Neil Gaiman, Diana Gabaldon, Michael Connelly, and others recommend books for your summer pleasure

June 9, 11:56 AMBook ExaminerMichelle Kerns

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         Mr. Gaiman recommends

Pining for a good book to take your mind off the Incredible Tanking Economy this summer? Stephen King has already trotted out his admirable list (take a look at it here). Various other literary luminaries -- including Neil Gaiman, Mary Karr, Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Michael Connelly, and Diana Gabaldon -- told Salon.com their recommendations at Book Expo America. Cast your eye on their suggestions.

Neil Gaiman

The Omnivore's Dilemma (just don't read this on your way to a blow-out July 4th barbecue) - Michael Pollan

The End of Mr. Y - Scarlett Thomas (452 pages of dense bliss)

Anything by Sherman Alexie, including the oft-banned The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Collected Essays of John Peale, which Mr. Gaiman then goes on to say that only British readers will like: for shame, Mr. Gaiman; we're not all heathenous Yanks out here...are we?

Michael Connelly

Mr. Connelly's pick is George Pelecanos' The Way Home. Here he is gushing over the work of Mr. Pelecanos and plugging his own latest book, The Scarecrow, part of his broody Bosch LAPD detective series (take a look at a review of the previous Bosch novel, The Brass Verdict, here).

Diana Gabaldon

Ms. Gabaldon had a positive avalanche of summer reading suggestions: Ian Rankin, Stuart McBride, Adrian McKinty, Dana Stabenow, Nevada Barr, and Charlaine Harris, as well as Jan Guillou's The Road to Jerusalem. Here she is talking about those and her seventh Outlander book, due out September 22nd:

Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Both of these venerable gentlemen named books that are on my own personal list of What To Read This Summer: Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone and Dennis Lehane's The Given Day. These guys are a hoot:

Jonathon Lethem

Mr. Lethem, bless his hoity-toity heart, plans on reading Balzac's Lost Illusions this summer. On the beach, no less.

            Ms. Karr recommends

Mary Karr

Ms. Karr recommended Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding and anything by Isaac Babel.

So, talk to me people: what are you planning on reading out there this summer?

If you're in desperate need of more ideas, take a look at some book lists here:

20 best non-fiction books for people who think they hate to read non-fiction

10 books that will scare the hell out of you

10 best books for treating Harry Potter withdrawal

10 funniest books of all-time

10 best books for Twilight addicts

Stephen King's On Writing book recommendations

10 best books to read while screwing off at work

The Book Examiner's 50 favorite books of all-time

10 books with the most surprising endings in literature

And, if you're seriously devout, the behemoth book lists included in the Book Examiner's Outrageously Ambitious 40 Year Reading Plan