Summer Reading Wrap Up

Now that we've put the beach blankets in storage, it's time to review what we all read this summer, and ask ourselves: Did we really do all that much reading at all? And why should we see summer as exceptional time for reading, versus winter, when curling up with a good book in a comfortable chair in front of a crackling fire is really our intellectual ideal? Well, some of us don't have fireplaces. We make do with whatever heat we can get without paying for it. And it is much preferable to sit outside, reading, than huddled up next to your heat vent. That's just not classy.

Moving on, for all the people who say, "I need a book," here's what I read this summer, with handy recommondations attached.

Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates

One day, hopefully a long time from now, you will approach the pearly gates in heaven. Peter, or whoever answers the door to heaven, will greet you, and you will make nervous small talk as to which you were accustomed to in more earthly waiting rooms. You will mention, in your attempt to sound noble and intelligent, that your favorite activity in life was reading.
"Oh gosh yes," Peter will gush, a heavenly smile playing upon his lips. "What was your favorite?"
You'll say something like Joyce, although you only borrowed Ulysses from the library and never read it, incurring about $2 in late fees.
"Mmmhmm," Peter will say, knowing your lie. "Did you ever read Revolutionary Road?"
"What's that?" You've never heard of it.
The smile suddenly flashes off Peter's face and is replaced by a storm cloud of anger. "Only the most underappreciated work of fiction in the 20th century!" he bellows. You shudder involuntarily. "It is a great testament to the craft of writing! It is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius!!"
"Uh, wasn't that Dave Eggers?" you offer meekly.
"Go!" Peter yells, and casts you down into the pit of hell.
Don't let this happen to you. Read it and become enlightened.

Veronica, by Mary Gaitskill

This book won lots of awards and mentions last year, yet I didn't pick it up until this summer. Then I read it in one day. It's one of those books that you can describe as beautiful. It's one of those books where you run across a particular sentence or phrase, and you just have to look up and say, "Oh." And then you read it again. You can read the first chapter here.

U.S.!, by Chris Bachelder

Chris Bachelder was my fiction professor, so I have to say I liked his new book, even though he packed up and left the Springs without as much as a glance backwards. Now everytime I hear about Upton Sinclair I kind of want to email him and say, "This article should reference your book!" But I don't. It's a good concept: Upton Sinclair is continually resurrected from the dead, and people keep trying to kill him. U.S. himself is a lovable idealist in a world where all idealists probably should be killed. Such is Chris Bachelder's worldview. Fiction 101: The world is a horrible, bitter place. He had hesitations in bringing a child into such a world. Maybe Amherst is a better world.

Identity, by Milan Kundera

Standard Kundera, characters formed around a small point of the human condition. Sophisticated. Franco-Czech. Classy.

Prep, by Curtis Sittenfield

My number one guilty pleasure is high school. Not going there, no, not that at all. But non-crap movies involving high school seriously could not be more enjoyable. For example, Pretty Persuasion, Election, Rushmore, etc. With Prep, I discovered books about high school are perhaps even more awesome. I know Prep had a really trendy PR campaign, and they came out with an actual belt like the one on the cover, but Sittenfield is a really good writer. She writes for The Atlantic, Salon, etc. She went to the Iowa Writer's Workshop! Please don't mock me.

Lucky Girls, by Nell Freudenberger

A collection of short stories that are pretty nice. I don't think by any means amazing, but pretty nice.

My Less Than Secret Life, by Jonathan Ames

Ames is a really amusing writer, but before I got through the various column collections, thinly veiled autobiographical fiction, and magazine pieces I was tired of his cutesy perversions and gratitious mention of the Mangina.

My Life in Heavy Metal, by Steve Almond

I took out this collection of short stories based around sex at the same time as Jonathan Ames, and only made it through a few. I liked the one about an affair between a Democrat and a Republican called "How to Love a Republican" or something... the whole Gore/Bush election indecision causes a traumatic breakup. So human.

First Person Rural, by Noel Perrin

I bought this at the Arc because I distinctly remember a friend owning it somewhere, but I am still trying to place who and where. A series of essays on being a sometimes farmer in Vermont. I found the one on buying a truck particuarly useful, and now I check my maple syrup for its grade. I'm ashamed of my Aunt Jemima.

A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving

I was inspired to re-read this when a childhood friend became John Irving's assistant. I still think it's his best.

Ah, book talk.