A brand new season of Cook’s Country starts this September. Here are some light recipes for those end of summer barbeques and beach picnics:

BOSTON — It's hard to find someone who knows more about New England seafood than Jasper White. White owns the popular Summer Shack in Cambridge, and he joined WGBH's Emily Rooney to give some tips on cooking lobster, charcoal grilling and buying fresh seafood.

Cooking Lobster

• Don't boil lobster, steam it. It cooks slower, the meat gets more tender, and not as tough as when you boil it.

• Make a rack out of an upside-down colander or out of rock weed instead of buying a new one.

• Put an egg in the pot. When the egg is cooked, the lobster is cooked.

Charcoal Grilling

• Buy a big charcoal grill. Charcoal adds a smokey flavor to your meat or fish.

• Make a big concentrated fire.This way you can use a large range of temperatures.

• The smaller the meat or fish, the larger the fires should be.

• When grilling chicken, cover the grill so it acts as an oven.

Buying Fresh Seafood

• If you're close to the source, go to the source. Buy from fishermen coming back in for the day.

• Create a relationship with who runs the market. They always know what's best to buy that day.

• Fresh fish has a shiny look.

• Fresh fish does NOT have an odor. If it does, it's a few days old.

These tips and full recipies are found in Jasper's cookbok, The Summer Shack Cookbook, now avaliable in paperback.

BOSTON — The Charles River is a finalist for the prestigious International Riverprize, a $350,000 award for development and implementation of sustainable river management policies. Boston's famous waterway is in competition with the Mattole River in California and the Yarra River in Victoria, Australia.

But there was a time not so long ago when the Charles, named by England’s King Charles I after himself, was considered a 26-mile embarrassment. Indeed, the famous chorus “I love that dirty water,” from The Standells 60s rock song, is still a hometown classic.

Over time, both nature and engineering have painted the rust colored “dirty water” have repainted the “dirty water” green. And no one appreciates that more than Ralph Boynton, who manages Charles River Canoe And Kayak.

Boynton has been kayaking and renting kayaks along the river for 16 years. He feels a personal kinship to this river. He’s been swimming in it, and he’s excited about talks of opening more beaches on the river.

Just a few years ago, Boynton wouldn’t even think of swimming in the Charles.

“The crew teams that fell in would routinely get prophylactic tetanus shots,” Boynton said.

The notion of reopening beaches on the River is a measure of the impact of the $100 million dollar cleanup over the years. The Environmental Protection Agency worked with Massachusetts in the mid-1990s, vowing to make the river swimmable by 2005. Former Gov. William Weld even jumped in with his clothes on to show that there were no ill effects. But the Charles’ old reputation still lingers.

Just ask Sean Nyhan of Charlestown, who has stopped by with his wife Bridget to rent a kayak.

“Obviously it’s not even urban legend that you don’t swim in the Charles River and on a hot day like today it would be great to swim,” Nyhan said. “But obviously, I think if you’re local it’s known that you don’t swim in the Charles.”

So even if the Charles wins the International Riverprize, Massachusetts’ officials have their work cut out trying to convince residents that it’s not the same dirty old water.

Can interactive media such as games, websites and apps really help children learn?

How do resources like the Martha Speaks and Arthur websites help children learn?
On the Martha Speaks website, the goal is to teach oral vocabulary (hearing and speaking words), rather than reading or writing words, so kids can play the games and use the site independently, whether or not they know how to read. Children hear new words and then have to understand and use the words to play the games.

Students' oral vocabulary knowledge in first grade is an indicator of what their reading comprehension skills will be in 11th grade, so the more vocabulary they know at an early age, the better their reading skills will be. By playing games, watching videos, and doing activities again and again, they are repeatedly exposed to new words, and we know that this is an effective strategy for teaching new vocabulary.

Arthur covers lots of important social topics, from learning about Asperger’s to making new friends. The day-to-day life of the characters models a love of reading, visits to the local library, and an enthusiasm for learning. Kids gain social skills and new interests from watching the show. The website offers lots of creative games on related topics. For example, we have a brand-new sustainability game called Groovy Garden that is designed to get kids to think about the environment and make environmentally-friendly choices. You can also combine the fun of Martha Speaks and Arthur with our “Marthur” Sticker Mashup game where kids create their own scenes using characters from both shows and watch the video of Arthur and Martha together!

