3rd July Newsletter
What’s On At Veranda
Welcome, welcome! Long summer evenings in London never felt better than this week on Seymour Place – World Cup fever at the Carpenter’s Arms, Chinese artist Xiaoguo Chen at Mandy Zhang Art (and at Veranda Books, come in and see for yourselves!), and launch events at the shop with authors Andrea Bajani and Charlotte Edwardes.
This week’s newsletter offers you some summer reading inspiration, as the team shares their personal holiday selections. The way we choose our own reading matter mirrors the way we select stock for the shop. It stems from a deep love of books, and hovers between the comfort of our personal taste, and the drive for new discoveries. We’re always on hand for book chat and recommendations – the lists below are just the jumping-off point.
The newsletter will be more ad hoc over the summer as we lean into the holiday mood. But the shop will be open as usual – so come in, slow down, stock up, hang out. We’d love to see you soon.
Shop News
“Slow burners need not apply”
My holiday reading tends to be eclectic – high, low, fact or fiction, anything goes, but the golden rule is: it needs to really grab me from the outset. I once took a slow-burn classic on holiday to Sicily, thinking at last I had the time to cross it off ‘the list’. Guess what? I ditched it and instead read a biography of the Kray Twins left behind by a previous holidaymaker. The lesson being: Read what you want to read, not what you think you should.
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Farewell to Russia: A Journey Through the Former USSR by Joe Luc Barnes. If I’m not travelling, or thinking about travelling, then I’ll be reading about travelling. Barnes’ newly-published book was recommended to me by a friend of the shop – the upshot being that this time next week, I’ll be travelling in Kazakhstan, thinking about Azerbaijan and reading about Armenia. The dream!
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Happiness and Love by Zoe Dubno and Exhibition by Alex Hyde. Taking the art world as inspiration, I’m looking forward to reading these two novels – set in New York and London respectively. I’ve read the blurb and the first couple of pages, and I’m already sold. Happiness and Love unfolds over the course of one ‘hideous’ evening, as an unnamed writer reconnects with old friends, only to realise that she despises them, and their pretentious life – and herself, for getting sucked back in. Meanwhile, in the YBA scene of the 1990s, Exhibition explores the dark relationship between artist and muse.
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On Connection by Kae Tempest. Once in holiday mode, I like to let my mind wander. For inspiration, I’ll be taking this pocket-sized piece of wisdom, a meditation on the ways creativity connects us to ourselves and others.
Leo’s holiday reading
Leo chooses two novels (one old, one new), and a chunky non-fiction book.
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan (tr.Irene Ash), is a book I first read when I was about the same age as the writer (18), and find to be the perfect summer re-read because it’s set in the sun-scorched Côte d’Azur at the heights of summer. It’s short, and therefore a perfect complement to Booker Prize-winner Marlon James’ new 550-page novel, The Disappearers (out in September).
In between, I’ll be dipping in and out of Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. Described as “a nonfiction Middlemarch of the underclass”, this book has been sitting on my shelf for years and finally needs to be read.
Now Booking
Sun, Sea and Sprawl
To me, summer holiday reading is about picking up a book and becoming completely immersed in a good story. I don’t usually need a ‘plotty’ book, but summer reading lends itself to big, sprawling novels, possibly with a complex collection of characters. With that in mind, here are my favourites for this summer/every summer.
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The Keeper by Tana French. The thirds and final instalment of French’s crime novels, set in the fictional Irish village of Ardnakelty, following Cal Hooper, an ex-cop from Chicago, as he looks into the possible murder of a local teen. This whole series is a masterclass in the art of slow build-up. French draws the characters of the town so well while also building tension through the moody, rain-lashed landscape. There’s something very comforting about this whole series, perfect to immerse yourself in on the sun lounger.
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Still Life by Sarah Winman. One of my all-time favourite books, to be read at any time of year, but I think there is something specifically summery about it. Set between the east end of London and Florence, the story follows Ulysses as he meets art historian Evelyn Skinner in 1944 in the wine cellar of a bombed villa in Tuscany. It follows their relationship and that of his makeshift family over decades, weaving in real historical events and people. It is pure joy, full of humour and tenderness, and the book I’ve gifted to the most people in my life.
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The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (tr. Thomas Teal). Does what it says on the tin. If there was ever such a perfect book to read while the sun is shining and the sea is lapping at your feet, this is it. It is also such a perfect snapshot into summering in a different country, as well as thoughts on life and love. It is the story of six-year-old Sophia, spending the summer months on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. Funny, eccentric and full of the sense of adventure that summer can bring.
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