Always on the look out for great summer reads? These are a few that I have added to my night stand lately. They are a mix of comedy, satire, easy breezy vacation locations, real life adventure, and mystery. Pull up the deckchair, put on your sunhat, get your iced tea and have a great read.
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Flabbergasted
Flabbergasted is one of those books that takes me right back to the days of the singles Bible study group back in the day. What a fun read- I laughed pretty hard at the “mosquito spray” in the men’s bunk room on their beach trip. The story follows a young man trying to connect through the local church singles career group because that is where the ladies are but soon realizes he might just enjoy the friendships he makes just as much while the trajectory of his life changes.
The Enchanted April
The Enchanted April –follow four unlikely ladies traveling to the beautiful Italian coast to stay in an idyllic villa only to discover the real reasons they felt they needed to get out of dreary London for a vacation. As their stay progresses, they each come to their own unique rediscovery of love and friendship. This classic is the quintessential vacay relaxation read of friendship with a beautiful ending. After reading it, you can follow up with the movie adaptation filmed on location.
The Secret Adversary: Tommy and Tuppence
If you love Agatha Christie, you might not have discovered her Tommy and Tuppence series. It is well known but can be drowned out under the Hercule Poirot series and be missed. Tommy and Tuppence are friends that reunite after the war only to find each is in desperate financial situations. Not knowing what to do, they hatch a plan to start a business of “doing what needs done”. This unwittingly starts a dangerous chain reaction of spies, revolutionaries, secret underground networks, and murder. There are several tv adaptations that are well done but I don’t recommend the 2016 remake. Note: not a young family movie.
Cold Comfort Farm
Cold Comfort Farm was written as a satirical response to the ridiculous books on the market between the wars and ended up a classic. Flora’s parents have recently died and she is on the hunt for relatives that she can live with. The prospects are not very promising but she chooses the most unlikely home. When she arrives it is dark, dismal, and filthy with Great Aunt Ada Doom presiding over the farm with an eagle eye.
The house is full of unusual and comedic characters and Flora sets out to secretly “tidy up” the whole place and lift the darkness. With some help, she hatches plots to match inhabitant of the farm to their secret wishes and pulls the whole doom off the place. And of course the movie adaptation is a great look into the dismal farm and its unhinged inhabitants. Note: not a young family movie.
From New York to Nome
We first read New York to Nome for a high school living book read aloud to follow the geography across Canada and soon realized how immense this journey was that these two men undertook. Two friends, one canoe, and only the supplies inside it leave New York and follow the St. Lawrence river out and across the entire continent of Canada up to Nome, Alaska. Wildlife, deep woodland dwellers, fancy waters edge lodges, and huge bugs are just a few of their encounters. How they made it with their skin intact is amazing. This made it to one of our favorite adventure reads for high school.
Two-Way Murder
I discovered E.C.R. Lorac’s books just recently in a reprint of the British Library Crime Classics and am happy to find a writer that reflects old-style mystery writing similar to Agatha Christie. What happened on the night of the ball as party-goers are returning home to find a man lying in the road in the fog? And why did a young woman disappear on the same night the year before? Will the beautiful Dilys be able to escape the clutches of her father?
