Here is a list of books we thought you might enjoy this summer. If you have any recommendations of your own, leave us a comment. Happy reading!
The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
Is there really such thing as a lucky charm? The hero of Nicholas Sparks’s new novel believes he’s found one in the form of a photograph of a smiling woman he’s never met, but who he comes to believe holds the key to his destiny. The chain of events that leads to him possessing the photograph and finding the woman pictured in it is the stuff of love stories.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid : A Memoir
by Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century–1951–in the middle of the United States–Des Moines, Iowa–in the middle of the largest generation in American history–the baby boomers. As one of the funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his all-American childhood for memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero . . . more
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski
A tale reminiscent of “Hamlet” that also celebrates the alliance between humans and dogs follows speech-disabled Wisconsin youth Edgar, who bonds with three yearling canines and struggles to prove that his sinister uncle is responsible for his father’s death.
Digging to America by Anne Tyler
Two families awaiting the arrival of their adopted infant daughters from Korea meet at the airport. The families lives become interwined after the Donaldsons, a young American couple invite the Yazdan’s, Maryam, her son and his Iranian American wife to an arrival party, which becomes an annual event . . . more
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
As London is emerging from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ashton discovers her next subject in a book club on Guernsey–a club born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi after its members are discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island.
The Rope Walk by Carrie Brown
The Rope Walk brings us the dazzling story of a pivotal summer in the life of Alice, a redheaded tomboy and motherless girl who is beloved and protected by her five older brothers and her widower father, a professor of Shakespeare. On Memorial Day, at her tenth birthday party in the garden of her Vermont village home, Alice meets two people unlike any she’s known before. Theo is a mixed-race New York City kid visiting his white grandparents for the summer. Kenneth is a cosmopolitan artist with AIDS who has come home to convalesce with his middle-aged sister . . . more
The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness by Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong begins this spellbinding story of her spiritual journey with her departure in 1969 from the Roman Catholic convent she had entered seven years before—hoping, but ultimately failing, to find God. She knew almost nothing of the changed world to which she was returning, and she was tormented by panic attacks and inexplicable seizures . . . more
The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Sandrine’s Letter to Tomorrow by Dedra Johnson
Despite being a straight-A student and voracious reader, nine-year-old Sandrine Miller is treated like a servant by her mother, who forces Sandrine to clean house, do chores and take care of her younger stepsister, Yolanda. On top of the despair of her life, Sandrine must confront the harshness of life in mid-1970s New Orleans, where older men prey on young girls and she is ostracized because she is a light-skinned black girl . . . more
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it.
In this book, you’ll learn how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life — money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the world. You’ll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power that’s within you, and this revelation . . . more
Reconciliation : Islam, Democracy, and the West
by Benazir Bhutto.Akhund
Writing a few months prior to her assassination, Bhutto explores the complicated history between the Middle East and the West. She traces the roots of international terrorism across the world, including American support for Pakistani general Zia-ul-Haq, who destroyed political parties, eliminated an independent judiciary, marginalized NGOs, suspended the protection of human rights, and aligned Pakistani intelligence agencies with the most radical elements of the Afghan mujahideen. She speaks out not just to the West . . . more
Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom DeLuise
A caterpillar is rejected by various groups of animals, until he achieves his beautiful wings and is able to befriend a similarly unhappy caterpillar.
The title is straightforward; the book is indeed the story of Edgar Sawtelle. Edgar is born completely mute; he can hear yet he cannot speak. (In fact, he cannot even cough. He is unable to vocalize anything.) The Sawtelle family breeds and trains dogs, a special breed they engineered. Like Edgar, the dogs read different hand signs, and their ability to understand their trainers and owners is unsurpassed. Edgar’s relationship with his dogs, particularly his beloved Almondine, is touching; he knows his dogs and, more remarkably, they know his heart and mind.
