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Our Favorite Summer Reads
By: Emiko Tamagawa
When I was at the gym the other day one of my locker room buddies asked me for a book recommendation.
Off the top of my head I suggested Jess Walter's "Beautiful Ruins" because of Robin's recent conversation and because it's such a fun read. But then several other really good books we've featured on the show over the years came to mind which she hadn't heard about.
And the more I started thinking about it, the more books I remembered. So here's a list, if you missed them when they were published you might want to check some of them out for your summer reading pleasure.
Fiction
- "Beautiful Ruins," Jess Walter
- "The Flight of Gemma Hardy," Margot Livesy
- "The Cove," Ron Rash
- "Maine," J. Courtney Sullivan
- "The Starboard Sea," Amber Dermont
- "Ten Thousand Saints," Eleanor Henderson
- "Swamplandia!" Karen Russell
- "The Buddha in the Attic," Julie Otsuka
- "The Cookbook Collector" Allegra Goodman
- "Elliot Allagash" Simon Rich
- "The Heights" Peter Hedges
- "The Emperor's Children" Claire Messud
- "Labor Day" Joyce Maynard
- "Olive Kitteridge" Elizabeth Strout
- "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" David Wrobleweski
- "The Lake Shore Limited" Sue Miller
- "A Good Fall" Ha Jin
- "Away" Amy Bloom
Non-Fiction
- "Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef" Gabrielle Hamilton
- "The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics" John Pollack
- "At Home: A Short History of Private Life" Bill Bryson
- "Let's Take the Long Way Home" Gail Caldwell
- "Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects" Amy Stewart
- "Where's My Wand: One Boy's Magical Triumph over Alienation and Shag Carpeting" Eric Poole
- "This Life Is In Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres and a Family Undone" Melissa Coleman
What are your recommendations for summer reads? Leave them in the comments.
This segment aired on June 18, 2012. The audio for this segment is not available.