Read It and Reap: Authors share summer reading selections

Writers do take time off to read — it’s kind of a prerequisite for creativity, and a good vacation habit! Asking a few authors about their “work” and their summer reading, they responded. More of their comments will be published in the Aug. 28 column.

Lynne Griffin

“My summer reading always includes books I’ve kept at the top of my ‘to-be-read’ list but haven’t yet had the time to crack,” she said. “The novel ‘Sorrow and Bliss,’ by former Times of London writer Meg Mason, proved worth the wait. Deeply moving, it’s a darkly funny story about the impact of mental health issues on relationships, particularly marriage. You will miss Martha and Patrick as soon as you turn the last page.”

A family counselor and author of a previous domestic thriller (“The Dangers of an Ordinary Night”), Griffin adds: “It’s my hope that readers feel the same way about the characters in my forthcoming novel, “Dark Rivers to Cross,” due out in November.

“Set deep in the Maine woods, it offers readers unconscious sibling connections, hidden loyalties and a turbulent story about a mother willing to put her life at risk to keep her family safe. The novel sensitively explores inherited trauma, adoption, and whether parents ever have the right to keep painful origin stories from their children.”

Michael Tougias

New York Times Bestselling author and co-author of 33 books for adults and children — including “Above & Beyond,” “So Close to Home,” The Finest Hours,” “King Philip’s War” and “There’s a Porcupine in My Outhouse!” — switched genres for his summer reading.

“I usually read more nonfiction, particularly biographies, than fiction, but the most recent book I read was a suspense novel, ‘Then She Was Gone,’ by Lisa Jewell.

“This was a well-crafted book with plenty of twists,” he said. “It begins with a high school girl, Ellie, who goes missing, and then quickly jumps ahead ten years and follows the life of her mother, Laurel, who is now divorced and not particularly close to her two remaining children. Laurel’s situation brightens considerably when she meets a charming man, Floyd, and begins a relationship. Then she is introduced to Floyd’s daughter Poppy, and it stuns her — because the nine-year-old girl looks remarkably like Laurel’s own missing daughter.

“From this point on, the story takes on a harrowing, twisting path that surprised me at many turns — just what I’m looking for in fictional story.”

Tougias has also taken a different turn with his writing.

“My most recent project is quite unlike ‘Then She Was Gone,’ and also different than my other 29 books, most of which are true survival stories for adults. ‘No Will Set You Free’ was just released as an inspirational book designed to help us take back our most precious commodity — our time. That means saying 'no' to distractions,” Tougias said.

“I realized over the years I had come a long way about feeling comfortable to saying no to the many demands and requests on my time; I wanted to share what I learned with others. The book has short chapters, and it was my hope that the reader would read a chapter a day in the morning and then try and implement the techniques during the day.”

He’s worked on other writing projects as well.

“I wrote the book during the height of the pandemic when I had uninterrupted time and took the threat of COVID quite seriously,” Tougias said. “During that time I also worked on my books for middle readers which are part of my series with MacMillan Publishing called 'The True Rescue Series.'"

COVID, however, disrupted his work, switching him to summer reading.

Author appearances

•Author and publisher Crystal Boateng will visit the Sturbridge Joshua Hyde Library at 11 a.m. Aug. 24. She will read from her books, including her debut picture book, “Afia the Ashanti Princess: A Visit to the Motherland.” Boateng was born and raised in Ghana and moved to Massachusetts at a young age. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College and holds a law degree and MBA from the University of Connecticut.

She and her spouse have three children, the inspiration for her books. Her first children’s picture book, “… A Visit to the Motherland,” was an Amazon bestseller in three different categories when it was released in December 2020. She is also the author of three other published books, including, “Afia the Brave Swimmer: Seaside Adventures in Ghana,” “Saturday Morning Cuddles with Mommy" and a coloring/activity companion book.

She recently launched a publishing company to help others become published authors.

•The ongoing Worcester Public Library author talks series resumes Aug. 22 at 9 p.m. with Michele Harper, who wrote “The Beauty in Breaking.” She is a New York Times best-selling author and an emergency room physician — an experience that led to her memoir.

Meetings

•“We Keep the Dead Close” by Betsy Cooper, subtitled: “A Murder at Harvard and a Half-Century of Silence,” is the subject of an Aug. 18 meeting. The 5 p.m. meeting is at Tidepool Bookshop, 372 Chandler St., Worcester.

•Virtual book clubs at Worcester Public Library are held as follows:

1 p.m. Aug. 16, Science Fiction Book Club, “The Speed of Dark” by Elizabeth Moon.

7 p.m.  Aug. 23, the Great American Read club reviews Jean Auel’s “The Clan of the Cave Bear.”

•Rachel’s Book Club at Thayer Memorial Library, Lancaster, meets at 12:30 p.m. Aug. 20, to discuss actress Viola Davis’s autobiographical “Finding Me.”

Send book club topics at least a week before the second Sunday and the last Sunday of each month to ann.frantz@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Read It and Reap: Authors share summer reading selections