The Books Of July: Midsummer Charisma

By Maggie Hellwig in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 17, 2012 4:20PM

The books at hand this July have a substantial amount of personality to accompany us on the hot summer days.

Things That Are
By Amy Leach

Ever wonder what it is like to be a goat? Or, a sea cucumber? We don't usually think about it either, but there's one book this month that explores nature's overlooked and obscure features in intimate detail. Amy Leach's compilation of essays, Things That Are, examines the minuscule and unobtrusive oddities of "Earth" and "Heaven." This is not a laborious scientific book, nor is it written from Christian sentiment. Rather, sources tell us that Leach's expositions take on a mythic tone likened to a fairy tale or a bedtime story. Her vignettes, with titles such as "Sail On, My Little Honeybee," and, "When Trees Dream Of Being Trees," are escorted with detailed ink illustrations by Nate Christopherson. The style of the book has been compared to Thoreau or Emily Dickinson's poetry, with the whimsical imagination of Lewis Carroll. Leach is a decorated writer of nonfiction, a teacher, and a musician, residing in our city of Chicago. And while we haven't spent much time inspecting the deep thoughts of a pea plant nor a water lily, indeed we scarcely notice these specimens, we appreciate that someone has their eyes agape enough to point them out and imagination fertile enough to transport us.

The Moon, Come to Earth
By Philip Graham

This book of "dispatches" first appeared on the McSweeney's site titled, "Philip Graham Spends a Year in Lisbon." It was re-published and has recently been made available as a free e-book by The University of Chicago Press. Several years ago, Graham told the Tribune that while the posted chapters on McSweeney's was an apt birthplace for the project, he envisioned them as "full-blown essays," and thus the novel unfolded. The author is a professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who seems to take his family along with him wherever he goes. The Moon, Come to Earth--a glimpse into Graham's travel with his family in Lisbon--is written with the poignancy of a love letter, but kept honest with humor and insight . The author is fascinated by Portugal: its language, people, landscape, and its food. The Tribune and The Guardian refer to his writing as optimistic, inquisitive, and enchanting. A little bit more than a travel booklet, or a series of essays, Graham gives his readers a bit of a memoir mixed with the prose of a true storyteller.

Gold
By Chris Cleave

Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee, The Other Hand, and Incendiary, has a new book about two Olympic athletes just in time for the Summer Games. Gold is the number one pick for this month's Indie Next List and is already a New York Times best seller. The craze isn't so much of a surprise to us, considering the substantial popularity of his former novels. We also find it almost convenient that the novel incorporates the 2012 Summer Olympics--in London nonetheless. But, when Publisher's Weekly, The Times, The Post, Tribune, and Globe all concur that a novel is good: it is indeed worth a read. Kate Meadows and Zoe Castle, friends and athletic adversaries since age 19, are cyclists competing for their spot in London. Zoe is the reckless, but profoundly motivated one, while Kate is the gifted cyclist. Throw in some family drama (Kate's daughter suffers from leukemia) and some scandal (Zoe has a reputation for sleeping around) and Cleave's got some dramatically high stakes. The reviews all agree: what Cleave concocts in provocation, he meets with ferocity; the novel appears to be an intense read from beginning to end. There's no reason why anyone can't, and wouldn't be tempted to, plow through this one before the Opening Ceremony.