As you know, “summer slide” is a significant concern for children of all ages. How can parents and families use websites and interactive media to help kids continue learning over the summer months?
Just as parents think about what to feed their kids, they need to think about their kid’s media diet and ask questions such as, What games are my children playing online or on mobile devices? How much time should my kids stay online or play computer games? What is the educational value behind a particular game? Parents do control their children’s media use. Parents can have educational games already downloaded, linked, or bookmarked, and make sure that they offer lots of educationally-based media for their kids.

Not all media producers use education as a basis for television shows or online games and apps, but WGBH does, which is what sets us apart. We work with advisors and do research to make sure what we’re producing is useful, educational, and really helps kids learn. Common Sense Media and Parents’ Choice Awards are also great places for parents and caregivers to find reviews of games and educational content.

Another thing to keep in mind is that web-based and mobile activities are a good way to “cool down.” If kids have been outside running around all day, they can wind down with a game online. And they’re still learning, because every PBS game is packed with educational content. Of course, web-based games and interactive media can be incorporated into summer reading programs as well.

Martha Speaks has a new mobile optimized site. What is this? How can families use this as a learning tool?
The Martha Speaks mobile optimized site, which you can only view on your handheld, touch-screen mobile device, is an alternative to the Martha Speaks website. As we see more and more people accessing our websites by mobile devices, we are rethinking our ideas on design and optimizing sites for the large or small screen.

I am very excited about mobile technologies and their impact on children. Kids can use them everywhere, so it breaks down the notion that learning only happens in the classroom. Kids are now learning in both formal and informal settings—in the car, on a bus, waiting in line. Games are designed for individual kids, but the awesome thing about mobile technologies, especially for younger kids, is that a parent or adult is usually involved, since the child is generally using a parent’s mobile device.

We know that having a parent present has a greater impact on learning, so it’s great to have parents involved in their child’s learning, and talking with the child about what they’re playing. With the Martha Speaks iPhone app, for example, parents/caregivers are aware of the words kids are learning and can use them during their daily routine.

What keeps you busy at home?
I have 1-year-old twin boys so that keeps me very busy! We have lots of outside time at the water table in our backyard and at the pond near our house. We painted a wall in our house with blackboard paint so they can chalk it up—I draw pictures of animals and we make the animal’s sound together. We go to the library (where they wreak havoc but are working on their inside voices!) and they get to pick the books we read to them before bed each night. Currently, two of their favorites are Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin and John Achambault.

We use our fair share of media too. My twins were born just before the iPad and it’s incredible how much has changed in just their tiny lifetime. They love interactive stories on the iPad. It’s stunning to watch them interact with this kind of technology—they have an intuitive facility that is just mind-blowing.

Andre Dubus III, New York Times bestselling author of "Townie" and "House of Sand and Fog"

"The Hair of Harold Roux"
Thomas Williams
(Bloomsbury, 2011)

This now little-known book was the 1975 National Book Award Winner in Fiction, and it's just being re-released by Bloomsbury USA. Dubus wrote the introduction to the new edition, and he is ecstatic to see it back in print.

"Stephen King actually told me that he thinks it's the best novel he's ever read in his life, including Dickens," Dubus said. "I read the book a year ago; I still feel as though I read it an hour ago."

"The Oxygen Man"
Steve Yarbrough
(Touchstone, 1999)

Yarbrough is a novelist who teaches at Emerson College. Dubus described this novel, a story of race, class and hardship in a small Mississippi town, as a 300-page poem.

"They're a population of human beings that don't get near enough respect or attention in our culture, in my belief," Dubus said of the book's core characters, who exist at the margins of society. "Yarbrough writes about them with such dignity and compassion."

