Summer is the time to sit back and relax with a good book. Vacationers heading to the beach or into the mountains should consider these literary works to accompany them on their adventures:
“Empress: A Novel” by Shan Sa (Regan Books, May 2006)
Author Shan Sa recreates the life of the controversial Empress Wu, who ruled in the Tang dynasty of seventh-century China, in this fictional biography. As a young girl, Heavenlight is introduced to the world of royal concubines and must learn how to survive among the decadent and unforgiving royal politics in the Forbidden City. Heavenlight uses her intelligence and her fierce perseverance to eventually ascend to the throne, becoming the first Empress of China after her husband’s death. This novel is lushly written and masterfully retells a time and place unlike our own in so many ways but the undertones of jealously and despair will still resonate with readers today.
“Prep: A Novel” by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House, January 2005)
If your parents never sent you to a rich East Coast boarding school, “Prep” gives you a chance to experience the ins and out of the experience. Lee Fiora is from South Bend, Indiana, and comes to the immaculate boarding school of Ault on a scholarship. Here she must navigate the turmoil’s of adolescence, including finding friends, boys and not failing hard classes. Fiora does not fit into the school’s social mold, feeling like an outsider for most of her time at Ault, making just a few friends. Fiora spends most of her time observing the workings of high school life. Stereotypes weave throughout the novel and readers may find themselves relating personally to a character. Sittenfeld writes a simple plot but it’s filled with grandiose humor and shocking reality that many of today’s young adults face.
“The Whole World Over: A Novel” by Julia Glass (Pantheon, May 2006)
The author of National Book Awardwinner “Three Junes” returns with a second novel that is just as rich and beautifully written, according to the Publishers Weekly- Web site. “The Whole World Over” illustrates how fate shapes the future and how the past lingers in the background of the present. Greenie Duquette is a young pastry chef who has serious doubts about her marriage to psychiatrist Alan Glazier and her life in New York City. Following the advice of a friend, Duquette heads to New Mexico with her son to become the personal chef for the governor of New Mexico. Her life intertwines with those of several other colorful characters throughout the novel, including the bookseller Fenno McLeod from “Three Junes.”
“The Futurist: A Novel” by James P. Othmer (Doubleday, June 2006)
Publishers Weekly knew that this novel would be a summer-hit, offering readers a sneak-peak that appeared in this years March 10 e-mail from PW Daily, the e-mail component of Publishers Weekly. “The Futurist” pens the tale of a man, J.P. Yates “a man who makes his living telling people exactly what they want to hear. He has assured college graduates from a Bible college that God has a future for them, as well as telling people from the porn industry that they have a future. Yates shocks the world at a conference in South Africa, when he declares himself utterly clueless, the “founding father of the Collation of Clueless,” according to the review by Publishers Weekly. Instead of ending his career, Yates finds himself drumming up even more business and travel as he attempts to unravel the mystery of why so many countries despise the U.S, according to the review. “The Futurist” gently pokes fun at billionaires Ted Turner and Bill Gates, but its main goal is to expose America’s attitude after Sept. 11.
“This spirited dissection of the contemporary cultural and political zeitgeist is a stylish winner in its own intelligently weird right,” Publishers Weekly said about the story excerpt from the novel that was a National Magazine Award finalist.
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