Books to Read if You Like Poe

Summertime is in full swing and there'due south nothing like heading to the beach — or the park — sitting by the h2o, contemplating the view, grabbing a adept book and simply immersing ourselves in it. That's why we're throwing out some ideas for the perfect summertime novels.

We are adhering to "beach reads" rules though: nearly of the titles here are either total folio-turners or grant some instant gratification — or both. And all of them will transport you to faraway places or the kind of setting you'd enjoy spending a vacation at, either because of when they were written or where they are set.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" by Patricia Highsmith (1955)

The oldest book on this list is the first one in a series of five psychological thrillers that Patricia Highsmith wrote virtually her infamous Tom Ripley grapheme. Even if he's a sociopath with more than than murderous tendencies, the reader tin can't avoid being on Ripley's side while reading Highsmith's engrossing novels.

The whole series is set in Europe with the first volume taking its protagonist and the reader to San Remo, Rome, Palermo and Venice. Plus, there'south a constant longing for a trip to Greece.

This Australian classic is prepare in 1900 and features a grouping of boarders from an all-girls school in Victoria as they take a day trip to the nearby geological formation Hanging Rock. There are plenty of descriptions of proper picnic attire, the beauty of the mural and the relationships that bond this group of teenagers and their teachers.

And while Joan Lindsay's writing style and the setting for this novel may have you lot cartoon some parallels with other classic coming-of-age novels written by and starring women, the ending of Picnic at Hanging Rock could only have been written in the 1960s.

"Los mares del Sur" (Southern Seas) past Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (1979)

Let me the hometown reference with this Spanish novel fix in Barcelona in 1979. Written past the Galician-Catalan author Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Southern Seasis the most famous of his novels starring the individual detective Pepe Carvalho. He's a gourmet who's every bit obsessed with nutrient, literature and the city of Barcelona.

Too a methodical description of the city in the late 1970s, the book likewise includes references to a trip to the Southern Seas that never was.

"Norwegian Wood" past Haruki Murakami (1987)

Written by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, this coming-of-age novel follows the story of Toru Watanabe, a college pupil who is obsessed with American literature. He's trying to figure out his life in Tokyo in the 1960s and ends up in relationships with two women who couldn't be more dissimilar: at that place's Naoko, the former girlfriend of his best friend, and Midori, one of his classmates.

The story takes the reader from the bustling streets of Tokyo to the peaceful quietness of a rehab centre lost in the mountains nearby Kyoto.

"Get Shorty" by Elmore Leonard (1990)

Small-time Miami loan shark Chili Palmer travels to Las Vegas, hoping to go a debt paid, and ends upwardly in Los Angeles, where he learns about the movie-making business and how to go a producer. Prepare in Hollywood in 1990, this California classic masterfully blends suspense, thrills, humor and even the slightest hint of a Western.

This story is so quintessentially Hollywood that there'southward a 1995 picture show accommodation starring John Travolta and a 2017 TV show with Chris O'Dowd, simply y'all should definitely start with the Elmore Leonard novel.

"Expiry at La Fenice" by Donna Leon (1992)

American novelist Donna Leon has been calling Venice home for years. Her first book in the mystery series that stars the Venetian law detective Guido Brunetti follows the investigation of a music conductor'due south death later on he's poisoned during the suspension of a Verdi opera at La Felice.

Leon has been steadily publishing one new Commissario Guido Brunetti installment a year for decades. So if you love the Venitian setting, crime stories and the abiding descriptions of all the delicious foods (and drinks) that Brunetti ingests on a daily basis, this could definitely be the serial for you.

"Telephone call Me by Your Name" by André Aciman (2007)

Chances are we'll never get to see Luca Guadagnino's sequel to his Call Me by Your Name picture adaptation. And while André Aciman'southward follow-upwards novel, Find Me, may leave hardcore fans of Elio and Oliver a footling flake underwhelmed, there's nothing like going back to the original material.

Set against the backdrop of the Italian Riviera, this coming-of-age story follows the precocious Elio every bit he falls in beloved with Oliver, a graduate educatee and Elio'south parents' guest for the summer. This iconic summer read perfectly captures the feeling of longing for someone and it features plentiful, engaging conversations, early morning swims, leisurely wheel rides, a furtive relationship and a passionate trip to Rome.

"Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie sets this story — that deals with immigration, race and the feeling of belonging — in Lagos, London and New Bailiwick of jersey. Her protagonist is Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman who moves to the U.s. to further her studies.