Tom Hamilton, bassist for Aerosmith, history buff and voracious reader

"In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin"
Erik Larson
(Crown, 2011)

The author of the much-loved "The Devil in the White City," a novelistic account of a serial killer in the background of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, returns with the historical narrative of the family of U.S. Ambassador to Nazi Germany in the first years of Hitler's reign. The book follows the ambassador, William E. Dodd, and his daughter as they come to recognize the danger growing in Berlin.

"Everything was just being rebuilt, and reaccomplished. And then all of a sudden it just started getting darker and darker," Hamilton said. "Over the period of the book you find out how that enthusiasm turns into raw disillusionment and raw terror."

"City of Thieves"
David Benioff
(Viking, 2008)

This comedic novel follows a pair of young adults in the midst of the Nazi siege of Stalingrad in 1942. A Russian officer forces the two of them to find him a coveted carton of eggs, setting off a bizarre and tricky search.

"Like Dorothy with the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, just trying to deal with life as they go on this mission to try to find eggs for the Russian general," Hamilton said.

Steve Almond, author of "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life"

"Trophy"
Michael Griffith
(Triquarterly/Northwestern University Press, 2011)

"It's about a carwash 'host associate' who is crushed by a giant bear. And the novel takes place, I kid you not, in the final second of his life," Almond said. "I promised you total weirdness, Emily, and I am supplying it."

"But it's an absolutely brilliant, strange meditation on love and loss and how memory functions in our life." Almond pointed out it is likely the only novel you'll read on the beach that takes place within the span of a single second.

"Songbook"
Nick Hornby
(McSweeney's, 2002)

This memoir from the best-selling author of "High Fidelity" chronicles his personal relationship to a set of very specific, beloved songs. "It really revolves around the emotional experiences that people have when they listen to particular songs, the eras that they relive," Almond said.

Carlo Rotella, author of Cut Time: An Education at the Fights; director of American Studies at Boston College; columnist for the Boston Globe

"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down"
Anne Fadiman
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998)

A famous anthropological study of Lia Lee, daughter of a Laotian Hmong family living in California, who suffered from severe epilepsy.

Rotella described it as several books at once, so you can have a huge variety at your fingertips for your summer reading: "It's one book that's a family drama, a medical thriller, an immigrant narrative. It gives you a history of the Hmong people from pre-history through the Cold War."

"The Heroes"
Joe Abercrombie
(Orbit, 2011)

This fantasy writer's latest installment, part of the "First Law" trilogy, is a dark and strange war story. "If you take J.R.R. Tolkien, and reverse the polarity of everything in J.R.R. Tolkien," Rotella said, you would end up with something like this trilogy. "They're sort of noir fantasy stories. In a lot of ways the opposite of that kind of J.R.R. Tolkien kind of noble, high-flown heroic fantasy."

Hank Phillippi Ryan, investigative reporter for 7News in Boston; award-winning author of the novel "Drive Time"

"Starvation Lake"
Bryan Gruley
(Touchstone, 2009)

"I think this is perfect for the zeitgeist in Boston right now," Ryan said. "It is a murder mystery about hockey!" Set in a small Michigan town, the fictional Starvation Lake of the title, the novel follows an reporter who investigates the murder of the local hockey coach.

Gruley has often been compared to Dennis Lehane. "It is that kind of tone: that sort of bleak, personal tone," Ryan said.

"The Other Side of Dark"
Sarah Smith
(Atheneum, 2010)

With a plot concerning treasure hidden by an ex-slave trader and Frederick Law Olmstead's Emerald Necklace parks, this young adult novel comes right out of local history: "It's a really interesting — a little bit spooky, a little bit scary — look into Boston history." Ryan said. The protagonists are a young white girl and a young black boy who get drawn into a drama with the ghosts of the past. "It also is a really kind of straightforward story about the complicated racial issues that still linger here."

Kristan Higgins, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of seven romantic comedies, including "My One And Only"

"Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart"
Sarah Maclean
(Avon, 2011)

"Summer isn't complete unless you have a romance novel on the beach," Higgins said. This one in particular is a romp around British high society, full of scandal, gossip and comedy. "It's a very heartfelt historical romance," she said.



"A Lot Like Love"
Julie James
(Berkley, 2011)

Another screwball romance novel, "A Lot Like Love" follows a businesswoman who is pressured by an FBI agent to give up information on her Mafia-connected associates.

