Summer 2023 Fiction Reading Spectacular

19 of the best books I've read since I started writing novels.

Dear friends,

I'm about to leave home for a month of adventure and focused writing. For me, writing starts with LOTS of reading. My upcoming novel, Mother-Daughter Murder Night, is the first work of fiction I've ever attempted. To help me write the best book I could, I read ~200 novels: family dramas, rom-coms, action thrillers, literary fiction, and, of course, mysteries.

Here are 16 books and 3 series that stood out in this reading storm, not for any particular reason except I just love them. I believe summer reading should be a pleasure, and I hope there's something on this list you’ll enjoy. All 19 books are fiction. Most should be available at your local bookstore or library. I hope you'll tell me which ones speak to you.

Why 19? The 20th would be my book, which I read about a zillion times in the drafting and editing process. You can pre-order Mother-Daughter Murder Night wherever you buy novels, and you'll get it when it launches on September 5. Not sure it's for you? You can add the book to your Goodreads "Want To Read" shelf to consider for later. (And there's a giveaway happening on Goodreads right now if you want to win a free copy.)

Now, onto the book recommendations.

DOORSTOPPERS

When I'm on vacation, I love epic sagas. It's a luxury to have the time to invest in huge casts, complicated timelines, and many hundreds of pages. Here are three doorstoppers I adored:

1. GREAT CIRCLE by Maggie Shipstead. This is a great American adventure novel set in the 1900s. It centers on a female pilot with an indomitable spirit, flying through Prohibition, WWII, love, and heartbreak. It's so good. I recommend it to everyone.

2. HALF OF A YELLOW SUN by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I love all Adichie's books, but this is my favorite--a rich, heady family story set against the (failed) Biafran revolution in Nigeria in the 1960s. If you want to immerse yourself in a historical struggle you probably never learned about in school, pick this one up.

3. THE OVERSTORY by Richard Powers. This is a book about trees. Lots of interlocking stories about trees. The first time I tried it, I found it slow and pretentious and I stopped. But the second time, on a trip, I fell deeply in love. It's an exploration of how we relate to nature and time and where we are all headed together.

CANDY CRUSH

Want a fast, sweet rush of pleasure? I got you. When the pandemic hit, I started reading rom-coms for the first time. Turns out I like witty banter and sexy scenarios almost as much as I dig murder investigations. These two rom-coms stood out:

4. ONE TO WATCH by Kate Stayman-London. This steamy rom-com stars a plus-sized blogger who headlines a reality TV show where men vie to win her hand. I've never seen the Bachelor, so I don't know if this book is true to the show. But I do know it's funny, sexy, and fabulous. One thing I don't love about rom-coms is that most make it obvious who the romantic interest is in the first few pages. In One to Watch, because there are several men competing, there's more suspense, plus--bonus--more sex.

5. DIAL A FOR AUNTIES by Jesse Q. Sutanto. This lighthearted rom-com/mystery made me laugh so hard I scared a seagull off the beach. It's about a young woman whose mom and aunties help her hide a dead body at a swanky wedding they are catering. The hijinks are fun, but the charming interactions among the women take it to another level. I'm very grateful that Jesse wrote a blurb for my book, which she called "hilarious and heartwarming." If I accomplished any of that, it was partly thanks to Dial A for Aunties' shining example.

CRIME SERIES

Nothing says summer like mainlining a whole series by one author. Here are three binge-able options for a summer of murder and mayhem:

6. SLOUGH HOUSE series by Mick Herron (first book: SLOW HORSES). I’m obsessed with these British spy thrillers about a rubber room of MI5 failures. The books are smart, stylish, and wickedly funny. Herron was a poet before he wrote crime fiction, and it shows in his sharp imagery and immersive point of view. He likes to kill off main characters as he goes, so it’s best to read these in order.

7. THREE PINES series by Louise Penny (first book: STILL LIFE). No one makes murder feel warm and comforting like Louise Penny. These thoughtful Quebecois mysteries are anchored by Inspector Gamache, a detective with a heart of gold. They’re better in order (there are mini-arcs that span a few books at a time), but delicious as standalones as well. Though I’d perhaps skip #10.

8. JACK REACHER series by Lee Child (first: KILLING FLOOR). These are fast, implausible action-thrillers about an ex-military loner who puts down bad dudes with a foldable toothbrush. Sometimes read like comic books, others like shaggy dog journeys across small-town America. You can read them in any order (though I suggest sticking with the first 14; they get sillier after that). I got into these after reading a nonfiction action-documentary called Reacher Said Nothing, in which reporter Andy Martin watches Lee Child write a Jack Reacher novel. It's one of the stranger and more useful writing craft books I've consulted.

VIOLENT, BUT THOUGHTFUL

For the past few years, I've avoided crime novels that feature gratuitous violence towards women. There are no dismembered prostitutes on my shelf these days. But that doesn't mean I've sworn off fistfights, blood, or the moral quandaries that accompany them. Here are three very violent books that made me think:

9. RAZORBLADE TEARS by SA Cosby. Cosby is a star of Southern noir, and his novels are furious masterpieces. Razorblade Tears is about two homophobic fathers who come together to avenge the deaths of their gay sons. I also loved Blacktop Wasteland (a "one last job" heist story), but I think about Razorblade Tears more often. Cosby has a brand-new book out (All the Sinners Bleed), and I intend to break my "no serial killers" rule to read it.

10. CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. This speculative novel is set in an alternate US where prisoners with 25+ year sentences can join a gladiator-style reality show and fight to the death to try to earn their freedom. If you can handle visceral brutality, this book is worth it. It progresses via vignettes from many characters' perspectives, fleshing out the horror of this imagined world. Adjei-Brenyah uses creative footnotes to link real facts with his fictional premise, driving home critical analysis of the American penal system.

11. SMALL MERCIES by Dennis Lehane. This new novel is a murder mystery set against the backdrop of protests about integrated school busing in Boston in 1974. It features a vengeful Irish mother with nothing left to lose. Lehane goes deep into the minds of his characters, writes terrific dialogue, and teases out the interplay between race and class in a divided city. Lehane’s books are gritty, real, and dark; his masterpiece, Mystic River, is one of my favorite crime novels ever.

JOCK BOOKS

When I’m not writing or cooking, I’m usually playing sports. This is not a contradiction. There are lots of people who love sports who also love books. Right? Hopefully? Here are three novels that spoke to the jock in me:

12. CARRIE SOTO IS BACK by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is a family drama/romance novel about tennis. A lot of tennis. The main character is a pro who comes out of retirement to protect her record as the greatest of all time. It's a fun, fast book about female ambition. As a writer, I enjoyed seeing how Jenkins Reid "scripted" this comeback story and where her choices deviated from my expectations.

13. DON'T KNOW TOUGH by Eli Cranor. This is Southern noir about a high school quarterback trapped in a world of violence. It's not so much a "whodunnit" as it is a barreling freight train of crime and redemption in a football-obsessed small town in Arkansas. It reads fast and mean. There's one grim image from this book, involving a beer carton, that is now burned on my brain. I am honored that Eli wrote a blurb for my book calling it "an ode to strong women everywhere." He's a powerful writer, and I've learned so much from his work.

14. BEARTOWN by Fredrick Backman. This book is about hockey, sexual assault, and tribalism in a Swedish forest. It's written in omniscient voice, dipping into the heads of a large cast, dropping big truths about a small town. It's like a claustrophobic hug. It has two sequels that aren't as good but you may feel, as I did, that you must read them immediately regardless.

QUIRKY LIT

I like off-kilter stories, but I'm prickly about these kinds of novels. I start a lot that I don't finish. If they're too clever or self-indulgent, it turns me off. Here are two I loved. Both straddle the real and surreal, and both use their strangeness to talk about the opiod crisis in a thoughtful way.

15. UNLIKELY ANIMALS by Annie Hartnett. This book is warm and weird, as if Tim Burton got a job writing Hallmark cards. It's about a young woman who comes home to New Hampshire and gets wrapped up in the mystery of a lost friend, wild animals, ghosts, and her father's dementia. Reading this made me feel disoriented and fizzy, but I kept wanting to turn the pages.

16. OTHER PEOPLE'S SECRETS by Meredith Hambrock. This is a crime novel about a group of drunken slackers whose crappy, beloved lake motel is at risk of being turned into a fancy resort for jerks. There's also a criminal conspiracy, buried treasure, family secrets, and many hangovers. If you like rooting for underdogs who make questionable choices, this one's for you. Note there is another book by this exact same title that is... not good. Check for Meredith's name on the cover if you are going for this book.

STYLISTIC WOWS

My recent reading priorities have shifted more towards great stories than great sentences. But sometimes, a literary novel blows me away and I fall in love with style again. Here are three I savored:

17. GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER by Bernadine Evaristo. This is a gorgeous series of linked prose poems about a diverse group of Black British women. Which might sound… challenging. But Evaristo weaves such beautiful, engrossing stories, you won't even notice the lack of punctuation. Really. I was once told a great writer "trains" readers in how to read their book. Evaristo had me on a leash begging for treats with her masterful writing in this one.

18. MATRIX by Lauren Groff. This is the shortest book on this list. The plot is straightforward: a teenager becomes a prophetic nun who builds a powerful abbey in 12th century England. But the writing! Groff employs such imagistic, idiosyncratic economy of words that I'd swear she was stuffing extra chapters into each sentence.

19. EVERYBODY KNOWS by Jordan Harper. This is a hard-boiled crime novel about two black bag operatives in the underbelly of the Los Angeles entertainment industry. Read the first page and you'll get a taste for the unrelenting imagery and word choice throughout. Every sentence packs a punch, and that can be exhausting. But it's also brilliant.

I hope there's something on this list that speaks to you. If you have a favorite novel of late, please drop a note about it in the comments (and please include what you liked about it).

And remember, you can pre-order my stealth #20, Mother-Daughter Murder Night, or enter a giveaway to win an early edition. I can't wait to share it with you come September. Here it is, with the mothers and daughters in my life:

Happy reading!

Nina