Thugs called monkey? Monkeys in pirate hats? Ghostly lakes and things that go bump in the dark woods? Unseemly pasts that come back to haunt? BFFs forever throughout it all? Must be the beginning of the summer read season. Enjoy!
Bad Monkey - Carl Hiaasen
(FICTION/CLOTH) I don’t know how I like Hiaasen best; as the quirky writer of infectious independent readers for teens like Hoot and Flush
or the oddball mystery writer with a treasure trove of Florida
eccentrics to populate his yarns. Well this month it’s the latter. Just
in time to fill my beach bag he comes up with and equally hilarious and
suspenseful tale of Miami vice. Near-do-well police officer keeps a
frozen arm in his freezer. He believes that if he solves its mystery and
the murder he suspects his life will turn around. It’s the best
appendage used as a plot driver since Bambi’s baby toe in The Big Lebowski.
Yancy follows the leads and an assortment of characters only Hiaasen
could dream up until he’s face to face with the bad monkey himself, a
deliciously badass criminal. Put on extra sunscreen, you will get lost
reading this welcomed beach read.
 |
| (Harper) |
If You Were Here - Alafair Burke
(FICTION/CLOTH) A woman saves a teenager from a subway
accident and becomes this hour’s heroine. McKenna Wright is working on a
feature article on the event when she swears she recognizes the woman
on the security video as her long lost friend Susan who disappeared
shortly after military service a decade before. Now she has two stories
to uncover. What she learns about the mystery woman, her disappearance
and why she’s back will have the reporter doubting everything about her
life. A riveting tale of a woman lost in a mystery in The Big apple who
seeks the truth no matter what the cost.
 |
| (Scribner) |
The Silver Star - Jeannette Walls
(FICTION/CLOTH) First came her memoir The Glass Castle,
then her fictionalized account of her grandmother’s childhood, Half
Broke Horses. The latter lacked the rooted-in-reality impact of her
debut. Silver Star however learns how to recapture that desperate
rooting for the in peril characters with her young character Bean and
her older sister Liz after her flighty mother Charlotte leaves them with
barely enough to get by. They wind up at at the run-down mansion of
their uncle. Bean loves her sister, her smarts remind her of her mother.
They start a life in a new town but eventually the bookish nature of
her sister brands her as different. One day something awful happens, of
course, because its Wall’s novel and Bean has to come to her sister’s
defense. Tough and passionate, this is Walls finally finding her
narrative voice.
 |
| (Touchstone) |
Time Flies - Claire Cook
(FICTION/CLOTH) Summer approaches, the plovers are
nesting, its time for a cozy summer read and no one out there dolls out
the pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps with the help of a friend by
your side and smell the sea air better than Cook. Her recipe seems
similar, two friends at a crossroads, an emotional train wreck up ahead
and further up the road a life lesson learned. The trick is each time
out the author finds the uniqueness of her characters and allows them to
find there own way. Relating with her characters and following them
through their trials is like test runs for ourselves when we get to our
own forks in the road. Here Melanie faces divorce, a looming high school
reunion and the fantasy of a new start with an old flame. The only
thing stopping her is the miles between Atlanta and New England and a
fear of the highway. Enter friend by your side… Essential accessory for
visiting the shores, sunglasses, sunblock, and this feel-good novel.
 |
| (Liveright) |
The Last of the Camperdowns - Elizabeth Kelly
(FICTION/CLOTH) Riddle is living out
her summer in Wellfleet, MA as her father runs for office. Her family
is well to do and a lot is expected from her to live up to. One day she
becomes the witness to a crime that sends her inside herself. The truth
of the event could jeopardize her father’s campaign and that reality
reinforces her silence. The event becomes fodder for her others who wish
ill will upon her family. Only Riddle can set things right if only she
could muster the courage. Part thriller, part comedy of manners, you
will be pleased to spend the summer with the troubled Camperdowns.
 |
| (Medallion) |
Cradle Lake - Ronald Malfi
(FICTION/TRADE) Its perfect that this is being released
in paperback rather than a more dignified cloth bound. I mean that in a
good way because this novel has all the promise to be one of those
dog-eared, spine curled books pasted down from one reader to the other
throughout the summer. Aln and Heather Hammerstun go away to a family
home in the Smoky Mountains to heal their marriage. It all starts well.
The neighbors are, well, perfect, Stepford perfect. On the far end of
their property they find a path adorned with strangely chiseled markers.
