Summer is for R&R — reading and more reading.
Whether you’re looking for an escape (vampires? killer ice-cream men?) or a reminder that your family vacation could always be worse, we’ve got a book for you.
The Post — with help from Manhattan bookstores The Mysterious Bookshop and The Strand, Brooklyn’s Word, and Amazon — sifted through hundreds of books to gather what we feel are the best of the season.
Get out of town
The Matchmaker
by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown), out June 10
Hilderbrand, the queen regent of the easy-breezy summer read, is back again in a location she’s best known for, Nantucket. Her 13th novel follows 48-year-old Dabney Kimball Beech, the director of the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce, who has almost supernatural knack for matchmaking, setting up 42 couples (all of whom are still together). Problem is, her own daughter likes the wrong man — and now a high-school flame has returned to the island. How can she help others if she can’t match herself?
We Were Liars
by E. Lockhart (Delacorte), out now
Every summer Cadence Sinclair Eastman returns to her family’s private island off the coast of Massachusetts and rejoins a group of kids that call themselves “the liars.” Everything changes when Cadence is found near death after a swimming accident. What happened that day in the ocean? And will her friendship with the liars — particularly with Gat, her boyfriend — ever be the same? The end is as shocking as it is polarizing.
The Vacationers
by Emma Straub (Riverhead), out May 29
It’s “Modern Family” in Mallorca. A wealthy Upper West Side family ships off to Spain for a two-week stay, bringing all the baggage of city life with them. Franny and Jim are “celebrating” their 35th anniversary with the silent treatment after Jim was fired for schtupping a much younger intern at his magazine. Their teenage daughter, Sylvia, is dead-set on losing her virginity before going to college, and her brother, Bobby, secretly saddled with debt, annoys the family by bringing his gym-rat, much older girlfriend with him. It’s a neurotic full house already — but Franny’s best friend Charles and his husband, Lawrence, round out the mess by keeping a secret of their own.
Cutting Teeth
by Julia Fierro (St. Martin’s), out now
A Park Slope mommy group heads to Long Island for a summer vacation together in this acerbic look at modern-day parenting. There’s the mother with the problem child; the overly flirtatious sexpot who insists on breastfeeding her 4-year-old; and the male mommy with a secret crush. There’s not a likeable person in the bunch — but those who have had to spend any length of time in playgrounds in this city will recognize the types, and laugh a lot.
This One Summer
by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki (First Second), out now
It’s Rose and her best friend Windy’s last summer at Awago Beach before they turn 13. In this lovely graphic novel, written and drawn by cousin-collaborators, we get to see the world from the eyes of two girls right on the cusp of adulthood. They sit on the sidelines while Rose’s parents fight and watch the local teenagers get into all sorts of trouble — until they, too, are pulled into the drama.
Bittersweet
by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore (Crown), out now
“Before she loathed me, before she loved me, Genevra Katherine Winslow didn’t know I existed.” Thus begins this intriguing outsider tale of the 1%. Mabel Dagmar, a scholarship kid from Oregon at a prestigious East Coast school, gets sucked into a life of unimaginable prestige and power when her spoiled blue-blooded roommate invites her to her Vermont compound for the summer. There, between lobster feasts and midnight skinny dipping, Dagmar uncovers a shocking secret that could blow the top off this old-money dynasty.
Word Bookstore pick
by Jeff VanderMeer (FSG), two of three out now
All three books of the Southern Reach Trilogy, which revolves around a mysterious Area X, sectioned off from the world, will be published this year — an experiment in binge reading. Jenn Northington, events director at Brooklyn and Jersey City’s Word bookstores, is a fan, telling The Post, “[It’s] perfect for summer. VanderMeer has created a creepy series bursting with monsters, murders and mayhem that will make sure you never look at nature the same way.”
