Summer Reading with THEBOOKJEANIE 

Always in pursuit of a shady spot to read in the summer, I discovered this little hideaway at the historic Hubbell Trading Post in the northeast corner of Arizona. A perfect place to pull out my book basket and browse through the selections that I picked up earlier in the day at the sale in the desert atrium of the Sedona Public Library.  By the time I completed my solo journey to Colorado, the front seat of my car was filled with novels by Isabel Allende (Island Beneath the Sea) and Marguerite Duras (The Lover), a memoir of Paris by Alex Karmel (A Corner of the Marais), as well as texts and pamphlets on Navajo code talkers, Canyon de Chelly, and the largest meteor crater in the U.S.

New and memorable reading . . .

After turning the last page of Andrea Barrett's book of short stories, Ship Fever, I wanted to skip back to the beginning and start again. Short stories are not my favorite genre so this was an surprising reaction to a debut collection that admittedly did win the National Book Award. Fortunately, Barrett just published a new collection of intertwining stories, Archangel, so I dove into that instead and discovered that she has perfected her craft even further.  Jumping back and forth in time, Barrett has assembled a collection of memorable characters often with familial ties. She explores the interconnectedness of families, even through several generations, while a passion to explore the natural world form a common thread.

You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Grace Sachs is a respected psychotherapist in Manhattan specializing in marriage and relationships. After writing a book about recognizing the warning signs of a potentially unhealthy relationship, Grace discovers that her own marriage to oncologist Jonathan Sachs is threatened by lies and deception. Even her relationship with her son, her friends, and colleagues becomes distorted by the devastating choices that Jonathan has made until eventually she finds herself implicated in a terrible crime.  The pacing of this perfect summer novel is incredibly suspenseful - you won't want to put it down.

The Well-Tempered Heart by Jan-Philipp Sendker
Although Sendker was Harvard educated and worked years as an international journalist, it is still remarkable to me that he speaks so clearly in the voice of a young American woman. This Dutch writer (the novel has been translated) reunites us with Julia from his first novel, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, who has spent the last ten years establishing herself as a successful and sometimes ruthless attorney in New York. Feeling that she is losing her ability to think clearly, she returns to Burma to try to answer questions about the direction of her life. When she confides in her half-brother U Ba about a mysterious voice she hears, and he takes her on a journey to meet the surviving relative of a woman who suffered severe hardships under the brutal regime in Burma, and to hear her incredible story. Julia not only comes to understand why she has been drawn back to Burma but also forges an even closer bond to U Ba, whose love and spiritual philosophy provides solace and comfort. Sendker's novel gives the reader thoughtful insight into the political turmoil in the country now known as Myanmar, as well as the intense suffering of the Burmese people.






Wonder by R.J. Palacio
This book is classified as "children's fiction" but any adult reader would find it a remarkable, thoughtful story of a young boy with a severe facial deformity trying to make it in the battle zone known as middle school. Fortunately he is blessed with a loving family and a few supportive friends but each day he must face the world, yearning to be accepted. Palacio reveals the struggles as well as the joyful moments of Auggie's life through his own narrative voice as well as that of his sister, his friends, and a boy who has bullied him.   Pair this with the poignant memoir by poet Lucy Grealy,  Autobiography of a Face.

Listening . . .

On my roadtrip this summer I listened to two books by those two witty, clever sisters: Nora and Delia Ephron.  Delia has recently published a memoir that begins with a heartbreaking essay about her relationship with Nora, who passed away in 2012, Sister, Mother, Husband, Dog, Etc.  It is an Ephron trait to be able to write with wry humor and elegance about the unpredictability of life and the way that our families continue to shape us from birth to death. Delia reads her own book and as I drove along through desolate landscapes it was as if she were speaking to me personally, urging me on to face life's challenges, fight hard when needed, and laugh when all else fails. Nora's collection of personal essays, I Remember Nothing, narrated by Meg Ryan, reveals growing up in a literary but distinctly dysfunctional Hollywood  family and finding success in the sometimes frustrating world of screenwriting and producing.  I must admit that I set aside Stephen Colbert and Dave Berry to listen again to these two recorded books on my return journey as well.

Happy Reading!