Summer reading

World

The books pile up again. The physical on the bedside table; the library queue; the ebook shelves that house the novels bought impulsively from bed started and then forgotten in a sleepless night. My eyes, always, bigger than my attention span.

I think about the middle of the year, my book-a-week commitment, the number of pages between here and 26. Reading, I tell myself, shouldn’t be a chore, it should be a pleasure. And so, when The Times Book Review arrives with its summer previews for fiction And non-fiction, suggesting even more enticing titles, I’m once again determined to call this a summer of reading. A book reading summer, as opposed to my “long magazine article” spring, which was preceded by a “Dateline” winter and a “mostly podcasts” fall.

I am optimistic about my prospects. Andrew Lipstein, the author of 2022’s delicious “Last Resort,” has a new novel, “The Vegan.” It’s about a Brooklyn hedge funder who, after a fateful dinner party, decides to become a vegan. That won’t be released until July, so in the meantime I’m busy with non-fiction.

Aisha Harris, the late of The Times and currently co-host of the NPR podcast “Pop Culture Happy Hour,” has an essay collection next week titled “Wannabe: Reckonings With the Pop Culture That Shapes Me.” Later in June, a book I’ve been waiting for someone to write: “The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy and the Wild Life of an American Commune,” by Alexander Stille. For years I read everything I could find online about this Upper West Side community founded by a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, which attempted to redefine the nuclear family. I’m excited to have Stille’s book filling in the blanks in my internet tutorial.

Also in June, Lorrie Moore has a new novel, “I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home,” her first since 2009. One of the storylines is about a man who takes a trip across the country with his ex’s reanimated body. female friend. I’m not normally one to be “resuscitated,” but it’s Lorrie Moore. I’d read her shopping lists if she let me.

The sequel to Colson Whitehead’s ‘Harlem Shuffle’, ‘Crook Manifesto’, is out in July and Ann Patchett’s latest, ‘Tom Lake’, is out in August. Will I finish the many books I’m half way through before moving on to this plethora of summer choices? Honestly, as much as it hurts me to leave things undone, I give myself a new slate. I want to read enthusiastically, athletically this summer. I am determined to be a poet. My route is set, my reading list planned. Now I leave it to the season to bring the sunny days and shady lawns.

For more

If you prefer more genre-based summer reading, we’ve got you covered.
How well do you know popular summer novels? Take our quiz.
Want more summer reading suggestions? The Times archive is full of them. Here’s a list of them 1978. Here’s one of them 1988. Here is In recent years.

THE WEEK IN CULTURE

Sunday’s question: Was the Supreme Court’s decision on Alabama’s electoral map a voter victory?

“We’ll take it. Democracy needed a win,” writes AL.com’s JD Crowe, comparing the Voting Rights Act to a phoenix rises from the ashes. But the court doesn’t just strengthen voting rights maintains the status quowrites Melissa Murray for The Washington Post, “And the status quo is that for the past 10 years this court has seriously hampered the law and its protections for minority voters.”

Back from the Dead: In the novel “My Murder” the victim of a serial killer comes back to life – but life is not the same.

Our editorial picks: ‘The Half Moon’, about a faltering marriage and a failing bar in a small town, and eight other books.

Times bestsellers: David Sedaris jokes about hard times in “Happy-Go-Lucky,” which is on the paperback nonfiction bestseller list.

THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE

ethicist: Should you support a spouse’s career with unpaid work?

Read the full problem.

THE WEEK AHEAD

What to watch out for

The men’s French Open final is this morning. Novak Djokovic plays for his 23rd Grand Slam title.
President Biden will receive NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House tomorrow.
Nima Momeni, charged in the death of Cash App founder Bill Lee, is due to appear in court on Tuesday.
Saturday marks King Charles III’s first birthday as a sovereign.
Sunday is Father’s Day in the US