Suggested Summer Reading from WABE

This year we share some of our favorites for your summer reading list. If you’d like to purchase any of these books we invite you to do so through WABE’s partnership with Amazon. Just click on the link and a portion of your purchase supports the station.

Don’t forget to check out WABE’s weekly author interview program, Between the Lines, hosted by Valerie Jackson.

Dave Barasoain, host of Weekend Edition Sunday
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin

It’s interesting to see how Abraham Lincoln chose to surround himself with people based on their strengths and abilities. Lincoln chose cabinet members that were not just initially opposed to him, but in some cases had run against him - hence the title. NPR interviewed Doris Kearns Goodwin about the book which you’ll find here.
H. Johnson, host of Jazz Classics
Men of Iron, by Howard Pyle

Men of Iron is about chivalry and bravery during the days of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Although this is a mythical adventure, this book takes me back to my childhood when I enjoyed seeing movies of this sort. About one-third through the book, I remembered seeing it, but under a different title which I cannot recall. I kept on reading because I didn’t remember the ending.
John Lemley, host of All Things Considered and Tapestry
Sonnets, by Robert K. Brown

First of all, in the spirit of full disclosure, I must tell you that the author of this book is my cousin (our moms were sisters). However, even aside from my biases, I absolutely love Bob’s delicious crime novel. It’s set in the hills of Georgia and mixes equal part of Richard Dyer’s Se7en and Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, with a respectful nod to the great bard himself, William Shakespeare.
John Weatherford, Sr. VP and General Manager
Nothing to Lose and Bad Luck and Trouble, by Lee Child

Some of you may remember my earlier raves about previous Jack Reacher novels. Child has now written a dozen of them — not bad for an 18 year veteran Granada Television director during the period when Granada turned out Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown and Prime Suspect. Interestingly, Child was fired from Granada at age 40 and then wrote his first Jack Reacher novel. Nothing To Lose is the latest Reacher and not necessarily Child’s best. Feeling a bit shortchanged, I looked back to realize I had missed last year’s Bad Luck and Trouble. The pages flew by and I was captivated by Child’s always-keeping-you-guessing plot. These characters came alive and I came to believe that every author deserves one less than perfect effort — every dozen or so.
Lois Reitzes, host of Second Cup Concert and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Broadcasts
The Enchantress of Florence, by Salman Rushdie

The story is set simultaneously in 16th century Florence and Sikri, a city in India that mirrored Florence in beauty and artistic achievement. Real-life figures such as Nicolo Machiavelli, the Medicis, and the Mughal Emperor Ahkbar mingle with fictional characters, some with magical powers. There’s a good bit of humor, too. I think the real enchantress is Rushdie’s lyrical prose.
Pat Marcus, host of Weekend Edition Saturday
Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon, by Garrison Keillor

Take an intimate journey through the bedrooms and kitchens of the inhabitants of Lake Wobegon with this romp of a novel by the host of A Prairie Home Companion. Surprisingly raucous at times, Pontoon swept me away to the Medina Ballroom, The Bon Marche Beauty Salon, and Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility — along with Evelyn, Flo, Lloyd and Pastor Ingqvist. In Keillor’s words, “It is Lake Wobegon as you’ve imagined it — good loving people who drive each other slightly crazy.” I couldn’t help but hear that unforgettable voice reading me every word.
Robert Hubert, host of Nocturne, Intermezzo and Atlanta Music Scene
Next, by Michael Crichton

Who owns your body and your genes? Not you — at least not any more. Michael Crichton’s sci-fi novel, Next, sets a chilling near-future in which your personal genetic code could be patented by someone else. Granted a patent on genes unique to your body, a corporate entity could pursue you to the ends of the earth to collect its “property.” The genes in your chromosomes would no longer belong to you. Welcome to the new world of genetics — fast, furious and out of control. For a sampling of the possibilities, visit the website of NextGenCode, NEXTgencode.com
Steve Goss, host of Morning Edition
Slavery by Another Name —The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, by Douglas A. Blackmon

Blackmon’s book chronicles in exhaustive detail the deliberate, systematic measures taken throughout the South to keep freed slaves in servitude—from the convict lease system, to outrageous fines, to even kidnapping. Tens of thousands of African-Americans were kept in forced labor conditions in mines, on farms, or in factories for decades following the Civil War. As a grad student in American history I was aware of some of the labor abuses against the freedmen, but to nowhere near the extent that Blackmon has revealed. Slavery by Another Name is at once fascinating and horrific.
Valerie Jackson, host of Between the Lines
The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri

I’m always interested in stories that reveal the intimate customs of another culture, whether it’s the past or present. The Namesake, by Pulitzer prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, shares the struggle of a young Indian couple trying to assimilate into American culture while still holding onto old customs. In Calcutta, it was not uncommon for a child to go without an official name for years until the right one was selected. Known among the most intimate family members by a private nickname only, a child’s namesake, or public name, was no simple decision. The son in this story, born in America, finds it difficult to identify with his unusual Bengali names. The question of identity is always difficult, especially for those raised in two worlds simultaneously. The struggle here is not just cultural, but generational and geographical as well. Jhumpa Lahiri does an excellent job conveying the immigrant struggle in The Namesake.
Wanda Yang Temko, host of Afternoon Classics and The Art of Song
Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy, by James Stark

It’s not your everyday page-turner, but it does chronicle the development of the teaching of singing for the last four hundred years. While the book uses liberally technical terms unfamiliar to singing novices, there are enough anecdotes to give you a sense of the drama behind the scenes. You may want to glance at some chapters, but for this music nerd, it was a great summer beach book.