Happy Reading

by Tricia Templeton

Summer is upon us, and with the season comes the annual reading list. Here are some of the treasures I have enjoyed in the past year. I hope you may enjoy some of them, too. If you’d like to add your comments, please do so. I am also a big fan of mysteries and thrillers, although I have not included those on this list. Who are your favorite mystery writers? Let us know on the blog. And happy reading.

Fiction

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. This charming novel explores the theme of food and community by following the lives of eight students who gather in Lillian’s Restaurant once a week for a cooking class. Brought together by food and companionship, the lives of the characters intertwine, united by what can be created in the kitchen.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. This engrossing novel by Pulitzer Prizing winning author Geraldine Brooks tells the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a centuries-old manuscript that disappeared in 1992 during the siege of Sarajevo. When it is found, rare book conservator Hannah Heath is called to establish its provenance. Heath’s work takes her back through history, from Sarajevo in 1940 to Seville in 1480. Each chapter in the Haggadah’s history gives a glimpse of both anti-Semitism and the endurance of the Jewish people.

Handling Sin by Michael Malone. This book made me laugh out loud. It tells the story of a two-week odyssey of Raleigh Whittier Hayes, an upstanding citizen of Thermopylae, NC, and his friend, Mingo Sheffield, as they seek Hayes’ ailing father, who has escaped from the hospital, and left Raleigh a strange set of tasks to perform. While tantalized by the promise of a secret treasure at the end of the journey, Hayes uncovers family secrets and is granted a large measure of self-enlightenment.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver is one of my favorite writers, so I was thrilled when The Lacuna, her first novel in nine years, came out last fall. It took me a while to get into this story, but once I did it was riveting. The novel is the story of Harrison William Shepherd, who spends his formative years in Mexico in the 1930s in the home of artist Diego Rivera and Rivera’s houseguest, Leon Trotsky, who is hiding from Soviet assassins. After Trotsky is assassinated, Harrison returns to the U.S., where he becomes an author and is investigated as a possible subversive, ultimately defending himself before the House Un-American Activities Committee. A fascinating look at a dark period of American history.

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. In Paris in July 1942, 10-year-old Sarah is taken with her parents by the French police as they go from home to home arresting Jews in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard and promises to come back for him. Sixty years later, Sarah’s story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist writing about the roundup, who discovers that her life is linked with Sarah’s.

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen. No one writes more beautifully about the details of the everyday life of ordinary people than Quindlen. And when everyday life turns suddenly tragic, Quindlen captures that beautifully, too. Every Last One focuses on the life of Mary Beth Latham, a happily married woman devoted to her three teen-aged children. When an act of violence devastates the family, Mary Beth struggles to cope with loss and guilt, protect what she has left, and regain a sense of meaning in life. This book haunted me for days after I had finished it.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson. Major Ernest Pettigrew is the epitome of the Englishman with the “stiff upper lip,” who clings to traditional values even as the world around him changes. Much to his surprise he finds himself falling in love with a Pakistani shopkeeper, Jasmina Ali, a relationship that stuns and scandalizes his village. Will the Major be true to his heart, or to his old way of life?

Nonfiction

The Late Homecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang. In the early 1980s I worked in a refugee camp in Thailand with Hmong refugees who had been forced to flee from Laos because they aided America in our war in Southeast Asia. I’ve often wondered how my former students adjusted to life in this country so very different from their own. Yang answers that question in this beautifully written story of her family’s struggles in Laos, their escape to Thailand and eventual resettlement to Minnesota.

The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs. Jacobs describes himself as being Jewish “in the same way that the Olive Garden is Italian.” But he decides to follow all the rules of the Bible as literally as possible for one year. Jacobs’ book is frequently hilarious and insightful, but ultimately makes us realize that being faithful means more than following the letter of the law.

Jesus Freak by Sara Miles. Miles wrote about her dramatic conversion to Christianity in Take This Bread, one of the most powerful books I have ever read. In Jesus Freak, Miles offers reflections on what it means for ordinary Christians to follow Christ’s instructions to feed, heal, and raise the dead. Drawing examples from her own life and that of her Episcopal parish, St. Gregory’s of Nyssa in San Francisco, Miles challenges us to be transformed by Christ.

Christianity For the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass. Bass challenges the conventional wisdom that the only churches that are flourishing in America now are conservative, evangelical ones. Bass identifies liberal mainline churches across the country that are thriving, and studies why that is so. This book has much to say to St. Dunstan’s – so much so that the vestry is reading it this summer, and it will be the topic of adult Sunday School in the fall. Read it now and be ready.

Tricia