Hiya everyone!

Hope you are all doing considerably great. Summer is just around the corner. Many aspects of life and leisure have indeed changed. The summer vacays we all have been rooting for kind of got postponed with the current situation. But we do need to take care of ourselves, enjoy our vacation time. Even though we are not travelling somewhere exotic for this summer, we can still rely on reading.

Reading a book remains one of the best things we can do in times of trouble. Each book is a different story, a different World, a different adventure. That’s why I would like to share what I will be reading over the summer, or as far as these recommendations take me. I know this is the second book recommendations in a row that I am sharing, but reading has been my safe area during COVID-19.

Just a quick note for the list. Usually, I do enjoy reading a bit easier, less heavy novels during summer. Because normally I am with friends and family spending most of my days on the beach. It doesn’t let me get into the headspace for heavy pieces. Considering this summer looks like it’s going to be different, I have added some heavy literary pieces in my mix. So here they come:

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo 

Joint Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2019

Teeming with life and crackling with energy — a love song to modern Britain and black womanhood. Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years. Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible. 

This particular book has been on my to-read list for long enough. I believe summer is the right now to read it. I have been enjoying reading this kind of books for the past few years now. Adding some good feminist books to my reading list keeps me alive and entertained. Besides reading about other women’s lives expands and evolves my idea of womanhood. 

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store.

And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy—two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia—trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?

I have heard about this book before many times, but what made me want to read it a review I read on Goodreads. I started following a lady on Goodreads because I liked her reviews in general, so I told myself why not get advice on what to read. After reading her review and some more decided to add this on my list. For those who want to read her review here is a link.

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron

With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humour, Nora Ephron shares with us her ups and downs in I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself. The woman who brought us When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, and Bewitched, and the author of best sellers Heartburn, Scribble Scribble, and Crazy Salad, discusses everything–from how much she hates her purse to how much time she spends attempting to stop the clock: the hair dye, the treadmill, the lotions and creams that promise to slow the aging process but never do. Oh, and she can’t stand the way her neck looks. But her dermatologist tells her there’s no quick fix for that.

A recommendation from a friend of mine. Another reason I have this on my list is that I have read Dolly Alderton’s “Everything I know about Love” before, and I read some reviews on that book. On those revies they call her the modern Ephron. Considering I have enjoyed her book a lot, I thought I should read some from the original Ephron. 

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.” 

I guess we all know about Lord of the Flies. I mean even if you haven’t read the book just like me, you probably have seen the movies. Thinking that this book was banned around 1992 in some cities, it is crazy. Although I know the story, I want to read it for myself. I believe that books and movies are such different stories. Most of the time they have different details, different focuses as well. I am ready to terrorise myself once again with Lord of the Flies. 

The Ride Down Mt. Morgan by Arthur Miller

A car wreck on the slopes of Mt. Morgan puts poet and insurance tycoon Lyman Felt in the hospital. While Lyman recovers, two women meet in the hospital to discover that they are both married to him. With his secrets exposed, Lyman tries to justify himself to the two women–the prim, cultured Theo and the restless, ambitious Leah–at the same time hoping to convince himself that he is blameless. Moving between broad farce and delicate tragedy, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan reveals the struggle between honesty with others and honesty with oneself. This new edition incorporates the revisions Miller wrote for the acclaimed 1998 Public Theatre production starring Patrick Stewart

So, this one is a pure blind pick, to be honest. I was just going through the Penguin Books published books in readings.com, since there are no international flights at the moment they cannot offer any new titles. Also again, since I told myself I will try to read a bit more literary stuff this summer I picked this one. Knowing a bit about Arthur Miller, how he is a blacklisted writer and a controversial figure in the American theatre, I wanted to give it a try. 

Adjustment Day by Chuck Palahniuk

Adjustment Day, the author’s first novel in four years, is an ingeniously comic work in which Chuck Palahniuk does what he does best: skewer the absurdities in our society. Smug, geriatric politicians bring the nation to the brink of a third world war in an effort to control the burgeoning population of young males; working-class men dream of burying the elites; and professors propound theories that offer students only the bleakest future. When Adjustment Day arrives, it fearlessly makes real the logical conclusion of every separatist fantasy, alternative fact, and conspiracy theory lurking in the American psyche.

I won’t say I am a huge fan since I haven’t read that much from Chuck Palahniuk, but still, considerably I read some great books form him. I love the way he writes; I love the stories he chooses to tell. It is just what I enjoy, his eccentric, dark and sexy style. With this particular book, I like what I read on reviews again, I do trust in the reviews before choosing a boo. The funny thing is that most of the review I read in this book was not that great, although people were not giving high points, I liked their comments somehow.

I wish you all a happy vacation! Hope you will get inspired by my reading list and put up one for yourselves. One note here is that I had to make my summer reading list from what I can get from the Readings Bookstore, I actually had few more titles that I wanted to add in but couldn’t get them since there are no international flights to get the books here to Pakistan. However still, I am feeling excited about my list, I am looking forward to burying myself in books this summer.

“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.” – Robert Orben