June 13, 2024

Summer reading deserves lovely summer settings, and on perfect summer days, this is where I like to read–our own patio and garden. Now I hasten to add, I have done nothing to make this space so perfect. All credit goes to my husband the genius and hardworking gardener. We have lived in this house for ten years, and he has created a private paradise.

My self-proclaimed job in the garden is to read so I can recommend books to you. Here’s three to put on your TBR list.

1. Long Island by Colm Toibin (2024), 294 pages. If you have read Brooklyn (2009), you will already be familiar with the main character, Eilis Lacey, an Irish immigrant. The plot of this book begins when a stranger shows up on her doorstep to inform her that his wife is pregnant by Eilis’s Italian-American husband Tony, and the minute that baby is born, he plans to leave it on her doorstep. She wants nothing to do with this baby, but doesn’t confront Tony with his infidelity. Her mother-in-law, who, trust me, is a piece of work, has a plan. Eilis comes up with her own plan: go to Ireland to visit her mother who is turning 80–and, again, trust me, she is another piece of work. Eilis reconnects with a man from her younger years who has never married, but he’s secretly engaged to Nancy. These are complicated characters, each one of them, richly drawn, even if they are at times frustrating. The ending makes me wonder if this book will be #2 of a trilogy. An excellent summer read.
2. The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez (2024), 237 pages. This book did not disappoint. Alma Cruz is a writer, a successful writer, born in the Dominican Republic and one of several sisters, who frankly, I couldn’t keep straight. It doesn’t matter. When their father dies, Alma inherits a piece of land in the Dominican Republic, and she decides that is where she wants to bury her untold/unfinished stories. She commissions an artist to make the monuments and hires a groundskeeper, Filomena. Of course, the stories are not content to be buried, and the characters in the stories talk to each other and to Filomena and to us, the readers. In many ways the stories and characters are connected and related and that is part of the fun, the intrigue, and the richness in this book by a masterful storyteller. I love that Alvarez quotes this piece of scripture from the Gospel of Thomas, “If you bring forth what is inside you, what is inside you will save you. If you do not bring forth what is inside you, what is inside you will destroy you.”
3. Family Family by Laurie Frankel (2024), 380 pages. India is pregnant the last year of high school and decides to have the baby placed for adoption. She always insists on the word “place,” rather than “give up.” She goes on to attend a prestigious acting school, her dream, and has great success. But guess what? She gets pregnant again in her senior year and places that baby up for adoption. She becomes a famous actress on Broadway, but also in Hollywood where the work is more regular and allows her to maintain a more stable life with her two children –not the two children who were adopted as babies. After she makes a movie with adoption as a theme, she expresses what turns out to be controversial ideas about adoption–that it isn’t always a trauma for the birth mother or the children or the adoptive parents–and she becomes a social media target. The result? I’m not telling. I especially appreciated the author’s skill with dialogue. Each character has his/her own voice. My daughter listened to this book and thoroughly enjoyed it too. One favorite quote:

It seemed to her that women did this all the time, weathered things that were hard and heartbreaking, but also chosen and even strived for. It seemed to her they often made tough decisions to let go, to lay down, in order to pick up something else because they knew--maybe in their bones, maybe having learned it again and again--that having all the things you wanted all at the same time was rarely on the table. It seemed to her that the people who had decided all birth mothers were regretful and unhappy and had been forced to do something they didn't want to do were probably men. p. 238

What I’m Reading Now

I am almost done with Lucky by Jane Smiley and like it very much. Stay tuned for a review. This book is the last of the books I had on my library hold list, and I’m forcing myself not to reserve others. Instead, I plan to read books on my personal hold list, including the newest (and last) Maisie Dobbs book by Jacqueline Winspear, The Comfort of Ghosts; Forgotten on Sunday by Valerie Perrin; The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson; and two more books in the Lane Winslow mystery series by Iona Whishaw.

This doesn’t mean I haven’t been adding to my TBR list, however. Here are a few of those titles:

• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
• Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg
• Real Americans by Rachel Khong
• Sandwich by Catherine Newman
• You Are Here by David Nichols
• This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
• Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
• All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whittaker
• How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
• Safekeep by Yale var der Wouden
• This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

And even some nonfiction:

• Life After Doom, Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart by Brian McLaren
• Shopkeeping: Stories, Advice and Observations by Peter Miller
• Any Person is the Only Self (essays) by Elisa Gabbert
• The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America by Sara B. Franklin.

An Invitation

Where do you most enjoy reading in the summer? I would love to know.