I envision that perfect summer days would look like this: I would rise, fully-refreshed, at 6 in the morning, and then head downstairs to put on a pot of coffee. I'd then take a "Friends"-sized mug o' joe out onto my back porch with one of the books listed below, where I'd stay until approximately 9 a.m. or so, at which time I'd retreat into the house to begin the day's activities of cleaning and, inevitably chauffeuring my children around to Camp I-Can't-Believe-This-Costs-$350...It's-Glorified-Recess. I'd take mid-day breaks from the monotony for 90-minute workouts at the health club in preparation for the unveiling of my newly-taught, age defying body at my 40th birthday party, then prepare a Weight Watchers-friendly meal on the bug-free and impeccably-gardened back patio before retreating to the living room or local multiplex for a TV show binge or film of the day before retreating to bed.
Ha ha ha ha...
Some of my fantasy can and will come true. I will be shuttling my kids to all sorts of camps, and I can have a book under my arm for those moments sitting in the car waiting for them. And you can bet your ass there will be coffee involved. But the rest? Well, if the first week of summer is any indication, it's not gonna happen. So I'll control what I can control, which is to attempt to sprinkle in some summer reading in between required preparation for the coming school year (see my last list). If time can even remotely permit, here's what I want to be reading for my own enjoyment...
1) "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson. I bought this book about a month ago when Atkinson came to Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville. I had not read any of her stuff before, though I'd heard of her and her strong fan base. Known for her unusual plotting, this book features a main character who dies in the first chapter at birth and then, in the second chapter, is born again under slightly altered circumstances and lives just a little longer, and so on. Recommended by Stephen King, I was sucked in to this book as I began reading it while waiting for Atkinson to make her book store appearance, then charmed by her visit. After being sidelined from reading by the end of the school year, this is the first book I want to read for my own enjoyment.
2) "VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First Wave" by Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter and Martha Quinn. No joke... I have spent every Saturday for the past few months tuning into the Big 80s countdown on Sirius-XM's 80s on 8 channel. I swear that listening to this has had youth-restoring powers for me, and I'm so obsessed that I once forced my wife to remain in a parked car before entering a restaurant so that I could find out what was number one back in 1984 for that mid-May week. Though my incessant listening to the music of my youth, I learned of this work, a collection of memories by the original MTV veejays (rest in piece, J.J. Jackson), and promptly ordered my copy on Amazon. Can't wait to read it! This will be a fun, mindless escape for me in a summer filled with heavy stuff.
3) "The Yellow Birds" by Kevin Powers. This book hit my radar months ago as I read reviews that called it the first great novel written about the war in Iraq. I tend to be a sucker for first time novelists, as I aspire to one day be one myself, and I have been excited to read this. Since that time, it's been added to our 11th grade English curriculum. And though I don't teach that class, I am eager to read this book.
4) "The Cineaste: Poems" by A. Van Jordan. Poetry about "Do the Right Thing," "Oldboy" and "Blazing Saddles"? Are you shitting me? This actually exists? Say no more...I'm in.
5) "Middle Men: Stories" by Jim Gavin. About "a group of men, from young dreamers to old vets" who "make valiant forays into middle-class respectability." The description on Amazon says that the characters in this book are "caught half way between their dreams and the often crushing reality of their lives." My favorite subject. This should satisfy my fix for Tom Perrotta-like suburban male fodder, my guilty pleasure. Or, perhaps, my underlying need, as I continue to gravitate toward works like this as I fight with my never-ending daddy issues.
6) "& Sons" by David Gilbert. This book comes out a few days before my birthday and when I read about it in a magazine (probably Entertainment Weekly), I immediately pre-ordered it so that it would just appear on my doorstep as a present to myself. John Irving, my favorite modern American author, is raving about this book, the story of a reclusive novelist who returns home to eulogize an old friend and sets out to repair his own relationships. I've seen it compared to Franzen and Irving, and I don't need any more information than that to know that it's a must-read for me!
7) "Superman: Red Son" by Mark Millar. Henry Cavill said that this was one of three graphic novels he used as inspiration for his character for "Man of Steel." What if Superman had landed on Earth in Cold War-era Russia instead of farmland middle America? The premise is too good to pass up, and I'll need something to temper my Superman fever this summer. I've just recently finished reading J. Michael Straczynski's "Superman: Earth One" and "Earth One: Volume 2."
8) "Life Itself: A Memoir" by Roger Ebert. Maybe, just maybe, I'm approaching a place where I can pick this book up again without sobbing after every fifth page in mourning for the loss of one of my heroes.
9) "Night Film" by Marisha Pessl. Because Entertainment Weekly told me to read it. And every summer, I read at least one of their recommendations. I'm not a big mystery reader, but this looks trendy and hip and shocking and cool. It won't arrive until late August, so I'll be following the buzz until it arrives.
10) "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo. I tacked this one on to the end of my list because I'm already about a third of the way through this book but it is so dense that I think I need to start over and try again, as I did earlier this summer with "The Great Gatsby." This book is actually on the approved list for my sophomore class but seems so dense and depressing that I'm not sure I'd be able to use it. One of my friends who read it says that Boo's depiction of Mumbai makes Kotlowitz's Chicago in "There Are No Children Here" look like Dubai. Depressing, but also amazingly researched and written, from what I've experienced so far.
For the record, I reserve the right to replace anything on this list with anything else that strikes my fancy at any moment, including the various books sitting on my Kindle app on the iPad that I keep forgetting about as I continue to purchase physical books with prejudice, and the weekly supply of DC Comics I pick up every Wednesday from the comic book shop down the block. In other words, don't hold me to any of this!
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