Summer reading: the 50 hottest new books for a great escape | Summer reading | The Guardian

here goes nothing by steve toltza cynical unbeliever finds himself in the afterlife; meanwhile, back on earth, his killer huddles with his widow and a pandemic threatens civilization itself… the latest novel from the author of a fraction of the whole sizzles with black comedy and anarchic energy.

hervé le tellier’s anomaly, translated by adriana hunteran airplane and all its passengers are somehow duplicated after in-flight turbulence. So who and what is real? This high-concept sci-fi thriller is a lot of fun: a French award winner peppered with Oulipian theory and literary inside jokes, solving existential questions under the guise of a dizzying turn of the page.

Marian Keyes’ Rachel AgainA quarter century after Rachel’s vacation, this witty sequel reunites readers with Keyes’s much-loved heroine as she explores the trials and transformations of the middle age.

miriam toews’ fight nightscrapped out of school, nine-year-old swiv must care for her troubled pregnant mother and irrepressible grandmother, and accept being cared for, infuriating as it is , instead. As always, the Canadian novelist blends tragedy and humor in a love letter to spirited women.

an olive grove in the extremes by moses mckenziea young black british man is determined to escape inner city poverty and the expectations of closure: but will it be the drugs, the violence, the faith or love the route to fulfillment? ? an exciting and octane debut told with elegance and style.

Nostalgia for Colin BarrettIt’s been eight years since the Young Skins Award, but this second collection of short stories is worth the wait. funny, devastating, slow, these low-key tales of misfits and misadventures in small-town Ireland are written with casual grace.

sorry you feel this way by rebecca waittoxic moms, absent dads, angry sisters and angry brothers: this witty and wise comedy explores difficult family dynamics, from emotions we all too identify with. patterns of the unexplained agonies of mental illness; however, it’s also one of the funniest novels you’ll read this year.

See Also: 16 Fun Children&039s Books About Shapes – Imagination Soup

love marriage by monica aliculture clashes, personality, expectations: this is a warm and witty overview of modern britain from the author of brick lane, seen through the rocky engagement of two doctors and the explosive combination of their very different families.

our country friends by gary shteyngartat times poignant, absurd and darkly comical, shteyngart’s “lockdown novel” is always, like the chekhov about which speaks, deeply human. The group of friends who flee to a house in upstate New York aim to dodge the virus, but they can’t escape the entanglements and rivalries that have defined their relationships, highlighted by the arrival of a stranger. famous.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha PhilyawNominated for a National Book Award in the United States, these poignant short stories focus on the sex lives of several black women in the southern United States, along with all its desire, shame and fear. philyaw expertly draws the line between humor and heartbreak in stories you’ll want to devour.

noverfiction

The Expectancy Effect: How Your Thinking Can Transform Your Life by David RobsonDoes worrying about dementia increase your chances of getting it? what if stress isn’t so much the problem as fear of what it might be doing to us? Robson discusses the latest counterintuitive research on how our expectations shape us, with advice on how to apply his insights to our own lives.

mankind’s journey by oded galorin a seemingly relentless era of bad news, economist oded galor offers an antidote to doomscrolling. His faith that our future is relatively bright is based on data on economic development that suggest that technological progress and declining fertility mean that we will not only be able to feed the world, but may soon be able to fix it.

white debt: the demerara uprising and the legacy of slavery in britain by thomas hardingharding’s ancestors profited from the slave trade, but were also victims of nazi persecution . “If I was willing to identify myself as a victim in my father’s family, in order to receive reparations from the German government, surely I should better understand Britain’s role in slavery,” he writes. his book sheds light on a crucial moment in colonial history.

How Civil Wars Start: And How To Stop Them By Barbara F WalterA chilling warning from a leading American political scientist. Looking around the world, Walter outlines the telltale signs of anocracy, a transitional stage between democracy and autocracy that nation states enter before civil war begins. America, he warns, is getting dangerously close.

reality+: virtual worlds and the problem of philosophy by david chalmersa brilliantly engaging philosopher tackles the question of whether or not we’re living in a simulation, and asks if that would matter: on virtual worlds created by computers, he argues, could be just as satisfying and meaningful as “real” life.

It’s All True: The Story of a Junior Doctor in a Time of Pandemic by Roopa FarookiA scathing account of the first 40 days of the UK’s pandemic lockdown by an eyewitness from first hand. Farooki, a novelist, finished medical school a few months before the coronavirus emerged, finding herself on the front lines of an unprecedented medical emergency.

super-infinity: the transformations of john donne by katherine rundelldonne broke new ground writing about sex, love, faith and death; This brilliant biography of the metaphysical poet turned preacher illuminates an era of plague, persecution, and great existential change.

