The topic: Summer Reading:
In my search for writing worthy of Jo's show, I found a book that I thought would be an especially wonderful read for my cancer thriver friends.
My Year with Eleanor is about Eleanor Roosevelt. But it's really about facing your fears. It's a light enough read to read on the beach. Serious enough to chat about during a dinner party with your literary friends, since you'll learn all about Eleanor. Enough funny sex scenes (not too graphic) to qualify as a summer read. And the scary moments in the book are truly breath taking -- made my heart race and kept me up at night. I would have been too scared to keep reading except that since the author wrote the book, I figured out that she probably didn't die.
Warning, the tone of the book is light and breezy, even though the topics are serious. A few sections were so gross I had to skip some pages. But if you don't mind (or actually like) the girlfriend tone of Hancock's prose, I think you'll find this book a delight. And it might even help you change your own life.
I found that having cancer was really scary but made me a braver person. After hearing the words "you have breast cancer," how scary can anything else be, after all?
This book shows how fear can make you a better person. I think it's a must read for cancer survivor's, and others. Your thoughts?
Here are some other recommended readings, in no particular order:
Sempre Susan felt like a guilty pleasure, since it was written by Susan Sontag's son's ex. But since it was about such a serious intellectual, I decided to read it anyway! Well written and fascinating insider portrait of a complicated woman.
If you like Elizabeth Bishop's poetry, or if you like the New Yorker, you'll like this book. It's also a great read for poets and other artists, as an example of eloquently and graciously accepting rejection, and soldiering on to success.
The Zookeeper's Wife is one of those nonfiction books that reads like a novel. As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, I usually avoid WWII books as I find them too painful. But this book, without glossing over the devastation of war, tells an uplifting story about an incredibly brave family.
Recommended by my friend Micah Trapp.
I think of Cities of Gold as the Great American Novel. But it is not a novel. It is a true double story -- the story of the Spaniard's search for the Cities of Gold in the American Soughwest, and Douglass Preston's effort to trace their steps. It introduced me to my favorite historical figure, the amazing Estebanico, who otherwise has mostly been written out of our history books. An epic story, well told.
Banvard's Folly and Eccentric Islands are both recommended by my friend Lorin Kleinman.
My dear sister, who knows how much I love Laura Ingells Wilder, recommended this book. I can't wait to read it. I am currently reading Little House in the Big Woods to my son and it is as good as I remembered.
If you have not read Old Man and the Sea, please run to the library and get it now. I just read it for the first time recently and now I'm mad at my English teacher for not making me read it in high school.
Cutting for Stone is recommended by Martha Madsen so it's got to be good.
Susan Misra suggests this book, Super Sad True Love Story, "a well-written dystopian romance."
Red Hook Road is Ayelet Waldman's latest. I loved her Nursery Crimes (Mommy-Track Mysteries)
and Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace
.
A Passage to India is a classic; a fascinating tale of racism, colonialism, and friendship, beautifully written.
I suppose that is enough for this summer. Please add your suggestions below.
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