There are so many books coming out in the next few months that I am excited about. I don't usually go for specifically beach-ready things, but some of these might squeak into that category. This is a pretty mystery-heavy list. I wish I could think of a super funny book that I was looking forward to this summer, if you know of one, tell me.
The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith
I am terrified to read
The Casual Vacancy. I read one review that called the ending "Hardy-esque" and then another review from Anne Patchett where she said the book left her sobbing. I'm pretty sure both reviews were glowing, but I'm not going anywhere near Hardy-esque anything. As far as I'm concerned,
The Casual Vacancy ended with all of the children ODing on heroin.
That said, I loved
The Cuckoo's Calling. I'm very happy that J.K. Rowling decided to write another one even after she was outed. Bring on the crochety one-legged detective!
The Magician's Land - Lev Grossman
I didn't read
The Magicians for a long time. "
Harry Potter with Cursing" didn't really sell me on it. When I finally picked it up, I was sucked in and enchanted. It is so much more a love song to C.S. Lewis than to J.K. Rowling. If, you know, you like your C.S. Lewis w/ a helping of super dark and twisted.
I didn't read the 2nd book in the trilogy for a long time, simply because I thought the 1st one stood alone so well. When I finally picked up
The Magician King, I once again loved it, and kept thinking as I read, "Oh, my sister will love this! It's a female protagonist! It's nature magic! Hooray!" Then I got to the deal breaker scene. (Everyone has a literary deal breaker. The thing they hate to read about. For me it is dead babies. For my sister it is rape.) There is a very graphic rape scene in the book. It's told from the female perspective, it is a pivotol plot point, and it is...problematic. I'm pretty sure I get what Grossman was going for, but man, I couldn't recommend it to my sister.
So I have no idea what to expect from the final book. I know I will be sucked in, I don't know if I will end up loving the whole thing or punched in the gut somewhere in the middle, but I'm totally in.
The Fever - Megan Abbott
So this is the book I am most excited about this summer. Megan Abbott!!! (Do yourself a favor, go read
Queenpin right now.) Mass hysteria! Teenage girls! I can't wait.
When I was in high school, there was a school near by that had all of these girls fainting one year. It was all over the news, some girls transferred to other schools, and one girl died. (The cause of death was a pre-existing condition. It was unrelated unless you are trying to make news headlines, but it still seems like part of the story.) Anyway,
The Fever totally seems like it is going to be just like that, only dark and actually interesting.
Bittersweet - Miranda Beverly-Wittemoore
Bittersweet is on a lot of people's list as gothic and gripping. Also it is being compared to
Prep.
Prep wasn't gothic, but I loved it, and gothic + Prep sounds like an awesome summer formula.
The Wrong Girl - Hank Phillipi Ryan
This is a
2013 Agatha award winner about adoption and birth mothers. I haven't gotten around to reading it yet, so summer is the time. Okay, so I realize that there is a strong chance that this is going to fall into the deal breaker category, or at least leave me very nervous about the children. I don't know what to tell you. The mystery/dead baby dilemma is ever present for me. (I can't even with the
2014 Edgar winner.) I may not end up having the stomach for this one.
The Secret Place - Tana French
I loved
The Likeness. So much so that I broke my deal breaker (see above) and read
In the Woods, and loved it even more. Tana French is so good at character and atmosphere. I loved the narrators of both of those books.
I knew that
Broken Harbor would be problematic, (I know, I know) but I didn't realize how much I was going to hate it. It was one of the two books I had been looking forward to the most last summer. (
Broken Harbor and
Gone Girl. I just realized that was two summers ago. Was I not looking forward to anything last summer? I can't remember anything I was super excited about...
The Cuckoo's Calling, I guess, but that was kind of a last minute surprise.) I almost threw it across the room when I finished it. It was a good thing Gillian Flynn delivered.
So I think
The Secret Place might be my last shot with Tana French.
Wonderland - Stacey D'Erasmo
Again, this seems to be on a lot of lists, and a novel about an aging indie-rock star sounds super summery. (I would have specified female rock star, since that is part of why it appeals to me, but
I don't want to make Neko Case mad.) I also may read
Shot-Gun Lovesongs if I get on a rock and roll kick.
That's all I've got so far. What are you looking forward to reading?
