For your consideration: A Summer Reading lisT
Hi. Wow. This summer is… a lot, right? Let’s be honest- I’m way past being grateful for having a working respiratory system in a country without universal healthcare. Still, if there’s one nice thing Corona has done for us it’s giving us plenty of time to read.
Maybe it’s the fact that it feels like everyone’s either furloughed or unemployed or barely hanging on by a thread but this summer feels more summer vacation-ey than most. I’m making progress through the list I accumulated while living in Edinburgh, but I still can’t stop thinking about new exciting books to sink my feral teeth into. It reminds me of those summer reading lists we used to get in school, except this list doesn’t have Heart of Darkness in it. In fact, it’s the literal OPPOSITE of Heart of Darkness. Wow, fuck that book. Anyway, here’s some things I’m looking forward to reading during my free time!
I’m not a huge poetry person, which really says more about me than poetry itself: I just don’t know how to read it. One English degree and a master’s degree in Creative Writing later and only a handful of poetry collections have found their way into my bookshelves. What better way to start me back up than Jenny Zhang’s latest? Her Paris Review interview was very good. And that cover!
A feminist reinterpretation of the Argentine 1870s epic Martin Fierro? Sign me up! I started reading this a couple of months ago, in peak lockdown, but stopped after a couple of weeks. Why did I do that? It was pretty good! It’s currently under consideration for the International Man Booker, which I’ve been following with the same rabid fever I used to have for award shows and the olympics.
The whole “unsuccesful female writer tries to make ends meet and gets tangled into a complicated love affair” thing feels very of the moment for me right now. Can’t imagine why!
I’m so curious about this much-lauded essay collection from my favorite New Yorker staff writer and ITG Top Shelf subject. I’m equally appalled this is the beautiful U.K. cover for the paperback just as I move back to the States. Boo.
I truly love nothing more than a fucked up fairy tale-inspired short story collection. This one looks so good!