3 New Books About Water to Cool You Off
Ilana Lucas
Ilana Lucas
Ilana is an English professor, theatre consultant and playwright based in Toronto, Canada. When she’s not at the theatre or insisting that literary criticism can be fun, she’s singing a cappella or Mozart, occasionally harmonizing with the symphony, or playing “Under Pressure” with her rock handbell group, Pavlov’s Dogs.
You may not have noticed if you sit inside all day and read books, but in the northern hemisphere (and particularly in parts of North America) there have been some pretty nasty temperatures out there. The heat waves aren’t particularly fun to surf; they’re sticky, smelly, and gross, and they tend to provoke a sluggish sort of feeling. If the inferno has you down, never fear! The antidote in this week’s book club is found in bodies of water, the most traditional way to beat the heat. Cruise the ocean, swim the seas, or just jump in the pool: We have all of them in new novel releases.
<em>The Last Cruise</em>
Okay, so maybe the ocean will seem a little less appealing once you read this novel set on the mishap-laden last bon voyage of a long-serving cruise ship. Christensen, winner of the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for The Last Man, pens a tale that Kirkus Reviews describes as “an entertaining mashup of Ship of Fools and Titanic.” The Queen Isabella first sailed in 1953, but her ‘70s-chic looks and lack of modern amenities has made her a fossil. Before putting her out to sea-pasture, her owners have decided to take her on one last refined, adults-only trip that harkens back to midcentury cruising — no cell phones allowed.<em>The Seas</em>
When The Seas was originally published in 2004, it earned its writer a National Book Award for writers under 35. It’s easy to see why; its hypnotic, poetic prose is both captivating and unsettling. In a town so far north all the connecting highways only run south, the young narrator and her mother have been left to fend for themselves for the past 11 years, ever since her father disappeared into the sea. Holding out hope that he’ll return, the awkward, lonely woman clings to the idea that her father once called her a mermaid.<em>The Lido</em>
if you prefer your bodies of water a bit smaller and less threatening, you might enjoy diving into this read that pairs octogenarian Rosemary Peterson with 20-something Kate Matthews, as both try to save their local neighborhood pool in Brixton, London, from the chopping block. Brixton is almost unrecognizable to Rosemary, particularly in the last few years since it’s become heavily gentrified. She’s aged and changed too, but she’s still as sharp as ever and can still remember the days of her youth; in particular, she remembers all the experiences she’s had by the side of the lido. The pool was where she escaped the vagaries of World War II; it’s where she fell in love with her husband of many years, George, and where she coped with his death. When a housing development company sets its sights on the lido’s prime real estate, she knows she has to fight back.Ilana Lucas
Ilana is an English professor, theatre consultant and playwright based in Toronto, Canada. When she’s not at the theatre or insisting that literary criticism can be fun, she’s singing a cappella or Mozart, occasionally harmonizing with the symphony, or playing “Under Pressure” with her rock handbell group, Pavlov’s Dogs.
Ilana Lucas
Ilana Lucas
Ilana is an English professor, theatre consultant and playwright based in Toronto, Canada. When she’s not at the theatre or insisting that literary criticism can be fun, she’s singing a cappella or Mozart, occasionally harmonizing with the symphony, or playing “Under Pressure” with her rock handbell group, Pavlov’s Dogs.