Wednesday, December 21, 2022

by Emilyn Linden

It’s officially winter, folks, and Wisconsin seems to want to make sure we know it. If you’re longing for warmth and sunshine, transport yourself with one of these wonderful stories set in warmer times. Happy Winter Solstice! 

 Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury -

This classic novel of American childhood summers set in 1928 in fictional Green Town, IL. 

 Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly -

Maureen Daly wrote this classic young adult novel about a teen experiencing her first love at 17 when the author was 17 herself. Set in Fond du Lac in the early 1940s, it describes a contemporary teenage romance. 

 Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland -

For decades the Goldman and Weingold families have summered at The Golden Hotel in the Catskills. The hotel is not what it used to be, though, and an offer to sell makes the two families evaluate where they’ve been and what they value.

 Summer on the Bluffs by Sunny Hostin -

Oak Bluffs is an exclusive Black community in Martha’s Vineyard, defined by high achieving old money families. Three women who spent their summers with their Ama in Oak Bluffs must now contend with her decision to move to France and leave her house to one of them.

 Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver -

Kingsolver brings together the stories of people living very different lives in a small town in Southern Appalachia. Each character finds their connection to each other and to their shared environment over the course of one summer.

 Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid -

The four Riva siblings are envied and watched with fascination the world over. Nina Riva’s famous annual end-of-summer party sees the four coming together with all their functional and dysfunctional relationships for one spectacular, drama night.  

 The Guncle by Steven Rowley -

Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP) loves being an uncle. Swooping in for holidays or hosting weeklong vacations for his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. He certainly doesn’t feel prepared to take on primary caretaker duties for a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old, but that’s exactly where he finds himself when the kids unexpectedly lose their mother and his brother has a health crisis of his own.

 A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams -

Lily Dane is looking forward to a placid summer season in Seaview, Rhode Island, until her ex-best friend and ex-fiance, Nick and Budgie Greenwald arrive in town, that is.

Emilyn Linden is a librarian in the FDL Public Library Information and Outreach Services department.