So many good bookish things to think about in your post—thank you! Firstly, so satisfying to this William Maxwell fan that you will read him. So Long See You Tomorrow for me is a wonderful novel. It meets the threshold of a taking a permanent place in the lit section of my memory. I remember specific scenes in detail though it’s been 10 years since I read it. Secondly, thanks for the Eve Balistar reminder. Can’t recall which substack book-lover inspired me to read Boulder, but Mammoth is now being ordered. I clicked through to Martha—when she says it’s the strangest novel she’s ever read, how can you pass it up? Permafrost will be next. Thirdly, Elizabeth Hardwick—novel or essays first?
I had the same question re: Hardwick, which to start with.
I'm late to the game on Zadie Smith and deliberated between starting with On Beauty or Dead or Alive, her latest essay collection. I went with Dead or Alive, which was excellent. Will move on to On Beauty soon.
Always something I wonder when discovering new writers (Lydia Davis is another one on my radar)
I’ll have to check out Lydia Davis—don’t know who she is. Zadie Smith’s first novel, White Teeth, I remember being a lot of fun to read. I haven’t kept up her but did read The Fraud, which came out in 23/24. Loved that. Historical novel based on a famous case of fraud back in Dickens’ time. What a brilliant and fun writer. I will add Dead or Alive to my TBR list, which has grown by five books since I read Regan’s post.
I have an old copy of White Teeth on my bookshelf that I've been meaning to get around to for just ages!! Maybe that's another one I'll try to tackle this summer --so excited for you both to start with Hardwick (essays first worked for me! so fun and smart, and I'm inspired to pick up her fiction very soon), and Lydia Davis is incredible too
Hi Regan, I think I stumbled upon you in one of Martha's posts recently and I'll share with you something similar I shared with her - I never tire of seeing these wonderfully refreshing, eclectic, different selections of books. Makes such a nice change from the same old books popping up everywhere, and sprawling TBR be damned, there's so many great books to be discovered.
Martha has already recommended I read Too Great a Sky but I'm now tempted to start with Kinderland. I've had Elizabeth Hardwick on my list for ages but I'm never sure with new authors whether to start with their fiction or essays. Similar with Lydia Davis and one or two others.
I have Transit on my shelf so that's a possibility for this summer as well - I read My Brilliant Friend with Kolina Cicero's read along last August and I was thinking of moving onto the next part. And from your post on last year's summer reads I spotted Kevin Wilson - I tried one of his books, I forget which, but couldn't get into it. He's been recommended by a few people because he might be a good comp for my own novel (it's hard finding recently published comps, which hardly bodes well for my prospects!), so I should probably persist. In my search for comps, I came across Richard Russo's Straight Man, which I've just finished (loved it) and totally unrelated was Javier Marias's A Heart So White, also just finished (brilliant).
Anyway, I'm rambling now, as I'm wont to do, inspiring post 🤗
there are just so many great books! I'm excited you're interested in Corobca & Hardwick & Seghers. I've read a few by Kevin Wilson now, and what I will say is that Nothing To See Here is my favorite.... by quite a bit.... so I'd definitely still say to give it a try if you come across it! thanks for reading & for a thoughtful comment
Richard Russo’s Straight Man is so funny and smart!!! Have you read Franzen’s The Corrections? In my heart those two are comparable. Also, for a more recent books that are set in academia and deal with gender roles, inappropriate relationships and also do so with humor (although not all), you should check out My Education by Susan Choi, Vladimir by Julia May Jonas and Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman!
I read The Corrections many years ago and enjoyed it, though I can barely remember it, might be time to revisit it. I only know of Vladimir from those you've mentioned, I will certainly check out those other two. Wonder Boys is another fun one on a similar theme, and I'm rereading Lucky Jim (for the 3rd time), which is always good for a chuckle.
Marias, yes! I haven’t thought of him for some time. Love his novels, have to see if there are any I haven’t read. NYT did a great obituary on him. Like you, these different, eclectic selections are my favorites.
A fellow Substacker and I read A Heart So White as a buddy read, it was the first time reading Marias for the both of us. I read in translation, she read in Spanish, now I'm eager to read All Souls and then go from there.
I read a great Paris Review interview with him ages ago, but I'll have to check out that NYT obituary.
