There’s just enough time left in the season for one last summer read. We had a stack of books neatly planned for browsing, when Toni Morrison breathed her last. I remember my first Morrison experience so clearly and her passing makes rereading Tar Baby an end of summer must do. It may not be considered her most literary accomplishment but I was forever changed by this story of a difficult romance complicated by class and race.
If you haven’t yet ordered a copy of Fleischman Is In Trouble don’t wait another minute. This first novel by New Yorker writer, Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a guilty pleasure of a sharply observed tragicomedy of Manhattan’s well-educated and privileged set.Think Bonfire of the Vanities meets Kramer vs.Kramer.
We just ordered Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House but word in the reading room is this memoir of growing up in a huge family in New Orleans is going to be a great way to finish out a summer of great reading. The New York Times just used words such as “engrossing ” and “extraordinary.” Count us in.
Nickel Boys won’t be an easy to swallow read but it will be an impactful one. Whitehead’s post Pulitzer follow-up is set in a hellish reform school in the South during the civil rights movement of the sixties.
Three Women by Lisa Tadeo has been called “the hottest book of the summer” and Elisabeth Gilbert called it a “nonfiction literary masterpiece at the same level as In Cold Blood .” After a fast skim of this work that took Tadeo eight years of research and interviews, We think it deserves our undivided attention and are edging toward a long sit down, in a private blushworth spot, with the story of three women and their love lives.
Although most of our summer reads are about our human condition, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino is the only work of actual social commentary on the list. So much to think about and with “back to school” on the playlist, it’s time to get just a little deep.
At its’ root(pun definitely intended ) The Overstory by Richard Powers is a remarkable novel about a tree. We can or almost never want to argue with the Pulitzer committee but would like to add, this is a perfect , “it’s almost hurricane season” read.
Christy Lefteri ‘s The Bee Keeper of Aleppo puts a human face on the Syrian War. This novel is reportedly a beautifully crafted story of a bee keeper and his wife and their journey of sadness and hope from Aleppo to England. We love the transference that happens when a story of a few becomes the history of many. Order it now for delivery right before Labor Day.
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All of our recommendations are curated by Susan & the In The Groove editorial team. In some, but not all cases, we receive a small commission for leading you to what, how and where to buy all this wonderful stuff.