Another Summer Reading Fantasy

I was just going to post an entry about the "Reading Room" in Bryant Park, when I noticed The New York Times beat me to it! Damn them! What are they trying to do, report on what's going on or something? Anyway, it's very nice to see a section of the park set apart for readers--and there is reading material provided in case you forgot yours. There's nothing like reading in an shady spot outside on a summer day. Occasionally authors will appear to do readings; see the schedule at the parks department website.

What Classics NOT to Read

I like this salubrious counterweight to all the lists of books we are always being told we are supposed to read, should read, should love and cherish without question. It reminded me to try to think for myself, something I thought I learned how to do long ago, but still seem to have trouble doing.

Where was I?

Sometimes I listen to The New Yorker Fiction podcast (also available on iTunes, of course).  An author picks a story from the The New Yorker archives to read aloud, and then discuss with The New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman.  Recently I listened to Tobias Wolff read a story by Denis Johnson called "Emergency," or, as I think of it, "A Knife in the Eye."  Why did no one ever tell me what a great writer Denis Johnson is?  How did I miss this?  The story was magical, wistful, sad, and most of all, hilarious.  It is from Jesus' Son, which I must read immediately.  Fuckhead, here I come.

How Refreshing

I admit I had never heard of Pasha Malla, but I loved his reaction to winning the Trillium prize for his short story collection The Withdrawal Method.

Summer Reading

Ahh, the sound of those two words together—what two words in the English language have a more idyllic set of associations?  And what more blissfully dreamy occupation can there be than making a summer reading list?  Janet Maslin in Friday’s New York Times suggested a summer reading list of women writers, of, well, let’s say women’s fiction.  Most of the titles are a bit too fluffy for my taste, but I have been known to read fluff now and again (and sometimes even to read crap), and could very well pick up one of them for a long plane trip one day.  The only one I would definitely put on my list is Shanghai Girls by Lisa See.  I have not read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, her big hit, but I did read Dragon Bones and liked it.

I try to keep a general to-read list going on goodreads.com, but there are some titles that have been there for ages and are not what I would consider summer reading.  There are some books there that I will quite possibly never read unless I have to have my leg in traction for six weeks some day.  But there are others that I definitely want to read, but for some reason would not make a summer list.  What makes a book a good summer book?  A certain lightness is desirable, but not essential, and in fact there cannot be too much lightness in the list as a whole, or it will just get unbearable.   There is of course a fantasy element to making a summer list, because I know I will never read that exact list of books, because I will end up picking up something else on a whim.   But none of that matters when I start making the list; all that matters is the vision of sitting in the shade in an Adirondack chair while my children and dog take care of themselves, the garden weeds itself, my corporeal self does the housework, dozens of yoga classes, and runs twenty miles a week. 

(In no particular order)

2666 Robert Bolano

When Skateboards Will Be Free Said Sayrafiezadeh

Brooklyn Colm Toibin

Home Marilynne Robinson (Winner of the Orange prize)

Do Not Deny Me Jean Thompson (“the American Alice Munro”—Since I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read by Munro, who just won the Man Booker International prize, I probably can't go wrong with Thompson.)

City of Refuge Tom Piazza

A Mercy Toni Morrison

The Thing Around Your Neck Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Once a Runner John L. Parker

Shanghai Girls Lisa See

Indignation Philip Roth

The Forgotten Garden Kate Morton

Prague Arthur Phillips

Don’t Cry Mary Gaitskill

Those last two authors I had the pleasure of hearing read the other night at a Behind the Book event at KGB.  I confess that even though I own books by both of them, I have never read anything by either; I will try to rectify that shortcoming as soon as possible.  I'll get started just as soon as I finish Absurdistan.