Summer reading suggestions?

... but first a clarification. Sarah Vowell's indeed from Bozeman, MT. However, she was born in Oklahoma. As I am in the midwest, I count that, too.

I read Jhumpa Lahiri's story collection <i>Unaccustomed Earth</i> a couple of months' ago. I would recommend it, but am not sure for a weekend in a Montana cabin. Louise Erdrich's new one <i>The Plague of Doves</i> might be more suiting. Am about to dig into that one, myself.

Anything by E. Annie Proulx and Jane Smiley would do, too. For something not-so "mainstream," I just ordered Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore's new novel <i>So Many Ways To Sleep Badly</i>. That will be next.

I've been reading like a maniac this summer, especially non-fiction.

I most highly recommend <i>Gilead</i> by Marilynne Robinson. This epistolary novel about a Midwestern preacher nearing the end of his life is one of the most moving and thought-provoking books I've read in years.

I recommend anything by Harvey Pekar, particularly the <i>American Splendor</i> series. I most recently read <i>The Quitter</i> and <i>Ego & Hubris</i>. Ditto for Stephen King (particularly <i>The Stand</i>, which only seems more pertinent as time passes) and Phillip K. Dick. Dick's novels are generally pretty challenging, but his book of short stories is fairly accessible.

Frank Miller's <i>Sin City</i> series is breathtakingly beautiful (illustrated in entirely black and white - best grasp of contrast I've seen), but his figures are rather grotesque (particularly his absurdly-built female characters, who are almost without exception sex workers) and his plots are definitely misogynistic. Daniel Clowes' <i>Ghost World</i> is quite good and sad - the movie is good too.

This past spring I got into Shirley Jackson. You probably know her short story "The Lottery", but all of her work is quite good, particularly the collection of short stories of the same name (I also enjoyed <i>We Have Always Lived in the Castle</i>.) <i>The Lottery</i> was surprisingly (pre-Betty Friedan) feminist, with most stories centering around the plights and choices of career women in the city and housewives.

Mary Roach's <i>Bonk</i>, a non-fiction book on the recent history of the scientific study of sex, is very entertaining, though it ends kind of weakly.

More books on my reading list can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/232106.

(P.S., for those of you who are into both online social networking and reading, I highly recommend www.goodreads.com. It's an excellent way to keep track of what you've read - through this site, I know that I've read 20 books this summer and 29 this year - only about 21 away from my goal!!)