Hot Summer Reads

Hot Summer Reads

by Read to Succeed staff

By Michelle Palmer
It’s the dog days of summer, and for many people that means long weekends at the lake, lazy afternoons at the pool or a family vacation. For me it means books, and lots of them. Everything from beach reads to the latest nonfiction all sit on my nightstand, waiting anxiously for their turn.
So what are the hottest books for this summer? From long-awaited sequels to stirring nonfiction, this summer has something for every reader.

The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker’s coming-of-age story revolves around 10-year-old Julia and her family during the worst of times—they awake one morning to learn that the world is literally slowing down. This apocalyptic novel is less about the world ending as it is about one family and what a crisis of this magnitude does to those we love.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - A heartbroken young woman with no hiking experience, a pair of ill-fitting boots and a 1,100-mile hike: it’s a plan that is doomed from the start. In Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, everything can and does go wrong, but the author’s journey, as much within herself as on the trail, is drawing high praise from everyone from The New York Times Book Review to Oprah.

Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy) – Fans of Deborah E. Harkness’ debut novel, A Discovery of Witches, have been waiting for this sequel since they turned the final, nail-biting page of her first book. Harkness’s latest novel reunites us with scholar Diana Bishop and vampire Matthew Clairmont as they delve deeper into the mystery surrounding an ancient manuscript. (Due in hardback July 10.)

A Titanic Love Story: Ida and Isidor Straus – Just in time for this year’s 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster comes local author June Hall McCash’s nonfiction account of two Jewish immigrants, their lives and ultimate deaths aboard the Titanic. From their impoverished beginnings to their trip on the Titanic in April 1912, McCash gives a wonderful glimpse into the lives of the Straus family.

Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn is one of the best suspense novelists working today, and her newest novel shows that she is at the top of her game. Gone Girl examines a marriage where love has deteriorated into manipulation and cruelty; wife Amy has disappeared, leaving husband Nick as the prime suspect. But of course, there are two sides to every story. Flynn’s latest book is “unputdownable” with an ending that will haunt readers long after the final page.

Calico Joe – In his newest novel, John Grisham takes a break from themes of crime and punishment to tell the story of young Joe Castle, a rookie from a AA ball team who finds himself called up to the big leagues. This slim novel is a great beach read; Grisham’s writing captures the true essence of baseball, fathers and sons, and the cost of fame.
These are just a few of the many wonderful books coming out this summer, so whether you are a casual reader or an addict (like me), take a few minutes this summer to relax and unwind with a good read.
Michelle Palmer is a RTS One Book Committee member, and author of the book blog, Turn of the Page (michellepalmersbooks.blogspot.com).

About the Author

Read To Succeed is the community collaborative created to promote literacy in Rutherford County. The objective of this partnership between schools, area agencies, and businesses is to support local programming and raise awareness about the importance of literacy. For more information and to find out how you can make a difference in Rutherford County’s literacy rates, visit readtosucceed.org. The opinions expressed in this book review are not necessarily representative of Read To Succeed, but simply intended to promote the joy of reading.

'Half Broke Horses' is steely tribute to the American West

Editor’s Note: Members of the Read To Succeed One Book committee will be contributing monthly book reviews to The Post. If you have any suggestions for future Rutherford County One Books, e-mail editor@murfreesboropost.com.

A prequel of sorts to her wildly popular memoir The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls’ Half Broke Horses is a vivid tribute to the life of her mother’s mother, Lily Casey Smith, a woman who rode horses by the age of 5, taught in some of America’s first Western schools, sold liquor during Prohibition to keep her family financially afloat, and was known as an expert markswoman. Gripping and inspiring, Half Broke Horses reminds us how the West was won – by cowboys, ranchers, and women like Lily.

Initially I was little suspicious of Half Broke Horses being yet another memoir that would more than likely focus on poverty, overcoming adversity, God, Mom and apple pie. After the first chapter, I was racing through the pages to discover what happened next. Lily’s personal stories are fascinating but the larger cultural perspective that Walls provides is just as intriguing.

For readers of The Glass Castle, it’s easy to spy the patterns in Walls’ family – a history of absent -minded parents and self-reliant children who are forced to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

Walls writes in the first person, effecting a wonderful simulation of Lily’s voice as she reflects on her loving, though eccentric, father – who would rather invest in new show dogs than finish paying for her education – and her mother, a delicate Southern belle who refused to work the farm for fear of ruining her complexion.

In spite of her curious family relationships, Lily thrives. From her father she learns to break wild horses, being especially careful with those which are “half-broke” – between wild and gentled.
The metaphor is carried throughout the book, signifying the tensions between settled society and the still-developing American West – tensions Lily comes to experience throughout her life in her roles as teacher, wife, mother and rancher.

What makes Lily truly memorable is her resilience and ability to not only survive the elements, but also live fully despite formidable circumstances. She, along with her husband Jim, become the epitome of self-made Americans as they develop a cattle ranch in Arizona and fight political, environmental and financial setbacks to carve out a family life in the Depression and during America’s recovery.  But in the mist of breaking horses and castrating bulls on the ranch, Lily also takes flying lessons and becomes a major advocate for education in the new schools.

Well written and enthralling in its red-clay Americana flavor, Half Broke Horses is an excellent and steely tribute to the American West and the families who made it thrive.

Read To Succeed is the community collaborative created to promote literacy in Rutherford County. The objective of this partnership between schools, area agencies, and businesses is to support local programming and raise awareness about the importance of literacy.

For more information and to find out how you can make a difference in Rutherford County’s literacy rates, visit readtosucceed.org.The opinions expressed in this book review are not necessarily representative of Read To Succeed, but simply intended to promote the joy of reading.