Recommendations from fellow readers

Set in Japan just before World War II, a young Chinese man is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from tuberculosis. This amazing story centers around how his relationships with four locals transform his soul. And "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri. Insightful stories about second- and third-generation Bengal immigrants trying to fit into middle-class America.

Andrea Cohon, Edina

On a freezing night in March, Veronika Bergman arrives from New Zealand at her rented house north of Stockholm. In the only house in the vicinity lives Astrid Mattson, known as "the neighborhood witch." While exchanging life stories and a long buried secret, they form a bond that transcends their differences in age and experience.

Norma Gaffron, New Brighton

True story of Gilman and a friend who, after graduating from college in 1986, decide to go on a trip around the globe, starting in the People's Republic of China. What a story -- funny and harrowing.

Nancy Fosburgh, Waseca, Minn.

Fans of historical fiction and traditional fantasy alike will find themselves transported to another world with the lively characters and exciting plots of her dual-genre "Temeraire" series.

I rate book "quality" into three main groups:

1) so good I remember the title

2) so good I remember the author's name

3) so good I remember author and title and would/have reread the book

There are only a dozen or so that fall into the third category, and one of the best (especially for young people) is "A Wrinkle in Time." Easily in the top five of all the books I've ever read -- and I read nearly a book a day (for the past 30-plus years).

New Auburn, Minn.

I would only let myself read 10 pages a day, because I wanted it to last forever.

Mary Gorham, Elk River

Restoration England, the dawning of medical science, religious intrigues and a cracking good mystery at the root of it.

Tom Zelman, Duluth

Pete Sandberg, Northfield, Minn.

After a long, snowy winter I want to get moving, so "Villette" is an often revisited summer favorite. Even if I can't go traveling myself the minute the weather warms up, this book has it all -- the voyages, the high winds, the Mediterranean climes, the late-night carnivals and, of course, the ocean.

Rachel Coyne, Lindstrom, Minn.

This is a wonderful account of the Shackleton Antarctic expedition, gleaned from diaries and accounts from the survivors. (Miraculously, they all survived, except for the dogs and the one cat and someone's leg or foot, I forget which.) I love reading about the achingly cold temps when it's hot and muggy outside. Last summer I read Dan Simmons' "The Terror," which was an engrossing account of a doomed expedition seeking the Northwest Passage through the Arctic waters. No one gets out alive.

Kelly Everding, Minneapolis

Cathy Jones, Waseca, Minn.

Absolutely a page-turner, from the first to last. About a woman who rises to become the biggest importer of drugs into the Mediterranean up through Europe. As you read it, you can't help but think this would make a terrific movie. And indeed it will soon be, with Eva Mendes in the leading role.

Lisa Clemens, Minneapolis

In the summer of 1945, Marjorie (Hart) Jacobson and Marty Garrett traveled from Des Moines to New York City, where they landed jobs at Tiffany. The book details their adventures, including celebrity encounters, nightclubs, on-the-job mishaps and endless penny pinching. Marjorie brilliantly captures the awestruck voice of her young innocent self in the big city.

Peg Ballentine, Bloomington

James M. Wallace, Eden Prairie

By Elizabeth Peters

I adore Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series. They are about a family of Egyptologists in the late 1800s and have now gotten up to World War I era. They are mysteries, laugh-out loud funny and the characters are so endearing. I can't wait for the next one to come out, which I think is this summer. They are fun to read and reread.

Anna Wagnild Long, Minnetonka

By Diana Gabaldon

Anita Guillotel, Savage

By Oswald Wynd

Two of my all-time favorite novels are "The Ginger Tree" by Oswald Wynd and "Savage Journey" by Allan Eckert. The first takes you to the Far East with a British military wife who is traveling to join her husband at the turn of the 20th century. It is a novel that spans many decades and countries in the Far East, including the Japanese earthquake in 1926. The second book is the story of a young teenage girl, who, through a series of mishaps and accidents, finds herself alone deep in the Amazon jungle. The story is the way she attempts to survive and make her way out of the jungle to rejoin civilization.

Faith Graefe, Columbia Heights

By John Kennedy Toole

Bette Braem, Minneapolis

By Elizabeth Jane Howard

I am besotted with novels about England in World War I and World War II. Two series are particularly wonderful: "The Cazalet Chronicle" by Elizabeth Jane Howard, and the Lytton FamilyTrilogy, by Penny Vincenzi. These books are fantastic reads that transport me to -- as you asked -- a different time and place. LOVE THEM.

Kit Naylor, Minneapolis

By Alexander McCall Smith

Louise Markve, Buffalo, Minn.

