My Third Annual Summer Reading List
With a new baby and trying to catch up on work, I haven’t been able to indulge in any “fun” summer reading. With so little time, since he was born I’ve been reading aloud to him work-related books—he became an expert on Texas mid-century architecture at a few weeks old—but I’ve yet to introduce him to any fiction. While I carted a bag of ten books along with me on our summer vacation, I only managed to finish a book for an upcoming interview for this newsletter. All of this is to say that this year’s summer reading recommendations are not new; instead, a look back at previous years and at some other novelists I’ve written about.
Last year, I interviewed an author of genre fiction, James Fritzhand, for my podcast. His 1971 debut, Son of the Great American Novel, was reprinted this spring by Tough Poets Press after over half a century, with a new afterword by James about the novel's gestation, what inspired him, and what it was like to be a young writer in New York some fifty years ago.
The 1978 paperback edition states, “With acid-etched parody and dazzling acrobatic wit, Son of the Great American Novel is a blockbuster trip through instant fame, the deli society of the literary elite, and the turbulent soul of a dewy-eyed youth on the threshold of carnal knowledge.” It is a very funny book; if that seems up your alley, order a copy. James recently did an interview about the new edition with The Collidescope. You can listen to our conversation on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Popular Fiction & Soap Operas: A Conversation with James Fritzhand
This morning I released a new episode of the Sighs and Whispers podcast—a conversation with author, screenwriter and TV producer James Fritzhand. Below is an introduction to James—you can listen to our discussion on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher
Trashy novels have always been my favourite escape. Last year I sent out a newsletter elegy for Gwen Davis, a novelist who wrote some truly great trashy novels.
An Elegy for Gwen Davis
I’ve never hidden my love of trashy novels, bonkbusters, schlock, “genre books,” potboilers, whatever you want to call them—novels about beautiful people moving in glamorous circles with copious sex, name-dropping and intrigue. From this world, you can listen to
My summer reading lists from previous years, full of truly trashy beauty-and-fashion-centric novels:
Summer Reading
I hope that sometime this summer you can take at least a few days of total relaxation—whether that’s on your couch, by a pool, at a beach, or wherever makes you most zen. If you (like me) enjoy settling in with the trashiest of novels, I’ve made a list of some fashion-and-beauty-related trashy novels for you to enjoy that go beyond the obvious Collins a…
Further Summer Reading
This summer has been passing by in a blur, at least for me. Preoccupied with matters that I don’t feel ready to talk about publicly yet (soon though), I haven’t had barely a moment to read or see any of the big summer films—even getting to the farmer’s market to pick up delectable in-season produce appears beyond me. From Instagram, it seems that almost everyone I know has been on vacation in Europe so perhaps it is a little late for an updated newsletter on summer fashion reads (here is
I did find some time while traveling to shop for more sex-and-shopping novels for my collection. All of these were picked up at Big Chicken Barn outside Ellsworth, Maine, a 21,600-square-foot rabbit warren of vintage books—a dream for any book collector, we visit annually. How good is that An American Love Story cover?
Have you read anything fun lately?
