A mother is trapped in a coma after a fire, but she flies around in an in-between state snooping on friends and family in search of the arsonist still targeting her daughter. Rosamund Lupton captured us with Sister and does it again with this literary thriller.
Available at amazon.com, $14.
We were obsessed with Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir, Fun Home, about her father, his secret gay life, and his tragic death. This time Mom gets the pen-and-ink treatment in a poignant tale of mother-daughter dynamics and the pursuit of artistry.
Available at amazon.com, $15.
“First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later.” Who can resist those opening sentences? Richard Ford sends his 15-year-old narrator from his Montana home to the wide-open prairies of Canada in a coming-of-age saga told with the spare, unhurried prose of a master storyteller.
Available at amazon.com, $16.
A beautiful young wife is missing, so obviously the oddly evasive husband did it. Or did he? Gillian Flynn’s killer thriller is unputdownable, and just when you think you know where she’s going, she’s gone.
Available at amazon.com, $14.
When a former peace corps idealist returns to his Malawi village, he discovers that well-intended international aid didn’t pan out for the villagers he loved. Paul Theroux sets his new novel in his old stomping grounds of the snake-infested region of Malawi and wrestles with the ethics of philanthropy (so we don’t have to).
Available at amazon.com, $15.
Isabella Robinson’s diary contains passionate details about her illicit affair with the dashing Dr. Edward Lane — and, of course, her boring husband finds it. Kate Summerscale vividly recreates the scandalous 1858 divorce trial (and Victorian-age sexual politics) that caused even Queen Victoria to get the vapors.
Available at amazon.com, $17.
The black Lab on the cover drew us in; Jacqueline Sheehan’s prose kept us there. The sequel to her best-selling Lost & Found combines love, loss, a grieving widow, and a troubling phone call from a young woman who claims to be the heroine’s dead husband’s daughter. Our beach bag snapped open in anticipation.
Available at amazon.com, $10.
Freed slave Mary Bowser returns to Richmond, Virginia, to the pre-Civil War Confederate White House to spy on President Jefferson Davis for the Union. Sound intriguing? Author Lois Leveen’s meticulously researched historical fiction is best consumed with sweet tea and a porch swing.
Available at amazon.com, $11.
Here’s a tip: Regulate your sun exposure with short stories. Read one; flip over. Read another; flip over again. Alix Ohlin’s smart new collection explores the complexities of relationships in unexpected ways. Each of the sixteen is that rare pearl plucked from September’s first oyster.
Available at amazon.com, $11.
Judgment. Books. Covers. We know. But if the cover art for Carol Rifka Brunt’s debut doesn’t sell you (it did us), the gut-wrenching portrayal of a 13-year-old coping with her beloved Uncle Finn’s death from AIDS more than delivers.
Available at amazon.com, $14.
After you’ve read 50 Shades of Grey, you can’t just jump back in with Anna Karenina. Ease the transition with Nora Zelevansky’s debut, a lighthearted novel filled with rude awakenings, Manhattan adventure, and the blush of first love.
Available at amazon.com, $11.
What if Virginia Woolf headed To the Lighthouse nowadays? Mark Haddon — of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time fame — gives us a glimpse into a tension-riddled family rife with struggling relationships and overall frustrations while on holiday in the country.
Available at amazon.com, $16.
Not only is Chris Cleave’s latest installment wrought with ingenious similes and fast-paced wit (readers of Little Bee, you know what we mean), but the story of a complicated friendship between two Olympic bikers serves as highbrow pregame to the London events.
Available at amazon.com, $16.
In general, we don’t go for memoirs interspersed with recipes, but Alyssa Shelasky’s unpretentious prose leaves us hungry for more. After losing her way in life, a self-professed kitchenphobe finds direction again when she bellies up to the stove. It’s not literature, but it sure is fun.
Available at amazon.com, $11.
When you think about it, Texas is weird. Sports? Also weird. And civilian life seen through the eyes of a 19-year-old soldier on a Victory Tour at a Lone Star State football stadium is the weirdest of them all. Or so it seems in Ben Fountain’s first novel. (Wash it down with Jack and Coke.)
Available at amazon.com, $15.
Hugues de Montalembert was attacked and blinded by two men in his New York City apartment. What might have been the end of independence and adventure was only the beginning of a new kind of remarkable. You’ll be inspired by his slim book in the time it takes to drink a mai tai.
Available online at amazon.com, $5.
Told from the point of view of an 11-year-old girl, Karen Thompson Walker’s eerie novel unfolds as the Earth begins to slow. Days and nights grow longer, and that frozen grape between your teeth just may be the very last you ever eat.
Available at amazon.com, $16.
We adored Hilary Mantel’s prize-winning Wolf Hall, and we raced through this sequel about the downfall and dramatic trial of Anne Boleyn as seen through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell. King Henry VIII wants what he wants — and we all know how that turns out (rubs neck gently).
Available at amazon.com, $15.
Comments