How to Stuff a Suitcase Full of Books
Or, five books to read over Labor Day weekend.
I love the long hot days at the end of summer: trips to the city pool after work, cold dinners when the kitchen feels too hot, sunflowers blooming in my garden, sunglasses and sundresses and sun tea and sunburns and an afternoon sun so bright and so hot that I can’t help but close my eyes and tilt my face towards it.
In the spirit of dog-eared trade paperbacks and water-splotched pages, here are five books to take with you on vacation over Labor Day weekend (or just read in your hammock out back).
History: When Women Ruled the World by Kara Cooney
I was first introduced to Kara Cooney’s writing back in 2016 when I read The Woman Who Would Be King as part of Rachel Syme’s short-lived (but fiercly loved) Women’s Lives Club. A professor of Egyption Art and Architecture at UCLA, Cooney specializes in the 21st Dynasty and how the social and political upheaval of that time affected Egyptian burial practices.
She’s written a lot about female power in a patriarchal ancient world and how women manipulated the gender rules of that time for their own benefit. Enter her 2018 release, When Women Ruled the World. If Hatshepsut’s book is the primer on it, this book is its dissertation.
Cooney takes us through the reigns of six women, from Hatshepsut to Cleopatra, and shares how they co-opted power in Egypt to rule one of the most powerful civilizations in history — and why they got away with it. From meditations on the “appropriate” amount of female power to the importance of family lineage, this book will have you flying through its pages.
You may also be interested in: The “Archeology Abridged” lecture featuring Kara Cooney; The Afterlives Podcast (check out the trailer); a 2018 opinion essay in Time: “The Story of Female Power in Ancient Egypt is a Tragedy”
Memoir/Biography: Also a Poet by Ada Calhoun
I remember the first time I read a poem written by Frank O’Hara. I was a junior in high school, sitting in my very first creative writing class, and had a printout of the poem “Steps” on the desk in front of me.
“How funny you are today New York
like Ginger Rogers in Swingtime
and St. Bridget’s steeple leaning a little to the left.”
So begins O’Hara’s iconic love song to New York City — and my obsession with the poet himself. His poetry is sparkling and witty and unequivocally modern; many of his poems read as part-diary entry, part-billboard advertisement and part-cultural manifesto (read this and this, and you’ll see what I mean).
In Also a Poet, Ada Calhoun sets out to finish her father’s never-completed biography of Frank O’Hara from 40 years earlier. But the book she completes touches on so much more: besides acting as a biography, it’s a meditation on the complicated relationship Calhoun had with her father and a deftly told literary history of O’Hara’s time. This book is for anyone interested in the notion of artistic legacy, parent-child relationships, Frank O’Hara (obviously) and New York City.
Fun fact: Edward Gorey was Frank O’Hara’s roommate at Harvard.
You may also be interested in: “Having a Coke With You” poem by Frank O’Hara (one of my favorites!); this fantastic Art Cooking video that centers on the food in O’Hara’s poetry; a recent Letter of Recommendation on Frank O’Hara, written by Ada Calhoun
Contemporary Romance: Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
When I love a book (or anything, really) I cannot shut up about it. And I cannot shut up about this book. In Carley Fortune’s sophomore release, two characters meet by chance in Toronto and spend the day together, making plans to see each other again one year later (it’s all very Before Sunrise-esqe). When Fern shows up and Will doesn't, she's left heartbroken and wondering what could have been — until he reappears 9 years later at the resort she's taken over from her mom.
Meet Me at the Lake is equal parts funny and tender. I loved the way Fortune brought the characters to life, giving each of them quirks that complicated their relationship and, ironically, drew them together in the end. Both characters are loyal and committed to the things and people they love, and it's these characteristics that almost threaten their happily-ever-after. (Don't worry! You'll get one!)
This is the first book I’ve read by Fortune but after finishing it, I immediately bought her #booktok sensation, Every Summer After. I’m saving it to savor on an upcoming vacation. I’ll report back.
Note: As a trigger warning, please be aware that this text has a storyline that includes grief, anxiety and an off-page death of a parent. Please take care.
You may also be interested in: This book is being MADE INTO A MOVIE by Archewell Studios; read an excerpt from the opening chapter; Carley Fortune on writing romance, changing careers, and more
Contemporary Fiction: Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal
J. Ryan Stradal writes beautiful stories spanning over generations, stories about food and family and flawed (sometimes unlikeable) characters who jump right off the page. And every one of his books is a love song to the Midwest.
In his latest, we meet four generations of women and the aging family supper club that threads them together. Like many of Stradal’s novels, the Lakeside is a character all its own — one that’s a quiet witness to decades of love and loss and reinvention within the family. I loved being able to watch how the restaurant transformed over the years, providing insight into each of the women and their relationships with each other. Kirkus reviews said it best when they called this book, “a loving ode to supper clubs, the Midwest, and the people there who try their best to make life worth living.”
Note: Another trigger warning needed here. I didn’t know when I started the book, but a major plotline deals with infertility and loss. Beautifully done, but in a rip-your-heart-out-and-stomp-on-it kind of way. If this is a sensitive topic for you, give it a pass.
You may also be interested in: A brief history of highway fine dining; read an excerpt from the book here; J. Ryan Stradal on writing to keep his mom alive
Hybrid + LGBTQI2A: Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
I’m going to leave you with something that’s a little out-of-the-box but magical. Anne Carson is a poet, essayist, playwright, translator and ancient Greek classicist, still teaching as a guest lecturer all over North America. She patterns many of her writings after classical Greek literature, updating ancient stories to be set in modern times (see: Norma Jean Baker of Troy and Men in the Off Hours as two examples).
In her modernization of the 10th Labor of Herekles (aka Hercules, just the Greek version), Carson reimagines her novel in verse as a coming-of-age story set in present day. A little red monster boy named Geryon falls desperately in love with the cool drifter boy Herakles, who leaves him at the height of his infatuation. When Herakles comes back years later, Geryon must deal with his unfulfilled desire and longing, an unleashing of his greatest creative imagination and ultimately come to terms with the gorgeous imperfect little monster he is, wings and all.
After wondering what happened to these characters, Carson wrote a follow-up to this book called Red Doc > in 2013.
Note: Trigger warning needed for family abuse and neglect. A wonderful and illuminating book, but please read with caution.
You may also be interested in: On the Inscrutable Brilliance of Anne Carson (New York Times profile via 2013); a collection of all Anne Carson’s writings with accompanying summaries; metaphor as self-discovery in Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red
Here’s to making the most of these last days of summer! What have you enjoyed reading lately? I’d love to know in the comments.