Kathryn Stripling Byer, North Carolina's poet laureate, offers her picks for summer reads. Catch up with Byer at www.kathrynstriplingbyer.blogspot.com and www.ncarts.org.

In a Dark Season

Vicki Lane

While summer storms have been passing through, the dogs whining because of thunder and banging on the door to be let inside, I've been reading Lane's latest, the fourth in her Elizabeth Goodweather series. The novel renders place (Western N.C. mountains) and the language of place beautifully, and the web of stories gathered up in the narrative continues to haunt me. The opening scene catches you up in that web, so don't fight it. When you're caught in a Vicki Lane novel, resistance is futile!

The Door

Margaret Atwood

Being poet laureate, I want to give poetry a plug, so let me tell you how much I've been enjoying Atwood's new collection.

Late Winter

Bill Brown

Don't forget about poetry; drop some into your beach bag before you head down to the shore.