Summer Reading
Summer Reading
We are just a few hours away from the start of the Memorial Day Weekend, and the official beginning of summer. It’s time to clean the grill and enjoy the new sense of time when days languish into the evening and mornings begin much earlier.
Our thoughts turn to ice cream cones, swimming, fresh vegetables, hiking and taking life just a little bit easier. There is more time to read, swinging in a hammock or sitting at the beach.
The Laconia Library is good source for exploring books. On the website, www.laconialibrary.org, one can find a catalog page with a list of “What’s New” and the titles can be sorted by type. There is also a “Most Popular” section. If there is a book the library doesn’t own it’s possible to link into “Request an Item” or call the Laconia Public Library at (603) 524-4775, text (603) 556-4666, or email [email protected].
Here are a few books I recommend:
Trust
By: Hernan Diaz
Riverhead Books
If you are looking for a novel, I recommend Trust. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and was one of the top ten New York Times books in 2022. While I have read one of the author’s previous books, In the Distance, I am looking forward to reading Trust this summer.
Written in four sections, the novel uses competing narratives in conversation with one another. “Trust engages the reader in a quest for the truth while confronting the deceptions that often live at the heart of personal relationships, the reality-warping force of capital, and the ease with which power can manipulate facts.
King, A Life
By: Jonathan Eig
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
I love biography and have been waiting for the publication of this book that is “the first major biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in over a generation.” The author conducted hundreds of original interviews and had access to other documents that have only recently been released. The book was just released in on May 16.
A World of Curiosities
By: Louise Penny
Simon & Schuster
It’s difficult to keep up with the prolific Canadian author, Louise Penny. A World of Curiosities, the 18th novel in the Inspector Gamache collection, this is her most recent book. In just the first week after it had been published it was the number one best seller in the United States and Canada making it one of the top hardcover fiction books in North America.
The Laconia Library has a large collection of Louise Penny books, and they are perfect for summer reading. Once you open the cover and begin reading one, it will be difficult to stop.
The Boy Who Fell to Shore
By: Charles J. Doane
Latah Books
In this book Charles Doane, who lives with his family in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, takes the reader through “the extraordinary life and mysterious disappearance of Thomas Thor Tangvald.” Thomas was raised on his father’s hand-built sailboat and until he was cast ashore at the age of 15, had not had contact with human society. It’s a fascinating story.
Charles Doane is an active Bluewater sailor who have made several transatlantic crossings, has written, and worked on staff for top sailing magazines and is a lawyer.
If you would like to meet Charlie, I will be in conversation with him at the Portsmouth Athenaeum on Sunday, June 25 at 3:00 pm in the Sawtelle Reading Room. If you haven’t visited the Athenaeum this in an opportunity to visit a building that opened in 1805 and preserves and provides access to an extensive collection of manuscripts, rare books, photographs, artworks and artifacts, and digital collections related to local history and genealogy. Since 1973 the Athenaeum has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Plot to Save South Africa
By: Justice Malala
Simon & Schuster
Justice Malala is one of South Africa’s foremost political commentators, an author, and a journalist. His book, published in April, is the account of Easter Week, 1993, when an assassination brought South Africa to the brink of a civil war and the possibility of ending apartheid and achieving peace in the country was at risk of unraveling. The book reads like a political thriller and is difficult to put down. There are many insights and lessons for American politicians and leaders today.
I love and support libraries. Just as I love and support independent book shops. Please support them. There are many throughout New Hampshire and I encourage you to visit them this summer. The staff at these shops and at the libraries can recommend books. The Innisfree bookshops in Laconia and Meredith keeps a selection of books written by New Hamsphire authors.
The Laconia Public Library is open Monday through Thursday from 9 am to 8 pm; Friday from 9 am to 5 pm, and Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm. For more information please call (603) 524-4775, text (603) 556-4666, or email [email protected].