Hi everyone! To help us assemble our fall reading lists, let’s share our favorite books from the summer. ‘Girl, Woman, Other,’ which was the best novel I read this year, and ‘They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us,’ which is as beautiful as it is timely, topped my list. How about you?
I finally read The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead after having it on my shelf for years. It was a little hard to get into at first, but about a third or so of the way through, it really picks up. I have this habit of reading authors in the order of which they've published their books, so wanted to get that one in before reading The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys this fall.
I really like the idea of reading through a writer's work in order, but I have never been successful at the order part. I've read all of Ottessa Moshfegh's books, for example, but started in the middle, then went backward before reading her most recent offering, 'My Year of Rest and Relaxation.' I've also done this with Elena Ferrante, Joan Didion and Philip K. Dick, and I'm currently lining up back catalog novels and other work by Ursula Le Guin and Zora Neale Hurston.
My favorite books this past summer were The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton, a 1913-ish novel about a young woman who comes to NYC to seek her fortune, a story that still felt timely (one character has Trumpian overtones) and The Witch Elm by Tana French — which I enjoyed but came to like even more after I heard a good interview with French on the NYT Book Review podcast.
I am working up the courage and energy to finally read Wolf Hall. I look forward to the new Ferrante but it will probably take me five years to get around to it.
Edith Wharton is a blind spot for me. Back in high school we were assigned Ethan Frome, and I couldn't get through it. I took a bad grade just to DNF, and I've never returned to her work. So I need to fix that. Tana French is another author I need to follow up on. Wolf Hall was good, but very dense. I thought the second book was better and an easier read. You need to hack your way through Wolf Hall for a few hundred pages before it starts to pick up. Good luck!
I love Tana French! Have you read any Ruth Ware? I associate those two, probably just because I read all of their books at the same time. Like MPV I feel like I should read Edith Wharton but I haven’t.
I went through a whole bunch of books this summer (though I've slowed down again — 2020 has resulted in some very inconsistent moods when it comes to reading). I'll just mention some highlights: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett lived up to the hype for me. I finally read Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, which I also really enjoyed - that dreamy quality in his writing always does it for me (even though there was one chapter I found pretty upsetting). Mexican Gothic also wound up being a fun summer read that I got through within just a couple of days.
I also finally read Into the Wild, but I felt it was... fine. There was something very unsettling about it, which I expected, but I don't know that it definitely needed to be more than a magazine article personally. And I ready Sally Rooney's Conversations with People. It was OK - I kind of like Normal People better, though she has the same general vibe in both books.
I haven't read Into the Wild yet, and I think it's because I have a similar apprehension to it. Same with Sally Rooney. Whenever I hear 'voice of a generation' talk about writers, I tend to go in the other direction. But I have read Kafka on the Shore and I think I enjoyed it. I had a Murakami phase that ended when I read 1Q84, which felt bloated. I've heard nothing but good things about The Vanishing Half and Mexican Gothic, and I'm glad you enjoyed them. I will add them to my list!
it’s hard to conceive of “summer” (what is time, even, anyway?) but I’m pretty sure I read Claire Comstock-Gay’s Madame Clairvoyant’s Guide to the Stars at the beginning of the summer and it was so good. If you don’t know her writing and you’re not into astrology you’ll probably feel like you should pass on it but it’s so much more than a book about horoscopes. She’s such a warm writer; she’s righteous and honest and full of love, and I really appreciate her and also this book. I also read Lauren Groff’s first novel, The Monsters of Templeton, and couldn’t put it down, which is to be expected with her writing, but it was still cool. Very different from the darkness of Fates and Furies, but still masterfully mysterious. I think I like books right now that have warmth and a bit of human kindness to them.
I know, what is time? It feels like we've been in a permanent March since March. It's affected my reading, and I didn't get through as many books as I would have liked this summer. I read Fates and Furies on your recommendation and I thought it was really great. I'm glad her first novel lives up as well.
I'm not a big astrology person, but I respect it. I did read and review a book this summer about witchcraft that had a bunch of astrological stuff in it, but my main takeaway was learning to use books for divination. Also I'm super into burning sage and being wary of Mercury in retrograde. I like the vibe you describe from the Clairvoyant's Guide. I definitely find myself being more concerned about warmth and human kindness in stories now than I used to be. The world is so negative that it's fun to escape into an uplifting book sometimes.
I really recommend the a Guide to the Stars! It’s sort of more about people about artists and how we find our ways through the world and make sense of things than it is about horoscopes, I think. I also read the 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle this summer which at first I felt like is this a good book or is it... not? But ultimately I enjoyed it and I still think about it so that has to count for something.
I will check out out! I have seen the Hardcastle book around but don't know much about it. I think enjoyment of the book counts more than is the book 'good.'
