Ferndale Public Library Staff Recommends: Susan's Summer Reading Suggestions

Susan's Picks

The Interestings 
By Meg Wolitzer 
FIC WOLITZER
Written for adults but featuring teen characters, this novel follows the lives of six friends over decades of friendship, starting in 1974, when the group meets at “Spirit-In-the-Woods” a young artist’s summer camp. They dub themselves “the interestings” during a secret, late-night meeting. Julie, the narrator, is slowly drawn into the privileged lives of siblings Ash and Goodman, the platonic best friend of Ethan, captivated by Jonah, the loner of the group, and intimated by Cathy, the girl who dreams of becoming a professional dancer, but has those dreams destroyed after something goes wrong that threatens the friendship of the group. Following the lives of the six teenagers from summer camp into college and then full-fledged adulthood, this novel is about what happens when success, struggle for power, and the loss of innocence change a generation, and a friendship, but still, even after tragedies and dangerous family secrets are revealed, show what a powerful bond friendship is. If this review sounds sappy, trust me the book is not!

Lessons In French 
By Hilary Reyl 
FIC REYL
Think of this book as the more sophicated sibling of Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada. Set in 1980s Paris, Kate, a 22-year-old recent graduate of Yale, arrives in the “city of light” to work for a famous, although fictional, American photographer. She falls immediately in love with Olivier, the (gasp) older ex-boyfriend of Lydia’s daughter Portia, meets another young American working in Paris named Christie, and reunites with her cousin Ettiene. Her job seems glamorous, and she’s happy, but everyone warns her she’s nothing more than Lydia’s domestique. As she deals with the increasingly complicated demands of Lydia and her high society friends, she discovers a shocking secret that almost derails Lydia’s marriage. She suddenly realizes she’s more capable of taking on a monster than she thinks. This is a beach read for smart girls. That’s all.

My Life After Now 
By Jessica Verdi 
YA VERDI
Seventeen year-old Lucy is a good girl; she’s always been a good girl. So when she has the worst week ever, plus gets bad news from her parents, she morphs into “wild girl Lucy.”  “Wild Girl Lucy” does something completely out of character for herself.  She makes a choice and it changes her life forever, even making her wonder exactly how much life she has left to live. This is a powerful and hopeful read. Definitely a page-turner. 

The Engagements 
By J. Courtney Sullivan 
FIC SULLIVAN
Ever wondered about where the slogan “A Diamond Is Forever” came from? Even if you haven’t, you’ve probably heard it before. This novel tells the stories of four couples and their relationships over the course of several decades – the novel switches between the pairs and takes place between 1947 and 2012.  If this sounds confusing, the author skillfully weaves the whole book together so it’s easy to tell who’s who and what year it is.  Besides the four couples, one character is Mary Frances Gerety, the woman who created the famous diamond line for DeBeers Diamonds in 1947.  Sullivan also includes real advertising memos, portions of research reports and historical data, illustrating the importance of diamonds and the role of women in advertising agencies (a lot has changed since the 1940s, ladies!).  Whether you are absorbed in Evie and Gerald’s story from 1930s Boston; James and Shelia in Southie, Massachusetts, during the 1980s; Delphine & PJ from 2003; or Kate and Dan and the wedding Kate’s planning for 2012, the point is that love means different things to different people, and diamonds really are forever.

Take Me Home 
By One Direction 
CD ONE DIRECTION
Here’s a review of 1D’s latest CD just in time for their world tour stop in Detroit on July 12. Full of catchy pop songs guaranteed to get stuck in your head (just when we finally erased “Call Me Maybe,” right?) perfect for summer time listening-in the car, by the pool, at camp, you get the idea. "Let’s go crazy, crazy, crazy, ‘til we see the sun ... " Plus, we also have a copy of One Direction’s book Life As One Direction in YA biography. 

Cheers!