Column for May 3, 2017

@ Your Library

It is time to get those beach reads ready to go. There are way too many books I want to read and sometimes finding a new book that strikes my current fancy can be difficult, so I refer to my ever growing list of titles to be read someday. These titles are more likely to be on the shelf so I can usually find something. Here are some older books (published in the last couple of years) that you might not have got around to reading yet that would be great titles to read on the beach. Start those lists of summer reading in anticipation of warm weather.

So here goes. Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell is set in the heart of London during a festive garden party and a 13 year old girl lies hidden, unconscious and bloody. What happened to her, who is responsible for her? The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler is a story about a librarian sent a book by an antiquarian bookseller which seems to indicate his family is cursed and his sister is in danger. Can he figure out what has happened and what is happening before it is too late?

Anna Quindlen writes beautiful stories, often about growing up, and not always at a young age. Miller’s Valley explores how Mimi Miller comes of age again and again over the eras of her family and the heartbreak of falling in love with the wrong man. A Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman, another well-known author, is a forbidden love story set on the tropical island of St. Thomas and fictionalizes the extraordinary woman who gave birth to the painter called the Father of Impressionism. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter spans fifty years in an Italian hotel, a glittering world with unforgettable characters.

Lori Roy, an Edgar Award winning author has written a suspenseful tale of a Southern town and its secrets, two families and the evil that passed between generations in Let Me Die in His Footsteps. Another suspenseful thriller is by Terry Hayes. I Am Pilgrim is the code name for a world class and legendary secret agent. His adversary is only known as Saracen. Terrorism, politics, the Middle East and New York City all play a role as the story unfolds at breakneck speed.

I’m going to finish off the list with some historical fiction. I love having history come alive through fiction. At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen isn’t just set in World War II it includes searches for the Loch Ness Monster! But the story focuses on Maddie and her attempts to regain her father’s good graces. Set in the early years of the World War II on the island of Malta, Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave focuses on a little know piece of history. Travel further back to 1914 in the village of Rye, England and meet Beatrice Nash, who becomes the first female teacher of Latin at the local school.