Summer in the Bay Area may not always provide great beach weather, but that’s no reason we can’t indulge in that vacation-time tradition of the beach read. We check in with local bookstores about what the summer’s big literary hits are and we’ll open the phones to hear from you — what fiction or nonfiction do you recommend for a summer read?
Guests
- Sheryl Cotleur, buyer, Copperfield’s Book’s
- Christin Evans, owner, Booksmith in San Francisco; buyer, Kepler’s Books
- Joe Christiano, buyer, Pegasus Books
Books Recommended on Air
Books are grouped according to Fiction/Non-Fiction and are listed alphabetically.
Fiction
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2015
Another Fine Myth by Robert Lynne Asprin
Away by Amy Bloom
Historical fiction
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo
Spiritual fiction
Demetrius: Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
A science fiction novel published in 1909 that predicted many of today’s technologies. The full text is available on the internet because copyright laws no longer apply.
Earthquake Storms by John Dvorak
A scientific history of the slow discovery of the St. Andreas Fault
The Fall of the House of Dixie by Bruce Levine
A big-picture, easy to understand look of the causes of the Civil War
Fat City by Leonard Gardner
Recommended by Joe Christiano of Pegasus Books
A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie
Recommended by Sheryl Cotleur of Copperfield’s Books
Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Mead
Young adult fiction that touches on technology and bullying.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Historical fiction
Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi
Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart
Recommended by Sheryl Cotleur of Copperfield’s Books
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
The Magic Journey by John Nichols
A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
Fantasy meets the crime novel in another novel in The Discman series.
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
Comic novel
The Pittsburgh Cycle by August Wilson
Ten plays that speak to each other; one play for each century in America; Recommended by Joe Christiano of Pegasus Books
The Seven Wonders: A Novel of the Ancient World by Steven Saylor
Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley
A young adult fiction book
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley
A young adult fiction book
Tales of a City read by Frances McDormand by Armistead Maupin
Underground Airlines by Ben Winters
Recommended by Christin Evans of Booksmith in San Francisco and Kepler’s in Menlo Park
Weather to Fly: A Novel in Stories by Christopher LeGras
Non-Fiction
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
The Alphabet that Changed the World: How Genesis Preserves a Science of Consciousness in Geometry and Gesture by Stan Tenen
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola
Climate Gamble: Is the Anti-Nuclear Activism Endangering Our Future? by Rauli Partanen and Janne M. Korhonen
Earthquake Storms: The Fascinating History and Volatile Future of the San Andreas Fault by John Dvora
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Mathew Desmond
Recommended by Christin Evans Booksmith in San Francisco and Kepler’s in Menlo Park
The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South by Bruce Levine
Girls and Sex by Peggy Orenstein by Peggy Orenstein
Recommended by Christin Evans of Booksmith in San Francisco and Kepler’s in Menlo Park
Listen to the Forum interview here.
Jackson 1964 and Other Dispatches from Fifty Years of Reporting on Race in America by Calvin Trillon
Love that Boy by Ron Fournier
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Recommended by Christin Evans of Booksmith in San Francisco and Kepler’s in Menlo Park: “an important book at this moment.”
Notes from the Playground by Greg John
A school principal shares his observations on playground experience and how they shape who we become.
Once Were Cannibals by John N. Tunui
Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chodron
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Season of the Witch by David Talbot
Listen to the Forum interview here.