Modern families
Friendship
by Emily Gould (FSG), July 1
Gawker alum Emily Gould delivers in her first work of fiction, which follows two 30-year-old women trying to make ends meet in New York City. A former blogger, who developed a small degree of fame before she was fired (a smidge autobiographical?), and her friend, a struggling writer, bond over their inability to “get it together.” Boyfriends come and go, rent increases are ever-looming and neither one has found the job of their dreams. When one of the girls finds out she’s pregnant, their friendship power balance begins to shift, and their longtime relationship is threatened.
The One & Only
by Emily Giffin (Ballantine), out now
Emily Giffin — chick lit extraordinaire of “Something Borrowed” and “Where We Belong”— goes darker in her seventh novel. It revolves around a May-December love affair in the football-obsessed town of Walker, Texas. Shelby Rigsby, 33, begins to fall in love with her best friend’s father and local football hero, Clive Carr. At times it’s uncomfortable reading — there’s domestic abuse, rape and unlikely lovers — but it’s an interesting departure for Giffin.
Arts and Entertainment
by Christopher Beha (Ecco), out July 1
Eddie Hartley, former actor turned drama teacher, is haunted by the ghost of his girlfriend past — who now happens to be one of the most famous women on the planet. Martha Martin, a k a Dr. Drake on an “ER”-style TV show, is ending a successful career on TV to try to make it to the big screen. Hartley, though, isn’t doing so hot. Since their bitter breakup, he’s left the acting world and all his aspirations behind. But when his wife wants to get pregnant, and he can’t pay for the second round of in-vitro, a long-forgotten sex tape of him and a young Martha Martin might be the one thing that will make his problems disappear.
The Rise & Fall of Great Powers
by Tom Rachman (The Dial Press), out June 10
Fans of Rachman’s remarkable “The Imperfectionists,” which won all sorts of accolades, will be happy to hear that the four-year wait is over. This book, wider in scope, follows one woman named Tooly Zylberberg, who owns a money-hemorrhaging bookstore in the Welsh countryside. The question is: How did a child from Australia end up here? The answer is a strange and sometimes sinister road across time and many continents, hopscotching from 1988 to 1999 to 2011.
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
by Haruki Murakami (Knopf), out August 12
Considered one of the “greatest living novelists” thanks to modern classics like “Norwegian Wood” and “Kafka on the Shore,” “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki,” his 13th novel, will only cement his place among the greats. The book, which sold 1 million copies in Japan in its first week alone, follows Tsukuru, who is ostracized by his friends — Red, Blue, White and Black — because his name doesn’t translate into a color. Now in his 30s, Tsukuru embarks on a pilgrimage to figure out what happened to his life that has led him to such profound loneliness.
One Plus One
by Jojo Moyes (Pamela Dorman Books), out July 1
Jess is the poor man’s Bridget Jones — with kids. She’s a house cleaner trying to support her two children on a meager income. When her daughter, a math whiz, is offered a partial scholarship to an elite private school, she must figure out a way to scrape together the remaining 10% of the tuition. Cue Ed, one of her house-cleaning clients, who is awaiting prosecution on an insider-trading scandal. Meanwhile, Jess has learned about a Math Olympiad trial in Scotland that could make her daughter’s private school dreams a reality. All five of them — two teenagers, a scared man, a tired, overworked woman, and a big, stinky dog — hop into Ed’s car and head to Scotland. Hilarity of course ensues.
The Possibilities
by Kaui Hart Hemmings (S&S), out now
This is only Hemming’s second novel, and she’s already Hollywood royalty. Her first, “The Descendants” starred George Clooney and was a Best Picture nominee at the Oscars. How to top that? Here’s how: Before Hemming’s “The Possibilities” has even been published, it’s been snapped up as a film by Jason Reitman (of “Juno” and “Up in the Air”) to direct. In the tourist haven of Breckenridge, Colo., Sarah St. John, the local “news” anchor who for the looped in programming in a luxury hotel there, is stricken with grief after the passing of her 22-year-old son in an avalanche. When a strange girl arrives with new information about her son, she offers a way, perhaps, for Sarah to heal and make some sense of her tragic loss.
