Sit down with a few good books and let the days roll by
A hammock or comfy chair, favorite icecold libations and a good old-fashioned read (in physical or e-book form)—all of that adds up to summertime bliss, a way to take life leisurely and enjoy getting lost in a story. This summer’s smattering t of new reads includes in many longtime t favorite authors.
One such scribe is that t grand master of horror: h Stephen King.
Out on the shelves late last month, “The
Outsider” actually ly features fictional towns t in Oklahoma and Texas, so there’s something of a regional l link. Unspeakable horrors occur in the killing of a young boy, and while DNA evidence points to one man, that case proves thinner upon subsequent investigative work by the Flint City, Okla., police detective. Look for another novel from King (“Elevation”) in the fall.
Out since February, Sophie Kinsella’s latest novel, “Surprise
Me,” casts an understanding gaze on a longtime married couple who, when they realize they could have decades more together, try ways to keep the element of surprise at play in their life together. Reviews have praised the wit and emotional depth from this author of the “Shopaholic” books. Anne Tyler is one of this country’s most enduring authors with more than 20 novels to her credit and a Pulitzer Prize for
““Breathing Lessons.”
Coming in July from
her is “Clock Dance,” a family life-focused
n novel about a woman who shakes up her life by helping to care for the daughter of her
s son’s ex-girlfriend. Arriving later this
month is “Before and Again” from writer Barbara Delinsky, here returning with a novel about a woman with a past who, under a new name, adopts a new life and strives to keep her old self, with the terrible accident she caused, a secret.
On the flip-side of fiction is the new treasury of biting wit and outrageous humor
from David Sedaris, who, in the new story
collection “Calypso,” assesses such subjects as middle age and his
Carolina beach house. Sedaris’ incisive, mordant humor is somehow life-affirming in its weird wonderfulness. He’s been a national treasure since he appeared on the scene with the screamingly-funny n essay “Santaland Diaries” in the early ’90s. This new book just j came out and is a deliciously welcome arrival.
Another work of non-fiction, “Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo’,” comes from an author who left us decades ago, Zora Neale Hurston, who wrote one of the finest works in American literature in “Their Eyes Were
Watching God.” For a number of reasons, “Barracoon” didn’t find a publisher when she wrote it, but now it has and it tells the truly American horror story of slavery through Hurston’s interviews with 86-year-old Cudjo Lewis, who endured bondage after a childhood in Africa.
Two former first ladies have books out this year, including “Your Own True Colors: Timeless Wisdom from America’s Grandmother” from
the late Barbara Bush.
It I consists of the commencement speech she gave to Wellesley College graduates in 1990. It’s out Tuesday. You’ll have to wait a few more months (until mid-November) for Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” in which she reflects on her life from a South Side of Chicago childhood onward to her adulthood advocacy for girls and women.
On another political
note, John McCain’s new memoir (co-written with Mark Salter), titled “The Restless
Wave,” just arrived. In it, the longtime, ever-unpredictable e politician addresses his own life and many issues of the day, including the politicians c on all sides of the political p spectrum with whom w he’s worked.
A recent arrival
i in the mystery and thriller realms is the new novel from
R Ruth Ware (“The Woman in Cabin 10”). It’s “The Death of o Mrs. Westaway,”
which intrigues with a tale about a fortune teller who receives a peculiar letter about an inheritance. The catch? Despite her Westaway name, she’s not the right person.
Coming to us in July is another thriller and suspense tale from beloved spy novelist Daniel Silva in the form of “The
Other Woman,” in which Silva’s frequent protagonist Gabriel Allon—an Israeli intelligence officer who’s part art restorer, part assassin—must solve the case of a KGB mole placed in the West.
Just out from adventure novelist Clive
Cussler and co-author Robin Burcell is another installment in the Sam and Remi Fargo adventure series, “The Gray Ghost,” a description that refers to a century-old Rolls-Royce prototype that, so many years later, provides more intrigue, mystery and thrills.
Nashville families collide in the new novel penned by bestselling author
Emily Giffin. It hits the shelves later this month. In “All We Ever Wanted,” conflict and controversy arise after a drunken party pic makes its way to social media, as they
s sometimes do, unfortunately. In this case, the action provokes serious fallout.
And, finally, one more non-fiction book worth considering: Michael Eric
Dyson’s exploration of persistent questions about race that appear today, starting with a 1963 meeting between Attorney General Robert Kennedy and black activists, including James
Baldwin. It’s “What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America.”