Summer Reads
-Summer on Sag Harbor by Sunny Hostin
Olivia Jones has blazed her own enviable career path and built her name in the finance world. Mourning both the loss and the betrayal of Omar, a surrogate father to her, Olivia is driven to find out more about her biological father, a police officer who was killed when she was a little girl, and to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother. Olivia buys and redecorates a home in Sag Harbor and begins forging a new community out in SANS. Friendships blossom with Addy, a wealthy part-time sommelier; Kara, an ambitious art curator; and Whitney, the wife of an ex-basketball player and current president of the Sag Harbor Homeowners Association. She also takes to a kind, older gentleman named Mr. Whittingham, but soon discovers he too is not without his own troubles.
-The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico’s most renowned actor and singer. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. In its ancient pages, Jaime learns about the multitude of horrific crimes committed by his ancestors. And when the a mysterious figure shows up in Mexico City, Jaime realizes that he may be the one who has to pay for his ancestors’ crimes, unless he can discover the true story of his grandfather Antonio, the legendary bandido El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower. A family saga that’s epic in scope and magical in its blood, and based loosely on the author’s own great-grandfather, The Bullet Swallower tackles border politics, intergenerational trauma, and the legacies of racism and colonialism in a lush setting and stunning prose that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.
-Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur
Ken and Abby Gardner were raised by a brilliant oceanographer in his remote home on Cape Cod. Now, years later, Ken is a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother’s goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works. As their father approaches his seventieth birthday he’s determined to make one last scientific breakthrough. As their father grows more attuned to the frequencies of the deep sea and less so to the people around him, Ken and Abby each plan elaborate birthday gifts for their father, jostling for primacy in this small family unit.
-Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum
Yeongju is burned out. With her high-flying career, demanding marriage, and busy life in Seoul, she knows she should feel successful, but all she feels is drained. After quitting her job and divorcing her husband, Yeongju moves to a small residential neighborhood outside the city, where she opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop. For the first few months all Yeongju does is cry, but as she starts to read hungrily, host author events, and develop her own bookselling philosophy, she eases into her new setting. Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that connect them all, she finds her new story as the Hyunam-dong Bookshop transforms into an inviting space for lost souls to rest, heal, and remember it's never too late to scrap the plot and start again.
Olivia Jones has blazed her own enviable career path and built her name in the finance world. Mourning both the loss and the betrayal of Omar, a surrogate father to her, Olivia is driven to find out more about her biological father, a police officer who was killed when she was a little girl, and to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother. Olivia buys and redecorates a home in Sag Harbor and begins forging a new community out in SANS. Friendships blossom with Addy, a wealthy part-time sommelier; Kara, an ambitious art curator; and Whitney, the wife of an ex-basketball player and current president of the Sag Harbor Homeowners Association. She also takes to a kind, older gentleman named Mr. Whittingham, but soon discovers he too is not without his own troubles.
-The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico’s most renowned actor and singer. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. In its ancient pages, Jaime learns about the multitude of horrific crimes committed by his ancestors. And when the a mysterious figure shows up in Mexico City, Jaime realizes that he may be the one who has to pay for his ancestors’ crimes, unless he can discover the true story of his grandfather Antonio, the legendary bandido El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower. A family saga that’s epic in scope and magical in its blood, and based loosely on the author’s own great-grandfather, The Bullet Swallower tackles border politics, intergenerational trauma, and the legacies of racism and colonialism in a lush setting and stunning prose that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.
-Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur
Ken and Abby Gardner were raised by a brilliant oceanographer in his remote home on Cape Cod. Now, years later, Ken is a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother’s goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works. As their father approaches his seventieth birthday he’s determined to make one last scientific breakthrough. As their father grows more attuned to the frequencies of the deep sea and less so to the people around him, Ken and Abby each plan elaborate birthday gifts for their father, jostling for primacy in this small family unit.
-Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum
Yeongju is burned out. With her high-flying career, demanding marriage, and busy life in Seoul, she knows she should feel successful, but all she feels is drained. After quitting her job and divorcing her husband, Yeongju moves to a small residential neighborhood outside the city, where she opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop. For the first few months all Yeongju does is cry, but as she starts to read hungrily, host author events, and develop her own bookselling philosophy, she eases into her new setting. Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that connect them all, she finds her new story as the Hyunam-dong Bookshop transforms into an inviting space for lost souls to rest, heal, and remember it's never too late to scrap the plot and start again.
