“sum·mer”
1. The usually warmest season of the year, occurring between spring and autumn and constituting June, July, and August in the Northern Hermisphere, or , as calculated astronomically, extending from the summer solstice tot he autumnal equinox. 2. A period of fruition, fulfillment, happiness, or beauty.
According to the dictionary summer means: a period of fulfillment, happiness and beauty. Therefore, as I invite you to our Adult Summer Reading Game @ Alameda County Library, I would like to introduce you to some of my favorite Timeless Reads for summer reading.
These books bring me joy, understanding, and happiness. The characters not only travel to new places, meeting new people, or facing new situations but they arrive home with a richer understanding of love and the human struggle for happiness,
Razor’s Edge is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham written in 1944. This book, popular with readers, centers on a soul-searching World War I veteran (Larry), who finds he cannot settle back into the world of the upper class. He delays his planned marriage and career, and travels abroad to seek the meaning of life.
Larry moves to Paris and immerses himself in study and the bohemian life. After two years Isabel visits and Larry asks her to join his life of traveling and searching though with little money. She can not accept that and returns to Chicago and marries a millionaire.
Larry leaves for India and eventually returns to Paris. From evening till down in a Parisian cafe, he discusses India and all the events with Maugham (the narrator). The book signaled a beginning of Pop culture in the West as it embraced Eastern culture. The book was twice adapted into film.
The Library has this title in three different formats: print, ebook and DVD.
Another book that I recommend is The Zahir by the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho. It was published in 2005. This novel, like his previous book, The Alchemist is about pilgrimage, loss and love.
The book has been translated into 44 languages. This description of the book is from the author’s website (www.paulocoelho.com) is as follows:
“The narrator of The Zahir is a bestselling novelist who lives in Paris and enjoys all the privileges money and celebrity bring. His wife of ten years, Esther, is a war correspondent who has disappeared along with a friend, Mikhail, who may or may not be her lover.
Was Esther kidnapped, murdered, or did she simply escape a marriage that life her unfulfilled? The narrator doesn’t have any answers, but he has plenty of questions of his own. Then one day Mikhail finds the narrator and promises to reunite him with his wife. In his attempt to recapture a lost love, the narrator discovers something unexpected about himself.”
Through the narrator’s journey from Paris to Kazakhstan, Coelho explores various meansing of love and life.
The Library has this novel in four languages, English, Farsi, Punjabi and Spanish. Other novels by this author are in Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese.
The third book that I have enjoyed reading recently is Eat, pray, love: one woman’s search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert. The book has been on the national bestseller list for the last two years.
The book traces the author’s decision to quit her job and travel the world for a year after suffering a midlife crisis and divorce. Her journey took her to three places in her quest to explore her own nature and learn the art of spiritual balance.
“Sitting in an outdoor cafe in Rome, Gilbert’s friend declares that every city–and every person–has a word. Rome’s is “sex”, the Vatican’s “power”; Gilbert declares New York’s to be “achieve”, but only later stumbles upon her own word, antevasin, Sanskrit for “one who lives at the border.” What is your word? Is it possible to choose a world that retains its truth for a lifetime?”
If you would like to read the book in your book club, there is a study guide on the author’s website: http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/
The Library has this title in print, CD Book and electronic book.
One final note: I hope you will have a beautiful and happy summer, and as you play the reading game, if you stumble upon some good books, recommend the books to others right her. Click on the “Reader’s Choice” link at the top of this web page!
Lili Khalili
Reference Services Union City Branch
We begin the planning for next summer even as we just finish this summer’s project. Do you have a favorite book theme you would like us to use for next summer? Here are some possibilities. Please add others in the comments if you have some ideas!
