The Paris Wife and Other Summer Reads

It’s time to assemble my Summer Reading List. This is my favorite time of the year, hot weather and hot reads. Give me a book to read and I am a happy girl!

Here is the list that I have assembled to start my reading off with a bang.

-The Paris Wife by Paula McLain – I have to confess, I already read this book with my book group and loved it. The author tells the story of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson, during their Paris years. Anyone who loves the 1920′s, Paris and romance will enjoy this book.

-In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson – After reading The Devil in the White City by Larson, about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and a serial killer, I have become a fan. In his latest novel, it’s 1933 and the U.S. ambassador to Berlin along with his family deals with Hitler’s rise to power.

-Faith by Jennifer Haigh – An Irish Catholic family, a priest and his sister. How the church’s pedophile scandals in Boston affect a family. If anyone has read Jennifer Haigh’s other books, Mrs. Kimble, The Condition and Baker Towers, they will not be able to put this book down either.

-Dreams of Joy by Lisa See – In Lisa See’s previous book, Shanghai Girls, Pearl and May, who are sisters, escape Shanghai to come to America. In Dreams of Joy, Pearl’s daughter, Joy, runs away to Shanghai in 1957 to find her birth father, a famous artist. Joy becomes involved in the New Society of Red China, not paying attention to the dangers of the communist regime. Pearl follows Joy in order to save her daughter during one of China’s most turbulent times in history.

-Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling – Recommended by a good friend, this book tells the story of the art looted from Parisian galleries and museums under Nazi occupation; and a son’s quest to recover his family’s lost masterpieces.

-In Stitches by Anthony Youn, with Alan Eisenstock – Recommended by my lovely daughter-in-law, this book is a warm and funny memoir of Anthony Youn, a young Korean doctor who shares his frenzied travels through medical school, ending with his residency in plastic surgery. This book shares Anthony’s journey from being an unpopular nerd to his chosen field and the path he takes to get there.

-Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution by Michelle Moran – I love historical novels. Give me a book that takes place anytime in the 1700s, 1800s or 1900s and I am there. This novel tells the story of Madame Tussaud during the French Revolution and how she learns the secrets of wax sculpting.

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton – The story of Gabrielle Hamilton and the offbeat way she starts Prune, her restaurant in New York City. I love a good restaurant chef memoir.

Finally, the summer would not be complete without a cookbook for grilling. I recently purchased Latin Grilling, by Lourdes Castro. Lovely recipes from Latin and South America, divided into different regions and complete with appetizers to desert for that perfect fiesta. I have already made the Citrus and Oregano Marinated Split Chicken. Perfection!

I would love to know what is on your reading list this summer.

I have some new vintage jewelry I recently purchased. Perfect for those long summer days. Please take a look!

– Painting by Henri-Emile-Benoit Matisse, Woman Reading, 1894.