Steve Israel | Seven absorbing must-reads that will carry you to other worlds
What a great time to lose yourself in a terrific book. Sweet summer weather is finally here, which means you can relax outside in our lush green region, open an engrossing book and at least temporarily escape the cascade of bad news about everything from war and mass shootings to the never-ending pandemic. Plus, as I’ve learned since retiring from the daily workings of this newspaper, you’re never too old to enjoy learning and thinking about something new, which is what you do by reading.
Here are a few of my favorite recent and not-so-recent novels for your summer reading pleasure that can take you everywhere from 15th Century Constantinople to the contemporary Arctic Circle. Enjoy.
“The Anomaly” - Herve Le Tellier: This huge French bestseller has such a unique, surprising plot I don’t want to give it away. Let’s just say this blend of mystery, science fiction and sharply drawn characters focuses on the fate of the passengers of an airplane flight unlike any of us have ever been on. “The Anomaly” will leave you guessing about what happens to those characters until the end.
“Beautiful Ruins” – Jess Walter: This wonderfully entertaining, gorgeously written novel may have been released 10 years ago, but its interweaving stories that shift between the artifice of contemporary Hollywood, the endurance of ancient Italy and the timelessness of an undying love is a story for the ages. This treasure of a book will make you want to read more by this immensely talented author.
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“Cloud Cuckoo Land” - Anthony Doerr: Talk about transporting you to other worlds. This epic novel by the author of the wonderful Pulitzer Prize-winning “All the Light We Cannot See” features the stories of five characters in some six centuries on several continents (and maybe even beyond) who are all connected by a seemingly lost book. This genre-bending mix of historical fiction, science fiction and thrilling mystery is also a page turner that is as gripping as it is mind-expanding.
“Don’t Know Tough” – Eli Cranor: You don’t have to like – or even know anything about - football to marvel at and be absorbed by this page-turning literary mystery about a backwoods Arkansas high school football player and the born-again football coach who tries to save him – and himself. You just have to like a great story, characters who seem to jump off the pages and inventive yet unobtrusive writing.
“Girl in Ice” – Erica Ferencik: What happens when a girl of unknown origin is discovered frozen in the ice of the Arctic Circle and is amazingly brought back to life, speaking an unknown language? The plot deepens when a female linguist travels to the desolate site of this scientific mystery and tries to communicate with the girl and learn who she is, where she’s from and how she’s alive.
“Harlem Shuffle” – Colson Whitehead: And now for something completely different and utterly entertaining from the author who won two Pulitzers for his brilliant, must-read historical novels, “Nickel Boys,” and “Underground Railroad.” It’s the story of an earnest family man in the Harlem of the 1960s who tries to (mostly) do the right thing in a world of colorful characters who somehow embroil him in their get-rich-quick heists and hijinks.
“The Plot” – Jean Hanff Korelitz: You’ve ached to write a novel that is so irresistibly brilliant, you can quit your mundane teaching job and bask in the glory you know you deserve. Then a student tells you about a plot that is so compelling, so irresistible that it just about screams best-seller. But before the student can write the novel, he dies. What do you do with the plot you think no one has ever read? You write the book – and learn that you’re not the only one who may know about that student and the plot. What you don’t know is who that someone else is.
steveisrael53@outlook.com
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Steve Israel's sumer reading suggestions: books that carry you away
