Most summer reading lists are suggestions from the year’s “page-turning” fiction, books that I often put down half-way through. Why not spend the summer reading high-quality books that will stay with you all year long? Here are my suggestions for a wide variety of good summer reading.
Two Local Literary Icons, Inspiring Historical Sites, and More
You always said you were going to do it – so why not this summer? Read the novels and short story collections of one of America’s greatest authors, Asheville native son, Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938), from Look Homeward, Angel (1929) to You Can’t Go Home Again (1940). Ted Mitchell’s Thomas Wolfe: An Illustrated Biography (2006) is an essential Wolfe companion. Visit the Thomas Wolfe Memorial House downtown, next to the Renaissance Hotel. (www.wolfememorial.com)
Two-time Pulitzer prize winner (for poetry and for his monumental history of President Abraham Lincoln) Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) was the most the “American” of American writers. His Rootabaga Stories are an exciting way for parents to introduce their children to Sandburg’s wildly inventive work.
Visit the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site for literary inspiration as well as the antics of the famous goat herd. (www.nps.go/carl). The superb feature-length documentary, The Day Sandburg Died, made by Asheville’s Bonesteel Films, captures the “Poet of the People” and his impact on the country. The libraries have copies for free.
Audio Books for Long Drives with Kids
Nothing is more fun for adults and children together than listening to J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books (Listening Audio) narrated by the brilliant Jim Dale, who created a distinct voice for every character in the series. For teenagers, consider The Hunger Game series by Suzanne Collins. (Scholastic Audio)
Audio Book for Informed Citizens
Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Po
wer, written and narrated by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. Investigative journalism at its best – disconcerting but riveting analysis on why we seem to be in perpetual war. Don’t think President Obama’s policies come off unscathed. (Random House Audio)
Everything You Wanted to Know About Appalachian Magic
Former Rapid River contributor and Asheville’s internationally recognized “Village Witch,” H. Byron Ballard, shares the fading legacy of her family’s “Granny” traditions. A fun and informative read, part memoir, part primer. Staubs & Ditchwater: A Friendly and Useful Introduction to Hillfolks’ Hoodoo (Silver Rings Press, 2012).
For more details on Ballard and her workshops: www.myvillagewitch.com.
Lightweight Entertainment
For a few weeks before you pack, do what I did last year — clip all the terrific articles, interviews and reviews about everything and everyone happening in music and more in Asheville, written by Alli Marshall, prolific Arts & Entertainment editor of the Mountain Xpress weekly newspaper.
While waiting in airports or ensconced underneath a beach umbrella, peel off one story after another—each one is a gem. Then discard. Result: no worries about losing an expensive book—and you’ve now got plenty of room in your suitcase for souvenirs.
Hard-Hitting Appalachian Mystery
After an 8-year publication absence, Sallie Bissell has returned with a new Mary Crow suspense novel and I couldn’t be more pleased. Music of Ghosts (Midnight Ink) is fifth in the series—with its moody mountain setting, its ancient hurts and its gruesome and mysterious present, the novel is well worth the wait. Not for the faint of heart. (www.salliebissell.com)
Literary Appalachia
Dale Neal, prize-winning Asheville Citizen-Times reporter, just published his second novel. The Half-Life of Home is a heart-rending tale of an old mountain tradition —love of the land and the loss a family attached to it must endure. Neal appears at the Blue Ridge Bookfest, Blue Ridge Community College Henderson County Campus, May 17-18. (www.blueridgebookfest.org, wwwdalenealbooks.com)
Humorous Small-Town Southern Life
Hendersonville novelist Ann B. Ross continues her best-selling series about the ageless Miss Julia and her kooky family and friends. Book #14, Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble, is a hilarious tale about the Abbotsville women trying to give cooking lessons to Hazel Marie, the helpless mother of new twins.
New Miss Julia fans, get up to speed with Ross’ helpful website (www.missjulia.com). Ross will talk and sign her book at Writers at Wolfe, Tho
mas Wolfe Home, Asheville, at 12 noon on Saturday, July 13.
Fascinating Local History
In Asheville author Denise Kiernan’s best-selling new book, she reveals a chapter of U.S. history that few people know about–the women who worked in the Manhattan project’s top secret uranium enrichment facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee—The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II. (www.denisekiernan.com)
Asheville’s Best Kept “Renaissance Man” Secret
Everything that Tuckasagee resident Thomas Rain Crowe writes is wonderful—essays, short stories, translations, and most especially his poetry. His 30 books are full of adventures, exquisite nature observations, and aching romance.
Never heard of him, you say? That’s because Crowe doesn’t toot his own horn—which is odd because he’s a fine musician. His latest book of poetry, Crack Light (Wind Publications, 2011, beautifully illustrated with photos by Simone Lipscomb), is unique in his oeuvre because it’s focused on the land and people of our Blue Ridge Mountains.
Enjoy the poems at the same time you read Crowe’s unforgettable memoir, Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods (Univ. of Georgia Press, 2005), about his extraordinary experience of living alone in a cabin in the woods for over four years. (www.newnativepress.com)
