Latest news with #TaylorJenkinsReid
Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
What we're reading for summer 2025 — by Rachel Reeves and more
Parliament is in recess, schools have broken up and the sun is taking a little time off — it must be the beginning of the Great British Summer. With room in any suitcase at a premium, we've asked novelists, historians, broadcasters, fashionistas, chefs — and members of the cabinet — to tell us the one book they're packing for their holidays this year. What will the chancellor read to chillax before the autumn budget? Which title is on the Vogue editor's radar — and how do Booker winners choose their beach reads? We asked them all. And if you're looking for more recommendations, our books desk have put together their 80 picks of the year here, while John Self has curated a list of reads to suit any destination, from Athens to Los Angeles. Happy reading. I was obsessed with Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith from the moment I read its opening sentence — 'All nights should be so dark, all winters so warm, all headlights so dazzling' — and I shamelessly borrowed his concept of an honest policeman in a corrupt totalitarian state when I came to write my first novel. I'm going to reread it this summer, along with Polar Star, its sequel (which in many respects is even better), mostly for pleasure, but also to honour Smith, who died this month — he was a writer, like John le Carré, who showed just how intelligent and artful a thriller can be. • Robert Harris: Conclave to elect a pope is like a global election Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid is the perfect summer holiday read. It is a beautifully written, immersive story about pioneering women, the bonds of friendship, the beauty and heartbreak of true love and the risks people will take to help it triumph against the odds. Jenkins Reid also offers a fascinating insight into the US space programme in the 1980s, although she has undoubtedly, and rightly, deployed some artistic licence along the way to aid the story. If this book doesn't have you sobbing big ugly tears in the final pages, you must have a heart of stone. I was a fan already, but David Szalay's Flesh blew me away. Scenes from a man's life, from adolescence to bruised middle-age — it's spare and tough, but also hugely entertaining, gripping like a thriller as Istvan experiences love and violence, sex and success, wealth and failure. Yes, it's a novel about a certain chilly masculinity, but Szalay is also intrigued by luck and chance, the way a random encounter or rash decision can send a life spinning disastrously out of control. • David Nicholls: I adore Howards End — and I want to throw it across the room I confess I came late to the works of Norman Lewis, not until a review somewhere piqued my interest (as the best reviews do). A Quiet Evening: The Travels of Norman Lewis is a collection spanning five decades. Spain, South America, Sicily, Cuba and elsewhere — Lewis immerses himself in the local culture and history and brings fresh insights while providing terrific anecdotes and introducing the reader to a range of fascinating characters. The prose is sublime too. It's a chunky book (500 pages), but one you can dip into as the mood takes you. I hadn't heard of Siân James until I was sent a copy of her novel One Afternoon by the writer Rachel Joyce, telling me I'd love it, and she was right, I did. Born in Wales, James won the Yorkshire Post Book Award when One Afternoon was published in 1975. It follows the adventures of Anna, who is recently widowed and in charge of three small girls when, quite unexpectedly, an inconveniently young and dashing actor declares his love. It's exquisitely written, moving and very funny, the dialogue is perfect and the book impossible to put down. • Esther Freud — my favourite three books No-one writes better about celebrity and the gilded, tortured lives of the famous than Roger Lewis. Erotic Vagrancy, his study of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, is a gothic masterpiece. So I'm looking forward to his updated The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, which is reissued this summer with a new introduction by Steve Coogan. It's the only book of his I haven't read and I know I'll love every detail of his portrait of the genius as monster. Helm by Sarah Hall is a novel that features a mischievous wind as one of its main characters, a concept I love. It's out in August and I am reading an uncorrected proof that she sent me, which is incredibly exciting as normally I'm reading novels two or three years after everyone else. Joanna Miller's The Eights, about a group of young women who, in 1920, were among the first female cohort to matriculate at Oxford University, has heart, soul, intelligence and wit, and packing it