It seems like just last month I posted about three books I wanted to read for the annual Big Book Summer Reading Challenge hosted by Sue Jackson of Book by Book and Melinda of A Web of Stories. That post was actually three months ago. The challenge runs every year from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This year, that was May 23-Sept 1.

Officially, I read three big books. They are:

Fiction – Horror

The Shining (1977) by Stephen King, 659 pages. This is the third time I’ve read this classic, which wasn’t considered a classic when I first read it. It’s a haunted house story about Jack, Wendy, and their son, Danny, who has a special “gift.”

Jack, a struggling playwright and alcoholic, takes a job as the winter caretaker at a large, historic hotel in the mountains that will get snowed in and cut off from town. Wendy is on edge because Jack is explosive. He lost his job at a prestigious school back East; since then, they have been down and out, living on a thread of hope in Colorado. This caretaking gig is the only job Jack can find, and he’s getting it through a friend. It’ll be just Jack, Wendy, and Danny on the property. Or so they think.

Danny can read minds and see spirits, which can be either a gift or a curse when living in a haunted house—usually a bit of both. As you can imagine, things don’t go well.

I also rewatched the 1980 movie adaptation directed by Stanley Kubrick, which did not live up to my memory. There’s too much focus on Jack Nicholson’s facial expressions and not enough (or any) character development. He comes across as ridiculous. I also watched the 1997 mini-series, which was better than the movie in many ways, but still not a show I’d recommend to anyone other than fans who want to be completists on all things related to The Shining.

Narrative Nonfiction – 1920s

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them (2023) by Timonth Egan, 432 pages. I listened to the audio version on a road trip from Connecticut to Illinois. This story made the miles fly by. Egan narrates the 10-hour, 29-minute audio. It’s a good book, although the subtitle is a bit misleading. The focus is on DC Stephenson’s control of the KKK and politics in Indiana in the 1920s. Egan goes into the KKK’s national political influence at times, but the focus is on Stephenson. Madge Oberholtzer was the woman who stopped him. She was brutally and repeatedly raped and mutilated by Stephenson. She died from her wounds, and her family’s pursuit of justice is what eventually brought down Stephenson. This part of the book was hard to listen to.

It was also eerie to be driving through Indiana while listening to this dark period of the state’s history. I listened to how the Klan almost “bought” Valparaiso University when the school struggled financially in the early 1920s. Another Indiana university makes it into this book. Do you know how the University of Notre Dame got its “Fighting Irish” nickname? In May 1923, the Klan had planned a big rally and parade in South Bend. They were met by hundreds of Notre Dame students who went into action, brawling with the bigots and pulling off hoods and robes over three days of protest.

It is a dark story, one that echoes loudly in today’s political climate.

Narrative Nonfiction – 1890s

80 Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World (2013) by Matthew Goodman, 453 pages. I absolutely adored this book! It will definitely be on my top ten reads of the year. Goodman is a highly skilled narrative nonfiction storyteller. In 1889, Nellie Bly, a pioneering investigative reporter for the NY World, set out to prove she could travel around the world in under 80 days using only publicly available transportation. Trains were changing the landscape around the world, and steamships were making trips between continents at speeds that were mindboggling to those who had been born into the age of sail.

Not to be outdone, a competing publication, Cosmopolitan magazine, sent journalist and literary critic Elizabeth Bisland on her own voyage around the world just days later in an effort to beat Bly. They made no promises not to charter special transportation if needed. Bisland was caught off guard by her boss’s assignment to drop everything and set off on a journey around the world the next day, but she said yes.

One woman travelled east, the other west. Bly and Bisland had very different personalities and approaches to their work and travel. The race part of the story is fascinating. You learn about transportation in the late 19th century, communication, food, and the vast size and might of the British Empire. Goodman also explores the aftermath of the race and its impact on both women’s lives. You’d think the post-race part of the story might be a bit of a letdown, but it is anything but. This book is definitely going to be on my list of top ten reads of the year. Highly recommend!

Still Reading

I am also still reading two of the big books that I included in my signup post back in June.

I’ve been slowly reading Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (2025) edited by Brigitte Bailey, Noelle A. Baker, and Megan Marshall, with a group of readers (929 pages). We have our last Zoom discussion on September 20th. Our final reading will cover Fuller’s writings from Europe (publications, letters, etc) and her second book, Women in the Nineteenth Century.

The other big book I’m currently reading is The Weight of Ink (2017) by Rachel Hadish (575 pages). I had to put it aside for a few days due to exciting life events (more to come on that), but I look forward to getting back to it. It’s a dual timeline academic/historical adventure tale. In contemporary times, a professor facing mandatory retirement is called in by a wealthy former student to assess some old papers discovered by an electrician in an ancestral home while updating services. She knows she’ll need an assistant due to time constraints and a health condition. A colleague recommends a brilliant graduate student who is struggling with his dissertation. He jumps at the chance but is distracted by a new love interest. The historic storyline is set in the 17th century and focuses on a young Jewish woman. She’s a refugee living in England and acting as a scribe to a rabbi. It’s a great setup.

Thanks to Sue and Melinda for hosting the challenge this year!

How did your summer reading go?