Four books to kick off your summer reading
Summer is typically the season to sit back, relax and pick up a good book. It鈥檚 also a good time to explore books by authors or on subjects that may be new to you.
Here are some suggested titles for your summer reading pleasure.
鈥楽tealing the Hopi Snake Dance鈥� by James C. Wilson
鈥淪tealing the Hopi Snake Dance鈥� is the newest in a series of mysteries featuring the character of Fernando Lopez, a retired Santa Fe police detective who is now doing some occasional private investigation work.
He鈥檚 looking into the death of Santa Fe photographer Jeff Walker. Walker had surreptitiously videotaped the Hopi Snake Dance at First Mesa. The dance is off limits to outsiders, and filming the dance violates Hopi customs.
Walker is being paid $10,000 for the videotape and it is planned for eventual use in a movie.
After leaving the dance, Walker is driving home when his car plunges off a cliff.
Arizona cops think Walker鈥檚 death was an accident, but Lopez thinks otherwise. Then Walker鈥檚 widow is murdered.
At the back of the novel is a reader鈥檚 guide and what James C. Wilson calls a 鈥渟pecial bonus,鈥� and it is D.H. Lawrence鈥檚 famous account of a 1924 Snake Dance that he witnessed. At that time, outsiders were permitted to observe the dance.
Wilson, the author, lives in Albuquerque.
鈥楾rees Dream of Water: Selected and new poems鈥� by Leo Romero
Joy Harjo, former U.S. poet laureate, wrote the foreword to Leo Romero鈥檚 poetry collection. Harjo recalls having Romero over for Thanksgiving dinner in Albuquerque in 1971 with her, her toddler and her then-partner Simon Ortiz.
鈥淚 first read Leo Romero鈥檚 poetry in pages, in drafts. They were typed by typewriter on white paper and handed to me to read. Each of those early poems was rooted in the mythic, earthic realm of that hometown village of Chacon where Romero was born and went back to, either physically or in dreams,鈥� Harjo notes.
Chacon finds its way in some of the poems in 鈥淭rees Dream of Water.鈥�
鈥淩omero鈥檚 poems,鈥� Harjo adds, 鈥渁re the essence of northern New Mexico, influenced even subtly by the local Native Pueblo cultures 鈥� as illustrated in 鈥榃ay of the Falling Rain.鈥欌��
That poem is in the first section of the book titled 鈥淒uring the Growing Season.鈥�
Harjo refers to the book as 鈥渁 classic collection, by one of the most important poets of his time and place.鈥�
Romero is the owner of the Santa Fe bookstore Books of Interest.
鈥楩ollow Me鈥� by Elizabeth Rose Quinn
Elizabeth Rose Quinn says her debut novel is not an Agatha Christie and is not a John le Carr茅 thriller. Rather, 鈥淔ollow Me鈥� is a thriller that is in Quinn鈥檚 very own voice.
And what is that voice?
鈥淕et ready for this bonkers, unhinged, off-the-wall thriller that鈥檚 both an addictive horror flick on the page and a deeply astute satire of today鈥檚 mom-influencer culture,鈥� said the book鈥檚 publisher, Thomas & Mercer, in a news release.
The novel鈥檚 premise has Chiara struggling to be a mother. She gets invited to a mom-influencer weekend where she meets other moms. But Chiara doesn鈥檛 come home.
A year goes by and police still don鈥檛 have a clue where Chiara is.
Chiara鈥檚 twin sister, Adrienne, decides she鈥檚 going to find her.
She goes undercover and heads to the last place where Chiara was seen, and it鈥檚 also the last place where she, Adrienne, wants to be 鈥� a woman who doesn鈥檛 want kids at the mom-influencer weekend retreat at a remote ranch in northern California.
Adrienne goes on gut feelings and chases a wild theory that her sister did come here but never left. She鈥檚 determined to find the truth before the women there figure out who Adrienne really is.
Quinn has said that the film rights for 鈥淔ollow Me鈥� have been optioned by Amazon MGM Studios and that Adele Lim, who wrote the screenplay for 鈥淐razy Rich Asians,鈥� is in negotiations to write and direct 鈥淔ollow Me.鈥�
Quinn has for years worked in production and written for television. She lives in Albuquerque.
鈥楾rini鈥檚 Magic Kitchen鈥� by Patricia Santos Marcantonio
Patricia Santos Marcantonio鈥檚 tender, original coming-of-age novel, 鈥淭rini鈥檚 Magic Kitchen,鈥� opens with a bittersweet scene.
Trini, a seventh grader, is living in a small Denver apartment with her mom. Her mom is laid off from her job at a tortilla factory, though she soon lands a lower paying job.
To save money, the mom moves in with a cousin, where she sleeps on the couch. Trini is asked to move in with her maternal grandparents, Grandma Lydia and Grandpa Frank, who reside four hours away in Alamosa, Colorado.
For Trini, it鈥檚 about a new school, new friends and a new town. And the anxiety of no mom at home.
Slowly, inexorably, the bittersweet dissipates and the sweet begins to fill Trini鈥檚 life, thanks, in part, to young-at-heart Grandma Lydia and Grandpa Frank. They welcome Trini to their home.
She learns from her grandma how to cook traditional Mexican dishes such as breakfast burritos, chile rellenos and calabacitas. Trini is so into cooking with her grandma that she writes down the recipes. (Wouldn鈥檛 you know it, 17 pages of recipes appear at the back of the book.)
Grandma Lydia teaches Trini about her 鈥渃ultural education,鈥� too, like explaining the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead.
Trini likes to draw and her artistic interest dovetails with Grandpa Frank鈥檚 love for making crafts.
Grandpa Frank shows Trini how to gather eggs from the backyard chicken coop without getting poked by the mean rooster, Se帽or Satan.
At school, Trini makes friends with Isabelle. Trini is taken with Joseph, a shy boy. He becomes her first boyfriend, and he鈥檚 the first boy she kisses.
Marcantonio resides in Boise, Idaho.