The Middleman: A Memoir of Growing Up Between Different Worlds by Osman YousefzadaA beautifully observed memoir of growing up in a conservative Muslim community in Birmingham in the 1980s. as a child, yousefzada has access to secret worlds: watching his mother sew in a back room of their house was, he says, “like watching a magician”. He grew up designing dresses for Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.

Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces 2004-2021 by Margaret AtwoodAtwood’s third volume of essays begins in 2004 and runs through 2021. Her panoptic look spans the aftermath of 9/11, the obama years, the financial crisis, trump, #metoo and the covid-19 pandemic, the writing is full of wisdom and wit.

bitch: a revolutionary guide to sex, evolution, and the female animal by lucy cookeis the female of the species more demure than the male? Not according to zoologist Lucy Cooke, who studies the extraordinary sexual behavior of myriad animals, from lemurs to insects, reversing decades of scientific bias in the process.

the man who tasted words: inside the strange and surprising world of our senses by dr. guy leschziner neurologist guy leschziner vividly describes what happens when our senses malfunction, as in the strange case of james, who tastes a full english breakfast when he hears the words “tottenham court road.” Equally compelling, however, is the science behind everyday sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. An Oliver Sacks of the last days, Leschziner brings to life the strangeness of our human faculties.

the palace papers of tina brownan amusing journey through the past decades of intrigue and scandal in the house of windsor, based on over 100 interviews with courtiers and a variety of other topics . Even the most staunch Republicans will find it hard to resist Brown’s rapid-fire prose and juicy insights into the personalities at the heart of this strange institution.

the island of extraordinary captives: a true story of an artist, a spy and a war scandal by simon parkinas a result of the british internment policy during world war two, a handful of Europeans intellectuals gathered in the unlikely environment of the Isle of Man. There they instituted an informal “university,” with lectures on Greek philosophy, Shakespeare, and the industrial use of synthetic fibers. parkin follows young german jewish refugee peter fleischmann as he navigates this strangely rarefied world.

metaphysical animals: how four women brought philosophy back to life by clare mac cumhaill and rachael wisemanoxford during the second world war was a crucible of a new kind of philosophy, and its greatest exponents they were women. Mac Cumhaill and Wiseman tell the story of the work, life, and loves of Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, and Mary Midgley, who sought to bring a new emphasis on human values ​​to their field.

out of the sun by esi edugyanedugyan’s elegant essays on black identity and representation address empathy and nuance rather than polemic. she considers marie-joseph angélique, the enslaved woman accused of burning down montreal who is now said to haunt her, the questions raised by rachel dolezal’s claim of “transracialism” and artist kehinde wiley’s portraits in grand european fashion, which they center black people instead of white aristocrats.

in the margins: on elena ferrante’s pleasures of reading and writingin a series of essays, the elusive famous author of Neapolitan novels sheds light on her literary development, from her school notebooks in ahead . She initially strives for realism, trying to make her mother’s aquamarine ring, for example, as pure and direct as possible. she eventually, through reading, comes to understand that “the narrator is always a distorting mirror.”

portable magic: a history of books and their readers by emma smithsmith explores the physicality of books through the ages – “bookhood”, as she puts it – in this tribute to the tactile pleasures of reading. From Madame de Pompadour’s insistence on being painted against a background of books (an early example of the bookshelf), to Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell’s ingenious defacing of covers at her local library, it’s full of historical nuggets.

sam knight’s office of premonitionsone of the most disturbing books of the year tells the story of john barker, a psychiatrist interested in the paranomal. In the aftermath of the Aberfan disaster, which several people claimed to have foreseen, Barker solicits premonitions from the public to see how many come true. Various “seers” appear to have uncanny abilities, causing Barker to pause when one of them begins to make ominous predictions about his own fate.

Home Countries: The Story of a Friendship by Chitra RamaswamySent on a mission to interview 97-year-old Holocaust survivor Henry Wuga, journalist Chitra Ramaswamy is fascinated by his past, and the two they become good friends. The resulting memoir, which also tells Ramawamy’s story, is an exploration of migration, belonging, and what constitutes home.

i heard what you said about jeffrey boakyebased on his experience as a teacher, jeffrey boakye shows how schools have consistently let black boys and girls down, leaving them disillusioned and unmotivated. But Boakye also argues that the system fails all students by not preparing them for life in a multicultural society. his prescription is a form of radical listening: listening to what makes students feel included and reframing teaching around it.

all in my head by jessica morrisa diagnosis of a brain tumor surprises jessica morris, a british woman who lives with her family in new york. but not for long: after being told her glioblastoma is incurable, she devotes her considerable intelligence and determination to making it treatable. she lobbies joe biden and establishes our brain bank so others can share her experiences and help with the investigation. But it’s her unvarnished account of what it means to face her own mortality that makes everything in my head so moving.

the insect crisis: the fall of the tiny empires that rule the world by oliver milmanare not always easy to like (darwin was not very impressed with the contribution of the disgusting parasitoid wasp) , but insects are essential to life on earth. from pollination to waste removal, pest control and nutrient recycling, they power the biological processes that allow the natural world and human civilization to flourish. Yet, as Guardian journalist Milman lays out in fascinating detail, they are under unprecedented threat from habitat destruction and pesticide use.