At the end is a lake that when you immerse yourself into acts like a
fountain of youth. Alan considers bringing his troubled wife to the
lake, after all what could go wrong? He is warned but the potential of
the lake’s restorative powers is overwhelming. Scary stuff here my
friends.
 |
| (Grand Central) |
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story - Lily Koppel
(NON-FICTION/CLOTH) Here’s The Right Stuff for the ladies left
behind. When the space race began it was the wives of the Mercury
program astronauts who became media starlets. Each became an icon, the
Bettys and Veronicas of the American Dream. As years past, reality hit,
divorce, depression, death, and scandal haunted them. Only acting as
their own support group could they all endure the years after fame
faded. It is a story of sisterhood thrush upon an unwitting group of
ladies while they languished in the limelight.
 |
| (Bloomsbury) |
The Attacking Ocean; The Past, Present, and Future of the Rising Sea - Brian Fagan
(NON-FICTION/CLOTH) What is it with the ocean? You know you’ve
watched the footage day in and day out and asked that question. Here
Fagan attempts to answer that question with current, disturbing findings
and even more alarming prognostications. The seas have risen but not
inordinately so. The oceans are warming contributing to the turmoil but
the real reason is we, the people who are so set on overpopulating on
its shores. The presentation of his research is an interesting take on a
natural drama taking place on our doorstep. It will certainly fuel the
debate on both sides when it comes to global warming and the impact of
temperature change on the generations to come.
 |
| (Henry Holt) |
Siege & Storm - Leigh Bardugo
(YOUNG ADULT) aka The Grisha 2, Menaakle boogaloo!
Alina is a Sun Summoner, a heritage she fights hard to keep a secret.
When the Darkling returns emboldened and with new power she needs to
return home and live her legacy. Still the darklings powers are
seductive and draw her into its spell. She needs to hold strong for her
people if not for her soul. Will love betray her and return her dark?
The fate of the world is in the balance. Alina is a great, flawed
heroine you nervously root for. And yes, there are pirates of sorts,
privateers to be precise, so the novel got that going for it as well.
 |
| (Greenwillow) |
Dance of the Red Death - Bethany Griffin
(YOUNG ADULT) A teen paranormal romance fueled by the
dark prose of Poe? I’m in! This is actually the sequel (and conclusion,
no 5 volume series here) of Masque of the Red Dance.
When the readers last heard of Araby, her world had been destroyed by
death and disease. Now revenge is all she can think about. Revenge best
served during a minuet. She will avenge the misdeeds perpetrated against
her family and her homeland at the masked ball. The finale turns into
an Eyes Wide Shut for the YA crowd. She could die in the
process but things need to be made right. Griffen captures the
atmospheric gloom Poe so effectively conjured and gives it a modern
twist of rebellious spirit in Araby.
 |
| (Knopf) |
Far Far Away - Tom McNeal
(INDEPENDENT READER) McNeal, an author already proficient in
writing for young adults creates a fresh take on the Grimm fairy tales
that have become all-the-vogue as of late. Jeremy has had a tough life.
His parents left him to care for his family and he has become ostracized
by his hometown of NeverBetter. You see he hears voices, not just any
voice but the voice of Jacob Grimm as in Brothers Grimm. With him as his
tour guide things could never go well. There is one person who is
infatuated by Jeremy’s quirk, the infatuating Ginger. With fair maiden
in hand let the fairy tales commence! McNeal’s writing style fits the
yarn with clever wordplay and antiquated terms of phrase, just enough
not to alienate the less efficient reader.
 |
| (Little Brown) |
Pi in the Sky - Wendy Mass
(INDEPENDENT READER) I’m first thinking that we have mixed our
math up with our fantasy but save for its nods to quantum physics there
is just the right amount of science in the fiction. This spacy tale
follows Joss who’s Dad is the Supreme Overlord. He’s the youngest in the
clan and so all he lords over is pie delivery. One morning Earth is
gone and it becomes Joss’ task to find it. With earthling Annika by his
side he can not fail. This easy reader has a lot of Douglas Adams
intergalactic wackiness that keeps you grinning when the story gets too
pat. Read on and prosper!
 |
| (Little Brown) |
Nighttime Ninja - Barbara Dacosta, illus. Ed Young
(CHILDRENS) There are not enough bedtime books for
dudes who will not sleep so here you go. Great pictures done with broad
strokes tell of the ninja who stalks through the house after everyone
else is asleep searching for treasure. It’s a fun adventure that lets
the child participate in the suspense.
 |
| (Sterling) |
Shimmer and Splash: The Sparkling World of Sea Life - Jim Arnosky
(CHILDREN) Here is the follow-up to Arnosky's Creep and Flutter and Slither and Crawl
(YUKKO!) Now here comes a kinder, gentler catalogue of critters for
young ones to marvel at. The detail of the pages created by this award
-winning illustrator are impeccable and the variety of animals and
scales and textures is dazzling; stingrays, eels, dolphins, jellyfish to
the oh-so-popular sharks. To the thrill of the read to many of the
pages even fold out. Children will marvel at all the beauty beneath the
waves. Who knows, the book might help breed the next Jacque Cousteau!
No comments:
Post a Comment