FOR SUNNY DAYS ON THE BEACH
Juliet, by Anne Fortier (HarperCollins, August)
In this sweeping historical romance that has generates considerable book chat, Julie Jacobs travels to Siena and learns that she is a descendant of Juliet. Yes, that Juliet. Love and danger ensue.
Spider Bones, by Kathy Reichs (Scribner, August)
The 13th novel featuring forensic investigator Temperance Brennan finds her investigating sexual perversity in rural Quebec. Mitigate the creepiness factor with warming rays of sunshine.
What are you reading this Summer? Share your suggestions
Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Alison Weir (Doubleday Canada, July)
Another mistress of historical sweep imagines a 12th-century queen of France abandoning royal hubby and, propelled by lust and ambition, marrying the man who became Peter O’Toole, er, England’s Henry II.
A Battle Won, by S. Thomas Russell (Putnam, August)
Naval derring-do from the Canadian Patrick O’Brian. It’s 1793, France is in the grip of the Terror and Commander Charles Hayden is sent to fight the French navy for control of Corsica. Intrepid stuff.
FOR RAINY DAYS IN THE COTTAGE
Still Missing, by Chevy Stevens (St. Martin’s, July)
Vancouver realtor Stevens’s debut is a psychological thriller about a ... realtor who is abducted, raped and held captive - and her tortuous path to recovery. Beware the smiling stranger.
Composed, by Rosanne Cash (Viking, August)
Johnny’s daughter (June’s stepdaughter) is every bit the country artist he was, even if a less tortured soul. In a series of candid linked pieces, she tells her story. There’s bound to be rain and hurtin’ in it.
Half Brother, by Kenneth Oppel (HarperCollins, August)
Here’s one for half-wild kids, caged indoors by rain and mosquitoes. Ben Tomlin’s behavioural-scientist dad brings home a baby chimp as an experimental “brother.” But Ben soon sees him as much more.
Not Safe after Dark and Other Stories, by Peter Robinson (McClelland & Stewart, July)
A collection of 13 tales from Canada’s crime maestro, full of his usual clever twists and turns. Three feature Robinson’s series hero, Yorkshire Chief Inspector Alan Banks.
FOR AFTERNOONS IN THE PARK
Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and her Family’s Feuds, by Lyndall Gordon (Viking, June)
A controversial revisionist account that claims Dickinson was far from the lovelorn recluse she is usually painted as, and details an 1882 love affair (not hers) that set off a volcanic family feud.
Talking to Girls about Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut, by Rob Sheffield (Dutton, July)
A music journalist’s transformation from geeky “hermit boy” to a man with a real girlfriend, a coming-of-age story written to the beat of an eighties soundtrack.
Fauna, by Alissa York (Random House Canada, July)
A woman wildlife officer stumbles on a ravine sanctuary that protects human and animals alike, and then must face a lost soul bent on its destruction.
Chastened: The Unexpected Story of My Year without Sex, by Hephzibah Anderson (Viking, June)
A 30-year-old Brit chronicles a year of abstinence that she hopes will lead to the end of a loveless life. An honest confession of yearning and inappropriateness.
FOR CAFÉ PATIOS
Noah’s Turn, by Ken Finkleman (HarperCollins, August)
The sharpest writing by the creator of The Newsroom has always been about small revenges and his fictional debut is a dark comedy about a drifting 41-year-old who murders a successful friend.
Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man, by Bill Clegg (Little, Brown, June)
A successful New York literary agent strives mightily to destroy his life by becoming a crack addict in this harrowing memoir of crash and redemption.
Imperial Bedrooms, by Bret Easton Ellis (Knopf, June)
The anomic characters of Less than Zero resurface 25 years on, and hardly the wiser for the difference. The book promises the quiet menace of an L.A. noir thriller.
Father of the Rain, by Lily King (Atlantic, July)
Three decades of a volatile relationship between a charismatic, troubled man and his equally troubled, thrill-craving daughter. A powerful psychological study.
FOR JOURNEYS ABROAD
The One Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell (Knopf Canada, July)
And now for something completely different from one of Britain’s most admired writers. East meets West in this sweeping historical fiction set in 1799 Nagasaki.
The Beauty of Humanity Movement, by Camilla Gibb (Knopf Canada, August)
In her follow-up to the Giller Prize short-listed Sweetness in the Belly, Gibb whirls us off to Vietnam, where a tour guide is the fulcrum for examining a country and culture in flux.
The Postcard Killers, by James Patterson and Liza Marklund (Little, Brown, August)
This entry from the prodigious Patterson factory finds young couples being murdered in Europe’s glamorous capitals, connected only by postcards preceding each crime.
In a Strange Room, by Damon Galgut (McClelland & Stewart, August)
The prize-winning South African’s intricate tale of young Damon (Coincidence? We think not.) and his home-searching journeys to Greece, India and Africa.