Summer reading

SheWrites.com: A salon of one's own

Frieda Klotz — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:29:00 PDT

Last month, when Kamy Wicoff launched the beta version of a networking site called SheWrites.com, she knew it was a good idea, but she may not have guessed quite how good. She Writes is an online community of female writers that works like Facebook: Anyone can join, and members can create groups, post work, and advertise readings and workshops. The forum features memoirists, biographers, erotica writers, bloggers and journalists, and it counts feminists like Elaine Showalter among its number. Within days of its launch, She Writes had several hundred members. Within a week it had a thousand.

David Foster Wallace lives on for an "Infinite Summer"

Joe Coscarelli — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:20:00 PDT

There are many ways to cope with death, but founding an online book club is a pretty unique approach. "When I heard that David Foster Wallace had died, it was like remembering an assignment that had been due the day before," said Matthew Baldwin. A blogger who regretted never having finished "Infinite Jest," Baldwin founded InfiniteSummer.org, a Web site and collaborative reading experiment that creates a vast literary support group for completing the late author's 1,079-page tome over the course of this summer.

Summer reading: True confessions

Salon staff — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:40:00 PDT

Last week Laura Miller recommended great thrillers to keep you chilly on a long, sultry afternoon, and some of our favorite authors talked about their summer reading picks (which ranged from Balzac to Sherman Alexie to Michael Pollan).

Authors recommend great summer reading

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:09:00 PDT

The giant Javits convention center in New York City felt a bit empty during last week’s Book Expo America, the publishing industry’s annual gathering. Attendance was down and recession-friendly cocktail parties replaced the traditional sit-down dinners. But bestselling authors dutifully showed up to promote their latest books, and committed fans lined up to have them signed.

Summer reading: Neil Gaiman recommends

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:07:00 PDT

The author of "Coraline," "Stardust," and the "Sandman" graphic novels shares some of his favorite reads. Find more suggested books here.

Summer reading: Michael Connelly recommends

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:07:00 PDT

Michael Connelly is a bestselling novelist and the creator of LAPD detective Hieronymus Bosch, a character that he's featured again and again in works like "The Concrete Blonde," "The Overlook" and the forthcoming "Nine Dragons." We asked him to recommend a summer read. Find more recommendations here.

Summer reading: Jonathan Lethem recommends

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:06:00 PDT

The Brooklyn author tells us why he'll be taking Balzac to the beach. Find more summer reading suggestions here.

Summer reading: Diana Gabaldon recommends

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:04:00 PDT

The bestselling author of the "Outlander" series on good crime fiction. Find more suggestions here.

Summer reading: Sarah Dunant recommends

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:04:00 PDT

The bestselling author recommends three new books. Find more suggested reading here.

Summer reading: Berkeley Breathed recommends

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:04:00 PDT

Berkeley Breathed, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and children's book author, recommends picking up the history books you haven't read since high school. Find more summer reading lists here.

Summer reading: Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson recommend

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:04:00 PDT

Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have just finished their "fourth book in the 'Peter and the Starcatchers' trilogy." We caught up with them at Book Expo America to ask what we should read this summer. Find more suggested reading here.

Summer reading: Killer thrillers

Laura Miller — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:20:00 PDT

When the days grow long and hot, some readers reach for fizzy novels about sex and shopping, or warm-hearted accounts of potato peel societies and ya-ya sisterhoods. Not me. I want blood and murder, intrigue and treachery, dark secrets and paranoia. A good thriller is what keeps me devouring the pages through summer's sultry afternoons and long flights.

Summer reads

Salon staff — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:26:00 PDT

Salon's staff is recommending summer books that will whisk you to another time and place without making you go through airport security. Previous weeks featured thrillers, chick lit and memoirs.

Summer reads

Salon staff — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:51:00 PDT

Salon's staff is recommending summer books you can really sink your teeth into. Last week we featured killer thrillers. In this second installment, we spotlight four novels that loosely fall under the category of chick lit. They range from a black-humored romp about a spurned MBA student seeking romantic revenge to the saga of New England belles living it up in a gothic manse on the Maine coast to a single city girl who sets off on a round-the-world adventure to a funny mother-daughter duo in need of some serious bonding -- and a good bat mitzvah dress.

Summer reads

Laura Miller and Louis Bayard — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:31:00 PDT

Memorial Day brings the promise of summer: languorous days spent lounging at the beach or by the air conditioner with the perfect page-turner. A mesmerizing potboiler, a heady historic tome, a gripping memoir -- you want a book that transports you to exotic places without making you go through airport security. You want something you can really sink your teeth into, but that won't leave you feeling overstuffed. In the coming weeks, Salon's staff will recommend a selection of summer reads -- mysteries, chick lit, memoirs and fiction with a historical twist.

Summer reads

Salon staff — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 04:06:00 PDT

All month, Salon's staff has been recommending summer books that won't make you feel cheap and empty. (Or maybe they will, in the best possible way.)

Summer reads

Salon staff — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 05:21:00 PDT

Throughout June, Salon's staff is recommending summer books that won't make you feel cheap and empty. (Or maybe they will, in the best possible way.) Previous weeks featured killer thrillers and chic lit.

Summer reads

Salon staff — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 04:55:00 PDT

Throughout June, Salon's staff is recommending summer books that won't make you feel cheap and empty. (Or maybe they will, in the best possible way.) Last week we featured killer thrillers.

Summer reads

Salon staff — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 03:51:00 PDT

Every June brings the tantalizing conundrum: what books to drip lemonade on this summer? At the start of the season, we imagine the weeks stretching languorously in front of us, and what could be better than to pass our days lounging at the beach, in the yard or at the pool with the perfect page-turner?

Honey, I read "The Stranger"!

Louis Bayard — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 12:30:00 PDT

The president read Camus' "The Stranger" on vacation in Texas, and now you can read the book report he wrote for Laura!