See Also: 10 Emotional Books for Teens Guaranteed to Give You All the Feels

I used to live here once: the haunted life of jean rhys by miranda seymourThis new biography from the dominican-born author of wide sargasso sea charts her course from the caribbean to london and devon , through a tumultuous affair and two marriages. Seymour is careful to separate the writer from her fictional protagonists: “At the center of Rhys’s life was her writing, a resource that is wholly absent from the lives of the women he depicted in his novels.” p>

Carefree for David Sedarisas always, Sedaris bounces from topic to topic in his latest book of essays, landing most powerfully on his relationship with his father, who died in 2021. lou , portrayed in earlier work as an occasionally disconcerting but relatively good-natured eccentric, he is revealed posthumously as a vindictive and mendacious presence in his son’s life. what made him so, and can the scars inflicted by him start to heal now that he’s gone?

Good Pop, Bad Pop: A Jarvis Cocker InventoryRummaging through his attic, the former pulp singer embarks on an object-by-object exploration of his influences and obsessions. Through them, he tells the story of the first 25 years of his life in Sheffield, culminating in a letter of acceptance from Central Saint Martins School of Art in London, and the promise of a new world. p>

paperbacks

Caleb Azumah Nelson’s Open WatersA misty London summer comes to life in this award-winning debut novel about two young black artists: sharp on race, class, and masculinity, but at heart a tale of slow love, beautifully narrated.

my ghosts of gwendoline rileycan you escape your demons when you are related to them? This icy funny, emotionally poignant portrayal of a difficult mother-daughter relationship is as sharp as a knife and just as deadly.

colm tóibín’s magicianthis year’s folio prize winner tells the story of german nobel laureate thomas mann, the artist and the individual, facing two world wars and tumultuous global change.

beautiful world, where are you from sally rooneylove, sex, fame, anxiety: four people who are not so young anymore negotiate the difficulties of modern life and what it means to be a couple.

geetanjali shree grave of sand, translated by daisy rockwellthe first international booker award winner translated from Hindi is the exuberant story of an 80-year-old Indian woman reinventing herself.

the book of form and emptiness by ruth ozekia troubled teenager, grieving his father, listens to the voices of the objects around him, while his mother fights against her instincts to hoarding and strives to give him his freedom. This year’s women’s award winner is a wise and magical meditation on discovering what’s really important in the midst of overwhelming modern life.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It by Oliver BurkemanThis refreshingly insightful guide argues that instead of trying to eliminate procrastination, we should embrace it; instead of planning everything within an inch of your life, we must understand that time is not really ours to “spend”.

free by lea ypiraised as a dutiful communist, when a teenage girl in ypi albania witnesses the collapse of the regime that defined her life. Her memoirs describe the vertigo of seeing everything you took for granted disappear, amid revelations of her own family’s political secrets.

seven and a half lessons on the brain by lisa feldman barrettbilled as “the first neuroscience read on the beach,” this digestible guide to the mind is subtly radical; Instead of received notions about our “lizard brains” and “emotional centers,” it presents a revealing model of consciousness that will be completely new to most readers.

this is true by miriam margolyesthanks to social media clips of her scandalous anecdotes on the couch with graham norton, margolyes is having something of a renaissance. that’s good; Admired for years by her comedies on television and stage, it turns out that she is also a fabulous storyteller.

children and now

mrs noah’s song by jackie morris, illustrated by james mayhewmrs noah brings music back to the world, teaching their children to sing and sharing the wonders of choir of dawn in this beautiful illustrated book, with poetic text and exquisite collages.

Today will be a great day! by slimy oddity This skinny “guide to happiness,” packed with endearing rainbow-colored images from the instagram art collective slimy oddity, is full of short but resounding statements (“your past doesn’t define you”; “I know you are loved”) to give readers a gentle boost. Ideal for those with a case of the pandemic blues.

go away! by Lauren Child The irrepressible Clarice Bean is bored on summer vacation, until she finds herself hiding someone furry in the garden shed. a lavishly illustrated and slyly funny tale of a four-legged family secret for readers ages 7+.