Three on Thursday: Get your summer reading started!

So, technically tomorrow is the first day of summer.  Given that the pool water is a brisk 52 degrees and we've gotten an epic amount of rain in the last few weeks, you may be wondering if I'm pulling your leg.  I assure you, summer is officially starting tomorrow, whatever the weather.  If you've got a little time off coming your way in the coming months, I've got a few recommendations.

If you're looking to read what everyone else is reading this summer:

Read And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini.  I know, I just reviewed it earlier this week.  But I can't say enough good things about it.  And I guarantee, this is going to be one of the big fiction titles that everyone will be talking about all summer. 


My prediction for this summer's sleeper hit:

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton DiSclafani.  I gave a preview of this title last month, and I'm sticking to my guns.  In fact, it's on my vacation reading list!  I'll be back next week with a full review.


If you prefer non-fiction:

Hitchhiking with Larry David, by Paul Samuel Dolman.  After a painful breakup, a man turns accidental tourist and hitchhikes around Martha's Vineyard, meeting many interesting characters in the process.  Among these chance encounters is actor Larry David, with whom the author forges a unique friendship.  Funny and moving, this should be a great escape for some summer reading.


I'll be back next week with more summer-centric reads, as well as catching up on what I've been reading.  In the meantime, happy reading!

It's not too late for a little holiday spirit!

And in this case, I am talking about the kind that comes in a glass!  Whether you're wondering what to serve with your Christmas goose, or looking for a last minute gift for the food and beverage snob in your life (we all have at least one, right?), I've got a little help for you!

Food & Wine Annual Cookbook 2011.  Not only is this cookbook full of great recipe ideas for all occasions, but it also includes wine pairings for every recipe, from appetizers to desserts and everything in between.  (And if ever you wondered what wine to serve to hung-over friends at your New Year's Day brunch that goes with stickybuns?  This is going to provide you with answers!  Just me who wondered?  Ok, then, moving on...)


North American Wine Routes: a travel guide to wines & vines, from Napa to Nova Scotia, consulting editors Dan Berger and Tony Aspler.  From local wineries to destination vineyards, this guide has everything from information about the history of the locations, to the grapes grown, to food pairings.  A great way to get to know your wines, and pick a great one for your holiday meal, or for giving.

And for those interested in homebrewing beer (it's becoming more and more common all the time, and is one of the fastest-growing hobbies in the US), read up in The Complete Homebrew Beer Book: 200 easy recipes from ales & lagers to extreme beers & international favorites, by George Hummel.  Hummel provides thorough analysis of the flavor components of beer, and provides recipes not just by type of beverage, but also by level of difficulty, many of which require minimal special equipment. 

And now, before someone puts me in a 12-step program, happy holidays, happy reading, and I will be back with new recommendations in the New Year!

Summer Reading Series 4: What about non fiction for summer reading?

I’ll admit it, I read a LOT of fiction and since I read so much of it, it tends to be what I recommend most often.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t give non fiction some love, and if you’re a non-fiction reader looking for some great titles for summer, this list is for you.  Today, the list is travel themed, but not to worry, I have more non-fiction lists coming soon!

Is the heat killing you?  Cool off with Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier.  Not just the desolate, frigid wasteland that makes up one-seventh of the world’s land mass, Frazier’s Siberia brims with Mongols, half-crazed Orthodox archpriests, tea caravans, German scientists, American prospectors, intrepid English nurses, and prisoners and exiles of every description.  Going far beyond travelogue, this is also an account of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union, and Frazier’s personal (and often humorous) reflection on all things Russia.  (Need more great reads to help you cool off?  Try Ice Bound by Jerri Nielsen, or The Only Kayak by Kim Heacox.)

An oldie but a goodie, Frances Mayes’s Under the Tuscan Sun is one of my favorites.  Part homage to Tuscany and its people, part delicious ode to the local cuisine, Mayes writes of the home she bought and restored, her summers and holidays spent basking in Tuscan culture, and every paragraph waxes poetic at the everyday delights she experiences there.  The perfect escape on a summer afternoon.  (Don’t want to leave Tuscany after you’ve finished the book?  Try Bella Tuscany, also by Mayes.)

Finally, a little closer to home, I’m a Stranger Here Myselfby Bill Bryson.  Well-known travel writer Bryson is more introspective here than in previous books, though no less entertaining, when after two decades in England, he’s relocated to New Hampshire.  Stepping back into the American mainstream after twenty years abroad, Bryson has both a critical eye and a nostalgic heart as he writes about everything from the sweetness of small-town America to the strangeness of activist groups.  The collection of essays, originally written as columns for London’s Night & Day magazine, is one to be leisurely enjoyed and savored.  (Want to know more about Bryson’s travels?  Try A Walk in the Woods.)

Next up in our Summer Reading Series, Mysteries.  Think you’re not a mystery reader?  Think again!