Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Summer Reading Guide

Summer Books

This is an exciting year for readers, especially for those who enjoy kicking back and getting lost in a good novel. Many highly anticipated titles are scheduled for release in the near future, including Finders Keepers by Stephen King (June 2), The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera (June 23) and, most intriguingly, Go Set a Watchman (July 14), the recently discovered sequel to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

But what about right now? What hot-off-the-presses books are currently on display at your local bookstore or library, begging you to peruse their printed pages?

Here are seven new offerings you should immediately go grab, or at least add to your summer reading list:

After Birth
By Elisa Albert

Ari gave birth to her son a year ago, but she still hasn’t gotten accustomed to being a mother. She doesn’t suffer postpartum depression, exactly—it’s more like postpartum existential angst, in which she feels that the essence of who she was has all but disappeared. Worse, she feels that her baby is an “oppressive fascist bastard dictator narcissist.” Fortunately, a new friend comes along in the form of a former cult musician who is nine-months pregnant, giving Ari new hope of finding herself. This is a bold, fresh narrative on motherhood.

The Country of Ice Cream Star
By Sandra Newman

For the speculative fiction fan, no summer is complete with the reading of an epic, post-apocalyptic novel, from Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz to Stephen King’s The Stand to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Enter The Country of Ice Cream Star, Sandra Newman’s inventive, fast-paced foray into the genre. After being decimated by a plague, the world soldiers on sans mature adults as everyone dies of a mysterious disease before reaching the age of 20. Ice Cream Star, a bold 15-year-old girl, sets off to find a cure, facing danger and deception along the way.

God Help the Child
By Toni Morrison

At 192 pages, God Help the Child is a book that you might be able to finish in one afternoon at the beach. However, you’ll probably want to linger longer over each lovingly written page, given Morrison’s penchant for penning top-notch prose. God Help the Child probably won’t achieve the widespread acclaim of the author’s more famous works, such as Beloved or Song of Solomon, but it is a fascinating and dramatic story of a light-skinned black woman who is mother to a dark-skinned child.

Memory Man
By David Baldacci

Best-selling novelist David Baldacci has written more books than some people have read, so where should new readers begin? Try his latest, Memory Man, the first installment of a brand new series. Thanks to a football injury, police detective Amos Decker has hyperthymesia, the ability to recall virtually everything with perfect clarity. Decker must solve the mystery of his family’s murder, the aftermath of which he remembers in grisly detail.

The Nightingale
By Kristin Hannah

If you enjoy historical fiction, but it’s been awhile since you’ve visited the genre, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of The Nightingale, a tear-jerking tale of brave two sisters—a married woman and a rebellious teen—in German-occupied, war-torn France. When Nazi soldiers invade their home, each sister must struggle for food, freedom and their very survival. Most WWII novels focus on the men, but The Nightingale is refreshing in its portrayal of wartime women.

The Poser
By Jacob Rubin

Jacob Rubin’s debut novel is a masterwork of comedy and surrealism, set in a fictional version of mid-20th-century America. It stars Giovanni Bernini, a young stage performer who has the ability to mimic his audience members with uncanny precision. His act leaves an indelible impression (so to speak) on his off-stage persona, as well as on the people he meets, including the gorgeous, yet inscrutable singer, Lucy Starlight.

The Stranger
Harlan Coben

Adam Price has it all: two kids, a beautiful wife, a big house and a good job. Unfortunately, a mysterious Stranger comes along and rocks Adam’s world with devastating news: his wife faked her first pregnancy and miscarriage. Why does this mystery man reveal dark secrets to people, and how do said secrets affect their lives? Read the twisting, turning, plot-driven The Stranger to discover the unsettling answers.

Ten more tantalizing titles you can read right now:

Delicious Foods by James Hannaham
Gathering Prey by John Sandford
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The Harder They Come by T.C. Boyle
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Miracle at Augusta by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge
The Season of Migration by Nellie Hermann
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Takedown by John Jackson Miller
The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty by Amanda Filipacchi



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