Hot new books you should add to reading lists
Ah, summer! After a long year of busy class schedules and work, now is the time to sleep, relax and maybe curl up with a good book or two.
Many books from various genres are released every month, and this year is no different. Below are only a few of the latest hot summer reads to reach the bookstores.
1. Harper Lee’s long-lost novel, “Go Set A Watchman,” hits the shelf next month on July 14. Written in the mid-1950’s by the author of Pulitzer prize winning classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” this sequel was considered lost until late last year.
Featuring many of the characters from “To Kill a Mockingbird” some 20 years later, in the mid-1950’s, “Go Set A Watchman” follows Scout Finch as she returns home to her father and struggles with personal and political issues involving the state of society in her small Alabama town.
2. Neil Gaiman’s new anthology, “Trigger Warning,” was released in February and offers a new perspective on the mysteries that hide beneath the veil of reality and the masks that cover true selves.
This book explores and explains it all — death and what is left behind in “Adventure Story” — the creeks and clatter that quiet houses make in the dark in “Click-Clack the Rattlebag” — “A Calendar of Tales,” a story inspired by social media experiences — even a re-imagining of the classic tale of Sherlock Holmes in “The Case of Death and Honey.” In all these, Gaiman offers a variety of horror, fantasy, fairy tales and poetry for readers to enjoy.
“Trigger Warning” also includes previously published short fiction such as a Doctor Who story, written for the 50th anniversary of the popular T.V. series, and “Black Dog,” a new story that is exclusive to this collection that revisits Gaiman’s world of “American Gods.”
3. Fans of young adult dystopian fiction might enjoy the “Red Queen” by Victoria Aveyard, who creates a world where citizens are separated into social classes by the color of their blood; the common Red Bloods spend their lives serving the Silver Blood elite class, who are gifted with extraordinary abilities.
Enter Mare Barrow, a Red surviving as a common thief in a rural village until she finds herself before the whole Silver court and discovers an ability of her own. To hide this ability, the king forces Mare into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his sons. Soon Mare is swept up in intrigue and danger as she is drawn further into the Silver world while using her new position to help a growing Red rebellion. Will her power save and condemn her in this divided world? Read to find out.
4. Terry Brooks, New York Times best-selling author, returns to the world of Shannara with his newest standalone novel, “The Darkling Child,” released June 9.
As the High Druid nears the end of her reign, Paxon Leah, sworn protector of the Druid order must accompany a Druid emissary to a distant corner of the Four Lands where the formidable magic of the wishsong has been detected. Together, they must ensure that the power is kept safe from those who would use it for evil.
Meanwhile, traveling minstrel, Reyn Frosch, the wielder of the uncanny gift that is the wishsong is targeted by the dark sorcerer Arcannen, who seeks to use the wishsong as the ultimate weapon for revenge in an everlasting battle for power.
The world of Shannara is set to come to life later this year and is currently in production. The series will be based off of Terry Brook’s novel, the “Elfstones of Shannara,” the second book in the series, the first being the “Sword of Shannara.”
Other books to hit the silver screen this year include John Green’s “Paper Towns,” set to premier next month; James Dashner’s “Scorch Trials,” sequel to the Maze Runner, in theaters September; and Suzanne Collin’s “Mockingjay,” part two, the final installment of “The Hunger Games,” in theaters November.
miranda.lorenc@gmail.com