Last week I wrote about word-of-mouth recommendations, and I've received many responses that I'm gathering up to share with you soon. But while I tally those, I thought I'd do some word-of-mouth recommending of my own.
My fellow book critics, bloggers and editors are, like me, elbow deep in fall galleys right now, but that doesn't do you any good when you're trying to fill a beach tote or top up your own "to be read" stack. Here's a list of my favorite novels that are out now, so you can plan some August library and bookstore choices. I've put these in alphabetical order by author surname because that is simply the only fair way to list them.
Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell: A modern, female take on Huck Finn.
The Astral by Kate Christensen: A man's midlife crisis gets him out of a rut.
The Last Werewolf by Glenn Duncan: Smart, sexy creature-rific fun.
Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson: An utterly different take on the 1980s
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman: A Ghanaian boy's life in the London projects.
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante: A narrator with Alzheimer's involved in a murder.
A Good Hard Look by Ann Napolitano: Flannery O'Connor flirts with a married man.
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett: Passion and plotting in the Amazon rain forest.
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles: Manhattan in the 1930s is both glitzy--and sad.
Zazen by Vanessa Veselka: In a dystopian America, a young woman lives and loves.
Happy reading!