Chill out with these 20 books for summer
Here are 20 new or upcoming titles to consider, ranging from family drama and island mystery to World War II history and Middle East tension.
- Jane Henderson
It wouldn’t be summer without a fresh mix of books with sand, swimsuits and sisters on their covers.
So if you don’t get to choose between a vacay at Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket Island, at least you can read about both places in Elin Hilderbrand’s “The Identicals.” It features twins with different personalities who live on the two East Coast islands. A family crisis brings them back together, so along with its gossip and romance, the novel is made-for-the-beach escapism. Or maybe you prefer the sand in South Carolina, where two couples renew their friendship in “Same Beach, Next Year” by Dorothea Benton Frank.
Not every vacation book features swimsuits, though. For our annual summer book roundup, we include settings as far as India and as close as St. Louis. (There are two novels set here, in fact: one light, one darker.) And if you want something serious, we’ve also got you covered.
Here are 20 new or upcoming titles to consider, including a few recommended by local bookstore owners. The books range from family drama and island mystery to World War II history and Middle East tension.
There are even a couple with sisters.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Joshilyn Jackson (July 11, William Morrow)
Perhaps an archetypal book for summer, this family drama about Southern women includes one who becomes a single parent after a tequila-soaked night with a comics convention Batman. Holland Saltman of the Novel Neighbor says it’s “Comic Con meets ‘The Help.’”
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Christopher Bollen (June 27, Harper)
A literary thriller pitched as resembling Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” its hero has been cut out of his father’s will. On a Greek island, Ian Bledsoe meets up with a wealthy friend, who, after leaving his girlfriend in Ian’s care, disappears.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Maile Meloy (Tuesday, Riverhead)
Two families go on a cruise, enjoying the lazy luxury and getaway. But when they go ashore in Central America, their children seem to disappear while a mother falls asleep as the kids swim. Panic, guilt and a suspenseful mystery ensue.
A memoir by Roxane Gay (June 13, Harper)
Gay’s essays on culture have quickly made her a well-known commentator on race, gender and more (“Bad Feminist”). Now she writes about being raped at age 12 and subsequent overeating connected with her secret. Expect brutal honesty. Gay, a professor at Eastern Illinois University, will talk about her memoir July 8 at a ticketed event at St. Louis County Library.
- Jane Henderson
By Souad Mekhennet (June 13, Holt)
An international correspondent who grew up Muslim in Germany recounts her work exploring the roots of Islamic radicalism. She revealed in the Washington Post the identity of “Jihadi John,” a British Arab shown on gruesome videos of radicals beheading captives. Her memoir and reporting help give an insider’s look at current terrorism.
- Jane Henderson
A memoir by Michael Connelly (July 18, Little, Brown)
Connelly’s Harry Bosch books have made him one of the most popular thriller writers in the U.S. Now, he introduces a new series featuring a female detective in Hollywood. Renée Ballard is on the night shift because she filed a harassment suit against her boss. But when assaults and shootings come her way, she keeps investigating, even when she’s supposed to hand off a case.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Lisa Ko (May, Algonquin)
A boy loses his mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant who suddenly disappears. Adopted by white parents, he later tries to reconstruct his past while learning his mother is still alive. This first novel is already out and has been doing well.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by J.D. Trafford (Aug. 1, Thomas & Mercer)
This paperback original, set in St. Louis, features a lawyer who serves the less privileged, including a young girl who begs him to look for her brother. The teen is the latest in a series of disappearances involving black youths, and police don’t seem overly interested.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Grant Ginder (Tuesday, Flatiron)
Could it be that we’re just attracted to this book’s funny title during the favorite month for nuptials? We won’t admit it. Besides, this tale of family dysfunction is getting great previews dubbing it as both hilarious and hopeful.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Alissa Nutting (July 4, Ecco)
A pair of dolphins and a garish rainbow of color on the cover hint that any romance in this profane book may have a funny, satiric edge. And that’s before the introduction of a sex-doll companion that lives with the heroine’s father in a trailer park.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Arundhati Roy (Tuesday, Knopf)
Because it’s the first novel in 20 years by the best-selling author of “The God of Small Things,” this book is newsworthy just because of the long wait. But it also looks good, with a plot opening with a transgender Delhi child who will be both a glittering curiosity and an outcast. Her life changes, though, as she welcomes outcasts to a house she builds in a graveyard.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Kevin Killeen (Tuesday, Blank Slate Press)
KMOX’s resident novelist offers another of his amusing, real-life-informed stories about a Catholic boy and his friends growing up in Webster Groves in the 1970s. As the kids navigate high school, they steal the “Love Machine,” aka a parent’s station wagon, during a quest to meet up with the opposite sex. Killeen talks about his book Saturday at Webster Groves Public Library.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Augustus Rose (Aug. 1, Viking)
Kelly von Plonski of Subterranean Books says she loves this story of a young protagonist struggling to make it on her own. The teen “stumbles into a secret society that is perhaps wound up with the teachings of Marcel Duchamp but also might be just your basic criminal network,” von Plonski says.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Matthew Quick” (July 4, Harper)
Quick has a knack for creating characters that make good stories (“The Silver Linings Playbook”). In this new novel, a racist Vietnam veteran tells his life story to a government worker, sharing horrors of war, relationship ups and downs, and an unusual debt to a Native American. Publisher’s Weekly calls it “dark, funny, and surprisingly tender.”