There is no season where Ann Patchett is not appropriate. I’m gonna have to get that fish book AND you sold me on New York Joan Didion except half the magic of didion for me is intimately knowing all the spaces she writes about but hey that’s what books are for right
Commonwealth was SO GOOD!!!! I'm listening to Whistler now and also trying to savor it. I'm hoping to pick up State of Wonder this summer after reading about it in The Correspondent.
Despite trying my best to slow down, I finished Whistler this morning already!!!!! Ahh!! Enjoy! & I have an old used copy of State of Wonder I can’t wait to pick up when I visit my parents in July (and I’m maybe half an hour into the audiobook for The Correspondent right now!)—so much overlapping reading happening!
Oh I'm here to heartily and enthusiastically second Euphoria by Lily King. I felt like I lived in that book. It was transformative. Also I'd add her book Father of the Rain. Family drama you can't look away from.
Transformative yes!! Father of the Rain is definitely the next Lily King I'm planning to pick up (that & The English Teacher are my only two I have yet to read!) --another to add to my summer tbr
this is so creative! I actually love reading in the summer the most out of all the seasons; there’s nothing like laying on your patio or at a pool while the sun hits you and you’re so enthralled with a story
Ohh this article reminded me of reading at my parents' as a child, sitting in the second step of the pool with a book open or up on the terrace looking out at the town in the evenings. As always, so many good books to look into. Thank you!
I bought So Long See You Tomorrow at a yard sale and then literally days later I saw a TikTok of Lauren Groff recommending it and saying that the novel is so perfect, it changed her life! I am hoping to get to it this summer! I also bought a book of letters between Maxwell and his bff Eudora Welty, the title is What There Is To Be Said We Have Said. Obsessed with that title!!!
And I learned from you about the Duras novel and as a devotee of The Lover, I absolutely MUST!!!
So many good bookish things to think about in your post—thank you! Firstly, so satisfying to this William Maxwell fan that you will read him. So Long See You Tomorrow for me is a wonderful novel. It meets the threshold of a taking a permanent place in the lit section of my memory. I remember specific scenes in detail though it’s been 10 years since I read it. Secondly, thanks for the Eve Balistar reminder. Can’t recall which substack book-lover inspired me to read Boulder, but Mammoth is now being ordered. I clicked through to Martha—when she says it’s the strangest novel she’s ever read, how can you pass it up? Permafrost will be next. Thirdly, Elizabeth Hardwick—novel or essays first?
I had the same question re: Hardwick, which to start with.
I'm late to the game on Zadie Smith and deliberated between starting with On Beauty or Dead or Alive, her latest essay collection. I went with Dead or Alive, which was excellent. Will move on to On Beauty soon.
Always something I wonder when discovering new writers (Lydia Davis is another one on my radar)
I’ll have to check out Lydia Davis—don’t know who she is. Zadie Smith’s first novel, White Teeth, I remember being a lot of fun to read. I haven’t kept up her but did read The Fraud, which came out in 23/24. Loved that. Historical novel based on a famous case of fraud back in Dickens’ time. What a brilliant and fun writer. I will add Dead or Alive to my TBR list, which has grown by five books since I read Regan’s post.
I have an old copy of White Teeth on my bookshelf that I've been meaning to get around to for just ages!! Maybe that's another one I'll try to tackle this summer --so excited for you both to start with Hardwick (essays first worked for me! so fun and smart, and I'm inspired to pick up her fiction very soon), and Lydia Davis is incredible too
Boulder!!! 🥰🥰🥰
Hi Regan, I think I stumbled upon you in one of Martha's posts recently and I'll share with you something similar I shared with her - I never tire of seeing these wonderfully refreshing, eclectic, different selections of books. Makes such a nice change from the same old books popping up everywhere, and sprawling TBR be damned, there's so many great books to be discovered.
Martha has already recommended I read Too Great a Sky but I'm now tempted to start with Kinderland. I've had Elizabeth Hardwick on my list for ages but I'm never sure with new authors whether to start with their fiction or essays. Similar with Lydia Davis and one or two others.
