AUTHOR: Sheri Lynch TITLE: Summer Reading List DATE: 6/12/2006 01:26:00 PM ----- BODY:

I've read three great novels in the past month or s The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier; Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood; and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The first two books could definitely be described as apocalyptic fiction. I've always been drawn to stories about the end of the world, or if not the world, of civilization. I was all of nine when I picked up On the Beach by Nevil Shute. The story goes like this: a cataclysmic nuclear war has wiped out virtually the entire planet. In Australia, which was spared the bombing, a handful of survivors await the arrival of the deadly radioactive fallout being carried by wind around the globe. Not exactly the super fun read of, say, The Babysitter's Club, or even, Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. See what happens when you lock a bookish kid in a snowbound, television-less house in the middle of nowhere? After I finish a book like Oryx and Crake or The Brief History of the Dead, I want to share it. But I don't happen to know anyone else who wants to sit by the pool and read about deadly hemorrhagic viruses. You'd think that the very same people who line up to see a movie like Saw would clamor to borrow my books, but no. I guess scary movies are escapist entertainment in a way that these stories aren't. These stories feel all too possible. Even the setting for both books, the not-distant future, offers no relief. Instead of feeling grateful to have been born too soon, I wind up feeling sick about how placidly I grazed my days away, not doing more to prevent the coming horror. And I think about my kids, and their kids, and the environment, and the climate, and soulless multinational corporate empires, and before you know it, I've given myself the shakes. I call it Fiction Enabled Anxiety Disorder. You can't get a prescription for it -- trust me, I've tried. Instead, I was told to lighten up and try reading something a little happier. Which brings me to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It tells the story of Jacob, a Depression era veterinary student at Cornell, who suddenly finds himself orphaned, penniless, and a runaway with a train circus called The Great Benzini Brothers. It's a terrific story, full of adventure, romance, and intrigue. I don't want to spoil a single detail, but I can reveal that world doesn't end. Not even for Jacob. Water for Elephants does what great stories should: it lifts you into a place you'd never imagined being, and then stays with you, long after the book is closed. You'll like it -- you might even love it. And unlike most of my summer reading list, it won't give you nightmares.

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