It's summertime and I'm racing through reading material.

Novels, poetry, memoir, magazines, newspapers, manuals, cereal boxes, candy wrappers . . . The good, bad, monumental and mundane, I'm word-hungry.

After a (long, dark, dismal) run of ehh, I've recently lucked into some good books. Let's credit the solstice. Long light, long days, open mind. As always, timing is everything.

These books hit me at the right place, right time. And isn't that how it goes?

The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty
by Vendela Vida

An absorbing new novel, best enjoyed in one full sweep. Vida employs a risky approach: an entire novel written in second person narrative (You are growing increasingly panicked — you are in Morocco and don't have your backpack . . .). While initially off-putting, the style creates a tension of intimacy and distance for an ultimately engaging story.

The Edge of Sadness
by Edwin O’Connor

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1962 , this is a quiet novel gently tendering themes of forgiveness, redemption and the value of revising perceptions. I didn’t love it, but I appreciated it, and weeks after completing the book, I’m still thinking of it. That means something, I’m just not sure what.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
by Mindy Kaling

You know Mindy Kaling from “The Office,” the television show that furthered the mock-documentary style of serial storytelling. A stronger writer than actor, in this memoir-essay collection, she’s sharp and funny, offering masterful self-deprecation without the usual cloying aftertaste. Easy, breezy, fun.

What are you reading? What's snagged you at just the right time and place?