I’m on vacation, so I’ve outsourced the newsletter this week to my colleagues, whom I’ve asked for summer reading recommendations. And scroll down to catch up on some of the most popular Review stories this year so far. I’ll be back next week.
Fernanda Zamudio-Suarez, newsletter editor: My favorite genre is translated literature that takes place in one room or neighborhood, and Trick by Domenico Starnone nails it. A grandfather goes back to the home where he raised his children to take care of his four-year-old grandson for a few days. It’s a story about jealousy and the fear of aging.
Emma Pettit, senior reporter: I just finished David Grann’s new nonfiction book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, and boy it sure is a tale of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder. Every time you think, “Oh my god, things can’t possibly get worse for these guys,” there’s another scurvy outbreak, then a huge storm, then lots of people drown, and then that all happens like five more times. But Grann’s writing is extremely cinematic and also funny enough to get you through the human horror of it all.
Ronald Barba, senior editor: I’m reading Thoreau’s Axe: Distraction and Discipline in American Culture from Caleb Smith, which digs into the genealogy of distraction. It presents an insightful argument that the current ethos around discipline and self-improvement is less a defining trait of this century than a revival of sorts.
Kate Hidalgo Bellows, staff reporter: Just finished Drunk by Edward Slingerland, which makes the case that the consumption of alcohol was foundational to the development of civilizations — and encourages readers to let loose, in moderation.
David Jesse, senior reporter: I’ve been spending a lot of time at baseball fields as my sons play ball this spring. I just finished Ryan McGee’s Welcome to the Circus of Baseball, an inside look at minor league baseball in the 1990s. Very funny and a perfect ballpark or beach or campground read.
David Wescott, senior editor: I’m thoroughly enjoying The Word of the Speechless, a collection of short stories by the Peruvian writer Julio Ramón Ribeyro. The early stories — written in the 1950s — are dark, sinister, gripping, and never without a sense of humor.
Claudia Trapp, human resources: I am three-quarters of the way through Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers, by Chip Heath and Karla Starr. How do you communicate numbers so folks actually understand?
Stephanie Lee, senior reporter: I tore through Hua Hsu’s memoir Stay True, now a Pulitzer Prize winner, in what felt like hours. In lyrical prose and unsparing detail, Hsu — a staff writer for The New Yorker and a Bard College professor — recounts his time as a lonely Taiwanese American student at the University of Califonia at Berkeley, trying to make meaning out of mixtapes and zines; a transformative friendship; and a loss that upends everything. It’s a coming-of-age story that’s both heartbreaking and very funny.