The Strand pick
by Anthony Doerr (Scribner), out now
This epic World War II saga already has garnered gangbuster reviews. “This novel is masterful, dazzling story of resilience, courage and hope,” says Brianne Sperber, the Strand’s marketing manager. “Doerr’s characters are beautifully rendered and each sentence feels like a gem, carefully chiseled to form a perfect work. There is such goodness in this book, I dare you not to devour it in one sitting.”
Beach-blanket mysteries
Summer House with Swimming Pool
by Herman Koch (Hogarth), out June 3
Koch, author of “The Dinner” an international bestseller that has been optioned to Cate Blanchett, earned the distinction of being the most translated Dutch novelist in history. Now he’s returned with another twisty, thrilling tale about a celebrity doctor, who’s a bit fast and loose with his prescription pad. When is invited on vacation with a famous actor and his gorgeous wife — someone ends up dead.
All Day and A Night
by Alafair Burke (Harper), out June 10
Former prosecutor Burke opens her 10th book with the murder of Manhattan psychotherapist Helen Brunswick. The brutality of the crime (her bones were crushed postmortem) is the signature card of a prolific serial killer who had killed six women eight years before. Only problem? That killer has a good alibi: He was behind bars. What emerges is a wrongful conviction investigation, led by NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher (the star of her own series) and a white-shoe federal appeals lawyer Carrie Blank, whose sister was one of the murder victims. Perfect for “Law & Order” freaks who want some ripped-from-the-headlines intrigue with their beachside mai tais.
The Farm
by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central Publishing), out June 3
Imagine receiving the following phone call: “Your mother, she’s not well.” She’s been seeing things and she’s been institutionalized. Daniel, shocked and conflicted, only becomes more so when his mother shows up with her own, wild tale of deception and conspiracy at her rural farm in Sweden. Smith does an expert job of putting the readers in the narrator’s uncomfortable shoes. Is his mother crazy? Or is she on to something that could change everything?
Invisible City
by Julia Dahl (Minotaur Books), out now
This smart and punchy murder-mystery is set in the cloistered world of NYC’s ultra-Orthodox community — and the best part? It was written by a former Post reporter. Rebekah Roberts, a stringer for The New York Tribune, is sent to cover the appearance of a naked woman’s body hanging from a crane in Gowanus. When the identity of the Orthodox mother is revealed, Roberts becomes personally invested in the case (her mother, who left her as a child, had fled from New York’s Orthodox community) and puts her own life at risk to hunt down the truth.
The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair
by Joel Dicker (Penguin), out May 27
Penguin — who rumor has it spent more on this book than any in its history — has high hopes for this Swedish thriller. An international sensation, already translated into 37 languages with awards to boot, was originally acquired by the publisher of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” The book, set in New Hampshire, begins with young literary star Marcus Goldman’s bout with writer’s block. To help him through, he seeks out the help of a professor, when he discovers his mentor once had an affair with a 15 year old when he was on the heels of publishing his magnum opus. When the bones of said teen are found buried on the professor’s yard — Marcus takes on the mission to clear his mentor’s name.
Mr. Mercedes
by Stephen King (S&S), out June 3
The author who needs no introduction gives readers another person to fear — the ice cream man — in his Philip Marlowe meets “Psycho” new book. Gripping from page one, “Mr. Mercedes” opens with a Mercedes mowing down eight people, including a baby, lined up for a job fair. Retired detective Bill Hodges, out to pasture and ready to end his own life, gets a letter out of the blue from the one perp who got away, the man who called himself “the Mercedes Killer.” This gives Hodges the motivation to keep on living — especially when he begins a romance with a woman who hired him to investigate the case.
