July 13, 2011:  The cover story in Parade magazine this weekend was "Summer Reading!"  The article discussed the season's "best" books and offered suggestions for reading by the pool, on the beach, or wherever your plans take you.  Elsewhere in the magazine, several celebrities weighed in with their personal book selections.  We decided to visit our local bookseller, Womrath, and hear what owner Gene Sgarlata had to say.  He mentioned several books that have been selling briskly lately.

Interestingly, the first four books that Gene mentioned were nonfiction, which betrays the notion that summer reading has to be mindless, silly stories with mindless, silly characters.  Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, is an Olympic runner's story of surviving as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II.  In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson, is a portrait of Berlin during the rise of the Nazi Party.  It details the experience of William E. Dodd, who became the U.S. ambassador to Germany in 1933, and his daughter, Martha.  Bossypants, by Tina Fey, is the memoir of the creator of 30 Rock.  The Greater Journey, by David McCullough, is an exploration of the intellectual legacy that France settled on its 19th-century visitors, written by one of the eminent historians of our time.

Of these all very interesting, true stories, Gene recommends In the Garden of Beasts. (Many of you may have read Larson's other best seller, The Devil in the White City.  Larson grabs his reader and holds him enthralled from the first page to the last!)

In the world of fiction, which is my own reading preference, State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett, is selling well.  It is the story of a medical researcher and her search for her former mentor, who has disappeared in the Amazon while developing a miracle fertility drug.  Patchett also wrote Bel Canto, a searingly beautiful story of captivity and love.

One Summer, by David Baldacci, is the story of a father's struggles to keep his family together after the death of his devoted wife.  Silver Girl, by Elin Hilderbrand, relates the journey of the wife of a Wall Street crook.  She retreats to Nantucket, where she faces an array of troubled relationships.  Summer Rental, by Mary Kay Andrews, follows three friends, all of them thirty-somethings, as they spend a month on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Gene says you can't go wrong with any of them!

The other book-related article in Parade magazine this week was an essay by the author Pat Conroy on the joys of summer reading.  He, too, uses his break not to read fluff but to read "... five or so carefully selected books ... and I still like to go away with smart, well-read friends who enjoy talking about the books they've brought."

So, stop in and visit Gene at Womrath and select something interesting to take along on your summer travels--even if your travels only take you as far as your own backyard!

See you around town.

Peggy