06/30/2004 – Whether you're spending the summer on the beach or in the mountains, don't forget to pack a good book. Our friends from Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore, The King's English and Ken Sanders Rare Books spoke with RadioWest's Doug Fabrizio about what they suggest for summer reading.
Fiction:
The Master, Colm Toibin
Sweet Land Stories, E.L. Doctorow
Four Souls, Louise Erdrich
Eventide, Kent Haruf
The Work of Wolves, Kent Meyers
Ursula Under, Ingrid Hill
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Princes of Ireland, Edward Rutherford
The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
Emma, Jane Austen
The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abbey
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Heartbeat, Sharon Creech
Four Souls, a Novel, Louise Erdrich
Infants of the Spring, Wallace Thurman
Blacker the Berry, Wallace Thurman
The Color of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Nonfiction:
In Search of the Old Ones, David Roberts
Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim, David Sedaris
Juarez: The Laboratory of our Future, Charles Bowden
Stranger than Fiction: True Stories, Chuck Palahniuk
The Language of Passion: Selected Commentary, Mario Vargas Llosa
Status Anxiety, Alain de Botton
Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss
My Life, Bill Clinton
Geronimo's Bones, Nasdijj
The President of Good and Evil, Peter Singer
Truth and Beauty, Ann Patchett
Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer
Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azur Nafisi
50 Ways to Love your Country, moveon.org
A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late Adventures in Sex and Romance, Jane Juska
Mystery/Thriller:
Walking Raphael, Lesley Forbes
The Moon of Red Ponies, James Lee Burke
Live Bait, P.J. Tracy
Skinny Dip, Carl Hiaasen
Ten Big Ones, Janet Evaonovich
Canal House, Mark Lee
Shutter House, Dennis Lehane
Monkeewrench, P.J. Tracy
White Russian, Tom Bradby
Listener Recommendations:
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchet or any other book by Terry.
Great other books any book by Andre Norton or Barbara Hambly.
You may wish to mention The Phantom Tollbooth, written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, copyright 1961 ... summary is:
Milo has nothing much at all to do -- until he drives through the Phantom Tollbooth. Beyond it lies a strange land and an even stranger series of adventures. Accompanied by a watchdog named Tock and the ever-grumpy Humbug, Milo sets out on a quest for Rhyme and Reason, hoping to settle the war between words and numbers along the way. Now that he thinks about it, he's got plenty to keep him busy after all.
I read it at age eight, and loved it, and age 48 and felt likewise.
I suggest an entertaining and enlightening book by an author you had on your show a while back: ALMOST THERE: The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman by Nuala O'Faolain
The book I finished last week was In Search of The Old Ones by David Roberts. This book is an enjoyable exploration of the Anasazi history in the desert southwest. I picked up the book at Back Of Beyond Books in Moab. An excellent bookstore which is conveniently located far enough away from home not to bankrupt me.
I've recently become fascinated with Islamic cultures. Now that I have started the Cairo trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz, I am completely enthralled and greatly impressed by its flowing language and universal substance.
To go way back to childhood, one book I have read many times now is A Wrinkle in Time.
This is probably one of the first sci-fi books that influenced me, and I still love it. Plus, there is a whole series.
Bookstore links:
Ken Sanders Rare Books
The King's English
Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore