OOO. My Recommended Summer Reads.

It strikes me that many of you will be taking some time out in the next few weeks. One of the great joys of a holiday is, of course, reading. Books are always a joy, but there is a particular delight in being able to read a book a day, without interruption.

I read a lot because I have found it the most effective way of anchoring my restless energy; if I am not reading in the evening I am jumping around between my phone and rearranging the furniture or writing down ideas.

There are many other lovely things about holidays, and you’ll have your own, but yesterday I watched two friends chatting in the supermarket checkout queue and I realized that going to the supermarket with a friend as a social activity was one. Here were two friends -I think they were French/Canadian given the jumps between the two languages- having a lovely time doing something slowly that would normally be a chore to be rushed and, by definition, be done without joy.

Right, to those ‘holiday reads’. There are 10 here. I have many more if you want them.

Novels.

Three Days in June. Anne Tyler. Funny, moving, beautifully written. Family, disappointment, love, absurdity. Magic!

Gabriële. Anne Berest and Claire Berest. An extraordinary reconstruction, in novel form, of the vital life of a person who was pivotal in the creation of Cubism and modern art in general. There are big ideas here, told through the stories of real, deeply flawed, people.

33 Place Brugmann. Alice Austen. Part love story, part war story; all told through the singular voices of the residents of a Belgian apartment in World War II.

The Wedding People. Alison Espach. A great story of human frailty/strength. Elegant writing and a terrific story place this on the right side of trashy.

Hot Milk. Deborah Levy. This came out in 2016 and yet I have just read it. What a brilliant book it is, following a mother and daughter as they travel to Spain in search of a cure for an illness. Luminous, funny, sexy, absurd, absolutely true.

Non-Fiction.

I Regret Almost Everything. Keith McNally. McNally is possibly New York’s greatest contemporary restaurateur, and possibly its most divisive since he discovered Instagram. This memoir is beautiful; moving, truthful, highly entertaining and lyrical.

Street Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence. Will Hodgkinson. It doesn’t matter if you have never heard of Lawrence; in fact, that’s almost the point. This is an investigation into a genuine enigma and is warm, funny, sad and uplifting in equal measure.

Homework. A Memoir. Geoff Dyer. A hilarious, truthful, moving memoir by one of our greatest living essayists.

Toy Fights. A Boyhood. Don Patterson. Serious, discursive, incredibly funny, tender, informative. This is a beautiful memoir by a wonderful poet.

Your Table is Ready. Tales of a New York Maître D’. Michael Cecchi. A brilliant story of front of house at many of New York’s best restaurants. This is to the floor, what Kitchen Confidential was to the kitchen. Extraordinary tales; sex, drugs, money, power, absurdity, passion.