Janet Reads 1/8 of Her Book on Monday
Summer is in full swing and there's nothing like heading to the beach — or the park — sitting by the water, contemplating the view, grabbing a adept volume and just immersing ourselves in it. That's why we're throwing out some ideas for the perfect summer novels.
We are adhering to "beach reads" rules though: well-nigh of the titles here are either full page-turners or grant some instant gratification — or both. And all of them will transport you to faraway places or the kind of setting you'd enjoy spending a vacation at, either because of when they were written or where they are set.
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" by Patricia Highsmith (1955)
The oldest volume on this list is the first ane in a series of five psychological thrillers that Patricia Highsmith wrote most her infamous Tom Ripley character. Fifty-fifty if he'due south a sociopath with more than murderous tendencies, the reader can't avoid beingness on Ripley's side while reading Highsmith'due south engrossing novels.
The whole series is set in Europe with the first book taking its protagonist and the reader to San Remo, Rome, Palermo and Venice. Plus, at that place's a abiding longing for a trip to Greece.
This Australian classic is set in 1900 and features a grouping of boarders from an all-girls school in Victoria every bit they take a 24-hour interval trip to the nearby geological germination Hanging Rock. There are enough of descriptions of proper picnic attire, the beauty of the landscape and the relationships that bail this group of teenagers and their teachers.
And while Joan Lindsay's writing style and the setting for this novel may accept y'all drawing some parallels with other classic coming-of-age novels written past and starring women, the ending of Picnic at Hanging Rock could only have been written in the 1960s.
"Los mares del Sur" (Southern Seas) by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (1979)
Allow me the hometown reference with this Spanish novel set in Barcelona in 1979. Written by the Galician-Catalan writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Southern Seasis the about famous of his novels starring the private detective Pepe Carvalho. He's a gourmet who'southward equally obsessed with food, literature and the metropolis of Barcelona.
Too a methodical description of the city in the late 1970s, the book also includes references to a trip to the Southern Seas that never was.
"Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami (1987)
Written by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, this coming-of-age novel follows the story of Toru Watanabe, a college educatee who is obsessed with American literature. He's trying to figure out his life in Tokyo in the 1960s and ends up in relationships with two women who couldn't be more different: there'due south Naoko, the former girlfriend of his best friend, and Midori, one of his classmates.
The story takes the reader from the bustling streets of Tokyo to the peaceful quietness of a rehab center lost in the mountains nearby Kyoto.
"Get Shorty" by Elmore Leonard (1990)
Small-scale-time Miami loan shark Chili Palmer travels to Las Vegas, hoping to get a debt paid, and ends up in Los Angeles, where he learns about the film-making business and how to become a producer. Set in Hollywood in 1990, this California classic masterfully blends suspense, thrills, humor and even the slightest hint of a Western.
This story is then quintessentially Hollywood that in that location's a 1995 movie adaptation starring John Travolta and a 2017 Television set show with Chris O'Dowd, merely you should definitely start with the Elmore Leonard novel.
"Death at La Fenice" by Donna Leon (1992)
American novelist Donna Leon has been calling Venice abode for years. Her offset volume in the mystery series that stars the Venetian police detective Guido Brunetti follows the investigation of a music conductor's death later he's poisoned during the intermission of a Verdi opera at La Felice.
Leon has been steadily publishing i new Commissario Guido Brunetti installment a year for decades. So if you love the Venitian setting, crime stories and the constant descriptions of all the delicious foods (and drinks) that Brunetti ingests on a daily footing, this could definitely exist the series for you.
"Call Me by Your Proper noun" past André Aciman (2007)
Chances are we'll never become to encounter Luca Guadagnino's sequel to his Call Me by Your Proper name moving picture adaptation. And while André Aciman's follow-up novel, Notice Me, may leave hardcore fans of Elio and Oliver a little bit underwhelmed, there's cipher like going back to the original material.
Set against the backdrop of the Italian Riviera, this coming-of-age story follows the precocious Elio equally he falls in love with Oliver, a graduate pupil and Elio's parents' guest for the summertime. This iconic summer read perfectly captures the feeling of longing for someone and it features plentiful, engaging conversations, early morn swims, leisurely cycle rides, a furtive human relationship and a passionate trip to Rome.
"Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)
Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie sets this story — that deals with clearing, race and the feeling of belonging — in Lagos, London and New Jersey. Her protagonist is Ifemelu, a immature Nigerian woman who moves to the United States to further her studies.
