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Summer & Substance

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 15, 2008

Summer reading doesn't have to be fluff - it just has to be good. And it probably should be something you won't mind being seen with poolside at the hotel, on the beach or aboard the plane.

The Tribune's book reviewers give you a hand by recommending some of their favorite reads, none of which you'll want to hide under a beach towel. Here are their selections:

Al Hutchison

"Love Over Scotland," by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor paperback, $13.95)

Few authors are as gentle and amusing as Smith when it comes to examining human foibles, and while he may be most famous for his "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" novels set in Botswana, the books in his "44 Scotland Street" series are likely to strike most readers as more relevant to their own experiences.

"The English American," by Alison Larkin (Simon & Schuster, $24)

Besides offering interesting insights as to how others may see us, this book has the virtues of a pleasing, fast-moving plot, believable characters (it's semi-autobiographical) and excellent writing by an author in search of her origins. The daughter of an American woman, she was adopted by an English couple.

Karen Haymon Long

"A House for Mister Biswas," by V.S. Naipaul (Vintage paperback, $15.95)

After I read this book, I carried it around like a Bible for weeks. It touched me in a way few books have. Equal parts funny and sad, it tells the story of a man yearning for a house of his own in Trinidad. Don't let Naipaul's reputation as a Nobel Prize winner scare you. This book, like all classics, has universal appeal.

"Loving Frank," by Nancy Horan (Ballantine Books paperback, $14)

It's best to have an interest in Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture if you choose this novel about his tortured romance with Mamah Cheney and her tragic death in a fire at his beloved Taliesin. But even those who aren't familiar with the eccentric, egotistical genius may find themselves enthralled with this story, set in the early 1900s. It's amazing how its many topics - women's rights, open versus closed marriages, free love, social scandal, yellow journalism, even taste in architecture - are still debated today.

Theodora Leavens Schmid

"A Confederacy of Dunces," by John Kennedy Toole (Penguin Modern Classics, $17.76)

The author committed suicide in 1969 at age 32 after failing to get this book published. After his death, his mother persisted, and "Confederacy" was printed in 1980. It is the funniest book I have ever read. Readers should enjoy the outrageous characters as well as the poignant commentary on those who live a misunderstood life. It is a wonderful read on many levels.

"Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea," by Mark Kurlansky (Modern Library paperback, $14)

Subtitled "Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea," this narrative sees an idealistic notion put into action. It's smart and engaging, and at 200 pages an easy history lesson that will keep the reader thinking long after the book is closed.

Amy Smith Linton

"To Say Nothing of the Dog," by Connie Willis (Bantam paperback, $8)

Don't call it science fiction; it's speculative fiction in which a scholar travels back in time to locate a mysterious artifact in Victorian England. Suspense, humor, history and a handful of plot lines - not to mention the dog - entangle to make this great escape entertainment.

Arthur McMaster

"Long Life," by Mary Oliver (Da Capo Press, $22)

Long life is something Oliver, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, understands well. Oliver, 72, may be America's best-loved nature poet since Robert Frost, absent the curmudgeon mantel. Her collection of short nature essays and poems includes amazing stories and life-affirming wisdom. In "Can You Imagine," she finds a copse of trees as we've never considered them before: wanting neither more shade nor sun, only content to be patient. It is a virtue she knows we mostly lack. Attuned to the convictions of her own life, she realizes they are "made greatly of the hours of the Earth, rough or smooth, but never less than intimate, poetic, dreamy, adamant, ferocious, loving, life-shaping."

Julie Empric

"Charlotte's Web," by E.B. White (HarperCollins, $16.99; ages 8 to 88)

The main characters are Wilbur (a "terrific," "amazing," "humble" pig) and Charlotte (a "true friend and a good writer" - and a spider). Beyond being an animal fable, this story of mid-20th century America sets the standard for a life well lived, distinguished by friendship, even to enduring, and transcending death. The writing is flawless, filled with realistic detail, imaginative truth and endearing humor.

"While a Tree Was Growing," by Daniel O'Leary; illustrated by Jane Bosveld (American Museum of Natural History paperback, $6); ages 10 and older

This picture book is the biography of a giant sequoia that took root in California some 3,000 years ago. It's also a chronology in text and pictures of peak moments in history and culture since that time, synchronized to the growth and "experiences" of the tree, still standing in the age of computers. This is a nonfiction book to create wonder in readers of any age.

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