LATE SUMMER READS - posted 8.18.26

I've enjoyed a lovely summer of weaving, gardening, and reading . . . lots and lots of reading. The first book on this list, "Up on Cove Mountain," was released today and deserves lots of recognition. The rest of the books are random finds and suggestions that I hope you are enticed to check out. The subject matters range from touching to terrifying, fascinating to curious. Enjoy!

Up on Cove Mountain  -   Earl Swift

In the 1990s, at the age of 32, journalist and author Earl Swift backpacked through the fourteen-state, end-to-end Appalachian Trail, hiking from Maine to Georgia. Thirty years later, Swift returned to the AT to see if he had what it takes to trek the twenty-two hundred rugged miles as an older man. "Up on Cove Mountain" is Swift's detailed account of both treks, noting how 30 years of climate change have impacted the trail, along with his observations on improvements in technology and gear and upgrades to many of the shelters. A significant part of the memoir is his attempt to make sense of a tragic murder of a young couple, newly in love, in a Pennsylvania mountaintop campsite, two lovely people Swift and many other trekkers felt a connection with. Swift's extensive and visually engaging descriptions are inspiring, as are his accounts about the people he met on both adventures. I welcomed learning about the community of hikers and helpers up and down the Appalachian Trail whose dedication keeps the AT accessible and active. This engrossing memoir could be my favorite read of this summer.

The Story of Arthur Truluv   -   Elizabeth Berg

Arthur Truluv is a victim of habit and routine. After the passing of his wife, each day is the same as the day before, for months on end, as he spends those days taking care of his rose garden and spending lunchtime talking to his deceased wife buried in a near-by cemetery. That is, until an 18-year-old high school truant, Maddy Harris, who hangs out at the cemetery, slowly moves into his field of vision. Curious about the man who talks to a cemetery headstone, she joins him one day . . . and the next day . . . and the next. She is the yin to his yang and, over time, a friendship between the two lonely people develops. Soon, Arthur's lonely next-door neighbor, Lucille, becomes aware of a new face at her neighbor's house and she forces her way into Maddy and Arthur's field of vision. The three bond with each other, bringing hope to their formerly lonesome lives, as Arthur's quiet house becomes home for the three of them. This is the sweetest story, a testament to being open to change and accepting the kindness of strangers.

Foster   -   Claire Keegan

Keegan tells a story with delicate simplicity, choosing words and the story itself so carefully that each sentence reads like a sigh, a breath of air. "Foster" is a sad, sad story centered around a motherless and loveless child whose standoffish father drops her off to live on their relative's farm, with no words indicating when and if he will return for her. The family she is forced upon turns out to be warm and affectionate, waking up emotions she's never had the opportunity to embrace. 

A Marriage at Sea   -   Sophie Elmhirst

If you've ever dreamt of sailing off to the sunset, this book will either inspire you or scare you to stay on dry land. Using many sources, including journal writings, international media coverage, broadcasts and interviews, author Sophie Elmhirst has conjured, as true as possible, the details of the British couple Maurice and Maralyn Baily's 1972 journey as they set sail on their brand new sailboat, with plans of never returning home. Their story is that of utter perseverance and trust and their 1000% commitment to carrying out their dream. One can't help but look inward while reading their story, wondering "could I do what the Bailey's had no choice to do to survive their shipwreck or would I be incapable of fighting for my life while stranded in the middle of an ocean?" It's a good read, a page-turner, and a story that confirmed my comfort level of keeping my sailing experiences to small inland lakes, where whales can't cause the boat to sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Should the Waters Take Us   -   Stephanie Soileau

After being forcibly evicted from their homes in the maritime regions of Canada during the Great Expulsion, between 1755 and 1764, many deported Acadians eventually migrated to Louisiana, where they became known as Cajuns. Life is hard on the Louisiana bayou, especially for the Acadians who live off the grid in the hurricane-prone backwaters. This debut novel about the hard life endured by a family and close-knit community is a two-fold saga. First it follows four centuries of one family, from their home in France to Acadia, Canada, to Southern Louisiana and the hold those generations have on their sense of place and ownership - and - secondly, the all-powerful and corrupt oil industry's disregard for the survivors and families of deceased workers, as well as the environmental contamination caused when an offshore oil rig explodes, discharging a disastrous oil spill that devastates the bayou community's fishing livelihood. Ultimately, the story is about how one person's personal dishonesty and disdain can impact an entire community, while simultaneously revealing how the same dishonesty and disdain from a major corporation can utterly sabotage a way of life.

Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938   -   R.A. Scotti

Culled from newspaper articles, personal accounts from survivors, and archival documents, R.A. Scotti has recreated what was referred to as "the Perfect Storm" that decimated the entire coastline of New England on a hot and humid September day. Seven states, whose populations ranged from the wealthy summer mansion owners who lived steps from the Atlantic Ocean on the Long Island Sound, to the farmers, business owners and year-round residents in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, parts of New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont whose children were returning from their first day at school, to the offspring of wealthy New England families who attended the private schools and colleges scattered throughout the region found themselves, in a matter of minutes, in the most powerful human drama one can imagine. Poor judgement on the part of a United States Weather Washington, DC Bureau meteorologist resulted in those states not receiving a call to evacuate, resulting in the Northeast needing to be remapped and rebuilt. For readers fascinated by Sebastion Junger's "The Perfect Storm" and Erik Larson's "Isaac's Storm: The Drowning of Galveston," this minute-by-minute account by the survivors who watched their homes and family members get swept to sea is as gripping and horrifying as Junger and Larsons' accounts, as the reality of how mother nature can wipe out a population in the blink of an eye.

Pompeii   -   Richard Harris

Having visited Pompeii in May of 2026 . . . and Herculaneum . . . I have become rather obsessed with the disaster and the subsequent recovery of the two ancient cities. Reading Richard Harris' recreation of the days before Mt. Vesuvius erupted and the day it happened was like watching a movie in my mind of the catastrophe that buried the Roman empire's wealthiest residents, their homes and their city on the beautiful Mediterranean coast. Harris' historical fiction centers around a young engineer, Marcus Attilius Primus, who is placed in charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct that brings fresh water to the inhabitants of the towns along the Bay of Naples. Springs begin failing along the 60-mile main line near Mt. Vesuvius . . . and the person in charge is missing. Attilius' mission is to locate the water line's source and report to the famous scholar Pliny the Elder. The story takes Attilius to Pompeii in search of the fault but is assigned an expedition crew of shady, violent men who attempt to block any successful repairs to the aqueduct and kill Attilius. In real life, as On the morning of August 24, 79 AD, Admiral Pliny the Elder stood on the deck of his flagship in the Bay of Naples, watching what appeared to be a massive pine tree growing from the summit of Mount Vesuvius. But this tree was made of ash and fire, reaching twenty miles into the sky. While every instinct of self-preservation screamed at people to flee, the 56-year-old commander of Rome's Mediterranean fleet made a decision that would have seemed insane to anyone else: he ordered his ships to sail directly toward the erupting volcano.