THE BOOKS OF SUMMER
Here’s a list of reads to take you through the season,
It may be too ambitious a thing for summer to pick a book for every single weekend; still, sitting in the shade with a good read is something to aspire to. Here’s a little help: a summer reading list with a mash-up of genres and styles to satisfy any summer mood. Saints and Misfits, S.K. Ali (out now) This debut novel is a lovely and important addition to the YA canon — you know, the kind that even adults will enjoy. In this first-person story, Janna, a Muslim teen, offers a compelling voice, a likeable character and a story that teens and adults can relate to. It’s also the first book in a new imprint from Simon and Schuster, called Salaam Reads, which focuses on Muslim experiences. New Boy, Tracy Chevalier (out now) Don’t be put off when I say that this is a reframing of Shakespeare’s Othello — this highly readable book is by the same writer who brought us Girl With the Pearl
Earring. Tracy Chevalier’s highly readable and immaculately researched historical fiction this time takes place in1970s Washington, D.C., at an integrated school. Chevalier grew up in that environment; this book, though fictional, is a powerful exploration of betrayal and bullying — and casual racism. The Redemption of Galen Pike, Carys Davies (out now) Sometimes you want something that packs satisfaction in a short burst of reading. This book is it. Welsh writer Davies’ short stories are beautifully crafted and pull you in, delivering twists and insights that you simply didn’t see coming. One of the best books to come out this year. American War, Omar El Akkad (out now) There are few books as prescient as this novel by Canadian writer El Akkad. It looks into America in the near-ish future (2074) when a second civil war breaks out. The country is experiencing a devastating plague, people are being uprooted from their homes and fleeing to refugee camps. The book asks the question: What if what is happening in the rest of the world were to happen in the U.S.? The answer holds up a mirror that doesn’t always reflect back a comfortable image. The Home That Was Our Country, Alia Malek (out now) Alia Malek has penned a powerful and necessary read that sheds light on and helps our own understanding of the people behind the crisis in Syria. In this memoir, she tells of generations of her own family and stories of the wide range of residents in their apartment block, interweaving with the political analysis. The Lightkeeper’s Daughter, Jean E. Pendziwol (July 4) This is one for reading in cottage country — it features Lake Superior after all — and traverses land that Pendziwol, who hails from Thunder Bay, knows well. While she’s best known for her children’s books, including Once Upon a Northern Light, this debut novel takes her to the other end of the generational spectrum, where Elizabeth, along with a teenage friend, dives into her family’s decades-old diaries in an effort to solve a family mystery Gutenberg’s Fingerprint, Merilyn Simonds (out now) This one’s a treat for book lovers that sits in the middle of the technological shift from print to digital. Simonds takes a personal and philosophical approach to exploring how books have changed — and how the way we read might change in the future. With lovely anecdotes, she looks at everything from “the invention of writing” to the “invention of the internet.” The Only Café, Linden McIntyre (Aug. 8) The author of the Giller Prize-winning
The Bishop’s Manis back, this time with a family saga. Cyril, an intern in a television newsroom, is delving into his dead father Pierre’s mysterious past. The story takes us from present-day Toronto to Lebanon in the 1980s and the massacre at Sabra and the Shatila camps as Cyril tries to untangle the truth about his family. The Good Daughter, Karin Slaughter (Aug. 8) Slaughter has such a following — her books have sold 35 million copies — people eagerly await her next story. This stand-alone novel begins in 1989 with a violent tragedy that sees a mother die and two girls forced into the woods at gunpoint. One of them — Charlotte — gets away. We meet up with her again almost 30 years later when another violent act rips open old memories. A Stranger In The House, Shari Lapena (Aug. 15) This Toronto writer’s The Couple Next
Door dominated bestseller lists — including the New York Times’, over the last year. This book, too, mines the darkness in relationships, featuring a wife with secrets and a husband who refuses to believe you’re anything but wonderful. Great suspense and lots of twists.