Dear Reader,
My next letter has me going a lot deeper than I had bargained for, so here is a little something in the meantime.
I am notorious for meticulously making reading lists and never sticking to them. Nevertheless, here I am again planning my summer TBR like I am actually going to get to everything.
When we think of summer, we think of “beach reads”: novels that let us escape to another place or pretend we’re off on an adventure. These kinds of books often get a bad rep for being escapist. I like to call them “book candy”: delicious and easily devoured, but I wouldn’t necessarily want a steady diet of them; it would definitely not be nutritious! On the other hand, I wouldn’t want a steady diet of “steak” books like A Tale of Two Cities, for instance, either. (I actually really like this book, but a little bit of Dickens goes a long way if you know what I mean.)
My list has a bit of candy as well as steak. Also a balance of old books and new books as C.S. Lewis suggests—at least balanced page count-wise! Here is my list at the moment:
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (the annotated edition)
Fanny Price leaves her life of poverty to live with her rich cousins, but when some friends visit, they get into all sorts of shenanigans. Fanny has to decide to hold to her convictions or be swept along.
From Goodreads: Mansfield Park is considered Jane Austen's first mature work and, with its quiet heroine and subtle examination of social position and moral integrity, one of her most profound.
(This would be a re-read for me, but I haven’t read it in a long time and I’ve never read the annotated edition.) Buy it here.
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
From the back cover: The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around--and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared his dream chose poorly. Since he was just five years old, he's been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the form of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.
What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? And who is the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo's dreams?
I loved this author’s other book, Daughter or Smoke and Bone. Also, a fantasy book that also a finalist for the National Book Award? Not something you see every day. Buy it here.
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
From Goodreads: With its captivating heroine and emotional potency, Kristin Lavransdatter is the masterwork of Norway's most beloved author, one of the twentieth century's most prodigious and engaged literary minds and, in Nunnally's exquisite translation, a story that continues to enthrall.
This is a TOME of a book—it’s actually the whole trilogy bound together in one volume. I’ve heard amazing things about it from multiple sources, and apparently there is quite a bit about motherhood, so it seems like a timely read for me. Buy it here.
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
An epic fantasy that reminds me of Lord of the Rings. I started this one last summer, but got interrupted by other new shiny books (ha!). Lovely prose and excellently crafted so far. Also, it’s been at different stage of development for screen adaptations multiple times, so here’s hoping that works out! Buy it here.
Reckless IV: The Silver Tracks by Cornelia Funke
This is the fourth book in a the Mirrorworld series about a young man named Jacob Reckless who travels through a mirror to a fairytale world where the stories are true—even their dark sides. Each book explores fairytales from different cultures.
Funke is one of my all time favorite authors. She balances whimsy and darkness so well, and her prose is enchanting. Buy it here.
Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
This is the second in a series which is also about a traveler between worlds. There are different versions of London, elemental magic, and lady pirates.
I’ve met this author! Definitely the kind of fantasy you could get lost in. Buy it here.
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
From the back cover: In the classic The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis, the most important Christian writer of the 20th century, sets out to persuade his audience of the importance and relevance of universal values such as courage and honor in contemporary society. Both astonishing and prophetic, The Abolition of Man is one of the most debated of Lewis's extraordinary works.
I’ve read and listened to so many things that quote this book, I figured I’d better just read it myself. Buy it here.
The Scandal of Holiness by Jessica Hooten Wilson
A portion of the back cover: Literature has the power to show us what a holy life looks like, and these depictions often scandalize even as they shape our imagination. As such, careful reading becomes a sort of countercultural spiritual discipline.
I’ve been following this professor’s work, so I’m excited to finally be reading one of her books.
Recently, I was reminded of what Tolkien once said about escapist literature:
Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and, what is more, they are confusing, not always by sincere error, the Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of the Deserter.
The key is to allow our beach reads/book candy/escapist literature to “clean our windows” (also something Tolkien says), to see real life more clearly. To lead us to a better understanding of the world and ourselves—just like how we, as Christians, let our faith lead us back into the world to bring God’s kingdom here on Earth.
I just realized that’s a lot of books to take to Canada!
[P.S. I don’t get any kickback from the links to purchase the books—I’m not cool enough to figure out how to do that. The links will take you to a site where the purchases support independent bookstores. Or better yet, consider supporting your own local independent bookstore!]
Join the conversation
What’s on your TBR this summer? Book candy or book steak? Or both?
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 🫣