Summer Reading 2016 Summer Readin g 2016 Re Jane by Patricia Park Jane Re--a half-Korean, half-American orphan--takes a position as an au pair for two Brooklyn academics and their daughter, but a brief sojourn in Seoul, where she recon- Summer Reading 2016 nects with family, causes her to wonder if the man she loves is really the man for her as she tries to find balance between two cultures. Find your new favorite book this summer! Bel Canto by Ann Patchett When terrorists seize hostages at an embassy party, an unlikely assortment of people Suggestions from the Mt. Lebanon Public Library is thrown together, including American opera star Roxanne Coss, and Mr. Hosokawa- -a Japanese CEO and her biggest fan. Share with us what you’re reading on Twitter @MtLebLibrary #LeboReads Rules of Civility by Amor Towles A chance encounter with a handsome banker in a jazz bar on New Year's Eve 1938 catapults Wall Street secretary Katey Kontent into the upper echelons of New York society, where she befriends a shy multi-millionaire, an Upper East Side ne'er-do-well, Fiction: and a single-minded widow. You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott When a violent death rocks her close-knit gymnastics community weeks before an im- Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk portant competition, the mother of an Olympic hopeful works frantically to hold her A delirious mental patient claiming to be the legendary explorer Christopher Colum- family together in spite of being irresistibly drawn to the crime. bus captures the attention of Nurse Consuela, who endeavors to make sense of his fantastical tales about how he really obtained three ships from Spanish royalty and the Invincible Summer by Alice Adams events that led to his disconnect from reality. Four close friends who graduate college together in 1998 and venture off to pursue their fortunes in the new Millennium find themselves drawn back together 20 years later Mayumi and the Sea of Happiness by Jennifer Tseng amidst broken dreams, lost jobs, and shattered relationships. Books may be Mayumi Saito's greatest love and her one source of true pleasure. Forty- one years old, disenchanted wife, and dutiful mother, Mayumi's work as a librarian on Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam a small island off the coast of New England feeds her passion for reading and provides Forging a deep bond throughout their shared childhood, college years, first jobs, and her with many occasions for wry observations on human nature, but it does little to first loves, Sarah and Lauren experience secret envy and horror over aspects of each remedy the mundanity of her days. That is, until the day she issues a library card to a other's lives, challenging them to retain their bond from increasingly distant perspec- shy seventeen-year-old boy and swiftly succumbs to a sexual obsession that subverts tives. the way she sees the library, her family, the island she lives on, and ultimately herself. Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend Stoner by John Edward Williams Inspired by the mid-century memoirs of Frances Conway, Enchanted Islands is the daz- Recounts the life of a Missouri farm boy-turned-English professor who deals with an zling story of an independent American woman whose path takes her far from her na- unstable wife, an affair, and his own emotions. tive Minnesota when she and her husband, an undercover intelligence officer, are sent to the Galápagos Islands on the brink of World War II. Book descriptions courtesy of Novelist and Goodreads. Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty by Ramona Ausubel A story of American wealth, class, family, and mobility, approached by award-winner Mt. Lebanon Public Library Ramona Ausubel with a breadth of imagination and understanding that is fresh, sur- 16 Castle Shannon Blvd. prising, and exciting. Pittsburgh, PA 15228 The Whale: A Love Story by Mark Beauregard (412) 531-1912 A literary tale set in mid-19th-century New England reimagines the emotionally vola- www.mtlebanonlibrary.org tile, intimate relationship between a debt-ridden Herman Melville and a passionate Nathaniel Hawthorne to explore how their connection shaped the writing of Moby- Updated June 2016 Dick. 16 Summer Reading 2016 Summer Readin g 2016 Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf When Nora takes the train from London to visit her sister in the countryside, she ex- A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in pects to find her waiting at the station, or at home cooking dinner. But when she walks advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for into Rachel’s familiar house, what she finds is entirely different: her sister has been the the imminent future. victim of a brutal murder. Here's to Us by Elin Hilderbrand The Muse by Jessie Burton Celebrity chef Deacon Rowe is struggling with addiction, depression and not one, but When Paul at last meets Ida at her Venetian palazzo, she entrusts him with her great- two scandals. As summer nears, he travels to the idyllic Eastern bluff of Nantucket, est secret—one that will change all their lives. Filled with juicy details only a quintes- where he takes his own life. In the shocking wake of Deacon's suicide, his first wife and sential insider could know, Muse is a salty valentine to the people who write, sell, and, childhood sweetheart, Laurel Rowe, sets out to gather Deacon's far-flung family-- above all, read the books that shape our lives. including Deacon and Laurel's son, and Deacon's other ex-wives and children--on the island. Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave Set in London during the years of 1939–1942, when citizens had slim hope of survival, Let Me Explain You by Annie Liontas much less victory; and on the strategic island of Malta, which was daily devastated by Sending a scathing email to his family members after becoming convinced he will die the Axis barrage, Everyone Brave is Forgiven features little-known history and a perfect within days, a proud Greek immigrant garners laughter and scorn from his recipients, wartime love story inspired by the real-life love letters between Chris Cleave’s grand- who are dismayed when he promptly disappears. parents. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart The Girls by Emma Cline This brilliant and heartbreaking novel tells the story of a prestigious family living on a Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lone- private island off the coast of Massachusetts. Full of love, lies, secrets, no shortage of ly and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immedi- family dysfunction, and a shocking twist that you won’t see coming. ately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. A rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s. A radical young Irish monk struggles with his own demons as he lives among the Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler prostitutes in the middle of the burning Bronx. A group of mothers gather in a Park A lush novel of the senses—of taste and hunger, seeing and understanding, love and Avenue apartment to mourn their sons who died in Vietnam, only to discover just how desire—Sweetbitter is ultimately about the power of what remains after disillusionment, much divides them even in grief. Weaving together these and other seemingly disparate and the transformation and wisdom that come from our experiences, sweet and bitter. lives, McCann's allegory comes alive in the voices of the city's people, unexpectedly drawn together by hope, beauty, and the "artistic crime of the century"--a mysterious tightrope walker dancing between the Twin Towers. The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein In the beautiful, barren landscape of the Far North, under the ever-present midnight A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra sun, Frances and Yasha are surprised to find refuge in each other. Their lives have been This debut novel is set in rural Chechnya during the region's war with Russia. Though upended--Frances has fled heartbreak and claustrophobic Manhattan for an isolated events shift in time, the main focus is a five-day period in 2004, when an eight-year-old artist colony; Yasha, a Russian immigrant raised in a bakery, arrives from Brooklyn to girl witnesses her father's abduction by Russian soldiers. Swearing to protect the girl, fulfill his beloved father's last wish: to be buried "at the top of the world." local doctor Akhmed (whose true passion is portraiture), brings her to a crumbling hospital, run by a hardened but dedicated surgeon, for safety. The After Party by Anton DiSclafani A thrilling glimpse into the sphere of the rich and beautiful at a memorable moment in The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty history, The After Party unfurls a story of friendship as obsessive, euphoric, consuming, Discovering a tattered letter that says she is to open it only in the event of her hus- and complicated as any romance. band's death, Cecelia is unable to resist reading the letter and discovers a secret that shatters her life and the lives of two other women.