If you need some suggestions for what to read on vacation this summer, check out our list of new favorite titles. With everything from science fiction to murder mysteries to brand new biographies, there’s something for everyone. All titles are linked to our catalog, but feel free to stop by the Adult Reference Desk for help finding a book on this list.
Fiction
James by Percival Everett
Revisit the events of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from a new perspective. The enslaved Jim, or “James,” still hides out on Jackson Island when he overhears news that he’s to be sold and Huck still encounters him while running away from an abusive father and faking his own death. But this ingenious retelling of Mark Twain’s famous book goes beyond the original and presents Jim in a whole new light.
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
With every person they date finding their soulmate as soon as they break up, Justin and Emma decide to date each other and then break up to cancel out their respective bad luck. But their quick fling turns into something more when their families get involved and they catch real feelings for each other.
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
Rufus Leung Gresham is the modern-day heir to an earldom, and when the family trust fund is depleted, Rufus’s mother plots to marry him off to a rich woman. But Rufus is secretly in love with Eden Tong, the humble girl next door.
The Morningside by Téa Obreht
After fleeing her homeland in a chaotic and dystopian near-future, Silvia settles with her mother in the Morningside, a rundown luxury tower in the once sparkling, now half-flooded Island City. There, she befriends the superintendent Ena, who shares the history and folklore of the country Silvia has lost.
Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki
This epic reimagining of the life of pioneering journalist Margaret Fuller follows her through her association with the Transcendentalists, her work as the first female foreign news correspondent, and her dangerous liaison with a Roman count.
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
After escaping climate disaster in far-future London, ballet dancer January becomes a refugee to the colony of Tharsis on Mars where an unexpected array of circumstances takes him from a life of manual labor to an arranged marriage to the wealthy Senator Aubrey Gale, who favors harsh Martian immigration policies that January disagrees with.
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
In post-WWI England, Constance Haverhill loses her job as estate manager and must face the fact that the freedoms she and other women gained during the war are being revoked.
Lucky by Jane Smiley
Smiley tells the story of imagined folk musician Jodie Rattler, who grows up in St. Louis in the 1950s and then starts a singing career that sends her across the globe during the heyday of folk music as she searches for love and meaning in her life.
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
Queen’s guard Reyna and her girlfriend Kianthe, a powerful mage, wish to flee the bonds and dangers of their roles to live quietly together. Can the couple evade the murderous queen, handle the dragons attacking their new home, and mediate peace between the lords vying for control, all while running the best tea and bookshop in the land?
Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles
Bestselling author Towles returns with an enchanting collection of stories about the fateful consequences that can spring from brief encounters. The anthology includes six stories, ranging in setting from Russia to Manhattan, along with a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood, featuring Evelyn Ross, the main character in Towles’s Rules of Civility.
Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan
At a high-society Shanghai wedding, the reluctant bride and her two best friends, each with their own personal motives and all fed up with the way society treats women, hatch a plan to steal all the gift money on the big day.
Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate
In 1990 Oklahoma, Valerie, park ranger at Horsethief Trail National Park, is faced with the long-hidden burial site of three children. Working with the neighboring Choctaw Tribal Police, she unearths old secrets and the tragic and deadly history of the land itself.
Big Time by Ben H. Winters
Kidnapped while playing with her daughter in the park, Allie manages to escape, landing at a nearby hospital with an unusual portacath device in her chest. Meanwhile, Grace, an employee of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, and Allie’s kidnapper are both trying to track her down.
Mystery & Thriller
The Princess of Las Vegas by Chris Bohjalian
Living in the Buckingham Palace Casino, Crissy Dowling is a Princess Diana impersonator who finds her carefully constructed kingdom crashing down around her when the owner of the casino is brutally murdered, and she is drawn into a world of organized crime, cryptocurrency, and obsession.
The Hunter by Tana French
Moving to Ireland after an early retirement from the Chicago PD, Cal Hooper has built a relationship with local woman Lena and is gradually turning teenager Trey Reddy into a good kid. But when Trey’s long-absent father reappears with a get-rich-quick scheme, Trey wants revenge.
Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett
Breanna’s romantic vacation is ruined when she wakes up to find her boyfriend Tyler missing and the body of a stranger in her rental house. After Tyler becomes a suspect, Breanna decides to investigate.
She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica
ICU nurse Meghan Michaels mistakenly gets too close to the case when she receives a new coma patient who attempted suicide by jumping from a bridge. When a witness comes forward, suggesting the woman was pushed, Meghan begins to fear that she and her daughter are now in danger.
Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda
Returning to her hometown after unexpectedly inheriting her childhood home, Hazel Sharp discovers long-hidden secrets that may explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance many years ago.
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
After a fortune teller in 1965 predicts her murder, Frances spends her life searching for her best friend, who disappeared at a county fair. When Frances actually is murdered 60 years later, her grand-niece Annie is left to solve both crimes.
The Truth About the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline
The charming disappointment in the prominent Devlin family, TJ Devlin finds his world turned upside down when his lawyer brother confesses that he has just killed one of his clients. Seizing this chance to prove his worth, TJ becomes entangled in a deadly web of deception and murder to save his brother.
Death in the Details by Katie Tietjen
Inspired by the real-life mother of forensic science, Frances Glessner Lee, a World War II widow creating and selling intricate dollhouses decides to investigate when her first customer suspiciously turns up dead, relying on help from a rookie police officer and her own skills at crafting miniatures.
The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton
Most of the world has been destroyed by a deadly fog except one protected, idyllic island. But when an unexpected and brutal stabbing overrides the island’s protective security systems, the residents must race to find the murderer before their island is engulfed by the fog that destroyed the rest of the world.
The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger
At first, Rosie and Chad Lowan couldn’t be happier to have inherited an apartment from Chad’s uncle in the fabled Windermere building in New York, but with the building’s omnipresent cameras and history of ugly crimes, they quickly learn that it was all too good to be true.
Nonfiction & Biography
All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines
This groundbreaking oral history of the Beatles is based on never-before-seen interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and others completed in 1980-1981 in preparation for Brown and Gaines’s previous book, The Love You Make.
A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins
From renowned underwater archaeologist Gibbins comes an exciting and rich historical narrative told through the discoveries of twelve shipwrecks across time. From the Bronze Age, through the era of the Vikings, to the exploration of the Arctic, Gibbins uses shipwrecks to explore the story of human history.
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
Based on fascinating archival research and deep reporting, this riveting narrative provides another look at the story of the 1986 Challenger disaster, delving into the definition of acceptable risk and assessing accountability for the tragedy.
Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos by Lisa Kaltenegger
Astrophysicist Kaltenegger takes readers on a mind-bending journey 13 billion years in the making. Investigating the origin and marvels of life, the author explains how she and other astronomers are searching for extraterrestrial life, recounting both notable historical discoveries and her current laboratory experiments.
Chamber Divers: The Untold Story of the D-Day Scientists Who Changed Special Operations Forever by Rachel Lance
Based on top secret documents only recently declassified, this is the story of a band of daredevil submarine researchers, led by the controversial but brilliant J.B.S. Haldane. Their research directly impacted the success of the June 1944 Allied landing at Normandy, and without their lab and its wartime work, neither SEALs nor submarines could prowl the ocean the way they do today.
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson offers a gripping political history of the months between Lincoln’s election and the start of the Civil War. His deeply researched account is wide-ranging even as it centers upon Lincoln, trying desperately to avert war.
The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell
Through linguistic insights, sociological explorations, and personal anecdotes, bestselling author Montell delves into the cognitive biases that run rampant in our brains. The tongue-in-cheek narrative examines the dilemmas of the 21st century and offers a prevailing message of hope, empathy, and forgiveness for our anxiety-riddled human selves.
The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters by Susan Page
Drawing on 150 interviews and extensive archival research, this definitive biography of the most successful female broadcaster of all time, who gave women a permanent place on the air, reveals the woman behind the legacy—one who broke all the rules to tell viewers what they deserved to know.
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
Patterson and Eversmann tell the inspiring true stories of several talented booksellers and librarians. Get to know these dedicated bibliophiles through first-person reflections that highlight their passion and joy for books and reading.
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
The internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize winner speaks out for the first time about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, when an attempt was made on his life, in this deeply personal meditation on violence, art, loss, love, and finding the strength to stand up again.
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides
Part high-seas adventure, part examination of the Age of Exploration, this account of Captain James Cook’s last voyage in 1776 charts how his overt and covert missions came to a head on the island of Hawaii and left behind a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day.
The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History by Karen Valby
Steeped in the glamour and grit of professional ballet, this captivating account of five extraordinarily accomplished Black ballerinas, the Swans of Harlem, celebrates both their historic careers and their 50-year sisterhood, offering a window into the history of Black ballet, hidden for too long.