Philadelphia authors talk about their summer reading

June 23, 1:55 PMPhiladelphia Literary Scene ExaminerKathye Petrie

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Every season has its rituals, and for many book lovers, now is the time to compile the always exciting and optimistic summer reading list. To assist you with this pleasurable task, your Philadelphia Literary Scene Examiner asked several area authors:  What one book will you absolutely be reading this summer and why?

As you can imagine, this question threw most of the authors, as writers also tend to be "biblioholics." As such, how could one narrow his or her anticipated reading down to just one title? In the end, each managed to comply. Now their choices may become yours as well.

In addition to the reading choices of these authors, your Philadelphia Literary Scene Examiner highly recommends books by these Philadelphia writers as well. Read local. Read on. And may your summer reading list be, as Dennis Tafoya says, "ridiculously long."

Beth Kephart, author of Undercover, House of Dance and Nothing But Ghosts:

I’m reading Broken for You, a much-loved first novel by Stephanie Kallos. Broken was edited by Lauren Wein of Grove, an editor for whom I have the utmost respect; books showcase editors at work, as much as authors.

 

Christopher Klim, author of Idiot, The Winners Circle, Write to Publish and Jesus Lives in Trenton:

Mary Yukari Waters' The Favorites, the first novel from a multiple O'Henry, Pushcart, and Best American Short Story winner. The Japanese American writes about her experiences growing up as such, and she's a very cool person, too.

Dennis Tafoya, author of Dope Thief:

My too-read list is getting ridiculously long, but I'm especially looking forward to reading the story collection, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, by Wells Tower, which I've been waiting for since I first read his story, "Leopard" in the New Yorker - A really funny and dead-on recreation of preteen angst.

Gregory Frost, author of the Shadowbridge duology/fantasy, including Lord Tophet:

As an active member of the Philadelphia Liars Club, my one book for reading this summer is The Liar's Tale: A History of Falsehood by Jeremy Campbell, a clever cross-discipline non-fiction work that addresses how essential lying is, running a wild gamut from the deceptive colorings of Leptalides butterflies to Odysseus the quintessential trickster to cubism. Of course I'm saying that after only having read a dozen pages . . . so maybe I'm lying.

Kelly Simmons, author of Standing Still:

I will be reading books whose titles end in the word "wife"—The Senator's Wife, American Wife . . . and The Wife. I'm doing this to find out why so many book titles end with the same word!