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June 19, 2006

On Saturday,

while I was working what we shall term, "My Job Not Here" one of my favorite readers was bemoaning the fact that there was "nothing good to read". I realized it had been a while since the Desketeers talked books. So here is a listing of some of the things that have caught my fancy over the last couple of weeks.

Elements of Style, by Wendy Wasserstein is a wonderful comedy of manners set in post 9-11 Manhattan. It makes me very sad that this will be her only novel as Wasserstein died of cancer last year.

For good, trashy dish Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing is just fun. Nothing more than that. Perfect for beach reading and a wonderful guilty pleasure.

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman examines modern family dynamics with great style and honesty. When Emelia marries Jack she also inherits a five year old step-son. A relationship that becomes further complicated when their infant daughter dies of SIDS. This has some terrific writing.

Halfway House is the first novel from Katherine Noel. A pitch perfect portrayal of what happens when a family member literally goes off the deep end. When the Voorster's daughter has a break down due to being bi-polar, it effects each family member in a different way.

On the lighter side, Gatsby's Girl is the latest offering from Caroline Preston. This fictional biography of the first of F. Scott's Fitzgerald's muses is a lot of fun and the writing is just good enough that you don't feel like you are reading pure trash. In fact, it spurred one of my friends to re-read the whole Fitzgerald canon.

Eva Rice is the daughter of lyricist Tim Rice, but I think, based on her first novel, that she will be known in her own right. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is a wonderful story about two young girls in post World War II London.

Still Life with Chickens by Catherine Goldhammer tells how six little chicks helped a newly single mom and her young daughter adjust to their new situation.

But my favorite summer read this far has to be the very sentimental Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. At the height of the Great Depression, Jacob, who is about to finish Cornell vet school, learns of the death of his parents. In the throes of grief he runs away and joins the circus where he finds a new family and a new lease on life.

A little lite. A little dark. There are some great things out there to accompany you to the beach, poolside, mountains, wherever you happen to summer!

Happy reading!

Posted by JenniferD at June 19, 2006 11:51 AM