might well make a suitcase lighter. If, on the other hand, American cop thrillers are more your thing, buy a pile of John Sandford novels — any John Sandford novels — and stack them next to your deckchair. Happy holidays. • The novelist Mick Herron lets us into his cultural life Maybe brain rot has truly set in, but my attention span is feeling more challenged than ever. I've always been a sucker for short stories — I recently devoured Send Nudes, Saba Sams's collection, highly recommended. My friend and colleague Funmi Fetto recently turned her hand to the format. The collection is called Hail Mary, and follows the lives of nine Nigerian women. I've been dipping in and out of both. And it scratches the itch of needing good literature — in a hurry. I love to take a well-thumbed favourite book on holiday, and no book is more of an old friend to me than Tove Jansson's The Summer Book. She is best known for her Moomin books, but this is a wonderful coming-of-age novel about a little human girl called Sophia and her elderly, hilariously cantankerous grandmother. Set on a tiny Finnish island, over one timeless summer, it is a Scandi classic. Dying to escape the 2020s crop of self-indulgent 'poor-old-me' narratives? Then go back immediately to John Williams's 1965 novel Stoner, one of the most exquisite portraits of a stoical man under life's brutal cosh you will ever read. Born into rural poverty, 'Willy' Stoner escapes the treadmill of farming life in the American Midwest to realise his unlikely dream of becoming a teacher of literature at the University of Missouri. But dream slowly turns to nightmare. An ill-judged marriage and a corrosive academic rivalry inflict lifelong punishment on a man with a dazzling mind and a too-kind heart. In its emotional intensity this novel has been compared to Jude the Obscure and holds up well under this scrutiny. • Rose Tremain: 'Writing about sex has to be done with taste' Tom McTague's Between the Waves: The Hidden History of a Very British Revolution 1945-2016 (out in September) is an extraordinary piece of writing and of historical research about Britain's relationship with Europe: it's lively, relevant, telling us so much about the world from which we are emerging, and what seems to be fracturing around us. I'm re-reading the 1977 revised version of John Fowles's 1965 novel The Magus. Fowles described his novel — he worked on it for 12 years — as the work of a 'retarded adolescent'. Consequently, the plot is suitably heady and preposterous, but what redeems the novel is the fact that Greece and her islands are wonderfully, tactilely present on almost every page. If you've never been to Greece, or are a passionate philhellene who can't make it this year, then reading The Magus will make you feel you've actually been on holiday there. A very strange but undeniably beguiling book. I loved Miranda Cowley Heller's debut novel, The Paper Palace, but I think I like What the Deep Water Knows, her follow-up novel in verse, even more. Each poem is a chapter in a life from childhood through marriage, motherhood, divorce and midlife crises. Funny, moving and above all true. I am looking forward to reading it properly, letting the words breathe before I gulp them down. Penguin has just brought out another batch of handsomely repackaged Maigret novels by Georges Simenon, including The Saint-Fiacre Affair, a small but resonant masterpiece. The plot is, as usual, preposterous — Maigret is summoned to the village of his birth by an enigmatic announcement of an impending murder — but, as usual, it does not matter. The opening pages, in which Maigret performs his morning rituals in a grubby little provincial hotel, are a perfect example of Simenon's gift for fixing a scene with vividness and poetic accuracy. This is fiction of the highest order, transcending all conventions of mere 'genre'. • John Banville: I will resist calling myself underrated I can't wait for the latest Sportsman cookbook, The Sportsman at Home (out in November). I've ordered it already. Stephen Harris and his pub on the Kent coast is one of the most beautiful and best places in the country. To show you how to cook using some of his techniques at home, this is a must-have for everybody. I went to India for the first time in a decade this year, and feel intoxicated. Keshava Guha's very well-reviewed novel The Tiger's Share promises to chronicle the growing pains of the most diverse, energetic, youthful and complex nation, not to say civilisation, on Earth — and to do it through the prism of difficult family dynamics. Perfect. I have a vast family in India as my mum and dad were one of the 13 and 11 siblings respectively. I'm half expecting one of my cousins to pop up in an early chapter. Don't make the mistake of thinking that this time you'll finally make it through a punishing book