Summer vacation is in full swing, so we would like to take July as an opportunity to share some books we think deserve to be in your vacation piles. Color July our month of summer reading! This week's newsletter takeover is full of Sarah G.'s stellar picks including Daniel Mason'sCountry People, just out this week!
This summer I’ll be rereading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde in anticipation of Dark Reading Matter: The Last Thursday Next Novel being released October 6th. I can still remember the visceral joy of reading The Eyre Affair for the first time in 2002. Nobody writes like Jasper Fforde. I’m going to cheat and quote The Guardian, because they said it so well: "Reading a truly good book, the page opens like a trapdoor and you simply fall through. The Eyre Affair takes that feeling, the moment you lose the sense of yourself and become engrossed in the story, and creates high adventure and wild drama around the porous boundaries between fiction and real life." And it’s just really, really fun.
My next recommendation is Daniel Mason’s new novel, Country People, populated by a fantastic cast of characters: rural Vermonters, conspiracy theorists, outsider artists, to name just a few. All are revealed in the unique, comic voice of Miles Krzelewski, who is transplanted from California to rural Vermont for a year with his wife, an academic star, and their two young daughters. Meanwhile, Miles struggles to finish his 17 years- past-due thesis and starts sliding into a mysterious underground world. An absorbing, quirky, satisfying read.
Finally, Ann Patchett’s newest, and one of her most personal stories, Whistler, is beautifully crafted, with flashbacks that bring to life all the complicated family dynamics and misunderstandings we all navigate. Even the minor characters are unforgettable. This might be a perfect novel.
For nonfiction I recommendThe Legend of Wyatt Outlaw: From Reconstruction to Black Lives Matterby Sylvester Allen, Jr.and Belle Boggs. This is the story you didn’t hear about in North Carolina history class and it took place just a few miles from here in Alamance County. This is such important history with so much influence and parallels to the current day. You don’t want to miss it.
Next week, Sarah Carr jumps in the pool with some more stellar summer reading options. We also will have an announcement about our Fall Book Club Events,
All the best from the usual suspects--
Pete, Johanna, Sarah C., Tyler, Amy, Juliana, Sarah G. and Keebe
