Even More Summer Reads

by Joan 

Continuing with Susan's and Kim’s summer book suggestions, it’s my turn to share a few great summer reads. I might be the last person without an iPad, Kindle or Nook, but I am a huge Audible.com customer (why limit yourself to one credit a month!). I still love turning pages, but on a driving trip, nothing beats an engaging story to pass the miles. So here are two physical books and three audio books for your summer travels.

Alex George’s A Good American (Amy Einhorn Books - hardback)

As a transplant from England to Missouri, Alex George knows a thing or two about immigration. In this tale of immigrant hope and naïveté, I was instantly drawn into the Meisenheimers’ new world in the midwest with its quirky and believable characters. At the start of the multi-generational story, the narrator’s grandparents meet in a garden in Germany and fall instantly in love. Against her family’s wishes, the large and prickly Jette runs off with the ever-optimistic Frederick and they begin their legacy in America. From their children, the son whose musical aspirations were dashed and his odd heartbroken sister, to their three grandsons vying for attention as musicians, pranksters and dreamers, Alex George has written an engaging debut. 

At times hilarious, poignant and introspective, these characters have one thing in common: They long to know who they are and where they are meant to be in this ever-changing world.

Sally Gunning’s The Widow’s War (Harper trade paperback) 

Thanks Elizabeth for introducing me to this fabulous author! Reading this stunning novel is like visiting eighteenth-century Puritan New England. With the first sentence, I was transported to a sorrowful whaling town where the landscape, language, prejudice and rules stifle recently widowed Lyddie Berry’s every move. Outcast by not only the town, but also her only daughter and greedy son-in-law, Lyddie finds hope in the most unhopeful circumstances. Each sentence of this book is perfect. Fans of Geraldine Brooks’ masterpiece Caleb’s Crossing will love this book. 

Bryce Courtenay’s The Persimmon Tree (Audio)

The Persimmon Tree is a sweeping drama about a young Australian butterfly collector in Batavia (Jakarta) who falls in love with an exotic beauty. Separated by circumstances in the Pacific at the onset of World War II, he sails to Australia, but their plans to meet there fail and he spends the next several years searching for her. It was a stunningly written story made even more so by Humphrey Bower's gorgeous narrating.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet  by David Mitchell (Audio)

Reminiscent of The Persimmon Tree, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet transported me back several generations and further north to a fictional island off the coast of Japan in 1799. Jacob de Zoet (pronounced Yacob by the pitch-perfect reader) is a clerk for the Dutch East Indies Company, trying to earn enough money to return for his fiancé in Holland. He soon learns that honesty and fortitude have no place in the politically charged and corrupt island. He meets a shy Japanese woman whose scarred face has caused her much ridicule, but her skills as a midwife have earned her the respect she deserves. Jacob is drawn to her in ways he can’t explain, until one day, she is forced to use her skills in the most tragic circumstances and she is taken from him without a goodbye. Set in a backdrop of mountains, Buddhist monastery and secretive shrine, this powerful novel is filled with intrigue, deceit, love, betrayal and cruelty. This is the most exquisitely written novel I’ve read in a long time. It is a master class in novel writing, from the dialogue, to the flawlessly woven research, to the tension in every sentence. David Mitchell, I bow to you.

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (Audio)

Okay, I saw the movie first several years ago with Julianne Moore, Ralph Fiennes and Stephen Rea, but when I saw Colin Firth was the reader, I had to buy it.

The tragic story is told from the perspective of a jaded novelist who, just after the end of World War II, falls into an engrossing love affair with the wife of an acquaintance. She inexplicably breaks off their affair and he is left wondering why. Later, the husband confides in the novelist that he suspects her of seeing another man and plants the idea of hiring a private investigator to follow her. The story follows three insecure adults through a search for love, faith and self-knowledge. I’ve said it before, Colin Firth could read the phone book and I’d listen, but here he portrays Graham Greene's knife-sharp prose with equal parts emotion and brilliant restraint.

What are you reading this summer?

New Year, New Books!

by Joan

When you’ve been blogging for almost five years, coming up with fresh topics is challenging. But one thing that never gets old is discovering new books. And since my birthday and the holidays are both in December, I have started the New Year with a cache of new reads. Some came as pleasant surprises, others in boxes I handed to my husband to wrap and still others ordered on my Audible.com account as a gift to myself.

Here are a few titles that will keep me busy over the next several months!

Margaret Leroy’s Soldier’s Wife - I’m really enjoying this novel, set in Guernsey during World War II. If you loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, you will enjoy this as well.

Jenna Blum’s Those Who Save Us – Two copies of this Holocaust novel showed up! I put it on my list and then forgot and ordered it on Audible. I’m enjoying listening to the dual timelines on audio very much.

Erika Robuck’s Receive Me Falling – I put this on my list in anticipation of Erika’s Hemingway’s Girl, coming in September 2012 from NAL/Penguin. Erika guest blogged here in July about why she writes about the past.

