It’s summertime. And while things don’t exactly feel easy, for many of us, that’s not going to keep us from reading. I’ve been gathering physical copies of books (still my favorite way to read) from the library and local bookstore, and downloading some more to my Kindle and audio books accounts, with great ambitious plans to read traveling, in my backyard and in my living room, which with the windows open right now smells like the lilacs planted in front of my house.
It won’t surprise you that the TTBOOK staff has a wide and varied and enthusiastic list of book plans for the summer. Ever wonder what we’re reading? This week, as we re-air a particularly bookish show, “As Read By the Author,” we share some of our summer book ideas with you.
Steve: Two books I’m excited to read this summer are: “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life” by Dacher Keltner, the psychologist at UC-Berkeley who launched the scientific study of awe 20 years ago. He believes awe and wonder are fundamental to our feelings of well-being. And, “War for Eternity: Inside Bannon’s Far-Right Circle of Global Power Brokers,” by Benjamin Teitelbaum, an expert on the radical right and – of all things, an ethnomusicologist – at the University of Colorado. What’s particularly interesting is how he traces the links between former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and the Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, who’s been called “Putin’s brain.”
Anne: I'm taking Jeffrey Kripal's history of Esalen, called “Esalen,” to Vermont with me. With all the new research on psilocybin as the next really promising treatment for depression, addiction and PTSD, I'm interested in reading more about the first generation of psychonauts – like Aldous Huxley and Alan Watts – who imagined launching a secular spiritual revolution from the cliffs of Big Sur. I also just ordered a birthday present for myself: Catie Marron's new book "Becoming a Gardener: What Reading and Digging Taught Me About Living."
Joe: Your friendly neighborhood audiophile has just started "Can't Slow Down" by Michaelangelo Matos. It makes the argument that 1984 was the highwater mark for popular music, synthesizing everything that came before and setting the groundwork for all that would follow. What's terrific about it is its scope: You expect to see Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lionel Richie and Prince. You don't expect to have these titans of Billboard Chart domination bump shoulders with relative sideline characters (from Top 40 radio's perspective) like The Smiths, Willie Nelson, John Denver and Julio Iglesias. The result is a time capsule for a year where foundational music in indie rock, country, hip hop and world music was released alongside pop nuclear missiles like "Purple Rain" and "Like A Virgin." All of them eventually coalesced into massive commercial comets of their own before burning up and fracturing in the post-genre atmosphere we breathe.
Mark: I’ve been doing a lot of reading about thriving with an attention disorder. Working through books from psychologists Edward Hallowell and John Ratey has become my summer project. Their most recent — “ADHD 2.0” — has become a useful tool for explaining quirks of my personality more clearly (“Ah! Randomly re-arranging your workspace on deadline IS a thing!“) and I look forward to their earlier books, “Driven To Distraction” and “Delivered From Distraction.” One other piece of self-discovery that will please the bibliophiles in the crowd — my new approach to focused, purposeful reading has led me back to physical books, away from screens and e-readers.
Charles: I’m reading “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi. I'm leaving for a big month-long reporting trip to Ghana soon. I have been reading history and political books - all fantastic. But when I entered the world of fiction… well, it is really helping me make some important connections. The novel starts in the 18th century with two half sisters, unaware of each other, and their very different life journeys. One lives a life of comfort. The other is sold into slavery. The story continues through eight generations of each girl.
Angelo: I'm reading “Obsessive, Intrusive Magical Thinking” by writer and journalist Marianne Eloise. Eloise is neurodivergent - she’s autistic and has ADHD and OCD. Told through a series of essays on her obsessions from pop-punk to Disneyland to her fear of Medusa and the ocean, Eloise offers a glimpse into what it’s like to live with a disordered mind. It’s not a book about suffering and overcoming but rather a funny and honest portrait of a life made whole through disorder.
Shannon: I’m reading Katie Kitamura’s “Intimacies,” a novel from the point of view of an interpreter at The Hague who translates legal proceedings that have to do with genocide. Next up for my July book club is: “The Lincoln Highway,” historical fiction by Amor Towles, tracing the road trip of a group of young men who leave a juvenile detention center and travel across the US in 1954. A friend also recommended the richly illustrated “Bacon in Moscow,” by James Birch, a darkly comic memoir of an art dealer trying to bring a Francis Bacon exhibit to Russia.
What are you reading this summer? Let me know at listen@ttbook.org and I’ll keep a running list of listener reading plans, too.
–Shannon