This time of year, the book lists are moving away from summer reading and toward back-to-school. I always want to scream BUT WE HAVE ALL OF AUGUST. Well, that’s what blogs are for.
Here are three backlist summer reading picks, for holding onto those last dog days of summer.
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Yes, I have Ferrante Fever. If you aren’t familiar, this is the first of four books following two Italian women from their childhood in Naples to their old age. Ferrante’s writing is spare, with the women’s friendship at the center of these novels. Seriously, just read them.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
This is half-memoir of how Doughty started working in the funeral industry, half-treatise on death and dying. There is so much about the funeral industry that I never knew (like if you donate your body to science, different parts of your body will trickle into various crematories. A foot here, arm there) that Doughty talks about with dry humor and deep knowledge. Read it and then bug all your friends with your “didya knows” about death.
Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman
Mayhew Bergman speculates on the lives of women on the periphery of fame in this fantastic short story collection. Women like Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sister, Lord Byron’s daughter, conjoined twins who briefly saw fame. The stories show these women, and their famous counterparts, as complex, fascinating women.
ErinKwed 