The Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Summer Reading Kit

Do you long to spend your vacation in a hammock catching up with Daniel Deronda or The Tale of Genji?   Though summer reading has a reputation for being dumbed-down, many of us love to combine a classic with mysteries and pastel-colored beach books.

And there are plenty of recommendations on the net, because. as the critics like to say, everybody’s a critic.  If you’re looking for down-home suggestions, some serious, some light, visit the blog Modern Mrs. Darcy and sign up for her Summer Reading Kit.

“Mrs. Darcy” has designed the Summer Reading Kit for librarians and “bookish enthuisasts.”

She writes,

To inspire your patrons in their reading journey, I’ve created a summer reading poster (sized 18×24) that lets patrons see 30 absorbing, high-interest titles at a glance. These titles are from the Summer Reading Guide (which many librarians are already using as a summer reading resource), and they’re organized by category so readers can easily see what books will appeal to them.

I’ve also created summer reading bookmarks that double as a reading list. Patrons can jot down titles they hear about from you or anyone else so they don’t have to agonize over what to read next after they finish a great book.

I certainly would love those bookmarks.

THREE LITERARY LINKS

1.  There is a fascinating interview at The Rumpus with Lynn Steger Strong, author of the novel Hold Still, in which the main character, Maya, is obsessed with Virginia Woolf.

Filgate writes,

As soon as I was introduced to Lynn, we immediately bonded over our shared love for running and Virginia Woolf. When I found out that her debut novel Hold Still has to do with both, I moved it up to the top of my gigantic to-be-read pile, and I’m so glad I did. Hold Still is about an English professor who has to reckon with a terrible mistake her daughter made, one that tests their already shaky relationship. But trying to sell the book on the plot alone takes away from the true backbone of this novel. Open it for the story; read it for the sentences that stay with you like a gift.

2. Nan at Letters from a Hill Farm writes about leaving Facebook.

Some of my readers may have noticed me around the blogging world a little more often recently. That’s because I quit Facebook on Saturday April 23. I initially joined two years ago just so my kids wouldn’t have to bother to send me text photos of pictures they had posted on Facebook. But it grew and grew. You know how it goes. Someone asks to be your friend, and you think of people you ought to send a friend request to, and boom you’ve got a whole bunch of Facebook friends. There were very occasional requests that I did not accept. But I still ended up with some friends that I barely knew or had never met. I’m not the kind of person to ‘unfriend’ so I’d keep getting information from them. I connected with some high school friends, and just like when I was actually in high school, there were some people I liked and others not so much. A lot of my friends were younger, Margaret’s friends, who so very kindly welcomed me. At first it was loads of fun but then it was not fun anymore. There were too many notifications and too many items in my feed. It was too busy, too quick.

3.  At A Penguin a Week, Adam Gee writes a guest post about James Leo Herlihy, a writer best known for Midnight Cowboy.

Gee writes about his debut novel, All Fall Down.

When I pick up an old Penguin I’m hoping for a surprise – something off-beat, long neglected, out of left field, a lost gem. ‘All Fall Down’ delivered.

It’s the first novel from the Detroit writer who went on to write ‘Midnight Cowboy’ five years later in 1965, James Leo Herlihy. It’s a coming of age story in the heritage of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, a decade in its wake. It follows the growth of Clint Williams from an isolated, uncommunicative 14 year old to an emerging adult with the capacity to care and love.

I hope to find a copy one day!