Summer Reading List for the beach, plane, or nightstand

Three from my bookself to yours

By Kali Downer

As a life-long avid reader, I have always regarded the summer as my "best" reading season. There is something about summer that seems to invite uninterrupted stretches of time with nothing to do but get lost in a book. However, once I've made my way through the season's New York Times Best Seller List and brushed the dust off the "books I've been meaning to read" from my own bookshelf, I start begging everyone I know for recommendations. If you're anything like me and you're looking for the perfect books to suit all your summer moods, here are few of my all-time favorites...

For the beach...

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler

HILARIOUS. When I look for a good beach read I try to keep things light and fun. Each of these short-stories is funnier than the next and you can easily read between flipping over to even out your tan, running after the ice cream truck, and taking a dip in the water to cool off. 

There's no sense in giving away the punch-line to any of Handler's tales, as she is truly an expert story-teller when it comes to the crude, so you'll just have to take my word that this is a must read for the beach.

For the airplane...

Geek Love: A Novel by Katherine Dunn

To start, I will say that under normal circumstances I would never, EVER read a book that could even moderately be considered "fantasy". Yet somehow I was coerced by a friend to read it for a book club, and it only took one chapter to get me completely and utterly hooked. There is no better way to describe this book than to simply say that it is bizarre. The concept is beyond twisted - a husband and wife intentionally create genetic mutations in their chilren by taking bizarre combinations of experimental drugs so that each of them can play a role in the family's traveling carnival. The family of "geeks", as carnival performers were formerly referred to, includes an "aqua boy" with flippers instead of arms and legs, siamese twin pianists, a seemingly "normal" boy with super-human strength, and the story's narrator, a humpbacked albino dwarf.

What is most striking about this book is how easy it is to put aside any apprehensions you may have about the story being too unbelievable or inaccessible. Beneath the narrative of this family of carnival freaks lies a very real and heartbreaking story about family dymanics, what it means to be an "outcast" both inside and outside the confines of your own family, and the human condition.

I read most of this book on an early morning flight from New York City to San Diego, barely putting it down to take a sip from my drink and silently curse the flight attendent for not leaving the whole can. It is the perfect airplane read because the cast of characters will fully engross, distract, and entertain even the most fearful flyers.

For the nightstand...

Some Things That Stay by Sarah Willis

This book begins in the Spring of 1954 as the 15-year old protagonist, Tamara Anderson, arrives at her family's new farmhouse in rural upstate New York. It is by no means her first move as Tamara's father has been packing up the family trailer with all of their belongings every Spring to serve as a fresh backdrop for his career as a landscape artist. When Tamara's mother comes down with Tuberculosis and is sent away to a sanitorium she is left to her own devices to navigate her new surroundings and burgeoning sexuality under the tuteledge of the teenage boy across the street.

I LOVE coming of age stories, and this is one of my favorites. Told from the perspective of a 15-year old girl, the writing is genuine, unassuming, and reminiscent of my own insecurities and curiosities at that age. Often when I think of summer - especially during the adolescent years - I am reminded of the immense amount of personal growth that takes place between one school year ending and another beginning. This book captures that time period and all its emotions with perfection and grace. 

EDITOR's NOTE: The links take the reader to the Amazon site where by clicking on the book cover shown on the left will enable readers to scan a few pages of each.