[Each of the last
few years, I’ve helped kick
off summer with a series on AmericanStudies
Beach Reads. If it ain’t broke and all, so here’s this year’s edition!
Please share your responses and beach read nominees for a weekend post that’ll
put its toes in the sand!]
On a great new
mystery that literally forced its way into this series.
I wanted the
second post in this year’s Beach Reads series to focus on a relatively new
novel, and was all set to write a post on David Gilbert’s
funny and moving & Sons (2013),
which I certainly recommend. But at the same time I had my hands on Attica
Locke’s new third mystery novel, Pleasantville (2015),
and, well, I couldn’t put it down long enough to write the post. Indeed, I’m
writing these words having just finished Locke’s novel, which I was compelled
to do before I did anything else. So even though I’ve already paid ample
tribute to Locke’s considerable talents in this space, I’m not sure there’s
a better definition of a great beach read than a book that requires your
sustained attention, work or other obligations be damned, until you’ve finished
it. Pleasantville fits that bill and
then some, and might well be the best of Locke’s three great novels. Enough
said!
Next Beach Read
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. Other Beach
Reads you’d share?
No comments:
Post a Comment