Sally Gunning’s The Widow’s War – Elizabeth suggested I would love Sally Gunning’s writing. I peeked at the first page and, wow, is she ever right.

Kyung-Sook Shin’s Please Look After Mom – my cousin emailed me this message on NYE: “Whatever you are reading or working on now, STOP. One way or another, get the book Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin. Read it in one day, holy sh--.” Is that a recommendation or what?! Of course I ordered it and it’s next in line!

Susanna Kearsley’s Winter Sea – Kim recommended this and we have rarely disagreed on a book!

Kelly O’Connor McNees’ Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott – My bookaholic sister recommended this one and we also share the same tastes.

Peter Ackroyd’s Thames – My college student son used to share my office and likely saw my Ackroyd collection, containing both non-fiction (London: The Biography never leaves my desk) and fiction, like Hawksmoor and The Clerkenwell Tales, which inspired me to write my current manuscript.

David Starkey’s Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII – Another title from my son, who knows my infatuation with British History, especially the bizarre Henry VIII.

What books did you get?

Our Best Reads of 2011

By Kim

All of us at What Women Write are compulsive readers as well as writers. As 2011 comes to a close we thought it may be fun to share the books we loved most this year. As you will see, our taste is varied. There are only two books we have all agreed on. The first was The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and the second is a book that won't hit the bookstores until sometime in 2013 - namely Calling Me Home by our very own Julie Kibler!

Have you read any of the books we mention below? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Inspired to run to your nearest bookstore and pick one up? We’d love to hear that, too.

Susan Poulos

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett- (probably one of the best books I have ever read.)
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obrecht
Bent Road by Lori Roy
The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

I would classify all of them as literary fiction, although Lori's is probably considered a literary thriller. I also think that all except for State of Wonder are debuts... imagine that!!

Kim Bullock

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - I devoured this historical mystery in two days!

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland – I picked this one up because I love everything by Susan Vreeland, and this one happens to take place in NYC in the same year my great-grandfather was there. He even knew Mr. Tiffany. Clara was unforgettable – very ahead of her time.

Next to Love by Ellen Feldman – This was a beautiful novel about three WWII soldiers and their wives.

The Truth About Delilah Blue by Tish Cohen – I love books with artist protagonists, and there are so many Canadian authors who are neglected in US markets.

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin - I challenge anyone to forget Vinnie! What an incredible life.

Bloodroot by Amy Greene - Very unique voice, and a haunting narrative.

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton – The woman is a genius. Any of her books are wonderful.

Elizabeth Lynd

Sally Gunning! She has three, The Widow’s War; Bound; and The Rebellion of Jane Clarke (which I think came out in 2011). All are absolutely perfect.

Joan Mora

The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
22 Britannia Road, by Amanda Hodgkinson
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
The Persimmon Tree, by Bryce Courtenay
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley
Caleb’s Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks (1/2 way finished!)

What do all these books have in common? Stellar character and voice!

Pamela Hammonds

My reading choices tend to be all over the place--humor, memoir, women's fiction and more. But my most memorable reads for this year are:

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
Unplanned by Abby Johnson
Stop Dressing Your Six-year-old Like a Skank by Celia Rivenbark
Another Man's War by Sam Childers
Best Kept Secret by Amy Hatvany
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

But I'll have to say, my greatest source of reading pleasure this past year came from my fellow What Women Writers. I read Julie's manuscript in early 2011, just finished Susan's and will soon finish Joan's. Next year, I plan to read Kim's and Elizabeth's completed manuscripts. And hopefully they will be reading mine before too long as well.

Julie Kibler

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - Each time I read a book set in England, I want to go back. Immediately. This was a quiet book with a big message.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - I waited too long to read this. Loved it/hated it. Was sucked in and could barely climb out when finished, but have somehow managed to not read the second and third in the series yet. I can't wait for the movie.

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum - I believe we will read holocaust stories forever and never comprehend the horror of all that happened.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo - I wonder, when I read a book like this, what took me so long to pick it up.

Mudbound by Hilary Jordan - Like my novel, this explores pushing racial boundaries to the point of danger. Another one I waited too long to read.

How to Be An American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway - I loved this even more due to getting to know Margaret in person beforehand and recognizing the bits and pieces of her heart that are hidden in this story.

Before I Forget by Leonard Pitts, Jr. - I read this based on Carleen Brice's recommendation while researching point of view for my manuscript, and I couldn't put it down. A heartrending father/son story.

Falling Under by Danielle Younge-Ullman - My fellow Backspacer reissued this digitally after the rights reverted back to her. It's not for the faint of heart, and if you are a child of divorce, you will recognize your own heart on every single page.

How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal- Because I read Barbara's new stories every single year and love them every single year.

Barbara's was the only one on this list originally published in 2011! Many I've listed have stood the test of time—they aren't newly published, but they've stayed on the shelves and gone back for printing after printing and appear on many lists. The reasons are obvious when you read them. But when I consider my books-read list, I see many 2011 books I loved, too! It's hard to choose "favorites."


What are your favorite books of 2011? We'd love to hear from you!