A Summer Book Recommendation Bonanza
6/5/202644 min
June is here and the long summer days are stretching out ahead, which means it’s time to settle in front of the air-conditioner with a pile of books. (Just us?) But which ones should you read this summer? The “Book Review” podcast’s Gilbert Cruz talks with the Book Review editors Joumana Khatib and MJ Franklin about the titles they’re most excited about.
Books discussed in this episode:
“Red Sheet,” by James Ellroy
“Villa Coco,” by Andrew Sean Greer
“They All Fall in Love at the End,” by Haili Blassingame
“Whistler,” by Ann Patchett
“As If,” by Isabel Waidner
“The Housewives Underground,” by Kaitlyn Tiffany
“Nebraska,” by Monica Datta
“Cool Machine,” by Colson Whitehead
“The Mortons,” by Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld
“Country People,” by Daniel Mason
“Fixer Chao,” by Han Ong
“Biological War,” by Annie Jacobsen
“We Were Forbidden,” by Jacqueline Harpman
“The Amateur,” by Chris Bohjalian
“A Tender Age,” by Chang-rae Lee
“The Jackal,” by Joby Warrick
“A Moment in the Sun,” by Shane White
“A Sudden Flicker of Light,” by David Thomson
“Rabbit, Fox, Tar” by P.C. Verrone
“The Au Pair,” by Teddy Wayne
“Land,” by Maggie O’Farrell
“Sublimation,” by Isabel J. Kim
“Cloudthief,” by Nathaniel Rich
“Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep,” by Paul Tremblay
“You Won’t Get Free of It,” by Rachel Aviv
“Awake Awake,” by Fiona Mozley
“Triage,” by Claudia Rankine
“Catch the Devil,” by Pamela Colloff
“Helpless,” by Jessica Knoll
“Life of M,” by Rachel Cusk
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsWinna Lu0:00
[gentle music] I'm Winna Lu. I write the game Connections, one of the puzzles from New York Times Games, and I love horror movies, I love my dog, and I love trying to trick you.
Tracy Bennett0:09
I'm Tracy Bennett. I get to pick the Wordle word every day, which is not as easy as it sounds. A fun fact about me is that I'm descended from a witch who was put on trial in Salem.
Speaker 30:20
New York Times games are made by people, like the ones you just heard from. Go to nytimes.com/games to start playing today.
Wesley Morris0:30
[laughs] Book Review listeners, hi. I'm Wesley Morris. I host a show called Canonball, and, um, I'm here to let you know that Canonball is gonna be live at the Tribeca Festival this year. I'm [laughs] gonna be on stage with Cynthia Nixon, which is very exciting, and we're gonna talk about, yes, that Cynthia Nixon, and we're gonna talk about some great art, about New York City. And the show, we're gonna do it, uh, Friday, June 12th at 6:00 PM. I'll say it again, Friday, June 12th at 6:00 PM, and you can get your tickets right now as I speak at tribecafilm.com/audio. That's tribecafilm.com/audio. Can't wait to see you there. Please, come join us.
Gilbert Cruz· Host1:16
[gentle music] Hello, I'm Gilbert Cruz, and this is The Book Review from The New York Times. I know that there's an official astronomically based