By Gay and Laney Salisbury

It has been called "a spellbinding mix of history and adventure" by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It's about the "Serum Run" that inspired the Iditarod. I would also recommend "The Lance Mackey Story: How My Obsession With Dog Mushing Saved My Life" by Lance Mackey. It's one of the most inspiring autobiographies I've ever read because of the obstacles this man overcame to become the four-time champion of the Iditarod. Both books have another plus: a lot of their events take place in freezing cold, amid ice, snow and blizzards; a good antidote for hot, humid summer weather.

Drid Williams, Rogers

By Brigid Pasulka

Steve Paul, Kansas City, Mo.

By G.V. Desani

I'm reading a 1948 cult classic, "All About H. Hatterr" by G.V. Desani, a writer who lived in Kenya and England as well as India. It's been compared to "Ulysses" (which I haven't read but make a perennial plan to read), and it influenced Salman Rushdie and many other Anglo and Indian writers. When you read it, you begin to make the connections in style to lots of other writers, too. It's delightfully, impossibly bizarre.

But the book I really want more people to read is "My Uncle Napoleon" by Iranian author Iraj Pezeshkzad. It was published in Iran in 1973, but there's a recent English edition that has a foreword by Azar Nafisi (author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran"). It is very comical and touching. It will take you away to a very funny and human Iran that you might not otherwise have known.

Catherine Dehdashti, Eagan

Summer's not truly summer until I've plowed through Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy yet again. It is intensely transporting -- spatially, temporally, conceptually. The characters are deliciously vivid. It's a remarkably brainy and engrossing tale that, despite its Young Adult categorization, feels like big "L" Literature. It's great for non-ordinary thinking, which is what we all need a little more of in the summertime. I push it on anyone who gives me the slightest opening. Happy summer.

Carolyn Henry-Johanson. St. Paul

By Joseph Ellis

Historians aren't supposed to be creative writers, but Ellis, premier historian of our early republic, writes with panache, knowledge and intelligence. This biography of Thomas Jefferson, which won the National Book Award, sweeps the reader along with wit, dramatic scenes and fascinating assessment -- no more pertinent than today when we struggle with how much centralized government we really want. By rendering Jefferson the sphinx in flesh and blood, Ellis uncovers many hypocrisies that haunt us still.

Margot Fortunato Galt, St. Paul

Since New Year's Eve I've been on vacation in Rome and Paris. When life got slow, I read a few books (in English). How can one get bored in such excited places, you ask. Trust me. You can only play tourist for so long.

I have two excellent recommendations: 1) "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley, a great thriller from the eyes of an 11-year-old British girl in the 1950s, and 2) "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," by Mary Ann Shaffer. Despite its horridly long title, the story moves along only through correspondence between Juliet, a British author seeking inspiration, and the people who lived on the island of Guernsey and endured a Nazi occupation during World War II.

Ruth Tesch, St. Paul

By Ali Shaw

I just finished reading "The Girl With Glass Feet," by Ali Shaw. Though it has been billed as fantasy/sci-fi by some, it's much more than that, much more allegory. Sad at times, but very readable.

Paul Waytz, Minneapolis

By Nancy Horan

I still like "Loving Frank."

Dorothy Molstad, Stillwater.

By Audrey Niffenegger

Curt Lund, Minneapolis

By Karen Tei Yamashita

"Tropic of Orange" -- I found it to be quite an adventure!

Mary McDermid, Minneapolis

By Per Petterson

Chuck Leddy, Boston

By Isabel Allende

Allende's "House of the Spirits" or "Of Love and Shadows."

Susan Thurston Hamerski, St. Paul

By E.M. Forster

Andrea Hoag, Lawrence, Kan.

By Barbara Tuchman

Barbara Tuchman's "The Proud Tower," about the world in the decades before "the guns of August" and World War I, when hope and faith in "progress" gave way to bumbling and arrogance and the world crashed. So many mistakes. So much stupidity.

Chuck Haga, Grand Forks, N.D.

By Kathleen Dean Moore

Laura Lynn Hansen, Little Falls, Minn.

By Dana Stabenow

I strongly recommend "A Taint in the Blood." It's not the plot details I remember, but the fascinating characters, including Kate Shugak, a very capable heroine. It is extremely well-written and a joy to read.

Brad Larson, St. Paul

THE MARY RUSSELL SERIES

Anything from the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. Latest book ("The God of the Hive") is just out. I'm saving it for a summer when I have more time to read.

Shana Crosson

By Sheldon Vanauken

Sheldon Vanauken's "A Severe Mercy," without a doubt. If you enjoy C.S. Lewis' "Surprised by Joy," you undoubtedly will be taken by Vanauken's memoir, detailing his romance with his wife, Davy. Sheldon was a student of Lewis and corresponded with him, and some of their letters are in the book. It's the kind of book I could not put down until the last page was turned. If you need a good cry, this is the ticket.

Sue Smart, Apple Valley

Just finished "Abide With Me" on my Kindle and loved it -- better than "Olive Kittredge." Maybe even better than "Gilead."