 

“Always Like The Son” by Release the Sunbird, from “Come Back To Us”“ — The name of the band, which was recently started by the leader of indie rock band Rogue Wave, refers to a Robert Pollard song. But in any case, as Thompson said: "It sounds like a euphemism for something awesome.”

“Daisy” by Fang Island, from “Fang Island” — Thompson pointed to this one as a "Woooo!" kind of song. “The Go-Gos called, they want their handclaps back,” Almond added.



“It’s Time To Party” by Andrew W.K.from “I Get Wet” “ — "His first full-length record has three different songs containing the word party,” Thompson said. The song is “The kind of wonderfully, kind of overdriven, roll your windows down, blare the music as loud as you can, you can’t go wrong.” And, frankly, most of W.K.'s songs are incitements to party, so you really can't go wrong.

“Rolling In The Deep” by Adele, from “21” — “Just a record that everybody knows, but is a perfect summer song.” It's been a huge hit for many months already: it debuted all the way back in November. “Seems like it’s kind of taken its place as one of the big songs of this summer," Thompson said.

“Strawberry Letter 23” by Shuggie Otis, from “Inspiration Information” — "If you’ve got a group of people coming over for a barbecue, and you want that perfect choice, that perfect album to put on, that’s not too obvious — like for example the Adele pick I just made — and it’s gonna surprise a lot of people but everyone’s gonna love it.” Dating to 1977, Thompson says the song is a lost soul classic that's been recently rediscovered.

"Waterloo Sunset" by The Kinks, from "Something Else by The Kinks" — An old standby, from 1967, that Thompson said is possibly his favorite song of all time.

Steve Almond's Picks
 

“The Sun Always Reminds Me Of You” by Marissa Nadler, from “Marissa Nadler” —  Nadler is an acclaimed singer-songwriter based in Boston, and this is the one of the singles from her latest album, just released this month. “Her voice is a winter, but the arrangements are summer," Thompson said. “Like it’s a beautiful summer day, but you just had a depressing break-up kind of feeling," Almond added. Rooney got to see the song bring out the "sensitive male" in both of them.

 

“Everything Is Everything” by Booker T. Jones, covering Lauryn Hill, from “The Road From Memphis” — The much loved hip-hop and R&B artist gets the instrumental cover treatment. "This is just a party anthem," Almond said. "There’s no words, just interpretive dance. You’re around the pool, maybe there’s some alcoholic beverages. And this is just what you listen to.”
 
“We Almost Lost Detroit” by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., covering Gil Scot-Heron — Almond felt he had to give a shout-out to his favorite artist, the legendary spoken-word artist and musician Gil Scot-Heron, who passed away last month. “To me, that’s late night summertime, and you’ve had a lot of drinks, and you’ve maybe had more than drinks, Emily, to be honest with you," Almond said.



“Summertime Thing” by Chuck Prophet, from “No Other Love” — “This is the quintessential summertime song," Almond said. "And it’s been my summer anthem for as long as I”ve known about it. It even mentions The Beach Boys, for extra bonus points.”

Almond paraphrased the lyrics to get at the summer vibe of the song: “Money in the bank, I’m not gonna save it, we’re having a party – or maybe not it’s not even organized as a party, I just hope this one chick comes by. That is my summer.”
 
“Youth Of 1000 Summers” by Van Morrison,  from “Enlightenment” — Just one more classic: this 1990 track from the legendary Irish singer-songwriter. “I know Stephen Thompson and I can agree on that," Almond said.
 

Books

Jared Bowen, Arts & Culture contributor on 89.7 WGBH; reporter, Greater Boston

Life
Keith Richards
Little, Brown and Co., May 2011
“I’ve been dying to sink my teeth into the drug-addled, rollicking and surreal world of Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards, courtesy of his recently released memoir. I’ll never strut the stadium stage so Richards can help me fantasize. Without the heroin.”
 


