Summer Reading List

The Tig Archives July 14, 2014

She reads books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live. Annie Dillard hit the nail on the head with that one. Because whether it’s to escape, to inform, to inspire, or to just turn off the world while you sit by a pool, I love getting lost in a good book. When I asked my Suits sisterwives, Gina Torres and Sarah Rafferty, what literary finds they would be delving into between the scripts we read every week, I was tickled by some of their answers. As a matter of fact, when I told Gina I was surprised by one of her rather unexpected picks, her response was classic: “Lotta layers under all this hair.” Well played, Mama G, well played.

Here are your TIG approved summer reads from the ladies of Suits:

My picks:

“The Opposite of Loneliness” by Marina Keegan – I am undone by this book. It’s a collection of essays written by Marina Keegan, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from Yale in 2012, had a job lined up at the New Yorker, and tragically died in a car accident just five days after graduation. Her stories are raw and real, funny and relatable. And she writes with a fluid conversational tone that makes you feel like you know her. I truly wish I had been able to. Get this book – I couldn’t put it down.

“The Dud Avocado” by Elaine Dundy – I always go back to this book for summer reading because it’s light and fun, and exactly what I want when I’m laying on a beach. I love opening the pages and finding little flecks of sand from vacations past. It’s set in the 1950s and about an American girl in Paris who lives wildly and fully, and runs a muck. The main character Sally Jay Gorce is everything – a little Carrie Bradshaw, a little Holly Golightly, a lot of likable. One of my favs.

“Where’d You Go Bernadette” by Maria Semple – My friend, Benita, recommended this one to me and Sarah. B is an avid reader, and knows that during the summer it’s nice to escape with a book that just makes you laugh. Guffaw, even. This is that book.

Gina’s picks:

“Rita Moreno, A Memoir” by Rita Moreno – “Because she’s a true flesh and blood goddess at whose altar I have worshipped, my entire life.”

“Doctor Sleep” by Stephen King – “I loved The Shining and love that Mr. King felt compelled to tell Danny Torrance’s story after all these years.”

“The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris” by Tilar J. Mazzeo – I love this hotel, and have had fantasies of going back in time, and being there when it was all new and exciting. I’m hoping this book will do that.”

Sarah’s picks:

“The Goldfinch” by Donna Tarrt – “So I am reading The Goldfinch and likely will be reading it all summer since it’s almost 800 pages and I am a slowwwwww reader. It’s amazing, today’s Great Expectations.”

“Bittersweet” by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore – “I recently finished this book. A summer page turner. Kinda Gone Girl -esque. I mentioned it to you Megs – my friend Molly told me about it, and I happened to not be able to put it down.”

“Prayers for the Stolen”by Jennifer Clement – About an incredible heroine who is wrapped up in the world of drug cartels in Guerrero, Mexico. Sarah says: I have [this book] bedside, waiting for me.”

And for summer reading with her daughter (AKA the sweetest tradition I can think of), Sarah shares the below:

“Oona and I do summer reading together—we did the abridged versions of “Anne of Green Gables” and “The Secret Garden” and she loved them. We started “The Tale of Despereaux” last week and I am in love with that little romantic mouse. Last summer “Wonder” was amazing and I would recommend it to kids and adults alike. “