Summer Reading

Summer begins at the end of the month (for some of us, it starts tomorrow), so it's that time of year again to start compiling your summer reading list. Because at this point you can still almost believe that you'll have all that free time to read those ten books you've been meaning to get around to all year.

For me, I'm about to embark on a summer of dreams. I'll be living in my dream city (New York) in my dream neighborhood (the Upper East Side...although that does often get pushed down the list in favor of the Village) and interning at my dream magazine ( BUST Magazine ). I may not be traveling around the world, but to me it is the ultimate journey. I wanted to immerse myself in books dealing with other people's personal journeys, but I wanted to be sure to include some classic New York novels to really soak up the experience. I came up with a reasonable list of five books. I'll keep you updated as I make my way through it.

1. A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain. I have been a long time fan of his show No Reservations and have been eying this book on my dad's shelf for years. Now it finally feels like the right time to read it. Tony has a wonderful sense of the travel narrative; compelling in the way that you learn new things and accompany him on adventures, but he always brings the message back home to where it's most important.



2. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. I can't say I have much more of a reason to read this book other than I've been verbally berated for having not read and I'm tired of it. Also, it looks like an amazing book. Without reading a word I'm already drawing comparisons to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which I've already written about how much I loved that book. Hopefully, this will hold up to its rave reviews.



3. On a similar vein is A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. His name, and this book in particular, has come up too often as a favorite in the particular literary sect I tend to roll in that I simply can't ignore him any longer.





4. Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick. I hadn't heard of this book until a few hours ago when I halfheartedly googled "best novels set in New York City," and I won't make any claims otherwise. But with only a few minutes of looking into it, it seems like an absolutely beautiful piece of work; one of those books where the prose shifts in and out of poetry. It seems to have a collection of classic "look at all the interesting people in NY" characters and situations. Apparently it's semi-autobiographical but essentially plotless, transitioning from memory-to-memory in a sort of Surrealist manner. It looks like a quick read that would be suited for a sunny weekend when I'm feeling particularly artsy.

5. And, finally, we come to World's Fair by E.L Doctorow. My dad (not quite a member of the literati I've been crediting the other recommendations, but still a valued resource nonetheless) has been practically demanding I read Doctorow for pretty much as long as I can remember. While I've always loved the ideas of his books, using history as inspiration and exquisitely capturing a sliver of time, I've only managed to finish one (The Book of Daniel). So, I've decided that this is the year to try yet again and landed on World's Fair, mostly because it was a coming of age novel set in old-timey New York and I didn't feel like reading a mobster tale (Waterworld). From what I've read, it seems to play with the idea of imagining the future and commenting on people's tendency to do so (I won't know whether it's negatively or positively until I read the book), while the main character visits the World Fair in the thirties. I can't help but relate as my mind is constantly thinking ahead a year, and beyond, to what my own personal future will be like.

Wish me luck.