Callie Crossley, The Callie Crossley Show, 89.7 WGBH
“Every year I promise I’ll head to Cape Ann or Maine, but then I find myself once again on my two-step jaunt via Peter Pan bus and Woods Hole Ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. In my beach bag, I’ll have the latest In Death mystery from J.D. Robb, and a new novel from Lorene Cary, If Sons, Then Heirs, a fictionalized story about the great migration North so well told in the nonfoction The Warmth of Other Suns by Boston University professor Isabel Wilkerson. And any day I’m ‘on island,’ you can find me admiring the sunset on a pal’s porch and sipping my favorite summer adult beverage: Vinho Verde, the green Portuguese wine with a touch of fizz. Cheers!”
 
Treachery in Death
J.D. Robb
(Putnam, Feb 2011)
 
If Sons, Then Heirs: A Novel
Lorene Cary
(Atria, Apr 2011)
 
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
Isabel Wilkerson
(Random House, Sep 2010)
 
Cathy Fuller, 99.5 All Classical
Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer
Wesley Stace
(Picador, Feb 2011)
“It’s not every summer that you can find a thriller with as much stylish and sophisticated musical intrigue as Wesley Stace’s Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer. A composer murders his wife, her lover and himself on the eve of his new opera’s premiere. The opera’s plot is an echo of the triple murder and never gets staged. Highly praised by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross!”
 


Cristina Quinn, Weekend Edition, 89.7 WGBH
First Family: Abigail and John Adams
Joseph J. Ellis
(Knopf, Oct 2010)
“This is a great read that gives us a comprehensive look at the lives of John and Abigail Adams during monumental times in history through the intimate letters they wrote to each other. They were a fascinating couple with a bottomless well of embarrassingly adorable pet names for one another. It’s also really neat reading about local landmarks and events in firsthand detailed accounts. First Family has been my bedside table book for a couple months now, but I’m looking forward to finishing it up at the beach!”
 

Emily Rooney, The Emily Rooney Show, 89.7 WGBH

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Eric Larson
(Vintage Books, Feb 2004)
“Last summer I got off my usual track and wound up reading the Stieg Larsson Dragon Tattoo series, but this summer I’m back with my usual nonfiction indulgence and am about to dig into Eric Larson’s The Devil in the White City.”


 
Andrea Smarden, Reporter, 89.7 WGBH

The Imperfectionists: A Novel
Tom Rachman
(The Dial Press, Jan 2011)
“This story of people who work at a fictional English-language newspaper in Rome weaves together the perspectives of characters at the paper—from its heyday of clacking typewriter keys through the Internet age. Rachman’s book is a great contemplative read for summer. It’s moving, funny, and—as a journalist—it rings uncomfortably true.”
 

Mindy Todd, The Point, WCAI

Caleb’s Crossing
Geraldine Brooks
(Viking, May 2011)
“Geraldine Brooks is one of my favorite authors, so I always look forward to her books. This one is based on the true story of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College in 1665. Little is known about him, but Brooks weaves a tale that not only honors this Wampanoag from Martha’s Vineyard, but also gives insight into what an amazing accomplishment this was.”

 

Festivals

Laura Carlo, 99.5 All Classical 
Newport Music Festival
Thursday, July 7 – Sunday, July 24
Newport, RI
“Less than a tank of gas away is the Newport Music Festival. Make a full day of it by flying kites at Adams State Park, having lunch overlooking the ocean, and then heading over to hear amazing performers from around the world at one of those exquisite ‘summer cottages’ built by the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers. This year, be sure to catch the 13-concert miniseries in honor of Liszt in his 200th anniversary year.”



Brian O’Donovan, A Celtic Sojourn, 89.7 WGBH
Lowell Folk Festival
Friday, July 29 – Sunday July 31
Boarding House Park, Lowell, MA
“Now in its 25th year, this free festival celebrates all the diversity of traditional music, from Irish to Ethiopian to Louisiana Zydeco to Québécois. Not to be missed. Three bands alone are worth the trip: Dervish, a supergroup from Ireland, La Vent du Nord from Canada and Shemekia Copeland. Wow! If you can’t make it to Lowell, listen to WGBH on Saturday afternoon at 3pm for a live broadcast, which I will host.”

