The Best Grown-Up Reads
of June 2018
by Jennie Yabroff
June brings graduations, Father’s Day, and, if the weather cooperates, the beginning of outdoor barbecue season. It also brings a list of reads as delicious as a slice of cold watermelon. So grab your shades, your favorite pair of Bermuda shorts, and find a shady spot to sit and enjoy some of the month’s best reading bets.
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Something in the Water
Available from:You plan to come back from your tropical island honeymoon with a tan, a fridge magnet memento, and some enviable sunset photos. You don’t expect to come back with a frightening secret you share with your brand-new spouse. But when newlyweds Erin and Mark make a surprising discovery while scuba diving in Bora Bora, they must decide at what price they’ll protect their presumably happy future together.
(On Sale: 6/5/18)Also available from: -
The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature’s Secret Signs
Available from:What does the air temperature have to do with bees? Can the direction of the wind help predict a storm? Do flowers smell different depending on the time of day? In this fascinating book that’s part scientific inquiry, part folkloric history, German forestry expert Wohlleben writes about all the natural phenomena providing clues to the inner workings of the world around us — if only we knew how to listen.
(On Sale: 6/5/18)Also available from: -
Florida
Available from:Fans of Lauren Groff’s novels and previous short story collection know the writer is a master of the unexpected turn that recasts everything that came before in a new, more penetrating light. In this collection of short stories, all set in the state of Florida, characters have similar revelations as a phrase, a look, or a seemingly minor event causes them to reconsider their lives and all they believe to be true.
(On Sale: 6/5/18)Also available from: -
Kudos
This novel marks the conclusion of Rachel Cusk’s celebrated, genre-defying trilogy about a London writer navigating life after divorce. The narrator, Faye, doesn’t do much beyond go about her days caring for her sons, meeting with friends, and navigating her career, but along the way she meets miraculous characters who tell her their astonishing stories. As in the previous installments Outline and Transit, Kudos will profoundly affect you with seeming effortless grace.
(On Sale: 6/5/18) -
A Place for Us
Available from:Many stories end with a wedding, signifying that the conflict has been resolved and the plot will now be a happy one. But Mirza’s novel of love, family, and identity opens with a wedding, and the conflict is just beginning. In this heart-rending story of the power of familiar expectation and the need to be true to yourself, Mirza traces the fractures in a Hindu American family, going back to India where their tale begins and ending with hope for a happy future for all.
(On Sale: 6/12/18)Also available from: -
Call Me American: A Memoir
Available from:Growing up in Somalia, Abdi Nor Iftin loved American pop culture so much he was known to his friends as “Abdi American.” But as life under the Islamist group al-Shabaab became increasingly dangerous, the writer was forced to immigrate to Kenya, where he miraculously won a visa lottery and was able to finally see his beloved America firsthand. In this memoir, Nor Iftin writes about the experiences he first described as a contributor to NPR and on the internet, revealing the truth of living the American dream.
(On Sale: 6/19/18)Also available from: -
Room to Dream
Available from:David Lynch’s films are, above all else, expressions of a singular, inimitable vision. Yet his new book, part memoir, part biography, is entirely a collaboration. Lynch blends chapters recalling his childhood, upbringing, and early experiences in film with recollections from friends, families, and colleagues. We get his side, their side, and end up with something that, like Lynch’s films, is both strange and true.
(On Sale: 6/19/18)Also available from: -
What the Eyes Don’t See
When Flint, Michigan switched its water supply to the Flint River and residents started complaining about the taste, the city told people they were imagining things. In fact, the water didn’t just taste bad — it was bad. But it took the dogged and fearless crusading of a pediatrician, who linked the new water to increased lead levels in her patients, to draw attention to the deadly problem. In this account of how one woman crusaded for the health of a city, we learn how difficult it can be to enact change — and how important it is to never stop trying.
(On Sale: 6/19/18) -
All We Ever Wanted
Available from:If you were a teen before the early 2000s, the most you had to worry about embarrassing behavior at a weekend party was the laughter that would greet you Monday morning, and by Friday all would most likely be forgotten. But for today’s teens, a moment’s bad decision lives forever, documented on social media and propagated near and far. One teen’s bad decision at a party, and another’s choice to share the evidence, form the plot of this moving novel about class, family, love, and the way a seemingly innocent mistake can change lives forever.
(On Sale: 6/26/18)Also available from: -
Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains
For fans of Oliver Sachs, this book of nine medical mysteries will have you rethinking the way your brain works — and marveling at what happens when things go awry. A man believes he’s a tiger. A woman hears phantom music. A doctor literally feels the pain of strangers. What these people share in common is a brain that works differently than everyone else’s. In this book, scientist Thomson describes the rarest and most interesting brain disorders, and what they tell us about our own ordinary, extraordinary minds.
(On Sale: 6/26/18)
What new books are you looking forward to picking up this month? Let us know in the comments below!