Summer Reads

I've been looking forward to the close of the school year and the end of the frenetic schedule in Scarsdale to catch up on my reading. Hopefully summer will also offer you some time to kick back with a few good books. We polled friends for their recent favorites and here are a few suggestions for reads that will transport you far from Scarsdale-- to France during World War II, to a court room in England, to Japan and into the world of a Nigerian immigrant who can't decide if her true home is in the U.S. or in Lagos.

We also spoke to Leni Glauber at Scarsdale Library and she forwarded us the list of the most popular books, films and audio books in circulation at the library. Check out our suggestions, the libraries list and share your suggestions for summer reading in the comments section below:

Scarsdale10583 recommends:

Historical Fiction: All the Light We Cannot See: An avid reader recommends this one from the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly ambitious bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Amazon says, "Does the world need yet another novel about WWII? It does when the novel is as inventive and beautiful as this one by Anthony Doerr. In fact, All the Light We Cannot See--while set mostly in Germany and France before and during the war--is not really a "war novel". Yes, there is fear and fighting and disappearance and death, but the author's focus is on the interior lives of his two characters. Marie Laure is a blind 14-year-old French girl who flees to the countryside when her father disappears from Nazi-occupied Paris. Werner is a gadget-obsessed German orphan whose skills admit him to a brutal branch of Hitler Youth. Never mind that their paths don't cross until very late in the novel, this is not a book you read for the plot. This is a book you read for the beauty of Doerr's writing and for the way he understands and cherishes the magical obsessions of childhood. Marie Laure and Werner are are powerful examples of the way average people in trying times must decide daily between morality and survival."

British Thriller: Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty – a good friend told me she could not put this one down: (From Booklist) Wrong place, wrong time, wrong man. For respected scientist Yvonne Carmichael, her split-second and totally uncharacteristic decision to engage in a harmless bit of flirtation with a charismatic stranger is one that will ultimately have fatal repercussions. Self-described as a bit of a middle-aged frump mired in a stolid and sexless marriage, Yvonne leaps at the chance for risky romance with a man who exudes an air of danger and mystery. Is he a spy for MI5 or a high-powered politician? The sex-crazed Mr. X plays his cards close to the vest, but when Yvonne is savagely raped by a sadistic colleague, he is the only one she can turn to when her attacker continues to stalk her. When their plan for revenge results in murder, Yvonne and her lover find themselves at cross purposes at their tabloid-fodder trial in the venerable Old Bailey courtroom. Spellbinding, shocking, seductive, and wickedly intense, the latest literary work from top British author and columnist Doughty

Culture Clash: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Our bookclub read this one last month and everyone agreed it was a good read and raised some controversial questions about race in America (from Amazon) "To the women in the hair-braiding salon, Ifemelu seems to have everything a Nigerian immigrant in America could desire, but the culture shock, hardships, and racism she's endured have left her feeling like she has "cement in her soul." Smart, irreverent, and outspoken, she reluctantly left Nigeria on a college scholarship. Ifemelu's discouraging job search brings on desperation and depression until a babysitting gig leads to a cashmere-and-champagne romance with a wealthy white man. Astonished at the labyrinthine racial strictures she's confronted with, Ifemelu, defining herself as a "Non-American Black," launches an audacious, provocative, and instantly popular blog in which she explores what she calls Racial Disorder Syndrome. Meanwhile, her abandoned true love, Obinze, is suffering his own cold miseries as an unwanted African in London. MacArthur fellow Adichie is a word-by-word virtuoso with a sure grasp of social conundrums in Nigeria, East Coast America, and England; an omnivorous eye for resonant detail; a gift for authentic characters; pyrotechnic wit; and deep humanitarianism. Americanah is a courageous, world-class novel about independence, integrity, community, and love and what it takes to become a "full human being."

Silicon Valley meets Zen Buddhism in A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozkei where she brings together a Japanese girl's diary and a transplanted American novelist to meditate on everything from bullying to the nature of conscience and the meaning of life. . . . The novel's seamless web of language, metaphor, and meaning can't be disentangled from its powerful emotional impact: These are characters we care for deeply, imparting vital life lessons through the magic of storytelling. A masterpiece, pure and simple." (Kirkus Reviews)

Graphic Novel: Anyone who enjoys Roz Chast's cartoons in The New Yorker, or who has taken care of aging parents will enjoy Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, her new #1 New York Times bestseller. (From Bloomsbury.com) "In her first memoir, Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast's memoir is both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents.



Short, short stories: Take a break from the novel with The Collected Short Stores of Lydia Davis. Booksmarks Magazine says, "Critics unanimously praised this extraordinary (and extraordinarily hefty) collection, in which Davis masterly taps into myriad emotions—from melancholy to hilarity, empathy, and apathy. Each voice is unique; each story is equally difficult to categorize. Many of the stories lack basic names, dates, and places and are disconcerting in their brevity. Are they short stories? Flash fiction? Fables? Davis steadfastly refuses to adhere to any kind of prescribed formula, with stunning and original results. Whatever label readers decide to attach to her work, critics agreed that Davis is one of American literature's best-kept secrets.

For more ideas of what to read, watch or listen to, here's the list from the Scarsdale Library of what's most popular there this month:

Fiction
The Silkworm – Robert Galbraith
The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
All Fall Down – Jennifer Weiner
The Heist – Daniel Silva
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr

Non-Fiction
Capital in the Twenty-first Century – Thomas Piketty
Hard Choices – Hillary Rodham Clinton
Blood Feud: the Clintons versus the Obamas – Edward Klein
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant – Roz Chast
Flash Boys – Michael Lewis

Movies
The Monuments Men
Her
The Lego Movie
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Orange is the New Black, Season One

E-Books
The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
The Husband's - Secret, Liane Moriarty
The Fault in our Stars - John Green
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Audiobooks
The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain
The.Chaperone - Laura Moriarty
Game of Thrones: Song of Ice and Fire, Book One – George R.R. Martin