Women Who Read Are Dangerous
"Once seen as a radical activity, reading for a woman meant that she was completely autonomous-self possessed and cultivating ideas completely all her own." Karen Joy Fowler - Women Who Read Are Dangerous
Our Hedge Summer Bookmark recommends the current top list of incredible reads to get you through the summer. What follows here are their brief synopses, Staff Pics, YA books (that really should be marketed towards adults too) and our All-Time Favorites; in case you missed them. Just because they are last year's books doesn't mean they aren't worth reading, right? No matter the genre, these are books we never wanted to end.
THE LIST
A PIECE OF THE WORLD / Christina Baker Kline
A quiet, fictional account of the Christina in Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World. This novel takes place in Maine and is jammed with character twists to keep the pages turning!
EUPHORIA / Lily King
NY Times 10 best books of 2014; King weaves together the tale of a tragic love triangle and an exhilarating description of three anthropologist rivals (including Margaret Mead) working to shape a new social science discipline.
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE / Elizabeth Strout
OLIVE KITTERIDGE lovers will welcome this new novel-in-stories. Take intimate looks into the extraordinary ordinary lives of characters you will never forget.
SWIMMING LESSONS / Claire Fuller
A literary mystery for the seaside! Join Ingrid as she writes - and hides - letters to her husband about her failing marriage. A disappearance, a super sleuth and the lost art of letter writing combine to make this a compelling beach side read!
ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE / Gail Honeyman
All people have a side to them that is secret. Take a walk with Eleanor in this charming novel and vicariously learn how she grows into all of the parts of herself through friendship and love.
EDGAR & LUCY / Victor Lodato
A family tragedy hems a cast of characters to this novel. EDGAR & LUCY is filled with brilliant turns of phrase and a narrative arc that will follow you long after you’ve finished the book.
ALL GROWN UP / Jami Attenberg
Growing tired of adulting? Follow along with Andrea, young thirtysomething, as she attempts to define herself in adulthood. As she draws closer to who she is, a heartbreaking event will create an obstacle or thrust her into truth.
The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy ( A journalist from the New Yorker)
A memoir. Her world was upended before she was 40-lost her son, her husband her house. A line from the book reads; “The Truth is, the ten or twenty minutes I was somebody’s mother were black magic. There is nothing I would trade them for. There is no place I would have rather seen.” On Vogue’s list of summer reads too.
Fates And Furies, Lauren Groff
Rich and layered, this is the story of one marriage over twenty-four years. Thrills and complications reveal a remarkable relationship. On Barack Obama’s list, as well as my friend Abby…and now mine.
A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
Booker Prize, National Book Award. While lengthy and has a difficult subject matter it has become a bestseller. Epic love story. Astonishing and moving will breaks through the darkness with light.
Bittersweet, Miranda Beverly
Suspenseful and cinematic, full of family secrets and exposes the reality of an idyllic world of privilege.
Swing Time, Zadie Smith
A series of couples move together through time with a shared love of stage and dancing. The narrator poses the question "who are you pretending to be?" Swing Time breaks the idea that we can never come to a concrete identity, or reach the safe plains of self-knowledge. Identity is rather an exchange between people, a shifting topography, where the ground can collapse at any moment.
The Wonder, Emma Donoghue
Is Anna a miracle or a fraud? She is 11 doesn’t eat and apparently survives on sunlight and faith. The larger conflicts of science and religion are at play here in this story and makes the point that none of those topics matter when a child’s life is at stake.
STAFF PICKS:
ANTONIA
Rules of Civility
Kim
Me Before You
MEAGAN
Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
CASSIE
Rebecca
Delaney
Purity
Mom
Brideshead revisited
BEACH READS/CHEWING GUM FOR THE BRAIN
You’ll Grow Out of It, Jesse Klein
Truly, Madly, Guilty, Liane Moriarty
Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion
The Rumor, Elin Hilderbrand
AMAZING YOUNG ADULT books that should really be marketed for grownups.
“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers."
The Girl Who Could Fly
Wonder
Everything Everything
The green glass house
Emily Windsnap
IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE they’re still amazing!
A Gentleman From Moscow
Girl on the Train
Secret Life of Bees