Quorum’s Guide to Summer Reading

After a June that seemed to be about 3 days long, I am almost surprised to find myself settling in for summer in the US and I hope to get a chance to see many of you in the coming weeks, before taking a little time to put my feet up and enjoy a slower rhythm with my family in Baltimore. We never spend much time on the beach, but I have a favorite spot to read in the early morning when temperatures are still bearable in my hometown and no one is yelling for me to help find their favorite bathing suit or wondering when I’m going to the store to get more Eggos (in summer all the healthy eating rules go out the window at our house.) Some of the women of our community have chimed in too with their takes on my selections, and some reading of their own.

• Reading for Fighting, Competing, Imagining, Leading: The Path to a Good Society at the Aspen Socrates program. Excerpts include Thucydides, Thoreau, Barak Obama’s Nobel acceptance speech, Eisenhower’s farewell address, Naomi Klein, a book on the history of surfing, Spike Lee, Chimamanda Adichie, and many, many others.
• Negroland by Margo Jefferson – I have read lots of praise for this book, including some of the highest from my mother and she is my number one book reviewer (because she reads 80 times what I do,) so it’s a must.
• I Feel Bad about My Neck by Nora Ephron – Because I am at the age where I do feel bad about my neck.  Advisory Board member Joan Wucher King says this is every bit as good as the recommendations, so I really can’t wait to dive in because she has a great literary taste.  One of my favorite shelves at home is the one with memoirs of female comedians, including Lena Dunham, Tina Fey, Carrie Fisher, Shirley Jackson, Mindy Kaling, Diane Keaton, Betty McDonald, Amy Poehler, and Marlo Thomas.  Nora Ephron definitely belongs in that company and I’m hoping to add Margaret Cho, Gilda Radner, Aisha Tyler to the shelf soon too.
• Paradise Lodge by Nina Stibbe – Love, Nina was one of the best books I have read in a long, long time, so this is a don’t miss.  Probably can go on the funny women shelf.
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – The excerpts from this and interviews with his wife leave me sobbing, so it should be perfect for summer thunderstorms.  Our member DorisDaif confirms that it is a sobering book, but worth the sobs.  It deals with tough ideas that are easier to think about when delivered in beautiful prose, like and end-of-life perspective on what makes life worth living. Last year’s list included On Mortality by Atul Gawande so this is a follow-up.

New York member Deborah DeSantis is reading How to Have a Good Day by Caroline Webb in advance of the September sessions in New York and DC where we’ll have Caroline with us to talk about her research and strategies to actually have a good day – we’ll need that, once hectic fall schedules set in.  Deborah also recommends I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes and says it’s like Law and Order meets Tom Clancy!

Doris recommends Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra.  Although it’s not a beach read, she’s a rule breaker and chose to read it on vacation anyway and now has moved on to Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout because she liked Strout’s earlier My Name is Lucy Barton.

Joan is doing a lot of work-related reading, including her Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World by Don Tapscott, but she has some for-pleasure reading waiting in the wings and is looking forward to finding a moment for Light Years by James Salter and Automobile Club of Egypt by Alaa Al Aswany.

Enjoy the weekend and find some time to put your feet up and read something you love.  And tell us about it in the comments!