BETWEEN THE LINES

Book Talk by Joe Neri

Get Ready for Summer Reading

The days are getting warmer, brighter and longer, and the summer solstice will be upon us before you know it. Time to switch from those “dark-of-winter,” introspective self-help books and spend some time reading some lighter fare, or at least some engaging stories about others and not ourselves.

This month, we’ll talk about some of the newer fiction, and next month some non-fiction, to help you wile away the summer months.

GARDEN SPELLS, a mainstream debut novel by Sarah Addison Allen, is a portrait of the Waverleys, outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina and whose feisty apple tree is reputed to have prophetic fruit and edible flowers with special powers.

THE MADONNAS OF LENINGRAD by Debra Dean is another debut novel, set amid the horrors of the siege of Leningrad in World War II, about a gifted writer who ex-plores the power of memory to save and betray.

THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB by Kate Jacobs entertains us about an eclectic group of women who meet once a week at a New York City yarn shop to work on their knitting projects and share the stories of their lives.

WALKING IN CIRCLES BEFORE LYING DOWN by Merrill Markoe is filled with sharp wit, biting humor, and canine conversation that would make Doctor Doolittle’s jaw drop, about the confusing search for love and the divine acts of dog.

OUT STEALING HORSES by Norwegian author Per Petterson is new in paperback in the United States and begins with an early morning adventure out stealing horses that leads to the tragic death of one boy and a resulting lifetime of guilt and isolation for his friend, a moving tale about the painful loss of innocence and of traditional ways of life that are gone forever.

And that’s just the tip of the literary iceberg! Lots of new books out and coming out, and lots of older ones, too. Get yourself a cool drink, sit down on that comfortable chair with the stack of books next to it, and start reading. And, don’t worry about running out – there will always be more, books that is.