 
The Boston Irish Festival
Friday, June 17 – Sunday, June 19
Canton, Mass
“The Boston Irish Festival, produced by the Irish Cultural Centre of New England, offers a great weekend of Irish sports, music, dancing, ?lm, art, food, song and history.’
 
The Blackstone River Theatre Summer Solstice Festival
Saturday, June 18
Cumberland, RI
“The Blackstone River Theatre Summer Solstice Festival presents a day of great artists like Annalivia, Robbie O’Connell, and The Gnomes.”
 
Bob Seay, Morning Edition, 89.7 WGBH 
Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals
Newport, RI
“For me, summer means a chance to enjoy the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, the granddaddies of all summer music festivals. Newport is legendary for good reason. Founder George Wein, now 86 and still running the show, always is able to get the very best in talent—many of whom feel it’s an honor to be invited. Hear great music in an unforgettable setting at Fort Adams State Park overlooking beautiful Newport Harbor. Well into their sixth decade, both festivals are well run and world renowned.”
 

Events/Venues

Jared Bowen, Arts & Culture contributor on 89.7 WGBH; reporter, Greater Boston 
Porgy and Bess
Wedneday, August 17 – Monday, October 3
Loeb Drama Center, American Repertory Theater
Cambridge, Mass
“Diane Paulus and the A.R.T. have scored a major coup in landing the rights from the Gershwin estate to stage the iconic piece Porgy and Bess.It’s a little known fact that Porgy and Bess premiered here in Boston at the Colonial Theatre. With the ever-inventive Paulus directing and Broadway icon Audra McDonald starring, Porgy and Bessshould be the summer’s sublime show.”
 
Laura Carlo, 99.5 All Classical 
Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular
Monday, July 4
Boston Esplanade
“A Boston native, I remember heading out to the Esplanade with my friends when Arthur Fiedler conducted that amazing concert in 1976, the bicentennial year. We were just kids but we knew that an amazing Boston tradition was being launched and we were thrilled that we got to be part of it. I love broadcasting from the scene even though my voice has to compete with flyovers, Howitzers and fireworks!”
 
The Boston Landmarks Orchestra Summer Concert Series
Wednesdays at 7pm, July 13 – August 31
“99.5 All Classical is so pleased again to be the media partner of this free summer concert series. Pack some munchies and a blanket, and gather with your family at the Hatch Shell to hear gorgeous music under the stars. Landmarks welcomes new conductor Christopher Wilkins.” 
 
Brian McCreath, 99.5 All Classical 

Calmus Ensemble at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival
Friday, July 15
Rockport, Mass
“On July 15, two of my favorite places come together when the Calmus Ensemble brings the amazing choral tradition of Leipzig, Germany, to the Rockport Chamber Music Festival’s gorgeous Shalin Liu Performance Center. A spectacular seaside setting, stellar acoustics and a cappellafrom Brahms to Sting: A definite winner.”
 


Emily Rooney, The Emily Rooney Show, 89.7 WGBH 
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Springs, New York
“As for summer concerts, I like to take in an event or two at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center as I have a summer place at nearby Lake George. They have several events I’m looking forward to in July, including performances by the New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Opera Saratoga throughout the month.”
 
Tennis Hall of Fame
Newport, RI
“Tennis is my real passion, and I’ll take a day off from playing Saturday, July 9, to attend the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport for the annual inductees ceremony.”
 
Mindy Todd, The Point, WCAI
Cape Cod Melody Tent
Hyannis, MA
“This intimate venue doesn’t have a bad seat in the house (tent): every seat is within 50 feet of the stage! Concerts this summer range from The Wiggles to Chris Botti to Tony Bennett.”

Alicia Anstead's Picks 

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, by Gertrude Stein
 I just saw Woody Allen's film Midnight in Paris," Anstead said. "I am now obsessed with Paris in the 1920s and 30s." Anstead thinks of this period, when the highly productive "Lost Generation" of artists and writers convened in Paris — as having shaped American culture in the 20th century more than almost any other time or place.

Gertrude Stein was a huge figure in this generation, and she wrote this novel about her lover, editor and confidant, Alice B. Toklas, in the guise of an autobiography. The book is as much chronicle of Stein's life and their time together.