I read a lot including just getting into E.C.R. Lorac who is an author of Detective fiction. I've read two, Murders by Matchlight and Fell Murder which I really loved. They both take place in WW2 and are really colored by that and MacDonald who is the main Detective is so not your usual investigator. Like he's just a guy and his skills mostly come from like talking to people and understanding them which is cool.
That sounds really cool. I’ve gotten really into detective/mystery stories in the past couple years and keep falling into despair when I finish one author or series and feel like I’ll never love another (until I do). I read all of Tana French and Ruth Ware, and most recently all of Louise Penny and the Maisie Dobbs series. I miss Maisie Dobbs a lot.
So I haven't read a lot of modern detective stuff (though I did read the Witch Elm and liked it) but I do read a TON of Golden Age Detective fiction which stems from being exposed to Agatha Christie in a major way. Speaking of I read some of her "romantic" novels which she published under Mary Westmacott for the first time this summer (I recommend Absent in the Spring) and they're really good.
I have to get into Christie! It’s an embarrassing confession but I really haven’t explored her as much as I should have, given how much I love her literary descendants
Do you guys count Kate Atkinson as mystery/detective? I love her Jackson Brodie books. And her WW2 books. Which are not detective books, but do help you investigate your soul and the meaning of life. Especially the end of A God in Ruins, which I am still recovering from.
Danielle! I've also read every Tana French, every Ruth Ware (just read new one out a couple of weeks ago), every Louise Penny (also just read new one and missed Three Pines setting) and just started Maisie Dobbs this weekend but unfortunately picked up a book that I think falls somewhere in the middle of the series. I can ONLY read these types of books right now. If you're willing to go a wee bit sillier, Rhys Bowen's "Her Royal Spyness" series is super fun + cozy and I read one of her Molly Murphy books recently and enjoyed it (it was set in 1920s Paris and featured Gertrude Stein et al so of course).
I enjoy detective fiction whenever I read it, which seems to be too infrequently these days. I think the last book I read in that genre was The Thin Man. I need to infuse some into my list. I'll check out Lorac's work!
I finally read The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead after having it on my shelf for years. It was a little hard to get into at first, but about a third or so of the way through, it really picks up. I have this habit of reading authors in the order of which they've published their books, so wanted to get that one in before reading The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys this fall.
I really like the idea of reading through a writer's work in order, but I have never been successful at the order part. I've read all of Ottessa Moshfegh's books, for example, but started in the middle, then went backward before reading her most recent offering, 'My Year of Rest and Relaxation.' I've also done this with Elena Ferrante, Joan Didion and Philip K. Dick, and I'm currently lining up back catalog novels and other work by Ursula Le Guin and Zora Neale Hurston.
My favorite books this past summer were The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton, a 1913-ish novel about a young woman who comes to NYC to seek her fortune, a story that still felt timely (one character has Trumpian overtones) and The Witch Elm by Tana French — which I enjoyed but came to like even more after I heard a good interview with French on the NYT Book Review podcast.
I am working up the courage and energy to finally read Wolf Hall. I look forward to the new Ferrante but it will probably take me five years to get around to it.
Edith Wharton is a blind spot for me. Back in high school we were assigned Ethan Frome, and I couldn't get through it. I took a bad grade just to DNF, and I've never returned to her work. So I need to fix that. Tana French is another author I need to follow up on. Wolf Hall was good, but very dense. I thought the second book was better and an easier read. You need to hack your way through Wolf Hall for a few hundred pages before it starts to pick up. Good luck!
I love Tana French! Have you read any Ruth Ware? I associate those two, probably just because I read all of their books at the same time. Like MPV I feel like I should read Edith Wharton but I haven’t.
Thanks for the Ruth Ware reco! I don’t know her. TBH I picked up The Witch Elm at random at The Strand, knowing nothing about Tana French. Here is the NYT book review podcast ep where she talks about the Witch Elm https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/books/review/from-the-archives-michael-lewis-and-tana-french.html
Also Danielle and Mike yes of course you should read Edith Wharton! She was an NYC independent lady! Your demographic.
This is how I make most of my reading selections: Picking up random stuff at the Strand or elsewhere while knowing little to nothing about it.
I went through a whole bunch of books this summer (though I've slowed down again — 2020 has resulted in some very inconsistent moods when it comes to reading). I'll just mention some highlights: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett lived up to the hype for me. I finally read Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, which I also really enjoyed - that dreamy quality in his writing always does it for me (even though there was one chapter I found pretty upsetting). Mexican Gothic also wound up being a fun summer read that I got through within just a couple of days.