I have Transit on my shelf so that's a possibility for this summer as well - I read My Brilliant Friend with Kolina Cicero's read along last August and I was thinking of moving onto the next part. And from your post on last year's summer reads I spotted Kevin Wilson - I tried one of his books, I forget which, but couldn't get into it. He's been recommended by a few people because he might be a good comp for my own novel (it's hard finding recently published comps, which hardly bodes well for my prospects!), so I should probably persist. In my search for comps, I came across Richard Russo's Straight Man, which I've just finished (loved it) and totally unrelated was Javier Marias's A Heart So White, also just finished (brilliant).
Anyway, I'm rambling now, as I'm wont to do, inspiring post 🤗
there are just so many great books! I'm excited you're interested in Corobca & Hardwick & Seghers. I've read a few by Kevin Wilson now, and what I will say is that Nothing To See Here is my favorite.... by quite a bit.... so I'd definitely still say to give it a try if you come across it! thanks for reading & for a thoughtful comment
Richard Russo’s Straight Man is so funny and smart!!! Have you read Franzen’s The Corrections? In my heart those two are comparable. Also, for a more recent books that are set in academia and deal with gender roles, inappropriate relationships and also do so with humor (although not all), you should check out My Education by Susan Choi, Vladimir by Julia May Jonas and Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman!
I read The Corrections many years ago and enjoyed it, though I can barely remember it, might be time to revisit it. I only know of Vladimir from those you've mentioned, I will certainly check out those other two. Wonder Boys is another fun one on a similar theme, and I'm rereading Lucky Jim (for the 3rd time), which is always good for a chuckle.
Thank you, Petya, appreciate the suggestions! 😁
Marias, yes! I haven’t thought of him for some time. Love his novels, have to see if there are any I haven’t read. NYT did a great obituary on him. Like you, these different, eclectic selections are my favorites.
A fellow Substacker and I read A Heart So White as a buddy read, it was the first time reading Marias for the both of us. I read in translation, she read in Spanish, now I'm eager to read All Souls and then go from there.
I read a great Paris Review interview with him ages ago, but I'll have to check out that NYT obituary.
There is no season where Ann Patchett is not appropriate. I’m gonna have to get that fish book AND you sold me on New York Joan Didion except half the magic of didion for me is intimately knowing all the spaces she writes about but hey that’s what books are for right
Total agreement on Ann. Keep me posted on your thoughts on the fish book and Hardwick! Maybe both will inspire a trip to nyc
Commonwealth was SO GOOD!!!! I'm listening to Whistler now and also trying to savor it. I'm hoping to pick up State of Wonder this summer after reading about it in The Correspondent.
Despite trying my best to slow down, I finished Whistler this morning already!!!!! Ahh!! Enjoy! & I have an old used copy of State of Wonder I can’t wait to pick up when I visit my parents in July (and I’m maybe half an hour into the audiobook for The Correspondent right now!)—so much overlapping reading happening!
Oh I'm here to heartily and enthusiastically second Euphoria by Lily King. I felt like I lived in that book. It was transformative. Also I'd add her book Father of the Rain. Family drama you can't look away from.
Transformative yes!! Father of the Rain is definitely the next Lily King I'm planning to pick up (that & The English Teacher are my only two I have yet to read!) --another to add to my summer tbr
this is so creative! I actually love reading in the summer the most out of all the seasons; there’s nothing like laying on your patio or at a pool while the sun hits you and you’re so enthralled with a story
cannot wait for some good pool x reading time this summer!
Ohh this article reminded me of reading at my parents' as a child, sitting in the second step of the pool with a book open or up on the terrace looking out at the town in the evenings. As always, so many good books to look into. Thank you!
truly nothing better!
I bought So Long See You Tomorrow at a yard sale and then literally days later I saw a TikTok of Lauren Groff recommending it and saying that the novel is so perfect, it changed her life! I am hoping to get to it this summer! I also bought a book of letters between Maxwell and his bff Eudora Welty, the title is What There Is To Be Said We Have Said. Obsessed with that title!!!
And I learned from you about the Duras novel and as a devotee of The Lover, I absolutely MUST!!!
yes to all of the above!!! let me know when you end up picking up the Maxwell! ...potential buddy read a la dillard?
I adore Dandelion Wine! Not only does it feel summery to me, it feels specifically like a Ghibli summer ⋆ 𖤓 ⋆˚࿔