you've been defeated by in the past. But do make sure it's something of the highest quality. So: The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard. Two Australian sisters come to Britain in the aftermath of the Second World War. Their complex choices are rendered in prose that is gorgeously precise but never precious. One of the greatest — and most enjoyable — novels of the past 50 years. Lovely One is the memoir of the judge who made history three years ago when she became the first black woman to serve on the US Supreme Court. It goes from Ketanji Brown Jackson's family experience of segregation to her swearing in, and at this tempestuous time in American public life, I am hoping it helps me understand what it takes to serve at this level. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, the winner of the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction, is an exceptional debut — exquisitely written, haunting, unsettling and deeply steamy. Set 15 years after the Second World War in a rural province in the Netherlands, it shines a light on the 'what happened next' periods of history, the forgotten aftermaths of terrible events and what it meant for those living through such times. It's a story of revenge, the corruptions of history, obsession and desire. Van der Wouden manages to confound the reader so that our sympathies are constantly switching between the two female protagonists, Isabel and Eva. A perfect summer read. • 80 best books to take on holiday this summer — chosen by the experts My pick this summer is The Good Liar by Denise Mina. For me, Mina is the UK's finest living writer of crime fiction. Her novel The Long Drop, about a fictionalised 48 hours in the life of the serial killer Peter Manuel, is the best book I've read in the past decade. The Good Liar is the tale of Claudia O'Sheil, a forensic scientist who may have got the biggest case of her life wrong. It's about truth versus legacy and the personal cost of honesty. No one gets under the skin of characters quite the way Mina does. She's sublime, and this book is too. I'm starting to aggressively rebel against the marginalisation of straight white males in the feminised publishing industry. If you too are sick of girliness and sensitivity, I can't recommend David Szalay more heartily. Flesh is fiercely male. The protagonist isn't given to tiring self-analysis. In a rags to riches to (spoiler alert) rags tale, a young Hungarian makes good in London because so many women want to sleep with him. But what makes this book is the writing: spare and muscular, with no frills, no decoration. Like a flat with bare walls, one table, and a chair. • Lionel Shriver: Now I've left Britain, here's what you look like Stephen Alford's All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil, which tells the story of the clandestine life of the chief minister of Elizabeth I and James I. It is a fascinating voyage into the nexus of monarchy, politics, diplomacy and espionage that was controlled by Cecil. There are many books about Elizabeth, but this gives the reader a real grasp of how personal autocracy and government worked under the last Tudor and first Stuart sovereign. It is also a biography of Cecil himself. It is written beautifully, elegantly, sparely. Its research is the fruit of decades in the archives. It is a magnificent masterwork and a joy from start to finish. The protagonist of Father Figure by Emma Forrest is a precociously clever Jewish girl who becomes entangled with the family of an oligarch when he places his daughter at her private school. The resulting intrigue fizzes and pops with diamond-hard observations on money, class, politics, sexuality and points in between. Forrest puts teenage emotions under the most powerful of microscopes, but this is anything but a small novel, and everything comes together beautifully in a coda that is wise, tender and moving. The plan is to get up to date (belatedly) with Sarah Perry's novel Enlightenment. I'm always impressed by her capacity to juggle different genres, voices and periods, and I found Melmoth one of the most searching and moving novels I've read for quite a while, so expectations are high for this one. She's one of a handful of British novelists who can anatomise the byways and pathologies of religious faith with real understanding and still find startling things to say about grace and miracle. • Rowan Williams: 'I shudder to think what Queen Elizabeth thought of me' Ian Penman is maybe my favourite critic, a mad zealot in praise of his eclectic enthusiasms, and with Erik Satie Three Piece Suite he draws us into the belle époque Paris of the great composer and innovator, and maps out his influence across 20th-century music, art and literature. It's a great book to dip in and out of, a kind of compendium of thoughts and digressions