Whether you're into romance or science fiction, biographies or memoirs, publishers know the summer is a big time for people to dive deep into a good story. Miami Herald book critic Connie Ogle has her reading list and recommendation to enjoy during the next weeks.
What have you read recently?
One of the books I read recently that I really liked was Nicole Dennis-Benn's 'Here Comes The Sun'. It is set in Jamaica and it's about women dealing with a lot of important issues: class, homophobia, racism, colorism in Jamaica in the 90s, and it's all set against this backdrop of development encroaching on Jamaica.
I've read some fun things, like Stephen King's 'End Of Watch,' one of the first things I read this summer.
It's the end of his Bill Hodges trilogy and it's a lot of fun. This series is worth reading. It's a little less supernatural than his old stuff, but now you can read the whole thing and you don't have to wait a year for the end. You start with Mr. Mercedes and you could read the whole trilogy this summer. Heck, you could read the whole trilogy this week probably. It is a pretty fast read.
On average how many books do you read a year or do you even keep count of that?
I do keep count, I'm that person that has a list. I read 73 books last year. That's not very much considering I'm a book editor. It's hard to find time to read when you're working full time and you have family or kids or other interests.
Do you find that the number of books your read per year goes up or down?
I actually looked this up because, like I said, I write down everything I read and it has actually gone up. And I think that's because I listen to a lot more audio books now. I have a long commute to work and it really passes the time. I also find that I get to a lot more books than I would normally read if I listen to them. My downfall is nonfiction. I'm a fiction reader, so I have actually listened to a lot of books on audio and that's actually helped me get my numbers up.
What is or was the biggest book that you are were anticipating for the summer?
Well, I did mention Stephen King's End Of Watch, which was something I was really looking forward to. I feel like I should read big heavy, meaty books. I have a copy of Annie Proulx's 'Barkskins' sitting on my coffee table where it has been waiting for two months because it's 700 pages. I kind of feel like I should read that and I will. But I'm I'm gravitating toward the things I wasn't anticipating.
I read a book recently called 'They May Not Mean To, But They Do', by Cathleen Schine, that I absolutely loved. It's very funny. It's a family novel. It's about a family growing all together and there are some heart-wrenching parts of it, but mostly it's funny and I was not expecting to love that book the way I did.
Are there any books that you love to go back and re-read?
You know, I used to re-read but I just don't do it anymore. There are so many books or types of books or genres of books that I'm trying to make an effort to explore a little more fully.
Fiction or nonfiction?
I am a big fiction reader, but I don't read a lot of history. One of the summer books that was on my list was Nathaniel Philbrick's 'Valiant Ambition', which is about George Washington and Benedict Arnold.
This is not not something I would normally gravitate to, but I listened to the audio book and it was fascinating. I kind of like that popular history type of book that David McCullough writes and this is sort of along those lines. So that's a book I would never have picked up on if I was going to sit down and read it, but when I listen to it I was drawn immediately and really liked it.
What are you recommending for the rest of the summer?
I would recommend the new books that are coming out this summer that are out in paperback. There's two in particular, one is 'Make Your Home Among Strangers,' by Jennine Capo Crucet. The book came out last year, it was on my best-of-the-year list. It's set in Miami during the Elián Gonzales saga and it's really about a young woman who is the first in her family to go away to college and sort of that cultural clash and what that's like. It's a very Miami book.
Another one is called 'The Tsar of Love and Techno,' by Anthony Marra. This is a wonderful book. It's connected short stories set in Russia and it is one of the best things I've read.
For you is there a genre that you really enjoy most?
This is a pretty poorly kept secret: Left to my own devices, I will read massive amounts of crime fiction. I love crime fiction. I like the writers that everyone likes, you know, Michael Connelly and Laura Lippman and I would read that constantly if I didn't have other things to read, but I do I do like literary fiction as well. I'm trying to make an effort to read things I don't read a lot. I don't read a ton of poetry. I did read Campbell McGrath's book on the 20th century last year and it was great but I don't read enough of that.
Most people aren't going to get to see your workspace. But anybody that comes by your desk will see a space that looks like a library just dumped itself onto your desk and around your chair and in all the shelves -- you're surrounded by books.
It seems like it's got to be a couple hundred a week. I can only review so many of them because I have other responsibilities here. I think the whole machine of the publishing industry is just set up in a certain way and they have not changed.
How many do you actually pick from that list or from that pile?
I hang on to a certain amount, but there are some things [like] 'how to books' we don't review. So some things you can just kind of cross off the list quickly.
What are you reading right now?
I am reading a book called 'The Light of Paris' by Eleanor Brown. It comes out in a couple of weeks. It's about two generations of women kind of trapped in this debutante society and how they find their way out of that to do the things they really want to do. I'm about halfway through. It's pretty good.
You can search Miami Herald books on Facebook or hear what the WLRN journalists are reading this summer in this video:
In an earlier version of this post we incorrectly listed the title of a book. It was not A Mixtape of Russian History in Love and Techno.