- Jane Henderson
By Bruce Henderson (July 25, William Morrow)
The subtitle probably says it all in what is likely to be a stirring story for World War II buffs: “The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned With the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler.” Known as the Ritchie Boys, these German Jews received special training in questioning German POWS, gathering essential intelligence.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by David Williams (July 11, Algonquin)
A new take on apocalyptic fiction looks at the world through the eyes of the Amish who, after a solar flare knocks out power worldwide, just wake up the next day and go to work, Kelly von Plonski of Subterranean Books says. But when the English (average Americans) start stealing essentials, will the peaceful plain folk decide to protect themselves?
- Jane Henderson
By Ben Mezrich (July 4, Atira)
A true story that sounds like “Jurassic Park” come to life involves Harvard researchers trying to resurrect the extinct mammoth while investors plan a Siberian theme park for the woolly creatures. This is one of many titles Kris Kleindienst of Left Bank Books is eagerly anticipating this summer.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Sue Grafton (Aug. 22, Putnam)
How many readers have hung on for Grafton’s laborious trip through the alphabet? The suspense series reaches its penultimate letter with Kinsey Millhone’s case involving a prep school sex assault.
- Jane Henderson
A memoir by Sherman Alexie (June 13, Little Brown)
A painful recounting by the author of the popular young adult title “The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian,” which was autobiographical fiction. In this book, Alexie looks back on life with his mother, an alcoholic who he believes passed down bipolar disorder to him.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Gabrielle Zevin (Aug. 22, Algonquin)
Once you know the setup for this novel, the cover image may remind you of a certain woman named Monica. In Zevin’s telling, a Washington intern has an affair with her congressman boss and becomes the object of scorn. She escapes to Maine and years later tries to run for office, only to have the past dredged up.
- Jane Henderson
It wouldn’t be summer without a fresh mix of books with sand, swimsuits and sisters on their covers.
So if you don’t get to choose between a vacay at Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket Island, at least you can read about both places in Elin Hilderbrand’s “The Identicals.” It features twins with different personalities who live on the two East Coast islands. A family crisis brings them back together, so along with its gossip and romance, the novel is made-for-the-beach escapism. Or maybe you prefer the sand in South Carolina, where two couples renew their friendship in “Same Beach, Next Year” by Dorothea Benton Frank.
Not every vacation book features swimsuits, though. For our annual summer book roundup, we include settings as far as India and as close as St. Louis. (There are two novels set here, in fact: one light, one darker.) And if you want something serious, we’ve also got you covered.
Here are 20 new or upcoming titles to consider, including a few recommended by local bookstore owners. The books range from family drama and island mystery to World War II history and Middle East tension.
There are even a couple with sisters.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Joshilyn Jackson (July 11, William Morrow)
Perhaps an archetypal book for summer, this family drama about Southern women includes one who becomes a single parent after a tequila-soaked night with a comics convention Batman. Holland Saltman of the Novel Neighbor says it’s “Comic Con meets ‘The Help.’”
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Christopher Bollen (June 27, Harper)
A literary thriller pitched as resembling Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” its hero has been cut out of his father’s will. On a Greek island, Ian Bledsoe meets up with a wealthy friend, who, after leaving his girlfriend in Ian’s care, disappears.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Maile Meloy (Tuesday, Riverhead)
Two families go on a cruise, enjoying the lazy luxury and getaway. But when they go ashore in Central America, their children seem to disappear while a mother falls asleep as the kids swim. Panic, guilt and a suspenseful mystery ensue.
A memoir by Roxane Gay (June 13, Harper)
Gay’s essays on culture have quickly made her a well-known commentator on race, gender and more (“Bad Feminist”). Now she writes about being raped at age 12 and subsequent overeating connected with her secret. Expect brutal honesty. Gay, a professor at Eastern Illinois University, will talk about her memoir July 8 at a ticketed event at St. Louis County Library.
- Jane Henderson
By Souad Mekhennet (June 13, Holt)
An international correspondent who grew up Muslim in Germany recounts her work exploring the roots of Islamic radicalism. She revealed in the Washington Post the identity of “Jihadi John,” a British Arab shown on gruesome videos of radicals beheading captives. Her memoir and reporting help give an insider’s look at current terrorism.
