5 Books for Summer Reading by Frances Anderton
Frances Anderton, Host of Design an Architecture.
Life is so full, it’s hard to fit in reading books, especially when my work on current affairs, and design, shows on KCRW demands constant attention to instant sources of news. But give me a good book, and I am transported. My favorite escapist books are detective stories, but I feel guilty about spending to much time in the world of crime-solving when there are so many non-fiction tomes relating to my current affairs and design work that I should be reading. So I’ve taken to seeking out books that relate to the themes I’m exploring work-wise, but are, most importantly, riveting reads. Following are my five favorite recent reads.
The White Tiger
Brilliant, funny, searing, Booker-prize-winning novel, by journalist Aravind Adiga, that explores new rich Indian society through the eyes of a poor driver who commits a terrible crime in order to get his piece of the pie.
Tears of The Giraffe
The second in the delicious series about the lovable but razor-sharp Botswanan lady detective Mme Precious Ramotswe and her No 1 Ladies Detective Agency (now adapted for HBO). The books (written by a Scottish professor of medical law, Alexander McCall Smith) shine a wholly fresh and moving light on life in Africa.
A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, And LA’s Scandalous Coming of Age
Richard Rayner’s juicy, novelistic telling of the actual high crimes that defined the 1920s and fuelled the creativity of Raymond Chandler and many a pulp fiction writer. For architecture history buffs, the now-abandoned Hall of Justice in downtown LA plays a starring role.
The Islamist: Why I Became an Islamic Fundamentalist, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left
Heavy reading for summer, I know, but this memoir, by counter-extremism activist Ed Husain, is a great read and a powerful education – about the beauty of Islam, the threat of political Islam, and growing up South Asian and Muslim in London.
Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies
I read this classic valentine to Los Angeles, by the Expat British architecture historian Reyner Banham, on my first trip to LA in 1987. A recent re-read reminded me what makes this cityscape so original and so captivating, even as it strives for more conventional urban form.
Tags: architecture, books, design, dna
