Here are some summer reading suggestions from authors who have recently appeared at Brooklyn Reading Works, a monthly reading series at the Old Stone House. Readings resume in September 2010.

Fiction:

A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein: What happens when a successful doctor in New Jersey with a devoted wife and a young son finds out that his best friend’s daughter has a shocking and unspeakable past. Grodstein read a chapter from this novel at Fiction in a Blender 2010.

The Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick: A high-quality page turner set in 1907 Wisconsin about a mail order bride. Goolrick read his incredible memoir, The End of the World As We Know it at the Memoirathon in 2009.

Third Girl from the Left by Martha Southgate: A  novel about three generations of an African American family and the power of the movies. Southgate read the first chapter of this novel at Edgy Mother’s Day 2010.

The Big Machine by Victor LaValle: His work has been called a mix of Gabriel Maria Marquez and Edgar Allen Poe. A funny book about a middle aged hustler who is inducted into a league of paranormal investigators. LaValle read the first chapter at BRW’s Young, Gifted and Black (Men) in September 2009.

Signifying Nothing by Clifford Thompson: Set in Washington, D.C., in 1979 this novel focuses on  Lester Hobbs, nineteen years old, mentally retarded and mute until the day he suddenly begins to rap at the top of his lungs about life with his parents and older siblings. Thompson read at the Young, Gifted and Black (Men) reading in September 2009.

God Says No by James Hanaham: a young black man strugglles with his appetites–for friendship and love, for religious experience, for corndogs, for illicit gay sex in Waffle House bathrooms, for acceptance. He tries everything to change himself…Hanaham read at the Young, Gifted and Black (Men) reading in September 2009.

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel: A tale of food and friendship (the subtitle) told through letters and recipes. Israel and Garfinkel read at December’s Feast reading.

Tin House Summer Reading Issue edited by Rob Spillman: Short fiction by Lydia Millet, Steven Milhauser, Per Patterson and more. Rob Spillman curated January’s BRW, which featured three Tin House authors.

No Perfect Words by Nava Renek: In this East Village break-up book, the narrator addresses in second-person her longtime lover, a cultural critic of some renown who has recently left her and their seven-year-old daughter, Jenna. Renek read at the 2010 Memoirathon. 

From Rockaway by Jill Eisenstadt: “If Rockaway, at the Atlantic edge of New York City, were a state of mind, it would be energized despair. Or so it seems for the teenagers in this finely tuned first novel who have spent their lives in “Rotaway” and are unlikely to get out. They drink a lot, do a little dope, talk about sex more than have it and feel no more in charge of their lives at 18 than they did in Catholic grammar school.” — Publisher’s Weekly. The book is available from used booksellers at Amazon. Eisenstadt curated the Young Writers event at BRW in 2009 and read at Edgy Mother’s Day 2010.

Always Hiding by Sophia Romero: A coming of age novel set in Manila’s materialistic upper class under the Marcos regime, the main character deals with immigration to the US and her conflicted feelings about life here.Romero curated Edgy Mother’s Day and read at Feast 2009 and Edgy Moms.

Non-Fiction

Money Changes Everything edited by Elissa Schappell and Jenny Offill: An anthology of essay and memoir pieces on the subject of money. Schappell appeared at the Truth and Money reading and discussion on tax day 2010.

The Art of Making Money by Jason Kersten: The author traces the riveting, rollicking, roller coaster journey of a young man from Chicago who escaped poverty, for a while at least, after being apprenticed into counterfeiting by an Old World Master. Kersten appeared at the Truth and Money reading and discussion on tax day 2010.

The End of the World As We Know It by Robert Goolrick: A dark, captivating memoir about a southern family. Beautifully written with humor and depth. Goolrick read at the 2009 Memoirathon.

Dirt: The Quirks, Habits and Passions of Keeping House edited by Mindy Lewis: this book of essays and memoir pieces features an essay by Branka Ruzak, who curates the Memoirathon.

Poetry

Black Irish by Michele Madigan Somerville (Plain View Press)

The Virgin Formica by Sharon Mesmer (Hanging Loose Press)

Modern Life by Matthea Harvey (Greywolf Press)

Knock Knock by Heather Hartley (Carnegie Mellon University Press)

In Memory of the Fast Break by Michael Sweeney (Plain View Press)