While we never would have admitted it back in our school days, we always found required reading lists kind of fun. In fact, outside of shopping for new school supplies, it’s probably the thing that we miss most about childhood. That’s why we’ve asked Stephanie Anderson, manager of WORD (one of our favorite independent bookstores in New York City), to give us her top 10 picks for summer reading. Check what she — and a few intrepid staff members! — came up with after the jump, and feel free to add to her list in the comments.
1. Kraken by China Miéville (Del Rey)
That China Miéville is not the most famous author on the planet is a sin against something. His latest is, of course, fantastic and mindblowing. If you like your summer reads with a little more mystery, maybe go with his The City & The City instead.
2. Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace (Touchstone)
A classic New York story and absolutely perfect summer reading, complete with gangsters, a Coney Island sideshow and The Babe.
3. Role Models by John Waters (FSG)
A man we all love revealed through some of his favorite people — Johnny Mathis, Rei Kawakubo, Cy Twombly, Leslie Van Houten, and more outrageous personalities. A fantastic collection of hero worship.
4. Stories edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio (William Morrow)
Chock-full of strange and wonderful worlds created by an all-star cast of writers including Chuck Palahniuk, Walter Mosley, and Stewart O’Nan — and some authors I’d never read otherwise, like Lawrence Block and Jodi Picoult, the latter of whom turns in one of the best of the lot. And the great thing about short stories? You can read one start to finish on the train.
5. Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen (W. W. Norton)
Knocked my socks off. It’s a first-person novel told in second-person looks back at five significant people she’s lost: a life told in deaths. Hodgen’s writing spins out dependent clauses like carefully controlled ripples of language.
Comments (14)
[...] Flavorwire, Stephanie Anderson of Brooklyn's WORD bookstore shares a summer reading list for [...]
[...] has “Your Grown-Up Summer Reading List.” I’m book marking this for when I grow [...]
Loving Diamond Ruby, and The City & the City is high on my “read next” list, so the rest of this list must be awesome!
Suspect I’ll probably also re-read a couple of the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan. Summer is the time for brain candy.
No offense, but this is a pretty stinky list from all the plot summaries, jacket copy, and reviews I’ve read… and maybe even a little excessively feminine. I am still looking to stack up on good light but clever summer reads, so I hope you guys can churn out some more posts like this getting recommendations from different tastes.
Where is this year’s Raw Shark Texts? Can we find some more like Sam Lipsyte?
The Brothers K – David James Duncan
Some of the most artfully crafted characters I have ever had the pleasure to spend time with in one of the most compelling brilliantly told stories I have ever encountered.
sorry to nitpick, but it’s actually “del rey” not “del ray”. fyi.
Thanks; it has been fixed!
I would add Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese to add to your reading pleasure.
I’m looking forward to My Formerly Hot Life: Dispatches from Just the Other Side of Young by Stephanie Dolgoff. It’s all about the ups and downs of aging out of young and would make a great summer read. Not out until August, but you can pre-order.
“No Place Like Home – A memoir in 39 apartments” by Brooke Berman. out June 8th. Gorgeous writer.
Hell yes to Kraken, i need to pick that up with the quickness. Mieville is consistently brilliant, and endlessly fun.
Evie Wyld debut novel After the Fire, A Still Small Voice is excellent. Her magic with words is undeniable… my 2 favourite quotes are:
“like a man slow-dancing with am orang-utan, he walked the stove and cylinder, corner by corner, out of the shack”
“Her voice was so deep that parts of words melted before they left her mouth.”
best book I’ve read in years!
[...] at Flavorwire’s “grown-up summer reading list,” Stephanie Anderson, manager of WORD (an indie bookstore [...]
[...] at Flavorwire’s “grown-up summer reading list,” Stephanie Anderson, manager of WORD (an indie bookstore [...]
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