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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