A review of last week’s headlines may explain why modern authors love summer even more than schoolchildren do.
Wildfires are burning out of control in California and New Mexico. Record temperatures were recorded all over the country. Hurricanes are forming off the coast of Texas.
Summer vacation, summer camp and summer romance make for rich storytelling, too.
Summer is often a central element in modern literature, and volunteers from the Tucson Festival of Books offered some summertime suggestions for those of us who are staying indoors this month … avoiding the heat and awaiting the monsoon.
“A Walk in the Park” by Kevin Fedarko is a memoir, travelogue and survival story all wrapped into one. Released three weeks ago, the story begins when National Geographic photographer Pete McBride persuades Fedarko to join him on an end-to-end journey through the Grand Canyon. On foot. What could possibly go wrong? — Thea Chalow
“The God of the Woods,” a much-anticipated second novel from Liz Moore, will be in bookstores July 2. It is a summer-camp story that evolves when a camp counselor awakens one morning to find a camper’s empty bunk. The plot thickens when we learn the missing child is Barbara Van Laar, whose family owns the camp. Wait, there’s more: Barbara’s brother and sister vanished in similar fashion 14 years earlier. — Lynn Wiese-Sneyd
“Birding with Benefits” by Tucson author Sarah T. Dubb is a joyful story that begins when Celeste agrees to a pretend romance with a young man who is far more interested in birding than he is in her. Still, they decide to enter Tucson’s most important bird-watching contest as a team. Will a relationship take wing? — Jessica Pryde
“A First Time for Everything” by Dan Santat is a graphic novel for young adults that won a National Book Award last year. It is a memoir about Santat’s experiences as an awkward middle-schooler and how a summer-school trip to Europe changed his life. — Kathy Short
“T-Shirt Swim Club” by comedian Ian Karmel and his sister, Alisa Karmel looks at the challenges faced by overweight people in a skinny world. Ian and Alisa grew up overweight. They became overweight adults. Even now, they are “sturdy,” but a book released two weeks ago follows their journey to better health. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll yearn for a brownie. — Tamara MC
“The Guest Book” by Sarah Blake follows a blue-blood family to Crockett’s Island, a summer retreat off the coast of Maine. Told over the course of three generations, the story looks at how the family has dealt with issues of race, antisemitism, gender and privilege. It is a big book, a story of the memories and mistakes each generation has made when confronting the legacy of the family’s past. — Pamela Treadwell-Rubin
“The Guest” by Emma Cline is the story of a woman who is sent packing by a wealthy boyfriend in the Hamptons. Instead of returning to her previous life in the city, Alexis decides to start a new one, becoming a drifter who spends the week before Labor Day slipping from one house to the next … leaving chaos in her wake. — Brooke Blizzard
“When You Have to Wait” by Melanie Conklin and Leah Hong is a gentle picture book that preaches patience and learning to find beauty in the act of waiting, even when standing in line at the public pool on a hot day. — Kathy Short
“Charlie Hustle” by Keith O’Brien features ex-major league baseball star Pete Rose, but this is not the typical fanboy biopic we often see in our bookstores. O’Brien shines a light on the dark stuff, too, most notably the FBI investigation that showed Rose gambled on baseball. Rose specialized in singles, but this biography is a home run. — Jack Siry
“Fellowship Point” by Alice Elliott Dark is the story of a lifelong friendship between two very different women with very different perspectives on lots of things — including the future of Fellowship Point on the coast of Maine. — Hilary Hamlin
“A Love Like the Sun” by Riss M. Neilson is an adult romance about two best friends who pretend to date for the summer. Strictly plus-one stuff … until it isn’t. — Jessica Pryde
“The Five-Star Weekend” by Elin Hilderbrand features a 50-something food blogger who is dealing with the sudden and dramatic loss of her husband. She invites best friends from each stage of her life to share a weekend with her in Nantucket. She then asks her film-student daughter to document the whole thing. Really, is that a good idea? — Pamela Treadwell-Rubin
