By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
You’ve got your sunscreen, a comfy beach chair and sunglasses. What else do you need for a relaxing day poolside or at the beach – besides a cold glass of rosé, that is?
A great book.
We reached out to the Monmouth County Library and River Road Books in Fair Haven to help us compile a summer reading list for everyone in the family.
As Kim Avagliano, the branch manager at the Eastern Branch of the Monmouth County Library, explained, “Summer is a time for relaxing into an old favorite, a hot new title, or even to find some books to help explore a new interest or hobby.”
She echoed the advice given by Jessica Laddaga, a librarian at the Holmdel branch, which Avagliano said applies to everyone: Challenge yourself.
“Pick one book outside of your normal genre and outside of your comfort zone and try it,” said Laddaga. “You never know, you might just find something new and exciting. I never thought I liked poetry, but after trying Jason Reynold’s ‘Long Way Down,’ I can’t stop reading books in verse.”
If you like to read as a family, finding books everyone can enjoy doesn’t have to be difficult. Look for titles that have “young reader” editions in addition to the adult versions. A few summers ago Atlantic Highlands used “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein as their town-wide read, said Faye Sacco, circulation assistant at the Atlantic Highlands branch. Kids could read the young reader version, “Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog.”
“It was a wonderful way to have both young and old share the same book and have the opportunity to meet and talk about it together,” said Sacco.
For children, tweens and teens, reading can keep skills sharp during the summer months and help avoid what Laurie Potter, co-owner of River Road Books, calls the “summer slide.”
“Incorporate reading into your family’s busy schedule by encouraging your kids to select books on subjects that interest them,” suggested Potter. “Whether it’s history, fantasy, sports or adventure, there is a genre for every child.”
Pat Findra, the children’s department coordinator for the Monmouth County Library system, says summer assignments can take the joy out of reading, especially if kids aren’t interested in the assigned books. Findra emphasizes picking books outside the summer assignments to read “for the fun of it.”
Which is really good advice for readers of all ages.
Here is a (noncomprehensive) list of books and authors you should be diving into this summer – from “absolute classics” to those not yet released – separated into very unscientific categories.
ALL ABOUT THE BEACH
“Summer of ’69” by Elin Hilderbrand (out June 18)
“The Beach House” by Mary Alice Monroe (first in a series)
“Sunset Beach” by Mary Kay Andrews
“Same Beach, Next Year” by Dorothea Benton Frank
“Jaws” by Peter Benchley
ON THE HORIZON
“City of Girls” by Elizabeth Gilbert (June 4)
“Mrs. Everything” by Jennifer Weiner (June 11)
“The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead (July 16)
“The Golden Hour” by Beatriz Williams (July 9)
“Lady in the Lake” by Laura Lippman (July 23)
“The Vagabonds” by Jeff Guinn (July 9)
RECENT FICTION
“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens (one of the most requested titles at the library right now; Reese Witherspoon is producing a feature film adaptation)
“A Woman is No Man” by Etaf Rum
“Normal People” by Sally Rooney
“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
TRUTH IS BETTER THAN FICTION
“The Pioneers” by David McCullough
“The Moment Of Lift” by Melinda Gates
“Working” by Robert Caro
“Furious Hours” by Casey Cep
“Bitcoin Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich
CLASSICS – BOTH OLD & NEW
“The Big Sleep” by Raymond Chandler
“The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde
“Murder on the Orient Express” by Agatha Christie
“Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson
“Valley of the Dolls” by Jacqueline Susann
“The Natural” by Bernard Malamud
“Heartburn” by Nora Ephron
“Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris
“The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown
“Life of Pi” by Yann Martel
“Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert
GRAPHIC NOVELS
“Real Friends” by Shannon Hale (“Best Friends” will be out in August) “Smile” by Raina Telgemeier
“Dog Man” by Dav Pilkey
“4 Kids Walk Into A Bank” by Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss
THRILLS AND CHILLS
“The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides
“Cari Mora” by Thomas Harris
“The Witch Elm” by Tana French
“Past Tense” by Lee Child
“Social Misconduct” by S.J. Maher
“Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn
“No Sunscreen for the Dead” by Tim Dorsey
“The Dawn Patrol” by Don Winslow (first in series)
“Gentleman’s Hour” by Don Winslow (second in series)
“American Assassin” by Vince Flynn
Clive Clussler’s Dirk Pitt series
I’M FROM NEW JERSEY
“Cape May” by Chip Cheek (debut novel set in New Jersey in the 1950s) “Destiny of a Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President” by Candice Millard
“Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in an Age of Innocence” by Michael Capuzzo
“Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of WWII” by Robert Kurson
TEENS AND TWEENS
“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” by William Kamkwamba
“Skulduggery Pleasant” by Derek Landy
“Three Dark Crowns” by Kendare Blake
“The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander
“Everything on a Waffle” by Polly Horvath
“The Thing About Jellyfish” by Ali Benjamin
“Ghost” by Jason Reynolds
“A Week in the Woods” by Andrew Clements
YOUNG-ISH READERS
“Al Capone Throws Me a Curve” by Gennifer Choldenko
“One Crazy Summer” by Rita Williams-Garcia
“Mr. Lemoncello’s Library” series by Chris Grabenstein
“Lawn Boy” by Gary Paulsen
“Lawn Boy Returns” by Gary Paulsen
“The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster
“Turtle in Paradise” by Jennifer Holm
“Island of the Blue Dolphins” by Scott O’Dell
“Merci Suárez Changes Gears” by Meg Medina
“Wizards of Once” by Cressida Cowell
“Maker Lab” by Jack Challoner Maker Lab Outdoors: Build, Invent, Create, Discover,” by Jack Challoner
FOR THE LITTLE ONES
“Narwhal and Jelly” series by Ben Clanton
“Peanut Butter and Cupcake” by Terry Border
“Veggies with Wedgies” by Todd H. Doodler
This article was first published in the May 23 – 29, 2019 printed edition of The Two River Times.
