Summer reading refill: 14 books to brighten the rest of the season
Summer is in full swing: Have you read the books you put on your TBR list in May? Maybe you have forgotten the list entirely, or perhaps you’re looking for something that’s just hitting the shelves now. Whatever your summer book need, we’re here to help, with 14 books to carry you into fall — when you can start making a whole new list!
“All the Colors of the Dark,” by Chris Whitaker
Whitaker’s new novel kicks off on a breathless note: The lovable Joseph “Patch” Macauley, a oneeyed 13-year-old who thinks he’s a pirate, rescues a classmate from certain death but ends up getting abducted by a serial killer. From there, the story ripples out, spanning decades and perspectives, to consider how one moment transforms the lives of a little boy and the people who love him.
“Mr. Churchill in the White House: The Untold Story of a Prime Minister and Two Presidents,” by Robert Schmuhl
The robust library of books about Winston Churchill grows by one with this look at the extended times that he spent as a guest in the White House, beginning in 1941. While his four visits during World War II and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency hold the most obvious dramatic interest, Schmuhl, a professor of American studies and journalism at Notre Dame, also recounts visits when Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry S. Truman had the keys to the White House.
“Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water,” by Vicki Valosik with Michelle Brafman
Valosik, a masters synchronized swimmer and writing instructor, delves into the history of a sport that has long been seen as more beautiful than athletic. Her book shows that it is both. Valosik traces the roots of the sport (now called “artistic swimming”) to 18th-century Red Cross water pageants and shows its evolution — naturally Esther Williams played a part — to an Olympic sport, now in its 40th year as part of the Games.
“Shanghai,” by Joseph Kanon
The author of “Los Alamos” and “The Good German” takes readers to pre-World War II Shanghai in this atmospheric suspense tale. After his father is shot by Nazis, former resistance fighter Daniel Lohr flees Berlin for China, where he is taken in by his uncle, who runs a successful casino. Daniel soon finds himself caught up in a criminal underworld, a whirlwind romance — and then the war starts.
“A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women’s Culture,” by June Thomas
Thomas, a Slate editor and podcast host, delves into the worlds that queer women created for themselves when they found themselves shut out of (or unwelcome in) more mainstream cultural scenes: lesbian bars, sex toy stores, vacation destinations and more. Along the way, she explores how women seeking community often had to build businesses around themselves to sustain it. Drawing heavily on interviews with the women who shaped, occupied and thrived in these environments, Thomas captures a world that is vanishing as LGBTQ+ culture continues to change.
“Awakening the Spirit of America: FDR’s War of Words With Charles Lindbergh — and the Battle to Save Democracy,” by Paul M. Sparrow
The phrase “America First” has been around for a long time. Its most prominent use before President Trump revived it came during the run-up to the United States entering World War II, when the America First Committee — whose most prominent face was aviation hero Charles Lindbergh — urged the country to stay out of the conflict. Sparrow, a former director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, recaptures that contentious era.
“Everyone Knows But You: A Tale of Murder on the Maine Coast,” by Thomas E. Ricks
Celebrated journalist and military historian Ricks tries his hand at a new genre in this crime novel. It’s set in Maine, where a grieving FBI agent named Ryan Tepia is restarting his life. When a fisherman’s corpse shows up on federal land, Tepia is pulled into a case involving drugs, rare fish and the tensions between Maine’s white and Native American communities.
“They Dream in Gold,” by Mai Sennaar
The multidisciplinary artist Mai Sennaar, who divides her time between Baltimore and Dakar, Senegal, turns to fiction with this debut novel. In it, a couple named Bonnie and Mansour meet in New York in the late 1960s and go on globe-trotting adventures until Mansour, a Senegalese musician, disappears. Sennaar recently talked with the culture site BmoreArt about the theme of African American identity. “It’s treated as if it’s this very simple thing,” she said, “and it’s probably one of the most complicated and nuanced identities on the planet.”
“The Pairing,” by Casey McQuiston
McQuiston’s new romantic comedy revolves around Theo and Kit, longtime best friends, onetime lovers and now exes. The bisexual pair reunites by accident in Europe, where both have ended up on the same foodand-wine tour. In an effort to prove their relationship is over, Theo and Kit dare each other to date other members of the group, a proposition that either reaffirms their bond or their separation — you’ll have to read the novel to find out which.
“Fighting the Night: Iwo Jima, World War II, and a Flyer’s Life,” by Paul Hendrickson
Hendrickson, a former Washington Post staff writer, has written acclaimed books about Ernest Hemingway and Robert McNamara, among others. In his latest, he turns to the subject of his own family. In 1944, his father, Joe Paul Hendrickson, left his young wife and two children to fly “night fighter” missions on Iwo Jima, most of which occurred in total darkness. Hendrickson reports on his father’s wartime experience and the ways in which it affected him over the ensuing decades.
“You Are Here,” by David Nicholls
Nicholls, the British writer whose novels include “One Day,” a long-running bestseller that was adapted into both a feature film and a Netflix series, returns with the story of two heartbroken strangers, Michael and Marnie, who get to know each other on a long, multiday walk through the English countryside. That a romance develops is not entirely surprising, but Nicholls is a master of hardwon love stories, and this one doesn’t disappoint.
“At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning With China,” by Edward Wong
Wong’s memoir traces the journey of his father, who came of age under Mao, as well as the arc of the author’s own relationship to China, where he lived and worked while reporting for the New York Times. In telling this personal story about family memory, exile and return, the book also takes in the breadth of the country’s evolution during the 20th century.
“Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement’s Ground War to End Democracy,” by Isaac Arnsdorf
If, amid the big speeches and glitzy parties of this summer’s Republican National Convention, you’ve been wondering how we got here, there’s never been a better time to catch up with this account, by The Post’s Isaac Arnsdorf, of what the MAGA movement has been up to since Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020. “Finish What We Started” gets up close with key figures — some familiar, like Steve Bannon, and others relatively unknown, like a Georgia mom who posted a viral video alleging that ballots were being shredded in Cobb County.
“The Love of My Afterlife,” by Kirsty Greenwood
Delphie is not having a great day. The lonely Londoner was eating a suspicious looking microwaveable hamburger when she began to choke and lost consciousness. Now she’s stuck in an afterlife holding area that looks like a laundromat. The one silver lining? There’s an extremely attractive man there, and he could be her ticket back to the land of the living.