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Alan Cheuse's Summer Reading List
All Things Considered Book Reviewer's Seasonal Favorites

Listen to Alan Cheuse's summer reading picks

More Summer Reading from NPR.

June 26, 2003 -- Here, All Things Considered book reviewer Alan Cheuse -- also a published author and creative writing professor at George Mason University in Virginia -- presents a list of summer reading suggestions.

This year's list is a mix of new editions of old classics and exciting new works by fresh authors. Cheuse says that he asks writers to read from their work so that listeners "might get the flavor of the books from the waft of their voices." Listed below are his picks for Summer 2003:

	An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser Library of America "If you've never read An American Tragedy, or if you read it long ago, this summer may be the time to dive into its pages."
	The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway Simon and Schuster This three-CD set has "the authoritative voice of actor Stacy Keach reading these stories that changed American short fiction forever."
	Fear Itself by Walter Mosley Little Brown & Company "Imagine this: A novel with a fairly complicated plot about murder and the quest for a valuable old book that's easier to read than watching a movie."
	Dragon Bones by Lisa See Random House "This novel's a bit more ruminative reading than your average suspense story. Along with the crime you get a short course in Chinese history and a lovely pairing of a nearly estranged couple."
	Pattern Recognition by William Gibson Putnam "William Gibson lives in British Columbia but he writes beautifully about cities around the world, usually in the future. This novel is set in the present but lends the immediate moment a sort of future shine as it collows Cayce Pollard, a so-called 'cool hunter,' flying around the world in search of the latest trends in coolness."
	McSweeny's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales Edited by Michael Chabon Vintage Books "The true knockout piece of this collection is a novella by Rick Moody called 'The Albertine Notes,' that I guess you'd have to classify as science fiction."
	Half in Love by Maile Meloy Scribner "The new short story writer, Montana native Maile Meloy, brought out her first collection last year called Half in Love, and she's been winning awards for it ever since."
	Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg by James M. McPherson Crown "If you want to take a step back into American history this summer, I'd recommend a compact but pithy little work of nonfiction; historian James M. McPherson's Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg."
	Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles by Anthony Swofford Scribner "It's a raucous, often obscene and iconoclastic first person story of the education of a young American Marine that cuts to the bone, and then staunches the wound with just the right prose."
	Paradise Reclaimed by Haldor Laxness Vintage "The story of an Icelandic farmer intrigued with the Mormon religion, who travels to Salt Lake City on his religious quest, leaving his family behind to nothing but trouble."

Alan Cheuse's latest book Listening to the Page is featured in the NPR Shop.

In Depth

Listen to Cheuse's holiday book selections for 2002.

Listen to Cheuse's book selections for summer 2002.

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