I also finally read Into the Wild, but I felt it was... fine. There was something very unsettling about it, which I expected, but I don't know that it definitely needed to be more than a magazine article personally. And I ready Sally Rooney's Conversations with People. It was OK - I kind of like Normal People better, though she has the same general vibe in both books.
I haven't read Into the Wild yet, and I think it's because I have a similar apprehension to it. Same with Sally Rooney. Whenever I hear 'voice of a generation' talk about writers, I tend to go in the other direction. But I have read Kafka on the Shore and I think I enjoyed it. I had a Murakami phase that ended when I read 1Q84, which felt bloated. I've heard nothing but good things about The Vanishing Half and Mexican Gothic, and I'm glad you enjoyed them. I will add them to my list!
Also, I'm looking forward to your next recipe!
it’s hard to conceive of “summer” (what is time, even, anyway?) but I’m pretty sure I read Claire Comstock-Gay’s Madame Clairvoyant’s Guide to the Stars at the beginning of the summer and it was so good. If you don’t know her writing and you’re not into astrology you’ll probably feel like you should pass on it but it’s so much more than a book about horoscopes. She’s such a warm writer; she’s righteous and honest and full of love, and I really appreciate her and also this book. I also read Lauren Groff’s first novel, The Monsters of Templeton, and couldn’t put it down, which is to be expected with her writing, but it was still cool. Very different from the darkness of Fates and Furies, but still masterfully mysterious. I think I like books right now that have warmth and a bit of human kindness to them.
I know, what is time? It feels like we've been in a permanent March since March. It's affected my reading, and I didn't get through as many books as I would have liked this summer. I read Fates and Furies on your recommendation and I thought it was really great. I'm glad her first novel lives up as well.
I'm not a big astrology person, but I respect it. I did read and review a book this summer about witchcraft that had a bunch of astrological stuff in it, but my main takeaway was learning to use books for divination. Also I'm super into burning sage and being wary of Mercury in retrograde. I like the vibe you describe from the Clairvoyant's Guide. I definitely find myself being more concerned about warmth and human kindness in stories now than I used to be. The world is so negative that it's fun to escape into an uplifting book sometimes.
I really recommend the a Guide to the Stars! It’s sort of more about people about artists and how we find our ways through the world and make sense of things than it is about horoscopes, I think. I also read the 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle this summer which at first I felt like is this a good book or is it... not? But ultimately I enjoyed it and I still think about it so that has to count for something.
I will check out out! I have seen the Hardcastle book around but don't know much about it. I think enjoyment of the book counts more than is the book 'good.'
I read a lot including just getting into E.C.R. Lorac who is an author of Detective fiction. I've read two, Murders by Matchlight and Fell Murder which I really loved. They both take place in WW2 and are really colored by that and MacDonald who is the main Detective is so not your usual investigator. Like he's just a guy and his skills mostly come from like talking to people and understanding them which is cool.
That sounds really cool. I’ve gotten really into detective/mystery stories in the past couple years and keep falling into despair when I finish one author or series and feel like I’ll never love another (until I do). I read all of Tana French and Ruth Ware, and most recently all of Louise Penny and the Maisie Dobbs series. I miss Maisie Dobbs a lot.
So I haven't read a lot of modern detective stuff (though I did read the Witch Elm and liked it) but I do read a TON of Golden Age Detective fiction which stems from being exposed to Agatha Christie in a major way. Speaking of I read some of her "romantic" novels which she published under Mary Westmacott for the first time this summer (I recommend Absent in the Spring) and they're really good.
I have to get into Christie! It’s an embarrassing confession but I really haven’t explored her as much as I should have, given how much I love her literary descendants
Do you guys count Kate Atkinson as mystery/detective? I love her Jackson Brodie books. And her WW2 books. Which are not detective books, but do help you investigate your soul and the meaning of life. Especially the end of A God in Ruins, which I am still recovering from.
This sounds agressively like my thing because that's a lot of Agatha Christie as Mary Westmacott's books
*being exposed to Agatha Christie in a major way at an early age.
Danielle! I've also read every Tana French, every Ruth Ware (just read new one out a couple of weeks ago), every Louise Penny (also just read new one and missed Three Pines setting) and just started Maisie Dobbs this weekend but unfortunately picked up a book that I think falls somewhere in the middle of the series. I can ONLY read these types of books right now. If you're willing to go a wee bit sillier, Rhys Bowen's "Her Royal Spyness" series is super fun + cozy and I read one of her Molly Murphy books recently and enjoyed it (it was set in 1920s Paris and featured Gertrude Stein et al so of course).
I enjoy detective fiction whenever I read it, which seems to be too infrequently these days. I think the last book I read in that genre was The Thin Man. I need to infuse some into my list. I'll check out Lorac's work!