10 summer books you won’t want to put down.
Time for summer books! One look at the New York Times hot summer book list, and you’ll know we’re in the weird days of 2017. Easy-breezy summer reading has been invaded by tales of political failure, satire, and undocumented immigrants. You're in for a ride, summer readers! There are some some juicy recommendations here, ready to be devoured in a hammock with a tall glass of lemonade not far from reach. Check out these 10:
"DRAGON TEETH" By Michael Crichton. 295 pages. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $28.99. “Dragon Teeth” combines dinosaurs and the Wild West in a single book straight from the Michael Crichton archives. The manuscript was discovered by his widow, unpublished since it was first mentioned by him in a 1974 personal letter. If you like a good Crichton action story with interwoven historical figures, you’ll dig this one.
"SHATTERED: INSIDE HILLARY CLINTON’S DOOMED CAMPAIGN" By Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes. 464 pages. Crown. $28. If you want to know exactly how the Clinton campaign imploded, this book is for you. Its readers are likely to be baffled voters wondering how things could have gone so wrong, and this book breaks it down chapter by painful chapter.
"RICH PEOPLE PROBLEMS" By Kevin Kwan. 398 pages. Doubleday. $27.95. The Singapore-born Kwan was relatively unknown until four years ago when he released his hilarious satire, “Crazy Rich Asians.”. His outrageous stories of brand-conscious characters who constantly tried to one-up one another was followed up with “China Rich Girlfriend” in 2015. This new book is the last one in the trilogy.
"THE FORCE" By Don Winslow. 482 pages. William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers. $27.99. (June 20) Winslow focuses on the South Bronx in his latest book. “The Force” is fab cop novel, with a gritty New York setting and a devastating plot. The complex story is woven around a detective who wants to stay clean even though he’s already dirty.
"MAGPIE MURDERS" By Anthony Horowitz. 496 pages.Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $27.99. (June 6) A mystery lovers’ buffet. “Magpie Murders” is both a detective novel and a puzzler. A chilling who-done-it for a hot summer day.
"NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US" By Stephanie Powell Watts. 371 pages. Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers. $26.99. Set in North Carolina, this book is a backwoods African-American version of “The Great Gatsby.” Deep, moving, and heartfelt.
"THINGS THAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE" By Chiara Barzini. 320 pages. Doubleday. $26.95. (Aug. 15) 90s Hollywood gets an Italian makeover. Barzini balances American and Sicilian cultures in this funny and poignant coming-of-age novel.
"THE CHANGELING"By Victor LaValle. 431 pages. Spiegel & Grau. $28. (June 13) Written as a self-proclaimed “fairy tale” in a punchy, inviting style, “The Changeling” takes on fatherhood, racism, and horrific anxieties in the boroughs of New York.
"THE DESTROYERS"By Christopher Bollen. 480 pages. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $27.99. (June 27) A sophisticated thriller, set on the Greek island of Patmos. Beautiful people, glamorous places, and a touch of wickedness. Escapism, at its best.
"THE LEAVERS"By Lisa Ko. 338 pages. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. $25.95. In her debut novel, Lisa Ko picks up the life of an 11-year-old American-born boy on the day his mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, disappears. The voices of both the boy and his birth mother tell this gripping story. “The Leavers” won last year’s PEN/Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction. If you haven’t already, toss this on your stack of can't-wait-to-read-'em summer books.
