This list comes from one of my favorite book reviewers, Robert Burnbaum, who blogs at ourmaninboston. I’ve only read one book on this list: Patrick deWitt’s The Sisters Brothers and I can recommend it. I’ll be exploring some of the other books on this list in the following weeks, but if you’re looking for some Summer Reading, this is a good place to start.

The Sisters Brothers:A Novel by Patrick deWitt (Ecco)

Once Upon a River:A Novel by Bonnie Jo Campbell (W. W. Norton & Company)

To Be Sung Underwater:A Novel by Tom McNeal (Little Brown)

Rules of Civility:A Novel by Amor Towles (Viking)

Galore by Michael Crummey Other Press)

Doc:A Novel by Mary Doria Russell Random House

The Informant by Thomas Perry (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Mink River by Brian Doyle (Oregon State University Press)

Rodin’s Debutante by Ward S. Just (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Pale King by David Foster Wallace (Little Brown)

Tyrant Memory by Horacio Castellanos Moya and (New Directions)

You Think That’s Bad: Stories by Jim Shepard (Knopf)

The Cut by George P. Pelecanos (Reagan Arthur Books)

Remember by Stephen Harrigan (Knopf)

Broken Irish by Edward Delaney(Turtle Point Press)

The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vasquez and Anne McLean (Riverhead)

Tonight BBC America is broadcasting the first of six episodes of The Hour. The Hour is working the same side of the street as MAD MEN. It’s the story of a British TV news program set in London in 1956. The Hour is on tonight here at 9:00 P. M. EST. Check your local listings for the broadcast time in your area. Here’s a sample of what you’ll see:

Once again, Daedalus Books offers value for your hard-earned dollars. The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection retails for $69.98. Daedalus is selling this 5 DVD collection for a mere $19.98. The collection includes 124 cartoons, the opening credit sequences from the five Pink Panther movies, a documentary, and a tutorial from animation director Art Leonardi on how to draw the Pink Panther. That’s over 13 hours of pure entertainment! If you’re interested, just click here.

The Help is based on Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel about race relations in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963. Like J. K. Rowling and her Harry Potter book, The Help was turned down by dozens of publishers. The movie version, at 137 minutes, is too long. The story is straight-forward: Skeeter Phelan, a young girl who wants to be a writer (played by Emma Stone), decides to write about the African-American maids who work in white households. Getting the maids to talk takes some doing because Skeeter doesn’t really understand how bad conditions are in her hometown. Viola Davis plays Aibileen Clark, a stoic maid, to perfection. Octavia Spencer plays the rebellious Minny Jackson with a blend of seriousness and humor. When I read Kathryn Skockett’s novel, I was shocked at the racism still prevalent in 1963. Somehow, I thought things had improved by 1963. Wrong! The movie softens the racism portrayed in the novel. GRADE: B+

Jeff and Jackie Meyerson arrived in Western New York hungry for PIZZA JUNCTION pizza. As most of know, PIZZA JUNCTION was featured on The Food Network’s DINERS, DRIVE-INS & DIVES hosted by Guy Fieri. Diane and I picked the Meyersons up at the Marriott and headed for North Tonawanda. Of course, the pizza was great as was the conversation. We found out that New York City (which I thought had EVERYTHING) does not have world-class frozen custard. And Jackie really wanted to taste some great frozen custard. Fortunately, Western New York has some wonderful frozen custard places. So it was back in the Rogue and we headed off to Lewiston, NY where Hibbard’s Custard is a local landmark. We enjoyed the frozen custard! Diane and I brought Art Scott, another frozen custard devotee, to Hibbard’s when he visited a couple years ago. On Monday, we might be bringing Patti and Phil Abbott to Hibbard’s if they’re in the mood for a frozen delight.

Harold Goldberg’s breezy All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How 50 Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture delivers a history of video games and their mostly kooky designers. From Pong to Tennis for Two, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Dungeons & Dragons, Myst, Sims, and Grand Theft Auto, Goldberg explores the growing game industry and the people who developed the astonishing products. Roberta Willaims, Ralph Baer, Nolan Bushnell, Hiroshi Yamauchi, William “Tripp” Hawkins, Dan and Sam Houser, Graeme Devine, and Jason Kapulka are the stars of Goldberg’s book. The video game industry is larger than the television and Hollywood movie industries combined. I found All Your Base Are Belong to Us informative and enlightening. GRADE: B+

One Night Stands and Lost Weekends collects Lawrence Block’s early stories in an attractive package. Back in the 1950s, Block wrote a story titled “You Can’t Lose” and sent it to Manhunt magazine. Manhunt published the story and Block’s career was launched. One Night Stands and Lost Weekends includes 28 short stories and novelettes from 1958 to 1962. Lawrence Block includes two informative essays which describe the publishing world at the time these stories were written. Fascinating reading!

The Stock Market is a mirror of our national psyche. The debt ceiling debacle triggered this current Stock Market skid, but the economic problems in the Euro Zone also contributed. For the past five or six years, I’ve told my students in my INVESTMENTS class to buy gold and buy oil. Gold is at historic highs. Oil is down, but only because demand is low. Once the world economy starts to recover–and it will–demand for oil will go up and prices will rise. What should we do now? Do NOT panic. Don’t make any hasty financial decisions. The Markets are turbulent because there’s too much uncertainty in the economic system. Depending on your tolerance for risk, buying stocks at these depressed levels makes sense. Gold is expensive, but it’s going to continue to go up so that’s an option. I don’t think we’ll have a “double-dip” recession unless we get some more, major economic setbacks. This isn’t 2008 when the financial system almost melted down. But in crises, there’s opportunity. I’m buying General Electric (GE), Intel (INTC), and Qualcomm (QCOM).

When Diane and I arrived home from a rigorous physical therapy session, we found a huge box on our porch. We carried it into our house and opened it up. It was a giant fruit basket! The Faculty Federation of Erie Community College (my union) sent me this wonderful Get Well basket. The basket contained Large Navel Oranges, Gala apples, Crispin apples, red and green pears, mango, pineapple, lemon, lime, pomegranate, Wegmans berry pistachio blend, naturally aged Vermont Cheddar cheese, Summer Sausage, Wegmans water Crackers, Marzetti mini caramel dip and an appetizer plate. This was completely unexpected. You can be sure I’ll be thanking my fellow Faculty Federation members during Fall Registration in a couple of weeks.

Tonight at 9 P.M. EDT on the DISCOVERY Channel, the Second Season of Auction Kings returns with plenty of mind-boggling items to sell. Auction Kings shows how one of the country’s most famous auction houses, Gallery 63, and its owner Paul Brown operate. Paul likes to deal in the world of unique items — from Civil War memorabilia to vampire-hunting kits to Russian cosmonaut space suits to vintage posters. What makes Auction Kings different from the storage unit shows like Auction Hunters and Storage Wars is that Auction Kings shows how the items were acquired and what happens when they go on sale. The DISCOVERY Channel is also broadcasting episodes of Auction Kings from the First Season to get you up to speed. If you’re fascinated by the discovery and sale of bizarre items, this is the program for you!