Summer Beach Reads
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The summer months are a great time to catch up on your reading. And no, we don’t mean devouring Us Weekly. We guarantee you’ll have your nose buried in these books, long after the sun’s gone down.
The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls (Simon & Schuster; $14). It reads like fiction, but the heart-wrenching details of MSNBC columnist Jeannette Wall’s childhood are anything but. The children of drifters, Walls and her siblings grew up dirt-poor and lived life on the run, often moving in the middle of the night. How Walls broke free of a destiny that seemed unyielding is nothing short of remarkable—and inspiring.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See (Random House; $13.95). In 19th-century China, women were subjected to foot binding, seclusion, and loneliness. Lily and Snow Flower come from different classes and economic backgrounds but are matched in childhood to provide friendship and support to each other as they cope with the stresses of womanhood. The two communicate using a secret female language written on decorative fans, embroidered on handkerchiefs, and woven into stories. Their friendship sustains them through marriage and childbearing, but can it survive the ultimate test?
Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult (Simon & Schuster; $26.95). Picoult is known for her heart-stopping page-turners, and her newest novel doesn’t disappoint. Nineteen Minutes is the story of a horrific high school shooting that takes place in the small town of Sterling, New Hampshire. Through flashbacks we learn what drives the killer to commit such a horrifying act, and why the only witness to the crime, 16-year-old Josie Cormier, can’t remember how or why she made it out alive.
How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, by Mameve Medwed (HarperCollins; $13.95). Abby Randolph is a mid-30s Harvard dropout with a problem (or several): Her antique business is struggling, her former fiancé wrote a tell-all book about her life, and her most recent lover left her for another woman. One day she takes an antique chamber pot to Antiques Roadshow, where she discovers it once belonged to the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning and is worth $75,000. In a moment, her whole life changes.
Straight Up and Dirty, by Stephanie Klein (HarperCollins; $14.95). Klein is a young New York divorcée and a popular blogger. Her memoir about being single in the city is at times wickedly amusing, a tad heartbreaking, and a little over-the-top. In other words: perfect for the beach.