Read Well this Summer

by Tari Hendrickson, Reviewer

Hamnet

by Maggie O’Farrell

In this wrenching tale, we gain insights into one of history’s most renowned characters through the Bard’s fictional wife, Agnes. Her fascinating and often magical inner life casts an eerie light on the title character, her son Hamnet. O’Farrell’s writing is ephemeral: “There is a sensation of change, an agitation of air as if a bird has passed silently overhead.” Set in the late 16th century, it is a timeless exploration of grief and more. This is an incredibly moving story, and perhaps not entirely a fictional one. Some scholars believe that Hamlet was written by the Bard about his son, Hamnet.

Lincoln City Libraries: 16 copies (also available electronically)

The Meaning of Names

by Karen Gettert Shoemaker

This is the first of two books I recommend this season that focus on events specific to Nebraska. This acclaimed novel, first published in 2014, is set in rural Nebraska during WWI. In it, Shoemaker creates vivid, sympathetic characters who must endure the turmoil of the Spanish Flu epidemic as a German-American family during wartime. The author’s way of storytelling glimmers with beauty, and her novel’s themes of love and loss endure. The Lincoln Arts Council recently bestowed the author with the “Heart of The
Arts Award.” 

Lincoln City Libraries: 15 copies (also available electronically)

My Antonia

by Willa Cather

Are you from Nebraska, or perhaps a transplant to this state? Either way, if you’ve never read Cather, take up this classic of pioneer life. I’d even recommend re-reading if you first took it in as a student. You may well discover new meaning. The novel explores nostalgia, the power of memory, and the transformative nature of the Nebraska prairie.

If you enjoy it, there’s more.
My Ántonia is the third novel in Cather’s Prairie Trilogy, which also includes Oh, Pioneers! (1913) and The Song of the Lark (1915). 

Lincoln City Libraries: 24 copies (also available electronically)