Tried and True SUMMER BEACH READS
As you pack for summer vacations and are thinking about page turners to throw in the bag, might we recommend a couple of our favorite books we've read recently. Now, we're not getting intellectual on you here as we believe that you need to give your mind a little vacation, too! So indulge yourself. We'd also love suggestions from you all as we think about our summer reading list!
Lucy's Picks
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls
A story of a motivated woman who navigates her way to success from the hands of parents that are comfortable in their poverty, eccentricity and alcoholism. Walls never feels sorry for herself and her strength and determination will have you up all night.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Stories of love and survival during the Nazi occupation of Guernsey, an island in the English Channel, during WW2 and rebuilding after the war. Sounds heavy, but not! In letter form which normally can be annoying, but you get past it.
The Help by Katherine Stockett
The Civil Rights movement in the microcosm of a small racist town in Mississippi told through the eyes of Southern Belles in the Junior League and the women who work for them. We both LOVED this book.
Mary's Picks
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
A scholar father and teenage daughter bounce from town to town where the daughter, our protagonist, tries to fit in with her peers at various high schools while coming to terms with her father's mysterious background. I loved this book-- it has Lolita (another favorite book of mine) undertones and dare I say, a similar MUCH more brilliant and well written Twilight theme. There are no vampires here, but the feeling of a new girl to a strange town sort of thing... You might want to pick up Donna Tartt's The Secret History, too.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Yup, we too have fallen prey to the Swedish thriller phenomenon. Enjoy your brain candy!
Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
I love all of Ann Patchett's books but this one, a memoir, about her friendship with the ill fated author Lucy Grealy, is one of my favorites. Makes you realize how lucky we are to be healthy and have good friends.