The Summer Reading Challenge
Because rules are rules
No, friend, not a challenge FOR you!
Who am I to challenge you to anything? Is modern life not challenge enough? You are presumably full up with challenge, thankssomuch.
No, this is a “coming down to the wire” report on my progress with The New York Times’s Summer Reading Bucket List which is also a contest, and I think we can all collectively bemoan the presumptive reduction in editorial staff that led to that unwieldy title of said activity.
When I read about the challenge, which proposes ten categories of books to read between May 21 and August 31st, I asked my friend to do it, who reminded me that she had her own writing deadline to meet and to pound sand. My sweetheart resists any forced reading suggestions, but not only was my stepmother game, but she was INSISTENT that we read not just FIVE categories, which made us eligible for prizes, but ALL TEN, to ensure that victory would be ours. And NO, one book can’t count for two categories, are we HEATHENS? Are we not SOLDIERS?
So it’s been a fun little adventure in trying books I might not have explored, or at least reading a little more intentionally. With 29 days to go, I have 1.5 books left to complete, and I thought I’d lightning-round report on my Summer Reading Bucket List Prize Winning Entry Progress - maybe you’ll find something to savor in what I hope is a book and stone fruit-filled August.
If you are participating in this challenge, please leave a comment with your entries thus far! Or if you’d rather, please leave a memory of the summer reading YOU had to do when you were younger.**
1. Read a book published in the last year
I have a sneaking suspicion that women are organizing covens under the auspices of male-alienating things like mahjong, birdwatching, and now Yesteryear. By now you’ve either heard all about this book which follows a tradwife influencer through her life until a Dramatic Event Happens, or you’re listening to too much Joe Rogan.
You guys - is this the best book you’ll ever read? No. Is it as bad as many make it out to be? Also I think really no! Sure, it had pacing issues, and the main plot twist doesn’t just strain credulity, it fully tears it and puts credulity on the SEI list. BUT! I have had several spirited debates with smart women about what the book was trying to say, and that’s a worthy enough endeavor. Plus it was a one-night compelling read. The people who hate it I think wished it was a different book - more sci-fi, more satire, more something.
Whew, this was NOT a lightning-round entry. I’d better pick it up if we’re getting through ten. LOCK IN!
2. Read a book in a genre you don’t typically read
Essays? Check. Geopolitical reflections? Check. NOT a genre I’m pursuing outside of general news-awareness, typically.
But if I have to read about billionaires and their labyrinthian justifications for extractive behavior … if I have to engage with still more analysis of what’s happening in Washington … heck, if I have to do my taxes or any grudging chore, I can’t do much better than involving Evan Osnos and his wry, impossibly smart reflections, as seen in The Have and Have-Yachts. I mean, you probably already read The New Yorker if this kind of thing appeals but - a good entry!
3. Read one of the New York Times’s Best Books of the 21st Century
The Wondrous Life of Oscar Diaz was number 11 on the list that they cravenly promoted to juice SEO created a few years back, and I figured literally every book reviewer ever and Senora Pulitzer couldn’t be wrong. And yes, this melange of Dominican-American history and modern Americana and family legacy and pop culture and alienation certainly was creative, fresh, and ambitious. I actively disliked the multiple POV approach, though, because every voice sounded the same. For me, it was - just okay. I know. I’m a philistine.
4. Read a really short or a really long book
Kudos to anyone who selected a really long book for this category - I read the extremely short The House on Mango Street, which I missed when it first came out but understand is on many curricula now. This series of vignettes and characters all circling around a neighborhood and a girl/young woman is really intoxicating - so precise but also sketched that it feels almost like poetry and not prose. Universal childhood experiences are colored with extremely specific memories. Lovely.
5. Read a classic you’ve been meaning to read or revisit
The Scarlet Pimpernel WAS a summer reading assignment of mine, and I vaguely remember enjoying it, so I was eager to revisit. Well. I did like this extremely swashbuckling tale of stylish derring-do, but it’s on the lighter-weight side of classics. Much more female-centric than I’d remembered as well, but not enough to annoy Pete Hegseth or anything. A fun and easy read! Good for your teens! Think of it like a Sherlock Holmes story more than anything else.
