Summer reading

Summer reading

What book should Unitarian Universalists take to the beach this summer?

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UU World asked: What book should Unitarian Universalists take to the beach this summer, and why?

A lighthouse-keeper escapes the strictures of nineteenth-century Wisconsin by journeying across Lake Superior to a magical land. So begins A Sorcerer’s Treason by Sarah Zettel, which blends historical fiction, fantasy, and feminism with Russian myths. Zettel, who grew up UU, writes well-paced page-turners with compelling heroines.

—The Rev. Sarah Stewart, Starr King Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Plymouth, New Hampshire

UU readers interested in the combination of a good mystery with an insightful social history of the process of social change in 1990s China might enjoy Qiu Xiaolong’s “Inspector Chen” series set in Shanghai and based on real cases, beginning with Death of a Red Heroine.

—Bob Snow, director of development and strategic planning, Association for Asian Studies, Boston, Massachusetts

I am an enormous fan of just about everything published by McSweeney’s Press. One of its most recent releases is the gripping and provocative Half a Life: A Memoir by Darin Strauss. “Half my life ago, I killed a girl,” begins Strauss. What follows are his meditations on guilt, history, memory, and living in the aftermath of a tragic car accident that took the life of a classmate.

—The Rev. Thom Belote, Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church, Overland Park, Kansas

Let us know what book you are reading this summer. Leave a comment below.


For the next issue: What character in a film or TV show best demonstrates UU values, and why? Send your answer to world@uua.org.

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