Your Summer Reading List Is Here!
We’ve searched for some of the best books to read right now and have compiled a small list of ones that look like the best to tackle these next few months.
Check them out and give them a try! :)
’The Madwoman Upstairs’
By: Catherine Lowell
In this smart and enthralling debut in the spirit of The Weird Sisters and Special Topics in Calamity Physics, the only remaining descendant of the Brontë family embarks on a modern-day literary scavenger hunt to find the family's long-rumored secret estate, using clues her eccentric father left behind.
Samantha Whipple is used to stirring up speculation wherever she goes. As the last remaining descendant of the Brontë family, she's rumored to have inherited a vital, mysterious portion of the Brontë's literary estate; diaries, paintings, letters, and early novel drafts; a hidden fortune that's never been shown outside of the family.
But Samantha has never seen this rumored estate, and as far as she knows, it doesn't exist. She has no interest in acknowledging what the rest of the world has come to find so irresistible; namely, the sudden and untimely death of her eccentric father, or the cryptic estate he has bequeathed to her.
But everything changes when Samantha enrolls at Oxford University and bits and pieces of her past start mysteriously arriving at her doorstep, beginning with an old novel annotated in her father's handwriting. As more and more bizarre clues arrive, Samantha soon realizes that her father has left her an elaborate scavenger hunt using the world's greatest literature. With the aid of a handsome and elusive Oxford professor, Samantha must plunge into a vast literary mystery and an untold family legacy, one that can only be solved by decoding the clues hidden within the Brontë's own writing.
‘Recursion’
By: Blake Crouch
In Blake Crouch’s latest sci-fi thriller, the follow up to 2016’s Dark Matter, a mysterious disease causes people to experience false memories, leading to catastrophic consequences. A police officer and female neuroscientist team up to investigate and, hopefully, stop the phenomenon from wrecking society. Recursion, which is being developed as both a feature film and a television series by Shonda Rhimes and Matt Reeves for Netflix, asks how altering our past impacts the present and future.
‘Patsy'
By: Nicole Dennis-Benn
Patsy has long yearned to voyage to America and abandon her life in her small hometown of Pennyfield, Jamaica. When she finally acts on her dream, she leaves her five-year-old daughter Tru behind. As Patsy follows her heart in New York, where her friend and love Cicely lives, Tru faces a future without her mother, and one in which she, too, must discover how to be herself in the world. Dennis-Bean weaves the narratives of mother and daughter together in a moving tale of separation, growth and womanhood.
‘Again, But Better’
By: Christine Riccio
From one of the most followed booktubers today, comes Again, but Better, a story about second chances, discovering yourself, and being brave enough to try again.
Shane has been doing college all wrong. Pre-med, stellar grades, and happy parents…sounds ideal -- but Shane's made zero friends, goes home every weekend, and romance…what’s that?
Her life has been dorm, dining hall, class, repeat. Time's a ticking, and she needs a change -- there's nothing like moving to a new country to really mix things up. Shane signs up for a semester abroad in London. She's going to right all her college mistakes: make friends, pursue boys, and find adventure!
Easier said than done. She is soon faced with the complicated realities of living outside her bubble, and when self-doubt sneaks in, her new life starts to fall apart.
Shane comes to find that, with the right amount of courage and determination one can conquer anything. Throw in some fate and a touch of magic - the possibilities are endless.
'The Gone Dead’
By: Chanelle Benz
Chanelle Benz’ debut novel handles the arresting themes of racial injustice and memory, following protagonist Billie James as she returns to the childhood roots she left behind in the Mississippi Delta. Since her father’s unexpected death when she was four years old, Billie hasn’t been home, and rumors about her own circumstances have been swirling throughout the town. While examining her only inheritance — the shack that her father resided in — Billie discovers there may have been more to the story of his death than she first thought, setting her on a path to discover the truth of what happened that fateful night 30 years before.
'The Nickel Boys’ (*July 16)
By: Colson Whitehead
Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead, author of The Underground Railroad, again reckons with our country’s devastating racist past in his latest novel, this time against the backdrop of a reform school in 1960s Florida. Elwood Curtis, a black teenager who loves reading encyclopedias and reciting the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., finds himself at the Nickel Academy, where he quickly learns his place in the Jim Crow South and the world at large. Inspired by a real school in Florida, The Nickel Boys is a haunting narrative that reinforces Whitehead’s prowess as a leading voice in American literature.
'Where The Crawdad’s Sing’
By: Delia Owens
For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens.
Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell, Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
Though this has been a very popular book since it’s release last August, the popularity has recently grown even more, after news of the movie version came out!
*** Reese Witherspoon is bringing the New York Times bestseller "Where the Crawdads Sing" to the big screen. According to Variety, the Oscar-winning actress has come on board to produce a feature adaptation of the Delia Owens novel for Fox 2000 through Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine production shingle.
'Speaking of Summer’ (*July 30)
By: Kalisha Buckhanon
When Autumn Spencer’s twin sister Summer disappears on a winter’s evening in Harlem, Autumn sees no other choice but to take matters into her own hands. Frustrated by the indifference of authorities to another missing black woman, Autumn doggedly tries to get to the bottom of what happened, and becomes embroiled in other cases in the process. In her fourth novel, writer Kalisha Buckhanon sheds light on often-overlooked stories of victims and their families.
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Remember to keep our painting and wine classes in mind if you’re looking for other ways to relax and spend time this summer! We’re offering some really wonderful classes so grab your friends and family and come in o paint, drink, and have so much fun as you make memories and masterpieces together!
Here’s what’s coming up: https://www....checkthemout-
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