More Books for Summer Reading

We recently posted about 'Summer Reading and Beach Reads', but patrons wandering around clutching rumpled articles from newspapers and magazines or handwritten lists frequently can be spotted in the library stacks in search of something good to read on their vacation. More recommendations for your summer vacation reading follow.

Travel without leaving home:
If you are on a staycation, you can travel to North Africa with Tahir Shah, an English travel writer who recounts the trials and tribulations of buying and renovating a home in The Caliph's House, a year in Casablanca (2006)
If you missed Peter Mayle's charming and funny A Year in Provence (1991) and the sequels,  try them now. You can experience the south of France without getting out of your hammock.
Under the Tuscan Sun, at home in Italy (1997) by Frances Hayes enables a vicarious adventure in Italian living.

Solve a crime with detectives from the Golden Age of Mystery writing, from before WWI to WWII:
Agatha Christie of course, but don't forget Dorothy L. Sayers and her detective Lord Peter Wimsey; Australian Arthur Upfield; and New Zealand author Ngaio Marsh.

Read some popular book group titles you may have missed:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Speaking of book groups, the website http://www.readinggroupchoices.com/ has yearly lists of top reading group titles.

Reading Group Guides has lists of popular books with discussion questions included.

Let the reference librarians know what kinds of books you like to read and we'll make you a list of titles tailored to your reading tastes.