My Salinger Year and August Preview

It’s already August, which leaves me with a slight panic that fall is imminent when all I really want is summer to last … and last and last. Such is life living in a northern country. This week I finished the nonfiction audiobook “My Salinger Year” by Joanna Rakoff and I’m half way through the novel “Circling the Sun” by Paula McLain. I also saw the movie comedy “Trainwreck” with Amy Schumer (it’s raunchy-crazy if you like that) and rented the sci-fi thriller “Ex-Machina” (don’t miss Oscar Isaac as a bad bald guy in this).

I was turned on to Joanna Rakoff’s “My Salinger Year” by Sarah over at the blog Sarah’s Book Shelves who had highly praised it last year as one of her favorites. Indeed it is an amusing and poignant coming-of-age memoir about a 24-year-old, who after completing graduate school, lands a job in 1996 as an assistant at a heralded literary agency in New York.

When I told my husband I was listening to the audiobook of “My Salinger Year,” he commented that he disliked authors that used famous people to write book exposes about, as if it were like the chauffeur of Marlon Brando divulging his secrets. I told him it wasn’t really like that. Sure J.D. Salinger figures in the book (and a few tidbits about him are learned), but it’s more a memoir about a girl’s start in life, getting her first office job and what transpires during that meaningful year in her life.

It’s wonderful too that author Joanna Rakoff reads the book for the audio. Perfect really. I listened to it twice while walking our dog this week as it’s light and not very long. It made me laugh at points, and reminded me of some of my first office jobs in my early twenties. Part of the memoir goes into Rakoff’s job at the literary agency and what her tasks are like, her dealings with her boss and the other agents; while the other part of the memoir deals with her personal life, her then-socialist boyfriend Don, her family, friends, place in Brooklyn, and aspirations. It’s all melded together in quite an engaging way.

As for J.D. Salinger whom the agency represents, Rakoff does meet him and talks with him over the phone. She becomes a fan of his works after reading them during her year there, and learns that “The Catcher in the Rye” was once rejected by a publisher before being snatched up by Little Brown and published in 1951. Can you imagine the publisher that passed over “The Catcher in the Rye”? Holy smokes it only missed like a billion in sales and credibility.

I think if you’re interested in the publishing industry, or in Salinger’s works, or just in a light, amusing coming-of-age memoir of an aspiring writer — you’d like “My Salinger Year.” The audio was refreshing on my summer walks, and made me want to revisit Salinger’s books in the future. Rakoff has a gifted touch and is a writer to watch.

As for books coming out in August, there’s quite a load and I’m still grappling with which ones I’m most interested in. Veteran authors Shirley Jackson (posthumously), Haruki Murakami (two novels reissued), and short-story master Ann Beattie all have new books due out. But perhaps I’m most curious about Pulitzer Prize-winning author Adam Johnson’s second book “Fortune Smiles,” which is a collection of six short stories that Publishers Weekly calls “hefty and memorable.” Something tells me that whenever or whatever Johnson writes, I need to read it fairly pronto.

I’m also hoping to check out Rajia Hassib’s highly praised debut novel “In the Language of Miracles” about an “Egyptian-American family and the wrenching tragedy that tears their lives apart.” It’s been hailed by author Laila Halaby as “a gripping, hold-your-breath exposé about being Muslim in post-9/11 America where the heinous act of one can demonize all.” But, she says, “it’s also a universal, multi-generational, immigrant tale.” Judging from the positive reviews of it on Goodreads — which call it powerful and moving — I’d definitely like to snag a copy.

I also like the look of Meg Waite Clayton’s WWII novel “A Race for Paris” about “two American journalists and an Englishman, who together race the Allies to Occupied Paris for the scoop of their lives.” I’m not sure I can resist this historical novel based on real frontline stories of female reporters during WWII. I worked at a newspaper after all and still need to read the biography of war correspondent Martha Gellhorn, which my dad gave me years ago. It’s high on my shelf and would be a good companion most likely to reading “A Race for Paris.”

Lastly in books, if I need one more summer beach or plane read, which I likely do, I might turn to Lucy Clarke’s novel “The Blue” about “a group of friends whose journey around the world on a yacht turns from a trip to paradise into a chilling nightmare when one of them disappears at sea.” It’s said to be a real page-turner and would likely do well preoccupying me when I fly to the other coast for summer vacation in a week. I have not read any of Lucy Clarke’s thrillers, but it appears her books have quite a large following.

As for movies coming out in August, it appears a few well-known actresses have light comedy-dramas due out: Meryl Streep is in “Ricki and the Flash,” Lily Tomlin is in “Grandma,” and Patricia Clarkson is in “Learning to Drive.” All of these movies look half-way decent though I’m not sure what to think of the preview of Streep as an aging rock musician who returns home looking to make things right with her family. Hmm. Writer Diablo Cody got it right in “Juno” but will “Ricki and the Flash” be half as good? Perhaps I’m a bit more curious about the sci-fi drama “Z for Zachariah” at the end of August, which is about three nuclear war survivors that wind up in a love triangle. Come on, it’s got Chris Pine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Margot Robbie. Everyone else on Earth is gone. Somehow I knew Chris Pine would make it after the apocalypse. 🙂

In albums due out in August, there’s new ones by Iris Dement, Grace Potter, Rob Thomas, and Wilco among others. But I think I’d like to check out the latest album from Seattle indie folk singer-songwriter Noah Gundersen called “Carry the Ghost.” I don’t know Gundersen’s music yet, but I like the sound of the album’s pre-released single “Slow Dancer,” so I plan to listen to more once it’s available.

How about you — have you read Joanna Rakoff’s book “My Salinger Year,” or seen Amy Schumer’s movie “Trainwreck” — and if so what did you think? Or which books, movies, or albums out this month are you most looking forward to?