Beach Reads

I have been reading lately. It goes in spurts for me. Generally either I am reading or I am writing. Seldom am I doing both.

But when I take in my breath at the beautiful writing I know I have found something good. Is it that I haven’t been paying attention or is there a lot of garbage out there? Is it trash that I have been trying to read?

I am now reading three books. Well, I am listening to one while I drive and I haven’t decided whether that is cheating or reading. Just the same, the writing is so good and to hear it out loud makes it even better.

The audiobook is The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman. I have never read any of her books and I love stumbling on prolific writers because now I have a whole shelf full to read. It is honest and gripping and terribly sad. But so well done. It is like an addiction, I just want to hear more. So whether you read it or listen to it, I highly recommend it.

The second is Eat Pray Love. Last night a friend told me about it and it has been sitting on my table. This morning I thumbed through it and started reading. I was shocked by how good it was. It was all at once funny and true and scathingly honest. So Elizabeth Gilbert is my next new find.

The last is a cloak and dagger story set in my favorite place, Venice. It is called The Remedy and is a tale about a Venetian actress/spy and an Irish rogue living in London. It is completely different, but good stuff. I am half-way through and it is a great beach read so I am saving the rest for those sunny days.

I have become fascinated by memoirs, but the recent habit proves that they are not all good. I have been on a Chinese tear reading memoirs by Amy Tan and Anchee Min. I threw in The Joy Luck Club for good measure because I had never read it and Amy Tan’s book had so much about it.

All in all, I think we can agree that the Cultural Revolution was a very bad idea. It is startling how many people were killed and the mess they made of the whole thing. But I haven’t found one person who wants to talk about that with me after mentioning it to several, so I am realizing it is a heavy topic and probably ill-suited for the summer season.

I once heard a radio interview with Robert Parker and he was asked by the host, a Boston journalist of sorts, what he did when people gave him their writing or asked for publishing tips. He said he doesn’t read anything and gives it all back.

Then he was asked if he thinks there is anything worthy out there that doesn’t get published. To which he promptly responded no. I thought that was rather uncharitable given Spencer for Hire is not exactly Nabokov. But probably fledgling writers like me find themselves feeling hypersensitive to comments like that.

All in all I would recommend all of the above, as they are in paperback they may be old news. Maybe stay away from China until the fall rolls around. I am delighted to find such strong female writers out there.

It felt like the first slice of blueberry pie – just knowing that something was back that you hadn’t realized you’d missed but knew you hadn’t seen in a while.