What Not To Read

It’s the time of year when many of us find ourselves on the beach, or in a park, or on the back porch with a tall glass of something cool and a delicious summer read.
But while many of us dive into our summer books, more than a few of us also set those books down before finishing them.
What makes a book hard to finish? And which books–especially in the sultry days of summer–just aren’t worth the effort?
Patrik Henry Bass, books editor for Essence, shares his very special list of what not to read this summer.
His first piece of advice: Avoid overly ambitious books like “War and Peace.”
Second, even the best-sellers list has books you should steer clear of this summer. Among those he recommends to avoid:
INFERNO (Doubleday) by Dan Brown  Story: The symbologist Robert Langdon, on the run in Florence, must decipher a series of codes created by a Dante-loving scientist. PHB Says: Yes, the novel is number one on best-sellers lists, but this title has been overshadowed by all of the real life drama with the Vatican and in Italy.
LET’S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS (Little, Brown & Company) by David Sedaris PHB Says: Re-treads of familiar turf–North Carolina family–and most of these essays have previously appeared in The New Yorker.
REVENGE WEARS PRADA (Simon & Schuster) by Lauren Weisberger PHB Says: Here’s the trouble. The film was better than the novel. What audiences would probably want is a sequel to the film by the screenwriter and not another novel from Weisberger.
CRAZY RICH ASIANS (Doubleday) by Kevin Kwan  The New York Times says: A dizzily shopaholic comedy of crass manners…Crazy Rich Asians offers refreshing nouveau voyeurism to readers who long ago burned out on American and English aspirational fantasies. Mr. Kwan either knows, or does a good job of pretending to know, how the very rich of Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai show off their lucre…Hilarious. PHB Says: Don’t believe the hype. Skip this and watch the Ruby Wax interview with Imelda Marcos instead.  
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