Summer Reading on The Point with Mindy Todd

Today’s show was pre-recorded, so if you have some great suggestions for summer reading just let us know, and we’ll add them to this list. It was a joy to have Mary Fran Buckley, co-owner of Eight Cousins Bookshop, join us for this show, and we look forward to having her return. You can read the summer reading article from the Falmouth Enterprise here.

Mary Fran’s Picks

The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher

A Town Like Alice by Neville Schute

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

In the Garden of Beasts:love, terror, and an American family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson

Jill’s Picks

Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry by Stephen Brown and Georgiana Uhlyarik. The autobiography of Virgil Thomson first introduced me to the Stettheimer sisters. Head to page 308 in the Library of America volume The State of Music & other writings for a great introduction to these astonishing sisters. The autobiography itself is a great read. As Thomson writes: “The sisters were three — Ettie, Florine, and Carrie — all of uncertain age; and they lived with their invalid mother in the most ornate apartment house I have ever seen — a florid Gothic structure called Alwyn Court, at Fifty-eighth Street and Seventh Avenue.”

The House at Lobster Cove by Jane Goodrich. Background on this novel courtesy of Fine Books & Collections Magazine.

Cape Cod Notebook: an alternative guidebook to the beaches of Cape Cod by Betsy Medvedovsky

A Cape Cod Notebook by Robert Finch

A Cape Cod Notebook 2 by Robert Finch

The Pisces by Melissa Broder. List of ten mermaid books perfect for the beach by Matt Staggs.

Collected Millar: the master at her zenith by Margaret Millar. (Includes her novel Beast in View.) While you are waiting for a CLAMS library to order the Collected Millar, try Women Crime Writers: four suspense novels of the 1950s which also includes Beast in View!

Murder in the Manuscript Room by Con Lehane

Widow’s Wreath by Cynthia Riggs

The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt

Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

Look at the photo on this page closely, and you’ll find some books that we didn’t have time for! It does seem that I always bring more books than we need out of an abundant fear of dead radio air!

Summer Reading on The Point

On today’s radio book show on The Point on WCAI we talked about great books for summer reading, if you have time for summer reading. If not, hold on to our suggestions until the autumn! Mindy Todd was joined by Jill Erickson, Head of Reference and Adult Services at the Falmouth Public Library and Jennifer Gaines, librarian at the Woods Hole Library. Thanks to all of our many callers, with all of your great book suggestions!

Our Books & Authors Festival will feature 16 authors over 8 weeks with 11 events! Authors include Robert Finch, Ellen Herrick, Patrick Dacey, Anne LeClair, and Anita Diamant! You can see all the details here! Geoff Wisner will be here on August 2nd, and you can read more about his visit and Thoreau’s 200th anniversary here.

Mindy’s Picks

Beyond the Bright Sea and Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

Jennifer’s Picks

Summer World: a season of bounty by Bernd Heinrich

Population: 485, meeting your neighbors one siren at a time by Michael Perry

Coop: a year of poultry, pigs, and parenting by Michael Perry

Eels: an exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the world’s most amazing and mysterious fish by James Prosek

The Boys in the Boat:nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Olympics  by D. J. Brown

House on Crooked Pond by M. L. Shafer

The Children of Green Knowe by L. M. Brown. The first in a series of six books.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Nantucket Summer by Leila Howland. Contains Nantucket Red and Nantucket Blue in one volume.

Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. Here’s more information on the Woods Hole Library Summer Book Club, Social Justice.

Jill’s Picks

Art of the National Parks by Jean Stern, Susan Hallsten McGarry, and Terry Lawson Dunn

The Outer Beach: a thousand-mile walk on Cape Cod’s Atlantic Shore by Robert Finch.

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

“The Fall River Axe Murders” by Angela Carter in Saints and Strangers and in her Burning Your Boats: the collected short stories.

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt. Tinder Press edition now available.

Home Made Summer by Yvette Van Boven

Thoreau’s Wildflowers by Henry David Thoreau, edited by Geoff Wisner, with drawings by Barry Moser

Thoreau’s Animals by Henry David Thoreau, edited by Geoff Wisner, illustrated by Debby Cotter Kaspari

The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor

Picture Books:

Duck’s Vacation by Gilad Soffer

Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall (And this supplies the illustration for this blog!)

The Storm by Akiko Miyakoshi

Listener Picks

Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton. Put in your hold now! Due out August 22nd.

My Struggle. Book One. by Karl Ove Knausgaard

The Hate u Give by Angie Thomas

Ruthless River by Holly Conklin FitzGerald

Bless Me Mother: how church leaders fail women by Finbarr M. Corr

The News from the End of the World by Emily Jeanne Miller

Edgar & Lucy by Victor Lodato

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Monticello: a daughter and her father by Sally Gunning

The Nature of Cape Cod by Beth Schwarzman

Summer Reading Suggestions!

Hello Summer! As teachers and school staff wind down the school year, children’s departments in public libraries across the country are gearing up for summer reading! Here in the FPL Children’s Room, we’ve got lots of great upcoming events for our summer reading program entitled, “Build a Better World.” Some programs that I’m particularly looking forward to are the Summer Reading Kick Off Party, Saturday Cinema at the Library, and the Stuffed Animal Sleepover. See the FPL EventKeeper calendar for more events and info!

As a supplement to school summer reading lists, I’ve created a list of FPL Summer 2017 Recommended Reads. This is my third year creating such a list and at the risk of tooting my own horn, I have to say I think this is the best one yet. Not only is the design better (highly recommend canva.com for any readers who are looking for a good, free design program), but this year I’ve added pictures of the recommended books’ covers to make finding them easier. I am also intentional in including a diverse array of quality titles that serve as windows and mirrors for all readers! There is something for everyone here so stop by the FPL Children’s Room to find the book that’s right for you!

Stephanie Seales, Children’s Room