Between the Covers

President Obama's vacation reading

The Los Angeles Times reports that Barack Obama brought several books along for his Martha's Vineyard vacation. Here's what the president is reading (and it's a pretty good list).

The Way Home, George Pelecanos (violence and redemption for a family outside D.C.)

Plainsong, Kent Haruf (lovely novel about the various denizens of rural Holt, Colorado) 

Lush Life, Richard Price (one of my favorite novels in recent memory, about a crime and the lives of all it touches, from victim to killer to cop, in New York City)

John Adams, David McCullough (the terrific bio of our second president)

Hot, Flat and Crowded, Thomas L Friedman (about climate change and how it affects us).

Friedman's book isn't exactly what we think of as vacation reading; it's the only book on the list I haven't read, though, so maybe I'm wrong. And maybe it's good the leader of the free world is checking it out even if he is supposed to be relaxing (as if).

What are you reading now?

''I'm almost finished with The Day Freedom Died by Charles Lane. The horror of the 1873 massacre of more than 80 black men by white supremacists in Colfax, Louisiana, is deepened by Lane's infuriating account of the U.S. government's subsequent betrayal of the Reconstruction promise of equal justice for all.''

TOM GJELTEN, author of Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba

Gjelten appears 8 p.m. Wednesday at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables.

"The Lion's Paw'' - a Florida favorite

Several readers have mentioned The Lion's Paw as one of the best books for children about Florida, and while I purposely left kids' books off the list - it was unwieldy enough as it was - I figure I should mention it here because people are so passionate about it.

The adventure yarn, about a teenager and two young orphans on a sailboat looking for a rare shell (the lion's paw in question), was written in the 1940s and was one of the most requested out-of-print books in the country for a good long while, though now it's available again.

The odd thing to me is this: I grew up in Florida, read like crazy as a kid, and yet somehow managed to miss this one. How did that happen!?

More "best Florida books" suggestions

Reader Donna Ihle weighs in with her own list of books I left off my list of Florida classics.

1. Marley and Me by John Grogan

2. Field of Fire by James O. Born

 

3. Triggerfish Twist by Tim Dorsey

 

We dealt with the Marley & Me issue earlier; but Dorsey is represented in the second half of the list with Florida Roadkill. If you like his brand of wacky, out-there violence, you might also check out Orange Crush.

 

 

HIstorical classics

Judy Herman of Fort Lauderdale writes that she'd have liked to have seen two of her favorite historical books on the list of Florida classics:

"Miami by Evelyn Wilde Mayerson, a story of five families and how they intertwined to create Miami, spanning 100 years from post-Civil War times to Hurricane Andrew.

A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith: three generations of a family's struggles from being dirt poor to becoming wealthy real estate tycoons, with the rugged history of Florida's early pioneer spirit and the natural world."

Should "Marley & Me" make the list?

Two different readers asked: What about Marley & Me, John Grogan's insanely popular book about his naughty dog? One of the people who asked was Herald film critic Rene Rodriguez - who forced me to review the movie even though he knew about my issues with Jennifer Aniston and that I would cry for hours - so I was going to ignore him, but then someone else asked the same question, so I figured I'd better answer.

We thought of Marley & Me late in the game, but I just don't think of it as a Florida book. Yes, Grogan was a columnist for The Sun Sentinel, and most of the book is set here. But couldn't it have been set anywhere? Did it reflect anything specifically about Florida? My thinking was no. That said, an argument could be made that it belonged on the auxiliary list. of Florida favorites.

"Death in the Everglades" - another great Florida book

This one should've been on the list, writes Carole Slattery, and I shamefacedly agree:

"A nonfiction book which I read recently and totally enjoyed is Death in the Everglades by Stuart B. McIver.  It is the story of the plume trade and the killing of our beautiful Florida birds, some now extinct, in the name of women's millinery fashion.  A bird hunter turned environmentalist was killed defending birds in the Everglades, and McIver tells the most interesting story.  It is a great book for Florida fans, those who are concerned about the environment, or those who just love a great story.''

 

"Mrs. Ted Bliss" - a great Florida classic

Miami Dade College English prof and Herald book reviewer Ariel Gonzalez wants to know how I forgot one of his favorite classics. He writes:

"How could you omit MRS. TED BLISS? The great neglected Stanley Elkin's last novel, it was published posthumously in 1995. The heroine is a Jewish widow who lives in a Miami Beach retirement condo. She encounters a bevy of South Florida eccentrics, weathers Hurricane Andrew, and struggles against the indignities of aging. The novel captures what it's like to spend your twilight years in this sunny community. Every AARP member in Miami should read it. The vampires who nest at the Gansevoort should take a look at it too; it may help reclaim their souls."

I guess this one needs to go on the must-read list...

The best books about Florida

Choosing the books for a list of the most classic Florida books (fiction and nonfiction) is an inexact science at best. How did we come up with the list? (By "we" I mean me and my editor with help from assorted avid readers of the genre, one of whom threatened to throw himself into the bay should a certain author's name appear. I hope he was kidding.) By creating a list of favorites and adding to it after perusing our bookshelves and examining our memories. Inexact science at best, yes. Destined to start arguments, as all "best of" lists do. But kind of fun, anyway (at least until I had to start writing).

So here it is, our list of classic Florida books (and yes, we know To Have and Have Not is not all that great, but it's Hemingway, and we felt obligated. Chastise me if you must.

And as an added bonus: Our list of other Florida favorites.

Don't see your favorite on here? Email me at cogle@miamiherald.com, and I'll run your objection right here on the blog.

The cool illustration here is by Herald designer Ana Lense Larrauri.

New stories at FiveChapters.com

Our friends over at FiveChapters.com - a literary website that serializes a story every week - are changing things up starting Monday and running through Labor Day. That's 15 stories in 15 days from writers known and unknown, including newcomer Lori Ostlund, who won the Flannery O'Connor Award from the University of Georgia Press and musician Joe Pernice (of the Pernice Brothers, whose music you also should check out).

Click here for the schedule of who's writing when.