Americanahmakes for a great read not only as an engaging and entertaining novel but also every bit a study about race in America from the perspective of a non-American Black person. The novel also packs a complex love story betwixt Ifemelu and Obinze, who moves to London and has to live there every bit an undocumented immigrant.
"Big Petty Lies" by Liane Moriarty (2014)
I don't care if you've already seen the star-packed HBO miniseries and know not only who the killer of this story is but too the identity of the person who dies and whose investigation propels the whole plot, Liane Moriarty'due south soapy thriller nonetheless very much deserves a read.
On the one mitt, instead of the rugged coast of Northern California, the novel Big Little Lies is set in the suburban Northern Beaches of Sydney. On the other hand, the volume jams enough humor and precipitous banter — specially when it comes to the inclusion of dialogue from the police interrogations amidst the many parents who take their kids to the same schoolhouse as our protagonists — that you'll find plenty nuggets of new material to more than justify the read.
"The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017)
Taylor Jenkins Reid'due south historical fiction bestseller is set between the publishing world of nowadays-twenty-four hours New York and the classic Hollywood of the 1950s, 1960s and onward. When the relatively unknown journalist Monique Grant is tasked with writing a profile on the legendary extra Evelyn Hugo, she can't believe her career-changing luck.
The novel guides the reader through a series of interviews between Monique and Evelyn in which the former star tells her origin story and the reasons backside her many marriages throughout the years.
"Less" past Andrew Sean Greer (2017)
Andrew Sean Greer's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel stars Arthur Less every bit a novelist with a dwindling career and a cleaved heart. Equally if all of that wasn't enough already, Less is on the brink of turning l. When his former long-time boyfriend invites Less to his wedding, our hapless protagonist decides to embark on a series of dorsum-to-back international trips with a "ramshackle itinerary" to avert the much-dreaded upshot.
Greer's fun and never-quiet novel takes the reader and its protagonist from the foggy shores of San Francisco to New York City, Mexico City, Turin, Paris, Berlin, Morocco, Bharat and Japan.
"Agent Running in the Field" by John le Carré (2019)
The last published novel of belatedly spymaster John le Carré is a return to some of his career-defining themes in the earth of international espionage, which he describes with precision — and without a glimpse of glamour or spectacle.
The novel stars Nat, a reluctant-to-be-out-of-the-field agent in his late forties, who has had a long career developing sources in Russia. Nat's back in London and somehow tin't avoid getting himself involved in yet another surveillance plot. The book is set in 2018 and in that location'due south constant chatter amongst its characters regarding Brexit and the Trump administration. Le Carré favors none of those.
Even if you don't similar international thrillers featuring double agents that much — who doesn't though? — Amanuensis Running in the Field is still worth a read if merely to appreciate Le Carré's succinct still masterfully rich and descriptive prose.
"Beach Read" by Emily Henry (2020)
Permit's add Beach Readto this listing of embankment reads because Emily Henry'due south romance novel truly does its championship justice. Set in a small Michigan town, the novel tells the story of bestselling romance writer January and acclaimed fiction writer Gus. They stop up being neighbors and living side-by-side in lakefront cottages.
One thing leads to another and they end upward making a deal: past the cease of the summer he'll exist the ane to pen a romance volume and she'll write a dark and bleak i. They both need to teach the other everything they need to know to be able to produce something in a genre they're not used to working in. Of course, besides all the procrastinating and writing, there'south also time for love.
"The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett (2020)
Last year'southward revelatory novel The Vanishing Half tackles the subject field of passing when it comes to racial identity. The Brit Bennett-penned historical novel, which is already being developed into a limited series past HBO, tells the story of 2 identical twin sisters from a pocket-size town in rural Louisiana where the bulk Black population is so light-skinned that one of the sisters passes as a white adult female for almost of her life after fleeing town.
The action encompasses several decades starting in the 1950s and weaves together the life of the assimilated sister — who's leading a double life in New Orleans first and then Los Angeles — with that of the other one, who is forced to render home.
"Velvet Was the Night" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2021)
Permit'southward close this list with an August release from ane of 2020's bestselling authors. After her Mexican Gothicwas chosen as All-time Horror novel last twelvemonth by the Goodreads users, author Silvia Moreno-Garcia returns with Velvet Was the Night.
The Mexican Canadian author sets the action in 1970s Mexico City and writes about Maite, a secretary obsessed with romance stories and her beautiful neighbor Leonora. When the object of her fixation disappears, Maite starts looking for her — merely she isn't the only one.
Source: https://www.ask.com/culture/books-beach-read?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740004%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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