The Son
by Jo Nesbø (Knopf), out now
Rock star turned writer, Nesbø is one of the most promising Nordic crime novelist in a crowded list, acclaimed for his series following detective Harry Hole. “The Son,” however, is a stand-alone work. Sonny Loftus is a fall guy for several murders in Oslo, who accepts his fate in exchange for free heroin. But when he discovers the true nature of the conspiracy — one that killed his own father — he drops his drug habit, escapes prison and enacts payback. It’s revenge porn at its grisliest.
Mysterious Bookshop pick
The Painter
by Peter Heller (Knopf), out now
This is the story of a murder and the man who hopes to get away with it. Ian Kern, manager at Mysterious Bookshop, is particularly excited about this summer read: “It’s not necessarily a whodunit, as much as how is going to get away with it,” says Kern. “He has married this with gorgeous language, great description of pastoral scenes and fly-fishing and has a great grasp on putting a flesh-and-blood human being in the middle of a crime narrative.”
Fantasylands
California
by Edan Lepucki (Little, Brown), out July 8
Cal and Frida leave the rotted ruins of California behind and head for the wilderness in this post-apocalyptic tour de force. Clutching only a few mementos from the past (Frida lovingly carries a turkey baster, a memory of Thanksgivings long gone) as they head toward an uncertain future in a makeshift hut in the woods. But when Frida learns she’s pregnant, the woods are no longer a safe option, and they must rejoin civilization, or what is left of it. It has a shot at being a sleeper hit of this summer. Not only is the pacing quick and the plot gripping, but Lepucki has also landed esteemed blurbs from high-lit heavyweights like Jennifer Egan (“A Visit from the Goon Squad”) and Ben Fountain (“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk”).
Half a King
by Joe Abercrombie (Del Ray), out July 15
In fantasy circles, Abercrombie is already a celebrity. But for those of us whose knowledge of fantasy is limited to “Game of Thrones” — “Half a King,” the first in a new series and one of his more accessible books, is a good place to start. The story centers around Prince Yarvi, a mild-mannered intelligent boy born with a deformed hand, who is thrust into a position of power when his father and brother are murdered on the battlefield. But power comes with jealousy. When a Hamlet-esque betrayal forces him into enemy camp, where he is sold into slavery, he promises to enact revenge. “I may be half a man,” he says, “but I swore a whole oath.”
Midnight Crossroad
by Charlaine Harris (Ace), out now
For the few out there bemoaning the end to HBO’s “True Blood,” here’s something to quench your supernatural thirst. Harris, who gave us Sookie Stackhouse, has started another series based in Midnight, Texas, a town with only one stoplight, but a sizable sinister underbelly. There’s a psychic — even a vampire! — a magical pawnshop, and a talking cat (to name a few).
The Lobster Kings
by Alexi Zentner (W.W. Norton), out May 27
The King family are royalty on Loosewood Island, a lobster fishing village between the US and Canadian border. The family has lived there for 300 years, eating and selling the bounty of the sea. But the relationship comes with a price — and the ocean always takes what it wants. Myth and reality blur in this tale, as sharp-toothed mermaids and magical waters with 5-foot lobsters mingle alongside the death of a child and the threat of the growing meth dealers around the island.
The Queen of Tearling
by Erika Johansen (Harper), out July 8
In 2013, before the book had even gone to print, Emma Watson announced that she was attached to star in its film version. Johansen’s debut (the first of a trilogy) follows Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, who must battle the evil Red Queen, to reclaim a crown that is rightfully hers. It takes place 300 years in the future in a world where technology and books are banned, and slavery, sword-fighting and castles have returned to society.
Amazon pick
The Book of Unknown Americans
by Cristina Henríquez (Knopf), out June 3
This book, which reads like an oral history told from the perspective of immigrants from Central America, is Amazon editor Chris Schluep’s must read for the summer. “This novel snuck up on me. It’s moving and beautifully written, never overwrought, and I read it virtually in one sitting,” he says. “It’s compelling, tragic, sometimes funny, uplifting and heart-wrenching. I can’t stop thinking about these people.”