Endless stretches of time before us, lazy hazy days and long hours of sunlight. And yet, the perennial question: what should we read this summer? We all have lists of long-neglected classics we intend to read, someday. One summer not too long ago, I read Uncle Tom’s Cabin and found it a life-changing experience (the subject perhaps of another blog post).
War and Peace, Ulysses, Crime and Punishment, In Search of Lost Time, The Magic Mountain, Moby Dick: all candidates for a book that must be read. Or maybe something more modern (not to mention a little lighter!)?
What will you choose this summer? Here are a few ideas to help you in your quest:
- Browse the McNaughton Books on M-level of the library
- New York Times Summer Reading page
- Check out this guide to finding fiction in the library
- My favorite places to find new books: New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books
- Summer Reading resources for families with kids
- And here’s a list of summer reading lists
My own choice? A book I’ve been meaning to read for years: Robert Musil’s A man without qualities.
For a different spin on the history of medicine in the US and a little lighter fare, may I suggest The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry, Penguin, ISBN: 978-0-14-303649-4
This is one of the more interesting histories in science/medicine that I’ve read this year.