Books for the beach: Summer reading recommendations

There is summer reading and winter reading. Books we carry to the beach in a basket and read sitting on a folded chair, often in a wet bathing suit and wearing sunglasses, are usually different from the books we read in the winter when we’re sitting quietly in a chair wrapped in a warm fleece. Then the words have our complete attention and there is no fear of distraction from the birds, clouds floating in a perfectly blue sky, the sound of the waves lapping up on the shore, wind whistling through the trees or even a beach ball landing in our lap.

Summer is also the time to fill your bookshelves by visiting the book sales at local libraries and, of course, spending an afternoon now and again at Innisfree Bookshop in Meredith or Bayswater Bookstore in Center Harbor. Or any of the many other independent bookshops in New Hampshire.

Here are a few suggestions for your summer reading.

'Beneficence' by Meredith Hall, (Godine, 2020)

“Few writers know the human heart and the burden of grief as New York Times bestselling author Meredith Hall (Without a Map). Beneficence is a radiant novel of goodness and love — both its gifts and its obligations — that will stay with readers long after the last page. With a rare tenderness and compassion, Beneficence shows broken hearts becoming whole as this family reclaims their love and peace.” Hall grew up in New Hampshire and taught creative writing at the University of New Hampshire. This summer "Beneficence" was selected by the Maine Humanities Council, in partnership with the Maine State Library, for the Read Me 2022 summer reading program.

“I stand in awe of Meredith Hall and the poetry, honesty, and tenderness of her storytelling.” — Joyce Maynard

'Klara and the Sun: A Novel' by Kazuo Ishiguro (Penguin Random House, 2021)

"Klara and the Sun: A Novel" is written by the Nobel laureate and author of "Never Let Me Go" and is “an intriguing take on how artificial intelligence might play a role in our futures ... a poignant meditation on love and loneliness” (The Associated Press). “What stays with you in Klara and the Sun is the haunting narrative voice — a genuinely innocent, egoless perspective on the strange behavior of humans obsessed and wounded by power, status and fear.” — Booker Prize committee

'Venus as She Ages' by Jacqueline Gay Walley (IML Publications, 2021)

A collection of six short novels that take an unflinching female artist from youth to her late sixties as she grows through love, mistakes, the vicissitudes of life, and commitment to her work.

Book One: Strings Attached — A girl raised solely by her British renegade father grows to find marriage difficult, knowing nothing of normalcy.

Book Two: To Any Length — A woman frightened of being co-opted in marriage visits a friend in prison who awakens her to her what freedom really is.

Book Three: Prison Sex — This is a book about longing and how three people must break free of their prisons, whether literal or metaphoric.

Book Four: The Bed You Lie In — Two adult children of Holocaust survivors work out their family pain when one seemingly betrays the other.

Book Five: Write, She Said — Writers Marguerite Duras and Jean Rhys come back to life to help a hapless modern-day writer rewrite herself in love and in being an artist.

Book Six: Magnetism — An older woman on a quest be desired.

'Belle Greene' by Alexandra Lapierre (Europa Press Editions, 2022)

This novel, written in French and translated by Tina Kover, is based on the true story of Belle da Costa Greene, a woman who defied all odds to become the director of one of the country’s most prestigious private libraries belonging to the magnate J.P. Morgan, darling of the international aristocracy.

“Flamboyant, brilliant, beautiful, Belle is among New York society’s most sought after intellectuals. She also hides a secret. Although she looks white, she is African American, the daughter of a famous black activist who sees her desire to hide her origins as the consummate betrayal. Torn between history’s ineluctable imperatives and the freedom to belong to the society of her choosing, Belle’s drama, which plays out in a violently racist America, is one that resonates forcefully, and illuminatingly even today.” "Belle Greene" is a fascinating read. A book difficult to put down.

Then there are the classics we pull down from the shelf. "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers, recommended to me by Meredith Hall and poet Kyle Dacuyan, or "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame.

We would love to know what you are reading. Please send me a note at eh@elizabethhoward.com.

•••

Elizabeth Howard is the host of the Short Fuse Podcast, found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or through the ArtsFuse. Her career intersects journalism, marketing, and communications. Ned O’Gorman: A Glance Back, a book she edited, was published in May 2016. She is the author of A Day with Bonefish Joe, a children’s book, published by David R. Godine.