Americanahmakes for a great read not just as an engaging and entertaining novel but also as a report almost race in America from the perspective of a non-American Black person. The novel also packs a circuitous love story between Ifemelu and Obinze, who moves to London and has to live there as an undocumented immigrant.

"Big Petty Lies" by Liane Moriarty (2014)

I don't care if you've already seen the star-packed HBO miniseries and know not simply who the killer of this story is simply also the identity of the person who dies and whose investigation propels the whole plot, Liane Moriarty's soapy thriller even so very much deserves a read.

On the 1 hand, instead of the rugged coast of Northern California, the novel Large Piddling Lies is prepare in the suburban Northern Beaches of Sydney. On the other hand, the book jams enough humor and sharp banter — specially when it comes to the inclusion of dialogue from the police interrogations amongst the many parents who take their kids to the same school as our protagonists — that you lot'll observe plenty nuggets of new material to more than justify the read.

"The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017)

Taylor Jenkins Reid'south historical fiction bestseller is set up between the publishing earth of nowadays-day New York and the classic Hollywood of the 1950s, 1960s and onward. When the relatively unknown announcer Monique Grant is tasked with writing a profile on the legendary actress Evelyn Hugo, she tin't believe her career-changing luck.

The novel guides the reader through a series of interviews between Monique and Evelyn in which the erstwhile star tells her origin story and the reasons behind her many marriages throughout the years.

"Less" by Andrew Sean Greer (2017)

Andrew Sean Greer's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel stars Arthur Less as a novelist with a dwindling career and a broken heart. As if all of that wasn't enough already, Less is on the brink of turning 50. When his quondam long-time boyfriend invites Less to his wedding, our hapless protagonist decides to embark on a series of back-to-dorsum international trips with a "ramshackle itinerary" to avert the much-dreaded event.

Greer's fun and never-quiet novel takes the reader and its protagonist from the foggy shores of San Francisco to New York Metropolis, Mexico City, Turin, Paris, Berlin, Kingdom of morocco, Bharat and Nippon.

"Agent Running in the Field" by John le Carré (2019)

The last published novel of late spymaster John le Carré is a return to some of his career-defining themes in the world of international espionage, which he describes with precision — and without a glimpse of glamour or spectacle.

The novel stars Nat, a reluctant-to-be-out-of-the-field amanuensis in his late forties, who has had a long career developing sources in Russia. Nat'due south dorsum in London and somehow tin't avoid getting himself involved in even so another surveillance plot. The volume is set in 2018 and at that place'due south abiding chatter among its characters regarding Brexit and the Trump administration. Le Carré favors none of those.

Even if you don't like international thrillers featuring double agents that much — who doesn't though? — Agent Running in the Field is nevertheless worth a read if simply to appreciate Le Carré'due south succinct yet masterfully rich and descriptive prose.

"Embankment Read" by Emily Henry (2020)

Let's add Embankment Readto this list of beach reads because Emily Henry's romance novel truly does its championship justice. Set in a small Michigan town, the novel tells the story of bestselling romance author January and acclaimed fiction writer Gus. They cease up being neighbors and living side-by-side in lakefront cottages.

I thing leads to another and they cease up making a deal: by the end of the summer he'll be the one to pen a romance book and she'll write a nighttime and dour one. They both demand to teach the other everything they need to know to exist able to produce something in a genre they're non used to working in. Of course, as well all the procrastinating and writing, at that place'south besides fourth dimension for honey.

"The Vanishing One-half" by Brit Bennett (2020)

Last year's revelatory novel The Vanishing One-half tackles the bailiwick of passing when it comes to racial identity. The Brit Bennett-penned historical novel, which is already being developed into a limited series by HBO, tells the story of two identical twin sisters from a small town in rural Louisiana where the majority Blackness population is so lite-skinned that one of the sisters passes equally a white woman for most of her life afterward fleeing town.

The action encompasses several decades starting in the 1950s and weaves together the life of the alloyed sis — who'south leading a double life in New Orleans first and then Los Angeles — with that of the other ane, who is forced to render home.

"Velvet Was the Nighttime" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2021)

Let's close this list with an August release from one of 2020's bestselling authors. After her Mexican Gothicwas chosen as Best Horror novel final twelvemonth by the Goodreads users, author Silvia Moreno-Garcia returns with Velvet Was the Dark.

The Mexican Canadian writer sets the action in 1970s Mexico City and writes near Maite, a secretary obsessed with romance stories and her beautiful neighbor Leonora. When the object of her fixation disappears, Maite starts looking for her — but she isn't the only one.

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