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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, June 4, 2015 | 22 Great books for the beach and prose for the poolside That's L Life ike most readers, I tend to read in streaks. Sometimes I hit hot streaks that over the course of a year add up to me burrowing into books at a frenetic pace, like an insatiable bookworm all pumped-up on prose. Alternatively, there are cold streaks during which I can barely nd the time, inclination, or energy to break the spine on any of the tomes piled high beside my bed. Thankfully, I've been on a prolonged hot streak of late, reading one wonderful book after another -- books that can be succinctly reviewed in one gushing word: wow. Now, amply armed, I offer up my umpteenth annual list of superb summer reads -- perfect prose for the poolside, bodacious books for the beach -- a list that has been known to incite bedlam in bookstores, lunacy in libraries, and rioting (or, at very least, reading) in the streets. Here we go: · Department of Speculation, by Jenny Ofll. An offbeat and alluring experiment in prose in which the tale of a moribund marriage is told in poetic fragments that include fabulous factoids you can borrow to impress Andy Juniper Guest Contributor Van Beek's Garden Supplies. GARDEN SUPPLIES VAN BEEK'S Serving GTA & surrounding areas FRESH SOD DAILY Get premium soil, quality mulch, & landscape supplies from Van Beek's Garden Centre. Landscapers and homeowners have chosen our products ­ such as our premium soil ­ since 1962. All you have to do is order it and we'll deliver. Van Beek'S Premium mixed Soil | ToP dreSSinG Premium Soil GraSS Seed naTural STone inTerlock PaVerS SPecialTy mulcheS your friends. For example: "Antelopes have 10x vision... that means, on a clear night, they can see the rings of Saturn." This book can be devoured in one night, then reread and savored the next. · Euphoria, by Lilly King. Euphoria is the gritty, gripping tale of three anthropologists falling in love while working amongst native tribes in 1930s New Guinea. King is a masterful storyteller, and a remarkable writer; there are paragraphs in this book you'll reread for their style and beauty, never mind the secrets they may well reveal. · Last Night, by James Salter. I'm hard-pressed to top John Irving's assessment of Salter's latest, so I won't even try: "A beautiful novel," Irving notes, "with suf cient love, heartbreak, vengeance, and euphoria of language to have satis ed Shakespeare." In short, another masterful work by the master. · All My Puny Sorrows, by Miriam Toews. I could tell you it's about a woman's desperate attempts to keep her depressed sister alive, but that disheartening storyline doesn't do justice to all the light Toews deftly shines into the dark corners of life, and the love she pours across every single page. · Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles. A stylish debut novel that thoughtfully and thoroughly examines life in New York in the late 1930s. From page one it's evident that Towles is a disciple of F . Scott Fitzgerald. Although this book is no new Gatsby (hey, what book is?), it is the perfect summer escape, replete with a memorable mix of characters and intrigue, and bold dashes of wit and charm. · The World's Largest Man, by Harrison Scott Key. And now for something completely different: the southern U.S. humourist has written a memoir about his father, a man with the "emotional tenderness of a Soviet farm tractor." How good is this book? Key's own "loving wife" provided a quote for his website, raving to readers that it is, well, "better than I thought it would be." I can tell you from personal experience, that's high praise coming from a spouse. -- Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found on Facebook, or followed on Twitter @thesportjesters. armour STone | FlaGSTone | Pond SuPPlieS | Firewood and much more If you're looking for quality products to help you make the most of an outdoor space, visit Van Beek's Garden Supplies at either of our two locations in Mississauga or Oakville: Buy a pair of Prescription Glasses and receive a pair of Sunglass Frames sale Van Beek's topsoil sale Natural Random Flagstone from at no Charge! * See store for details $15 /yard $0.07/pound 92 Dunn Street Downtown oakville lebeauoptical@gmail.com www. lebeauoptical.com Oakville - Burlington - Milton 2410 Lower Base Line Rd., Oakville Mississauga-Oakville-Etobicoke 758 Southdown Rd., Mississauga 905-845-3621 1-866-778-5824 www.vanbeeks.com