My stack of the book review sections of the Sunday New York Times is starting to rival my pile of New Yorker magazines.  Catching up on this first day of summer, I found ideas for summer reading:

• Mary Roach’s comment in “By the Book”: the last book to make her laugh was Norwood by Charles Portis (author of True Grit).  My library system has it on audio book, prompting me to download a new app on my iPhone – “Overdrive.”  Now I can listen to “the wonder chicken” section recommended by Roach.
• Gregory Cowles for “Inside the List” commented on the sexy backstory of waiters in Stephanie Danier’s new Book, Sweetbitter.    Downloaded to my iPad, it’s steaming up.

Books to look for (none with “Girls” in the title):

• Enchanted Islands by Alison Armand:  “A couple with their own secrets surveil Germans in the Galapagos just before World War II…”
• All things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brudage: “literary thriller…involves a cursed house, an unsolved murder, and impeccable writing.”
• The Children by Ann Leary: “story of a wealthy but unconventional New England family, told from the perspective of a reclusive 29 year old who has a secret and famous life on the Internet.
• Jim Henson:The Biography by Brian Jay Jones: beloved puppeter and creator of the Muppets, who died in 1990.
• The Painter of Souls by Philip Kazan: fictionalized version of Renaissance artist Filippo Lippi
• The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers read by Susan Sarandon on audible

And tomorrow, Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl is published, going to the top of my list.

For more inspiration, check out the New York Times article – 12 New Books We’re Reading This Summer