Vintage; 252 pages.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
The bestselling trilogy of young-adult thrillers, Anstead said, is great for summer entertainment at really any age. These post-apocalyptic novels concern a society in which a pair of children are selected annually to fight to the death in a televised event.

“I think they’re extraordinary fiction for young people,” Anstead said. She felt that Suzanne Collins had successfully transported her to another world.

Scholastic; 384 pages.
 

Callie Crossley's Picks

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, by Manning Marable
This new reexamination of the controversial figure's life earned sad notice when the author passed away, two days before its release.

But the book's praise was well and thoroughly earned on its own merits. "He spent 20 years refuting what we think we know about Malcolm X," Crossley said. Marble reveals that the man presented to us in "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" was a misleading, sometimes fictional image. Plus, the book is 600 pages long — perfect for a long summer.

Viking; 608 pages.

The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
Wilkerson, the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize, chronicles the long African-American migration to the Northern United States.

“A lot of book clubs are off for the summer, and they pick a book that is going to be either thoughtful, or long, and spend some time really revisiting it," Crossley said. “It’s stunning, it reads like a novel.”

Random House; 640 pages.



High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America, by Jessica B. Harris
"A combination cookbook and cultural history," as Callie called it, Harris chronicles the cuisine of the African diaspora and its huge social significance. The book is a full-on celebration of the food and social traditions that sustained Africans in the Americas, and the culture that evolved in the wake of slavery.

Bloomsbury; 304 pages.



 

Yu Jin Ko's Picks

Please Look After Mom, by Kyung-Sook Shin
This novel, which has been a huge bestseller in Korea, is the story of a family searching for their mother, after she disappears into the crowds one day at Seoul Station.

But this may not be the right book for those who want something light or fun for the summer. “It’s not an escapist fantasy, but rather sends you on a guilt trip,” Ko said. “It’s a tear-jerker, and it wrings every last tear form your body.”

Knopf; 256 pages.



Babette's Feast, by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)
This classic short story (here collected with several others by Dinesen), which later became a popular film, tells the story of a French cook working in a puritanical Norwegian community who treats her employers to a decadent feast.

Ko recommends it in part because, while he shares the summer fascination with food, this story is likewise less escapist and more a tale of, as he put it, "An intractable desire that never fully yields to satisfaction.”

Penguin; 256 pages.


On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan
Despite the title, Ko doesn't think this one is quite right as a beach book. “In many ways it’s the antithesis of the summer reading book," he said.

"Summer reading — a lot of summer reading, I should say — has a particular relationship to desire. Which is that it enacts a fulfillment of desire that leads to a new state — new states of being, new forms of self-actualization, etc. But there’s a category of novel that explores what happens to people when desire is deferred, or unrealized.”

For Ko, McEwan's novel is another story that movingly expresses and relates an unfulfilled desire. Which may be, in the end, a fine thing to contemplate — what is possible, impossible, and what you really want — over the long summer months.

Nan A. Talese; 208 pages.

Hear the 2012 Marlboro Chamber Music Festival episode of New England Summer Festivals

Hear the 2011 Marlboro Chamber Music Festival episode of New England Summer Festivals

The Marlboro Chamber Music Festival as founded in 1951 by Rudolf Serkin, with Adolf Busch, Hermann Busch and Marcel, Blanche and Louis Moyse.

Co-Artistic Directors are Mitsuko Uchida and Richard Goode.

Serkin had been Artistic Director until his death in 1991.

Marlboro is 1.5 hours from Williamstown, MA, and 2 hours from Tanglewood.

The 2012 festival begins on July 14 and concludes on August 12, with concerts every Saturday and Sunday, as well as the final two Friday evenings.

The festival is known for an egalitarian approach to music-making among seasoned mentors and exceptional young professionals.

Repertoire for each week's concerts is determined a week before each performance.

Concerts take place at Persons Auditorium on the campus of Marlboro College.

Its location in southern Vermont makes Marlboro an idyllic getaway, two-and-a-half hours from Boston and four hours from New York City.  Many options are available for lodging and for exploring area attractions.