopping wet. I always love to hear what others are planning for their summer reading, so I’ll share my list (warning – the rest of the post is rather long):
I have a weakness for mysteries, especially those with good character development, and while I sometimes lug hardcover nonfiction books around in the summer, I have some especially good mysteries on my list:
Overlook, by Michael Connolly – I’m a big fan of this author’s series featuring LA detective Harry Bosch. Harry is a tough guy, but with a heart of gold, as they say. Harry struggles with himself as much as with the bad guys and his character seems to expand a bit with each book. The minor characters are always done well and reappear in realistic ways throughout the series. Connolly conveys a great sense of place as well as the grittiness of daily life. Besides Harry, my favorite character is the city of Los Angeles itself. After reading thie entire series, plus other stand alone books with the same setting, I feel like I know Los Angeles intimately even though I’ve never been there. Connolly also earns the reader’s interest with his attention to detail. You are down in the trenches with Harry – getting a coffee, driving the freeway, answering a cell phone call. It’s all very real. Note: if you read the first two books in the series and are unimpressed, keep reading. By the third book, The Concrete Blonde, the author really hits his stride. In fact, I tend to tell people to read this one first; then, if you like it, start from the beginning.)
Something by Peter Temple. He just won some Dagger award for mystery writing for his latest book, The Broken Shore. He’s an Australian author who is given high marks for his spare, precise prose. I’m tempted to start with Bad Debts, his first in a series of mysteries featuring Jack Irish–lawyer, gambler and cabinet-maker who also happens to solve crimes. When I hit upon an author I like, I have a compulsion to read all their books in order of publication. By the time I finish with the earlier books, the latest should be out in paperback.
Non-Mysteries:
The Mauritius Command, by Patrick O’Brian. These books are an acquired taste, but I got hooked on them after seeing the movie, “Master and Commander” starring Russell Crowe. There are about 20 in the series (I’m on the fourth one), which are well-rendered naval adventures, set during the Napoleonic wars, with excellent dialogue and character development. As a Jane Austen fan, I am fascinated by the way O’Brian captures the conversation and sensibilities of the time period. Austen’s books were mostly small-town, drawing-room comedies (but with big themes), while O’Brian’s characters roam the world; however, like a Venn diagram the worlds occasionally overlap and I am amazed at how well O’Brian’s effort matches up with the real thing. (These are also excellent as audiobooks with Patrick Tull narrating.)
I’ll definitely be reading the new Harry Potter book; it is just a question of whether I want to reread all the previous books before embarking on the final volume.
That’s my list, except for finally reading more by Jack Kerouac (so far I’ve only read On the Road and Visions of Gerard), finishing the final Lemony Snickett (fittingly called The End), finishing Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (a great book), and I just picked up a little book at a yard sale called Einstein’s Dreams, a novel by Alan Lightman……..
Happy reading!