opening out from Satie's work and bittersweet life. I believe it will enliven (and help to inspire a playlist for) even the dreariest of holidays. AI is changing everything, from the way we work to how we dream. It's wildly powerful, potentially threatening and deeply inspiring. For me, it's not about fearing the future but understanding it, especially how it can help in my world: retail, media, storytelling, social content and creation. The blurring line between what's real and what's machine-made is exhilarating and unnerving. But it's happening fast, and it's best we keep up. So this summer, while I'm soaking in sunsets and slow moments, I'll also be diving deep into the world of AI with How AI Will Change Your Life by Patrick Dixon. The book of my summer is not — by conventional standards, at any rate — a book at all. The Universal Turing Machine is subtitled by its author, the novelist Richard Beard, 'a memoir', but that barely scratches the surface of how dazzlingly original and multifaceted an achievement it is. Beard has divided his life into 64 chapters, and patterned them on to an online chessboard. The order in which these chapters are read is then determined in part by a randomiser. At once a homage to Georges Perec, a work of science fiction and an often hilarious Bildungsroman, it can be read free here: • What we're reading this week — by the Times books team by Max Kendix As Rachel Reeves eyes her autumn budget, she believes that there is one way out of Britain's economic malaise — economic growth, whatever the cost. Her choice of book, Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, reflects this mentality. At its heart is a criticism of bureaucracy that stifles change and growth. Abundance, the notion of plenty that was once a byword for the American dream, has been reduced to a 'politics of scarcity'. Keir Starmer's mantra, that Britain must be a nation of builders not blockers, has echoes in this book. Whether rhetoric will meet reality remains to be seen. The attorney general is delving into ideological rigidity. In The Ideological Brain, Leor Zmigrod, a political psychologist and neuroscientist, asks whether ideological differences can be explained by the way people's brains work. She highlights brain scans showing that the amygdala, which processes negative emotions, is larger in those disposed to extreme right-wing ideologies. Experiments suggest that those with prejudiced views are more likely to reject the evidence of their own eyes in favour of existing patterns. It's a contentious and provocative book, and an interesting choice from Hermer, who has faced claims of ideological purism himself. Mahmood, whose first year in office has been dominated by the prisons crisis, has opted for pure escapism. She has picked Richard Osman's thriller We Solve Murders, a globetrotting tale of skulduggery among the super-rich. The book is pure Osman — the protagonists are a young bodyguard and her widowed father-in-law, an ex-policeman. Mahmood loves all detective fiction and would have gone for the new Cormoran Strike book, The Hallmarked Man, by JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith if she could, but it's not out until September. • Read more book reviews and interviews — and see what's top of the Sunday Times Bestsellers List Reynolds has spent much of his first year in office attempting to tread the finest of lines. Securing trade deals with the EU and US has meant attempting to balance competing factions, conflicting interests and at times mutual loathing. His success in negotiating with Donald Trump's regime and the court of Maga was pivotal in ensuring Britain was first in line for a trade deal with the US. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, Reynolds has gone for a classic — Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall. Intrigue and treachery as courtiers attempt to navigate the whims of one man. Alexander has picked Karla's Choice by John le Carré's son, Nick Harkaway. He takes over his father's most memorable characters in this novel about George Smiley's attempt to leave 'the Circus' at the height of the Cold War. Set in 1963, it involves a Hungarian émigré, a German double agent and the title's Soviet spymaster. Reviews have praised the grubby tension and murky moral compromises — how much of a holiday that is from Westminster is unclear. Kyle has chosen to take a complete break from his day job with Robert Harris's Precipice, the rip-roaring tale of the affair between Herbert Asquith, the 61-year-old Liberal prime minister on the eve of the First World War, and Venetia Stanley, a 26-year-old socialite. The book charts their passionate affair, including the deluge of love letters between them, limousine journeys with the blinds down and official secrets. All against the backdrop of the looming conflict.
