It’s Summertime and the reading is easy! Bookshop Benicia’s staff provides us with an exclusive pick of summer’s best reads, whether you are daycationing, daydreaming of a vacation or at an exotic beach locale, there’s something to suit your style.
Newer Books:
Caleb’s Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks, $26.95. An intriguing novel surrounding the true story of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard–in 1665!
Astral, by Kate Christensen, $25.95. A captivating novel full of complex and bizarre characters in a rapidly changing neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Sister, by Rosamund Lupton, $24.00. A young woman arrives in London determined to find the truth about her sister’s death. What follows is a Hitchcockian web of intrigue and evil. Absolutely gripping to the very last surprising page.
State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett, $26.99. A somewhat naive character finds herself caught up in the dark and fascinating doings of a rogue scientist deep in the Amazon jungle. Think Heart of Darkness with women and multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Books with a Paris theme:
Lunch in Paris: a Love Story. Elizabeth Bard, $13.99. A true tale of romance where a woman sits down to lunch and ends up having a love affair. Food features big time here-recipes included!
The Greater Journey, by David McCullough, $37.50. Historian McCullogh always delivers and this is no exception. A fascinating look at Americans who went to live or study in France and the influence this had on American culture and political life.
Paris Wife, by Paula Mclan, $25.00. A fictionalized account of Hemingway’s first wife and their time together in Paris.
Intriguing paperbacks
Lonely Polygamist, by Brady Udall, $15.95. A tragic-comic novel of a man having the mother-of-all midlife crises!
Cookbook Collector, by Allegra Goldman, $15.00. A magical novel weaving the dot.com boom with rare book collecting, romance, food, sisters, and loss.
The Wave, by Susan Carey, $15.95. You’ll want to sit far back from the breakers while reading this. A gripping account of freak colossal sized waves and the havoc they cause. Carey also follows the select group of surfers who seek out 100 foot waves. Two intersecting and fascinating accounts.
To Keep you going all summer:
Raj Quartet, by Paul Scott
Song of Ice and Fire, (series) by George Martin
Shogun and Taipan, by James Clavell
