The Book Maven's Summer Must-Reads Part One -- June Titles

I'm going to give you my summer-reading choices over the course of the next three days. Today is June, tomorrow is July, and Friday will cover August. That way, instead of a list with books on it that aren't out yet, you can decide if you like to just pick up a few that are available now. 

A list like this could go on and on and on. There are plenty of other lists for you to peruse online, too. So I'm giving you only 10 titles, and these 10 have been personally vetted (i.e., avidly read) by me. A few I've already covered on this site or elsewhere; others are books I've been enjoying on my own. I won't promise any one of you will love them all, but I will promise you that I did. I think that's pretty honest! 

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Fans of The Shadow of the Wind (Zafon's first novel) will find a lot to love in this noir-ish story about a storyteller in early 20th-century Barcelona. David Martin, fired from his newspaper job, finds the mysterious Cemetery of Books...What does it mean to love? To protect? He'll learn.

Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan

Hey Courtney, I planned this novel about a year after my Smith graduation...I even had a main character named Celia in my outline! Of course, I never wrote mine. A witty tale of female friendship spanning decades after college, this is the perfect porch-swing novel.

Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad

Like me you may generally eschew memoirs, but don't miss this one. Ollestad, who at age 11 survived the plane crash that killed his father by remembering "Big Norm's" lessons about strength and courage, meditates on the meaning of manhood and the purpose of fatherhood. Beautiful.

The Embers by Hyatt Bass

Bass is a director ("75 Degrees in July") whose first novel has a cinematic feel of the best kind -- each member of a dysfunctional and disrupted East Coast family gets his or her own camera time as they struggle to come to terms with a death tragically linked to their home in the Berkshires.

Fall by Colin McAdam

Lots of books about prep-school obsessions exist, but few of them are as riveting as Canadian novelist McAdam's, about a loner named Noel, his schoolmate Julius, and Julius's fascinating girlfriend Fall. She disappears during the midwinter school break -- and the boys break down.

The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews

As I said here on The Book Studio, Andrews gets her dialogue pitch-perfect in this satisfying romantic tale of a laid-off lobbyist, her family money pit in a tiny Georgia town, and the various friends and relations who lead her on to a new phase in life. Effortless, like champagne.

Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire by Margot Berwin

Berwin's debut is pure, lush summer fun -- think Sophie Kinsella crossed with Barbara Kingsolver, and you'll have an idea of how this novel about exotic plants will read. Protagonist Lila Nova follows a nefarious greenmarket plant purveyor from Manhattan to Mexico; a wild ride.

In the Kitchen by Monica Ali

Meet Gabe, Charlie, Oona, and Yuri, all connected with the kitchen of London's Imperial Hotel. In the course of this long (448 pages) and masterful novel, you'll learn a lot about how a kitchen is run, but you'll also learn a lot about how the kitchen laborers live and feel. An engrossing read.

Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich

Three women meet in a Soho apartment building. Each faces a downfall: Penelope Mercury loses out on her dream job. Lena Lippencrass's funds have dried up, and Dana Gluck's marriage is on the rocks. Familiar territory? Yes, but made fresh by Froelich's fun, sassy style. Beach bag!

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine B. Howe

If you combined The Lace Reader's contemporary perspective with The Heretic's Daughter's historical detail, you'd get close to this delicious novel. It's set in Cambridge and Marblehead, Massachusetts, and it has lots of twists and turns. This is my choice for the hammcok.