Phebe Damaris Dale Hanson, Minneapolis

By Isak Dinesen

"Out of Africa" (more than 50 years old) by Isak Dinesen, and "Mating," by Norman Rush.

Susan Ager, Northport, Mich.

John Thornton: "Mother, Miss Hale will not have me ... "

Faye Lowe, Louisville, Ky.

By Donna Leon

My latest escape: The Guido Brunetti mystery series by Donna Leon, set in Venice. A sentence or two, and I'm there.

Carolyn Bliss, Minneapolis

It takes us into our possible future if we do not change our ways soon. It is "speculative" fiction, in that everything in the book is based on some current fact or trend.

Kathryn Kysar, St. Paul

By J.R.R. Tolkien

I know this may sound trite, but I have to say "Lord of the Rings." I go to these books when I want to get away. I actually have only read the series twice, but I think about going there all the time! It is foreign, but comfortable, and yet so exotic. I think the closest approximation to this in travel would be going to the U.K.

Linda White, St. Paul

Susan Toth's three books about her travels in England. Just finished rereading them. Talk about transporting someone to another place. Actually, I'd recommend any of her books!

Betsy Vinz, Moorhead, Minn.

By Lewis Carroll

I'm am an "Alice in Wonderland" lover. Am I being childish? Again?

Judith Rosser Lashley, Dunn, N.C.

It was my favorite childhood book.

Susie Hopper, Minneapolis

By Marion Zimmer Bradley

"The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley. And still my favorite book of all time since I was a child is "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Wendy Brown-Baez, Minneapolis

Split-a-gut funny. The moron husband tosses his wife overboard on a cruise, forgetting that she was an Olympic swimmer. She swims up to a bale of marijuana and hangs on until rescued. She spends most of the rest of the book getting back at him ... with many hilarious twists and turns. I'm reading them all this summer. Kind of mindless, but most enjoyable.

Linda Back McKay, Minneapolis

By Marge Piercy

Last summer I read "Summer People" by Marge Piercy -- engrossing, to say the least. I dreamed about it at night. Also for a relatable laugh, anything by Laurie Notaro. Just try to read one out loud all the way through. "The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club" comes to mind, but I found the follow-up much funnier.

Amanda McBrady, Northfield, Minn.

I undertake most of my summertime reading campaign out in the back yard, beneath our big elm. And I spend much of it in Florida, hanging out with shady real estate developers ... corrupt cops ... con men ... hookers ... demented losers ... damsels in distress ... homicidal crackers ... drug traffickers and more. Novels by Carl Hiaasen, Laurence Shames, S.V. Date, Randy White, John Lutz, Geoffrey Norman and others. Above all, I'm a dedicated fan of Travis McGee, John D. MacDonald's knight in tarnished armor. I've been through the 21 McGees -- from "The Deep Blue Goodbye" to "The Lonely Silver Rain" -- about three times. I've even created a McGee blog (drmar120.wordpress.com/). This summer, come Memorial Day, off I go to McGee's houseboat home, the Busted Flush, in Slip F-18 at the Bahia Mar marina in Fort Lauderdale. I can hardly wait.

D.R. Martin, Minneapolis

By Betty Smith

I discovered "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith the summer before sixth grade when I was in a gifted program and had access to a high school library. Francie Nolan was 10, like me, and reading a book on a balcony, while I was reading in a tree in my back yard. We seemed destined for each other. Some of it went over my head, of course, but I reread the book every summer all the way through high school. The two other books I reread every summer were "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee and "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith. In high school, I added Reynolds Price's "A Long and Happy Life." These are still my favorites that I associate with summer reading and trees and PBJ sandwiches and sweet tea.

Nancy Pate, Orlando

This summer I plan to escape to Renaissance Italy with the novels of Sarah Dunant. I'm actually working my way backward through her trilogy, starting with the masterful "Sacred Hearts," which reveals the secret lives of Benedictine nuns in 16th-century Ferrara. The young novice Serafina is sent to the convent against her will and plots her escape, finding an unlikely ally in Suora Zuana, the convent physician. Next is "In the Company of the Courtesan," which tells the dramatic story of celebrated courtesan Fiammetta Bianchini, who fled the 1527 Pillage of Rome to set up shop in Venice and triumphed to become the model for Titian's painting "Venus of Urbino." The first book in the trilogy, "The Birth of Venus," is a coming-of-age novel set in 15th-century Florence, a city experiencing a wave of religious foment and the threat of French invasion. Against this backdrop, teenage Alessandra struggles to achieve her ambitions of becoming an artist.

Dunant's novels are based on solid research and include a nonfiction bibliography for further reading. I love the way she challenges our perceptions of women in this turbulent period of history.

Mary Sharratt,

Lancashire, England

By Ernest Hemingway