Summer reading had me a blast, summer reading happened so fast...
Right, I can't fathom that just two days from now September starts, it feels as if summer has just begun. But the nights are getting longer, putting an end to long summer evenings spend outside reading (I tried to make do with candles and/or the light from my mobile phone, but it just isn't the same as the long evenings of June and July). Sad as it is that summer is nearly gone, I look back on several great summer reads.
Firstly, I read The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson. It is her debut novel, based on her experiences teaching a high school near San Fransisco (much is made of the specific valley the school/town is set in, but I can't actually remember it). I picked this novel because it had a great review but also because I happened to be travelling the west coast this summer. The day I read the first chapter, in which a character bikes all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, parks his bike, walks for some time on the sidewalk and then jumps off the bridge was the day after I myself rode to that same bridge, albeit from the other side, biked across it, and past several points the novel mentions. This was pretty surreal.
The novel focuses on a specific group of students as they make their way from eighth grade to senior year. The chapters written from a specific student's point of view are interspersed with the point of view from their English teacher, Miss Nicholl, Through the course of the novel we get to know most of the kids in the group, leading to surprising discoveries. They are all entitled, rich, snobbish and quite brutal in their behaviour and opinions of each other. But reading each chapter you get to know the actual person behind the image, usually leading to a better understanding and more sympathy for the way they are. Stereotypes turn out to be a mask to hide behind. Lessons are learnt. Paths are chosen. Towards the end I feared a sugar coated happy ending, but to my surprise and relief the ending was very human, very real, and slightly painful. All in all a great read, made even more special by being in the places it was set.
After that my travel book supply had run dry, so we went to a Barnes&Nobles and I bought Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Another debut by a female author, another novel about high school life, but this one has already been made into a film called Love, Simon. I'd seen the film but was curious about the novel, especially because the film had an un-American feel to it. The story is written from Simon's point of view as he meets a fellow closeted gay student through an online message board (Tumblr, which dates the novel quite a bit). One of his fellow classmates discovers their secret emails and blackmails Simon into setting him up with one of his friends. This leads to all sorts of teenage drama, but the tone of voice of the novel is surprisingly mature and undramatic. Simon is very analytical, balanced and humorous. Several things are different from the film, not always to the best, although the characters in the novel felt more realistic and sympathetic. In contrast to The Most Dangerous..., this is an actual YA high school read. Added to that, the novel deals in a respectful and normal way with pretty sensitive issues, making it even more suitable for the target audience.
Finally, I read a Dutch novel, Ferrera by Bert Wagendorp. This is the sequel to his famous (in the Netherlands) novel Ventoux. It focusses on a group of four friends who are now in their early fifties. In the first novel they hadn't seen each other for more than 20 years following the death of their fifth friend on the mountain of Ventoux. In this novel, they travel to Ferrera in Italy as one of them has found an old building to turn into a design hotel. The novel focuses on them coming to terms with their ageing and death, or basically with human mortality in general. In a way, it is a 'coming of age' story for the baby boom generation. This is one of the few novels I've ever read in which I actively disliked the main character (not even his tone of voice, his whole personality). He is whiny and self-obsessed and overly dramatic. Also, way too many references to obscure Italian historians/poets/philosophers, and extensive descriptions of the town of Ferrera. Where in The Most Dangerous... the subtle references to real locations gave the story some depth, here it felt like showing off. The plot twist at the end felt forced and as I had no sympathy for any of the characters, the (unsurprisingly) bleak ending left me feeling pretty indifferent.
So maybe not the best of novels to end the summer on, but it was a typical summer read in that it was not a difficult 'literary' read but an easy, summery story set in a warm and sunny location. But after all these snack size stories I feel ready to tackle something with a bit more substance. Time for cold, rainy, autumny nights spend curled up with a cup of tea and a good book. Reading is a feast for every season.
