Summer reading list
This summer’s FICTION soars over time and space, zipping from Syria to New York to Cape Cod to Uruguay, and hopscotching over decades to consider everything from the outset of World War II to today’s war on terror. – Marjorie Kehe, Monitor book editor
LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN
by Colum McCann (Random House, 368 pp., $25)
In the summer of 1974 – as the Nixon administration imploded – French high-wire artist Philippe Petit cavorted on a cable stretched 110 stories high between the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center. Irish novelist McCann (“Zoli”) uses this audacious act to weave together the stories of 10 disparate characters.
The Dark Side of love
by Rafik Schami (Interlink Pub Group, 900 pp., $24)
“Romeo and Juliet” set in 1950s Damascus – that’s the essence of this debut novel by a Syrian author. The story starts with a murder and moves through a tangled web of stories of love and revenge, set against a backdrop of Syrian history and politics.
The Enthusiast by Charlie Haas (Harper, 304 pp., $13.99)
Protagonist Henry Bay writes for special-interest magazines about everything from spelunking to tea cozies. Now it’s time for him to find a passion of his own.
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