What I Read on My Summer Vacation - Sara Nelson

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Sara Nelson

What I Read on My Summer Vacation
September 3, 2008

Probably like most of my colleagues in the book business, I can get pretty cynical, particularly about a book

that's been hyped within the industry. Sad to say, for example, I was underwhelmed -- not to say simultaneously bored and disgusted -- by The Gargoyle, for which my friends at Doubleday have high expectations (and which, it must be said, is climbing the best sellers lists. Ah, well, there's no accounting for taste.) And sometimes because of that hype, I put off reading certain things; sometimes, only when on vacation, more or less removed from other publishing folk, can I pick up a much discussed book and read it "pure."

So, the first book of my weeklong vacation was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which Knopf is touting heavily, which PW wrote about months ago, which booksellers are swooning over. My verdict: a slow-ish start but then a rollicking, fascinating read. A little prurient perhaps -- the plot involves a disgraced reporter tracking down a murderer and torturer of women and girls -- but somehow, its Swedish broodiness and literate nature undercut that. Be forewarned: the ending has the complicated, tech-ness of a Bruce Willis movie. . .

Next, found on the shelf of my landlord's house: a copy of the very moving, quiet You Remind Me of Me, a

novel by the award-nominated Dan Chaon. A story of a small midwestern town and the messed up people who live there, it isn't exactly cheery summer reading, but its resonating in my head even as my mosquito bites are disappearing.

Factory Girls, by Leslie T. Chang, is coming from Spiegel & Grau this October. . .an antidote to the rah-rah Olympics we just suffered through? Chang is a former Wall Street Journal reporter, married to Peter Hessler, himself an expert writer about China, and her debut book is mostly about the

teenage girls who come from the provinces to make something of themselves in factory towns. It was much less downbeat than I expected, and for somebody whose two short trips to China have put the country in her blood, it's unputdownable. I particularly liked how Chang wove her personal story with the stories of the young women she met.

What did YOU read on your summer vacation? I'm listening. . ..

Posted by Sara Nelson on September 3, 2008 | Comments (9)

September 3, 2008
In response to: What I Read on My Summer Vacation
VICKI commented:

Good to know someone else had a problem with The Gargoyle. All of the gorey details about 3rd degree burns, and the fact that the main character is not someone sympathetic, completely turned me off. I gave it to a friend who's a voracious reader and asked her to give me a summary once she's done!

September 3, 2008
In response to: What I Read on My Summer Vacation
Meg Waite Clayton commented:

I LOVED You Remind Me of Me. Such a quietly compelling story. Chaon is an amazing writer.

September 3, 2008
In response to: What I Read on My Summer Vacation
LaurenBaratzLogsted commented:

One nice perk of being a writer is that over the years you acquire other writers as friends or acquaintances. This means that while on vacation last week, I got to enjoy many books by people I've met either online or in the real world. Their wonderful books are: MATTERS OF FAITH, Kristy Kiernan. A college student brings home a new girllfriend to meet his family, and the girlfriend turns out to be a fundamentalist, which has disastrous results for the boy's younger sister, who suffers from peanut allergies. LAND OF A HUNDRED WONDERS, Lesley Kagen. A young woman with post-accident brain injuries and a quirky sense of humor becomes involved in solving a mysterious death in 1970s rural Kentucky. INSIDE OUT GIRL, Tish Cohen. When an obsessive divorced mother of two who helms a parenting magazine and a widower/adoption attorney with a learning-disabled daughter meet, an unlikely romance ensues. BOY STILL MISSING, John Searles. In a complex coming-of-age story told in a 1971 blue-collar New England town, a teenage boy's life is transformed by a Pandora's box of tragedies including alcoholism, abduction, pregnancy and death. FALLING UNDER, Danielle Younge-Ullman. An artist in her twenties finds her elaborate array of defenses crumbling when confronted for the first time with an uncomplicated and untwisted romantic prospect. THE DEPARTMENT OF LOST & FOUND, Allison Winn Scotch. A refreshingly comic tone infuses this novel about a breast-cancer victim who works for a high-powered senator.

September 3, 2008
In response to: What I Read on My Summer Vacation
Jean Lewis commented:

I just finished AN AMERICAN WIFE by Curtis Sittenfeld. I absolutely adored it. Did not want to put it down. They liked the protagonist to Laura Bush. I can see the resemblance. The story rocks with get in your face substance and telling narrative.Did have the opportunity to read GARGOYLE. Amidst the hoopla I found it puzzling and gorey. What was that all about anyhow?

September 3, 2008
In response to: What I Read on My Summer Vacation
Trixie commented:

I read 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' and loved it. It's utterly charming. I also read the David Sedaris book 'When You are Engulfed in Flames' and liked it, though it lacks the whimsy I find so amusing in his previous books.

September 3, 2008
In response to: What I Read on My Summer Vacation
Kathy L. Patrick commented:

Sara, I highly recommend my following summer Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selections: June 2008 The Schooling of Claybird Catts by Janis Owens, Harper Paperbacks Bonus Book Club My Brother Michael by Janis Owens, Pineapple Press Myra Sims by Janis Owens, Pineapple Press Splinters (our teen version of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club) Selection The Chicken Dance by Jacques Covillion, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Pinecones (our pre-teen version of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club) Selection Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board by Bethany Hamilton, Pocket Books July 2008 The Wednesday Sisters: A Novel by Meg Waite Clayton, Ballentine Books Bonus Book Club How Perfect is That by Sarah Bird, Knopf Publishing Group Dishing with the Kitchen Virgin by Susan Reinhardt, Kensington Splinters (our teen version of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club) Selection The Wall by Peter Sis, Farrah, Straus, & Giroux Pinecones (our pre-teen version of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club) Selection The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, Atheneum August 2008 Where the River Ends by Charles Martin, Broadway Books Bonus Book Club Bringing Home the Birkin by Michael Tonello, William Morrow Publishers The Unlikely Lavender Queen by Jeannie Ralston, Broadway Books It just does not get any better than this! Now to check out your list! Tiara wearing and Book sharing, Kathy L. Patrick Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs

September 3, 2008
In response to: What I Read on My Summer Vacation
Sue commented:

City of Thieves by Benioff

September 5, 2008
In response to: What I Read on My Summer Vacation
Kat magendie commented:

When I'm reading for review, I'm always relieved when I forget I'm reviewing and just love the book. But, I admit, there is a "

September 6, 2008
In response to: What I Read on My Summer Vacation
jan loveland commented:

I want to suggest The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard by Erin McGraw, very charming in a different way from GL&PPPS, which I also enjoyed. The whole sweep of the story, from midwestern prairie to infant tinseltown, is a really nuanced history of women who moved from Victorian era true womanhood into the third decade of the twentieth century.