6. Read a book that takes place during the summer
I’d not ever read any Richard Russo so I tried That Old Cape Magic, set in two summers of a middle-aged man’s life. I don’t know that I thought this book was tremendously impressive as a work, but I’m left with very deep feelings of melancholy, tenderness, regret, and nostalgia, especially around family, parents, and memory. Everything you (I?) feel at the end of summer, or the end of an era, or when you leave and then return to a beloved place that just a little more weather-beaten and reinforces just how much time has passed. So - this book is about the lingering feelings, not the plot, really. Maybe all books are.
7. Read a book in translation
Of all these entries, I Who Have Never Known Men is the one you should make the most effort to read. The book opens on 39 women in a cage, with no memory of how they got there or where they were before. And in some ways, the book doesn’t really give you any other answers, nor would it dare you to allow a shred of sentimentality. I’m shocked to report that a vaguely sci-fi, dystopian novel about the company of women is one of my favorite books of the year, but it’s so powerful and sparely written. Excellent.
Sidenote: yes, I did eventually find this in my house.
8. Read a book that’s been adapted for the screen
Ironically, I left this category until last because any notable book to screen adaptation seems to be a book I’ve already read. Could I fudge it and tell the Gray Lady that I read Project Hail Mary or Turtles All the Way Down during the summer instead of the spring? I could … but like I tell my Pilates instructor, I may whine about the reps I have to do but I’ll never lie about how many we have left to go. WHY CHEAT OURSELVES?
So I just started Stardust by Neal Gaiman, whom I have never read. Is it good? Is it bad? Is De Niro a revelation in the film or did he phone it in and collect that good Paramount money? I certainly couldn’t tell you yet. What would you read in this category?
9. Listen to an audiobook
I have successfully listened to one (1) audiobook in my entire life. I turn one on - even a book I am desperate to read - and I immediately zone out. I am not compelled by one voice droning on (she says, 1000 words later.)
So I chose Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, because I knew his special brand of dry eccentricity was right up my alley and that he was a skilled reader. And I’m smugly pleased with my selection, as I’m 50% through this audiobook through just a few days of commuting! (Also - I love David Sedaris and this is equally funny and uncomfortable as all are, and/but also weirdly race-conscious in a book in a way I would say “well, it was a different time.” But it was 2014!)
10. Check out and read a book from your local library
BABY I WAS BORN FOR THIS CATEGORY! I make my friends get library cards! I talk Oura off the ledge by getting at least a few steps in walking to my local library! What DIDN’T I read from the library this summer? LIBBY FOR PRESIDENT!
Oh, but if you want an actual entry, I’ll give you two:
The Uncool - Cameron Crowe’s memoir of his childhood. If you’ve seen Almost Famous you already know it, but it’s still kind of fun.
The Keeper - the third in Tana French’s great Cal Hooper mystery trilogy. Can anyone write dialogue like she can? Who gave her permission to be so good? What coven is SHE starting and can I join?
A Few Summer Tidbits
All links go to independent bookstore Good Girl Books. Indie bookstores love you, and give you stickers.
**I remember reading The Grapes of Wrath for … was it ninth grade summer reading? Also Pride and Prejudice which I cannot remember a thing about other than her name. Should I watch the movie with Tom Wambsgans’s hand flexing?
WDYT the prize is? I’m hoping for, like, a tote bag. Or a good PEN! Frankly just being recognized by the Gray Lady (Grey Lady?) is enough. Whatever it is, WE ARE WINNING IT.
Please like and share if you liked and want to share! Maybe I’ll even write another newsletter this year, if the people demand it!
I love how your voice comes through in your posts. :) I never thought I'd enjoy audiobooks but I've finally found some genres I like (domestic thrillers which aren't my physical reading jam, essays like Sedaris, memoirs because I can zone out, and The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion). The next time you want to read a book in translation, try Paradise of the Blind by Duong Tu Huong.
The step mother’s ten books are John of John, published this year, Glory Daze, genre I do not typically read, NYT Best Books of 21st Century List, My Brilliant Friend, Short book, Transcription, Revisited classic, The Plague, Takes Place During the Summer, A Month in the Country, Adapted for Screen, The Friend, Audio Book, Trash, From the Library, The Barbizon, and at Kerry’s Suggestion for a translated book, I will read I Who Have Never Known Men. This has been a great challenge, and great fun to share with Kerry. We will win!! Maybe they will have a Winter Contest!