If you didn’t already have a spring break trip on your calendar, the recent #snomg weather surely inspired you to book a getaway. You’ll need a juicy beach read to go with your fruity umbrella drink, whether it’s a page-turning thriller or a Southern novel. Here’s a list of the hottest titles for your beach bag, and please, bring the warm weather back with you.
For Thrills
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, by Paula Hawkins. (Riverhead.) This one is a must-read for Gone Girl fans. Still recovering from her divorce, Rachel sees something shocking on her daily train commute, Unable to keep it to herself, she offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?
THE WHITES, by Richard Price writing as Harry Brandt. (Holt.) The electrifying tale of a New York City police detective under siege–by an unsolved murder, by his own dark past, and by a violent stalker seeking revenge.
OBSESSION IN DEATH, by J. D. Robb (i.e. Nora Roberts). (Putnam.) Eve Dallas has solved a lot of high-profile murders for the NYPSD and gotten a lot of media. She—and her billionaire husband—are getting accustomed to being objects of attention, of gossip, of speculation. But now Eve has become the object of one person’s obsession. With a murderer reading meanings into her every move, handling this case will be a delicate—and dangerous—psychological dance.
For Laughs
YES PLEASE, by Amy Poehler. (Dey Street/Morrow.) Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like “Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend,” “Plain Girl Versus the Demon” and “The Robots Will Kill Us All” Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous,Yes Please is full of words to live by.
For Fun
AS YOU WISH, by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden. (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster.) From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes a first-person account and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars including Robin Wright and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner.
Literary Reads
THE NIGHTINGALE, by Kristin Hannah. (St. Martin’s.) The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France–a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women.
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE,by Anthony Doerr. (Scribner.) The beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
Southern Best Sellers
FIRST FROST by Sarah Addison Allen (St. Martin’s Press.) It’s October in Bascom, North Carolina, and autumn will not go quietly. When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of the Waverly family, each sister must make choices they have never confronted before. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost.
MY SUNSHINE AWAY, by M. O. Walsh (Putnam) In My Sunshine Away, M.O. Walsh brilliantly juxtaposes the enchantment of a charmed childhood with the gripping story of a violent crime, unraveling families, and consuming adolescent love. Acutely wise and deeply honest, it is an astonishing and page-turning debut about the meaning of family, the power of memory, and our ability to forgive.
Family Saga
A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD, by Anne Tyler. (Knopf.) The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate togetherness: an indefinable, enviable kind of specialness. But they are also like all families, in that the stories they tell themselves reveal only part of the picture. Abby and Red and their four grown children have accumulated not only tender moments, laughter, and celebrations, but also jealousies, disappointments, and carefully guarded secrets.
For Deep Thoughts
WHAT IF?, by Randall Munroe. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.) The book features new and never-before-answered questions, along with updated and expanded versions of the most popular answers from the xkcd website (featuring his popular webcomic with stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love). What If? will be required reading for xkcd fans and anyone who loves to ponder the hypothetical.
For Your Teenager (or Your Inner Teenager)
The Ruby Circle: A Bloodlines Novel, by Richelle Mead. (Razorbill). Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives. After their secret romance is exposed, Sydney and Adrian find themselves facing the wrath of both the Alchemists and the Moroi in this electrifying conclusion to Richelle Mead’s New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series.
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, by John Green. (Penguin Group.) Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.
RED QUEEN, by Victoria Aveyard. (HarperCollins Publishers.) Debut novelist Victoria Aveyard’s sweeping tale centers around seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king’s palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?
