What books are Central Pennsylvanians reading this summer?

• Scott LaMar
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

 Toby Hudson/Wikimedia

Airdate: August 2, 2022

From time to time on Smart Talk, we form a panel to recommend books to read on summer vacations or books to give as gifts during the holiday season.

Now during the height of summer, we wanted to check in to see what books are most popular right now or the titles that people are talking about.

With us on Tuesday’s Smart Talk was Alex Brubaker, the Book Buyer and Program Coordinator at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg as well as the director of the Harrisburg Book Festival, “The first one I wanted to highlight is, of course, from the king of comedy, David Sedaris. He’s come out with a new collection, his first one in quite a number of years called Happy Go Lucky. It’s classic. SEDARIS It’s hilarious. It’s surprising. It’s self-deprecating, but also poignant. Two new essays that are that are up to date with the pandemic.

Brubaker added,”There’s this new romance writer, Emily Henry. She’s written New York Times bestselling books called Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation. She’s come out with a new one at the beginning of the summer called Book Lovers. It’s it’s about an acquisition editor and a literary agent, two who fall in love. And it’s a really easy read. There’s laughter, there’s romance again. It’s set in the literary world. There’s another one called The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager. We actually hosted him in Harrisburg at the bookstore. He’s originally from central Pennsylvania. It’s the ultimate escapist read for lovers of psychological suspense.”

A history book that is popular is, “Our First Civil War by H.W. Brands. It’s basically about the American Revolution and the Patriots versus the Loyalists. That’s one that’s been very popular for us. On Father’s Day, we couldn’t sell enough of it.”