I will probably harass this alligator. Photo by: Me
In a few weeks I’ll be heading south to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I plan on harassing some alligators, riding my bike, drinking large drinks with tiny umbrellas, eating a metric ton of fried chicken and barbeque, visiting the Piggly-Wiggly and of course, laying on the beach with a big stack of books.
Like any self-respecting librarian, I have a total horror of not bringing enough to read.
What happens if we get stuck in terrible traffic on I-77 again? I’m willing to run into the woods to pee, I’m willing to go hungry and thirsty, but OMG SWEET LORD, WHAT IF I FINISH MY LAST BOOK?!?!
I do not have a problem.
Five books (+ two back-ups because I don’t mess around).
Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands, Chris Bohjalian
Chris Bohjalian is all over the map as a writer and I love it. He’s written historical fiction about World War II, he’s written about interracial adoption, midwives, and murder-suicide. Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is about a teen orphaned by a nuclear plant meltdown, which may or may not have been caused by her father. Homeless and on the run, she takes a new identity based on Emily Dickinson. Read an excerpt here. Good stuff.
Paulo Coelho has a remarkably ability to write from any point of view (Andalusian shepherd boy, an Irish girl.) This time, the point of view is Linda, a married mother of two with a great job, a successful, loving husband, and all of the other trappings of modern life that are supposed to make you happy. And she is not happy. According to reviews, you will love and you will hate Linda, but you’ll understand her completely. Whoa.
A one night stand goes horribly, horribly wrong. There’s no walk of shame here; there’s abduction and a cabin in rural Minnesota. Watch out for enigmatic strangers with modest wit. The Good Girl has been compared to last year’s suspense bestseller, Gone Girl.
Bittersweet, Colleen McCullough
McCullough’s first romantic saga since The Thorn Birds? Two sets of twins in New South Wales at the beginning of the twentieth century? Sold.
We Are Not Ourselves, Matthew Thomas
This is the book making everyone cry this summer. It’s a “sweeping” multi-generational novel about an Irish-American family starting the 1940s. Redemption, betrayal, love, blah, blah, blah.
Back-ups
The Wh
eel of Fortune, Susan Howatch
I read this a long, long time ago and I love it. I always wanted to be glamorous and bold like Ginerva. I got the bold part down at least. It also inspired my inexplicable love of Wales.
Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Stephen King
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy says that a towel is “about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.” I would argue that a Stephen King book of short stories is second.
I’m also taking recommendations. Always!
happy beach reading-
suzy
Eleventh Stack 