Time to escape to a different world
Summer is in full swing in our beautiful province. We’ve had lovely warm days, lots of sunshine, and plenty of daylight to fit in all of our summer reading. To me summer reads are books you want to take with you to the beach, on a road trip, to your back deck. They make you feel happy and help you escape into a different world. For many reasons summer seems to be the time when we can fit in more reading, when we want to lie in a hammock or sit in a lawn chair and sip something cold while holding a great book. Below are some of my favourite reads this summer- a mix of old and new, light and dark. I hope you’ll be inspired to take your own summer read with you wherever you adventure this season.
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai is clever, funny, heartwarming, and exciting. A time-travel romp takes Tom Barron from his futuristic modern day world where no one wants for anything and energy is abundant, to what seems to him a dystopic wasteland- our modern day world. Trying to fix a mistake takes Tom on an adventure through worlds, time, and the human heart.
The Invisible Library, by Genevieve Cogman, is the first is a riveting fantastical series about Irene- a Librarian spy for the mysterious Library, which collects rare books from different worlds and realities. There are dragons, an evil mastermind, romance, adventure, and heroine worth reading about. So far there are 3 books in this series available and they’ll all keep you turning pages to see what happens next.
If you’re interested in some romance and haven’t checked out Sarah Maclean yet, do yourself a favour and pick up Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake. About a Lady who has always followed the rules and decides to break them (with some help from a handsome Lord), it has romance, excitement, and good writing to spare.
Here’s to Us by Elin Hilderbrand is a great contemporary summer read, focusing on the three ex wives of a high profile celebrity chef, forced to come together for the weekend at his Nantucket summer cottage to say goodbye after his death. Fights are had, unlikely friendships wrought, and big messy family is brought together in this enjoyable book.
Bitingly funny and surprisingly tender, The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder is another contemporary novel about a less than perfect family forced to come together, this time for half-sister Eloise’s wedding in London. It brings to life the complicated relationships between siblings and the love you can feel while hating at the same time.
Looking for a mystery? Try The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. A modern take on a classic whodunit, this page turner is about an editor who is given a manuscript by a successful author. As she reads it she begins to suspect that a real life crime is being written in front of her. It will keep you guessing until the end.
The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron is enthralling, telling the story of two women separated by 40,000 years. In modern ay, Rosamund Gale is a heavily pregnant archaeologist racing to uncover a new Neanderthal artifact before her baby is born, and in the past Girl is possibly the last of her kind trying to find a way to save her people.
Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train, gives us suspense in the satisfying Into the Water. It takes us into the story of a 15 year old girl whose mother has been murdered. She’s forced into the care of her fearful aunt, who vowed years ago never to return to her hometown. Memory and emotion collide and secrets run deep in this captivating thriller.
These are just a few of the great summer reads available at the public library. We’d love to hear about yours when you visit us to pick out your next book. Check out our website www.nlpl.ca to visit our elibrary and the catalogue to find something great to take with you this summer as you enjoy the sun. Visit us on twitter at @ Nlpublibraries to tell us your summer reads.