- Jane Henderson
A memoir by Michael Connelly (July 18, Little, Brown)
Connelly’s Harry Bosch books have made him one of the most popular thriller writers in the U.S. Now, he introduces a new series featuring a female detective in Hollywood. Renée Ballard is on the night shift because she filed a harassment suit against her boss. But when assaults and shootings come her way, she keeps investigating, even when she’s supposed to hand off a case.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Lisa Ko (May, Algonquin)
A boy loses his mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant who suddenly disappears. Adopted by white parents, he later tries to reconstruct his past while learning his mother is still alive. This first novel is already out and has been doing well.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by J.D. Trafford (Aug. 1, Thomas & Mercer)
This paperback original, set in St. Louis, features a lawyer who serves the less privileged, including a young girl who begs him to look for her brother. The teen is the latest in a series of disappearances involving black youths, and police don’t seem overly interested.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Grant Ginder (Tuesday, Flatiron)
Could it be that we’re just attracted to this book’s funny title during the favorite month for nuptials? We won’t admit it. Besides, this tale of family dysfunction is getting great previews dubbing it as both hilarious and hopeful.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Alissa Nutting (July 4, Ecco)
A pair of dolphins and a garish rainbow of color on the cover hint that any romance in this profane book may have a funny, satiric edge. And that’s before the introduction of a sex-doll companion that lives with the heroine’s father in a trailer park.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Arundhati Roy (Tuesday, Knopf)
Because it’s the first novel in 20 years by the best-selling author of “The God of Small Things,” this book is newsworthy just because of the long wait. But it also looks good, with a plot opening with a transgender Delhi child who will be both a glittering curiosity and an outcast. Her life changes, though, as she welcomes outcasts to a house she builds in a graveyard.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Kevin Killeen (Tuesday, Blank Slate Press)
KMOX’s resident novelist offers another of his amusing, real-life-informed stories about a Catholic boy and his friends growing up in Webster Groves in the 1970s. As the kids navigate high school, they steal the “Love Machine,” aka a parent’s station wagon, during a quest to meet up with the opposite sex. Killeen talks about his book Saturday at Webster Groves Public Library.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Augustus Rose (Aug. 1, Viking)
Kelly von Plonski of Subterranean Books says she loves this story of a young protagonist struggling to make it on her own. The teen “stumbles into a secret society that is perhaps wound up with the teachings of Marcel Duchamp but also might be just your basic criminal network,” von Plonski says.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Matthew Quick” (July 4, Harper)
Quick has a knack for creating characters that make good stories (“The Silver Linings Playbook”). In this new novel, a racist Vietnam veteran tells his life story to a government worker, sharing horrors of war, relationship ups and downs, and an unusual debt to a Native American. Publisher’s Weekly calls it “dark, funny, and surprisingly tender.”
- Jane Henderson
By Bruce Henderson (July 25, William Morrow)
The subtitle probably says it all in what is likely to be a stirring story for World War II buffs: “The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned With the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler.” Known as the Ritchie Boys, these German Jews received special training in questioning German POWS, gathering essential intelligence.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by David Williams (July 11, Algonquin)
A new take on apocalyptic fiction looks at the world through the eyes of the Amish who, after a solar flare knocks out power worldwide, just wake up the next day and go to work, Kelly von Plonski of Subterranean Books says. But when the English (average Americans) start stealing essentials, will the peaceful plain folk decide to protect themselves?
- Jane Henderson
By Ben Mezrich (July 4, Atira)
A true story that sounds like “Jurassic Park” come to life involves Harvard researchers trying to resurrect the extinct mammoth while investors plan a Siberian theme park for the woolly creatures. This is one of many titles Kris Kleindienst of Left Bank Books is eagerly anticipating this summer.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Sue Grafton (Aug. 22, Putnam)
How many readers have hung on for Grafton’s laborious trip through the alphabet? The suspense series reaches its penultimate letter with Kinsey Millhone’s case involving a prep school sex assault.
- Jane Henderson
A memoir by Sherman Alexie (June 13, Little Brown)
A painful recounting by the author of the popular young adult title “The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian,” which was autobiographical fiction. In this book, Alexie looks back on life with his mother, an alcoholic who he believes passed down bipolar disorder to him.
- Jane Henderson
A novel by Gabrielle Zevin (Aug. 22, Algonquin)
Once you know the setup for this novel, the cover image may remind you of a certain woman named Monica. In Zevin’s telling, a Washington intern has an affair with her congressman boss and becomes the object of scorn. She escapes to Maine and years later tries to run for office, only to have the past dredged up.