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The week's bestselling books, July 27
1. An Inside Job by Daniel Silva (Harper: $32) An art restorer and legendary spy must solve the perfect crime. 2. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books: $30) A story of friendship, love and adversity during the 1980s Space Shuttle program. 3. The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey: $29) Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft. 4. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' 5. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond. 6. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teens 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist. 7. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence. 8. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (Tor Books: $30) A vampiric tale follows three women across the centuries. 9. The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) A young father grapples with tragedy and the search for redemption. 10. Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild (St. Martin's Press: $29) A sweeping love story explores the price of a new beginning. … 1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can't control. 2. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books: $28) The true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea. 3. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) A study of the barriers to progress in the U.S. 4. The Mission by Tim Weiner (Mariner Books: $35) A history of the modern CIA featuring interviews with former directors, spies and other insiders. 5. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green (Crash Course Books: $28) The deeply human story of the fight against the world's deadliest infectious disease. 6. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Knopf: $28) Reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values. 7. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense. 8. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer on how to be a creative person. 9. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne (illustrator) (Scribner: $20) On gratitude, reciprocity and community, and the lessons to take from the natural world. 10. Who Knew by Barry Diller (Simon & Schuster: $30) A frank memoir from one of America's top businessmen. … 1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20) 2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20) 3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18) 4. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19) 5. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Crown: $19) 6. Circe by Madeline Miller (Back Bay: $20) 7. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17) 8. Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (Berkley: $20) 9. A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (Berkley: $19) 10. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Scribner: $20) … 1. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22) 2. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin: $21) 3. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12) 4. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Vintage: $19) 5. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18) 6. The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger (Harper Perennial: $20) 7. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn (Harper Perennial Modern Classics: $24) 8. Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher: $20) 9. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17) 10. All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley (Simon & Schuster: $19)
BBC News
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Buzzy titles to blockbusters: 10 of the best summer reads
From buzzy titles like Vincent Latronico's Perfection to Taylor Jenkins Reid's latest blockbuster, here's our pick of the best books to escape with this summer. Whether you're packing for a fortnight spent poolside or just taking advantage of the long evenings in your own garden or local park, the heady days of summer bring with them the desire to lose ourselves in a great book. Luckily, there are plenty to choose from this year. Depending on your tastes, the perfect summer read might mean catching up with 2025's most talked-about novels, immersing yourself in an epic family saga, or enjoying some biting satire on the current state of the world. Either way, these 10 titles are all worthy of escaping with for a few hours. The following numbered list is not ranked. 1. Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst A huge bestseller in Denmark, Waist Deep has now been translated into 10 languages, including English by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg. It follows a group of university friends, now in their 30s, who are reunited for a summer holiday in a rural cabin. What begins as a week of swimming, sunbathing and relaxing turns into uneasy self-examination of choices made over the past decade, and lives not lived. Vogue has dubbed this sensual book the "quintessential millennial novel" and it has drawn plenty of Sally Rooney comparisons. Its sun-soaked setting and languid literary vibes are ideal for this time of year. 2. The Names by Florence Knapp Arguably the most buzzed about debut of the year, The Names is a Sliding Doors story of how a name can determine your destiny. Cora sets out to register the birth of her second child, with the three options for his name coming from herself, her husband, and her young daughter. Each choice sends the story in a different direction, showing how split-moment decisions can shape our whole lives. The themes are heavy – namely, domestic violence – but the writing is not, with Knapp skilfully weaving the three stories together to create a book that is as full of hope as it is horror. 3. Perfection by Vincent Latronico This slim (120-page) novel is perfect for when you want to travel light but still read one of this year's most discussed books. Translated from Italian by Sophie Hughes, it tells the story of an expat millennial couple living and working in Berlin as digital nomads. Everything in their lives is carefully curated, from the houseplants and vinyl collection in their Art Nouveau apartment to their social life in the city. It all looks perfect from the outside (especially on the internet), but there's a creeping uneasiness about the inherent emptiness of a life in which aesthetics take priority. This short, sharp satire might make you think twice about posting that poolside selfie. 4. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid It's no coincidence that the latest book from Taylor Jenkins Reid was published just in time for summer. The powerhouse author's novels, which include Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn, have become go-to sun lounger fare thanks to their glamorous retro settings (the '70s rock scene, Golden Age Hollywood; the '90s professional tennis world) and emotional love stories. Reid's latest novel – her ninth – is set in the world of space travel, specifically the 1980s Nasa Space Shuttle mission. Its protagonist, Joan, becomes one of the first women to join the programme and is confronted with huge challenges, both in Mission Control and her relationships with the other astronauts. 5. Flashlight by Susan Choi Choi's last novel, Trust Exercise, was a huge success, scooping the National Book Award for Fiction and making countless best-of-2019 lists – including Barack Obama's. Her follow up looks set to make a similar impact. An ambitious generational saga meets mystery thriller that spans several decades and countries, it is told from the perspective of three members of the Kang family: a white American mother, a Korean father born in Japan, and their mixed-race daughter. The story begins with a disappearance, then ripples out from there for a compulsive read. 6. So Far Gone by Jess Walter Jess Walter is responsible for one of the classic contemporary beach reads, 2012's Beautiful Ruins, which combined a glamorous Italian location with a dose of old Hollywood romance – and even featured appearances from Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Walter's latest has a less chic setting but an equally compelling premise. A retired, reclusive and disillusioned environmental journalist tries to opt out of modern life by going off-grid in his ranch but is forced to re-enter the real world when his daughter goes missing and his grandchildren are kidnapped. Cue a comedic road-trip through a divided America plagued by conspiracy theories. 7. The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine With two short story collections, Wendy Erskine has already gained a reputation as one of the most exciting voices to emerge from Northern Ireland in recent years, and her debut novel only cements that. It centres on three mothers brought together when their teenage sons are accused of sexual assault, but features an expansive cast of characters who together paint a vivid picture of life in contemporary Belfast (The Times said it has "the style of Woolf but the heart of Dickens"). An absorbing, powerful novel about class, trauma and consent. 8. Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis It may have lost out on the Women's Prize, but Fundamentally is still one of the most lauded debut novels of the year. The subject matter - a British academic trying to de-radicalise IS brides – might not immediately scream beach read, but the writing is more hilarious than harrowing. Younis, who spent years working in international relations, even took a stand-up comedy course before writing the book because she wanted it to be a story that, above all, entertains people. Its word-of-mouth success proves it has succeeded at that. 9. The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri Summer downtime is a great opportunity to tackle a doorstopper novel and, at more than 700 pages, this one is certainly meaty, not only in length but in subject. The sixth novel by Swedish author Jonas Hassen Khemiri is his first written in English (he then wrote it all over again in Swedish) and has been called "a staggering achievement." Following three sisters over three decades and three continents, the novel is told in six parts, each covering a progressively shorter timespan – from a year to a day all the way down to one minute. One to sink your teeth into on the sun lounger. 10. Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin With the New York social scene providing a backdrop, Great Black Hope will allow you to vicariously experience a sweltering summer in the city – though this debut is much more than a simple tale of hedonism. Protagonist David Smith is a queer black Stanford graduate caught between two different worlds. His future looks bright, but when his roommate dies suddenly and he is arrested for cocaine possession at a party in the Hamptons, things start to unravel. This coming-of-age story explores the intersection of wealth and race, as well as friendship, grief and identity, with Vanity Fair hailing it "the novel you'll see by every Hamptons lounger this summer." -- For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Los Angeles Times
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The week's bestselling books, July 20
1. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books: $30) A story of friendship, love and adversity during the 1980s Space Shuttle program. 2. Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart (Random House: $28) A tale of a family struggling to stay together in a country rapidly coming apart. 3. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond. 9 4. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teens 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist. 5. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' 6. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (Tor Books: $30) A vampiric tale follows three women across the centuries. 7. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence. 8. My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende (Ballantine Books: $30) A young writer in the late 1800s travels to South America to uncover the truth about her father. 9. The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley (Ace: $30) A romantasy following an assassin and a healer forced to work together to cure a fatal disease. 10. The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Henry Holt & Co.: $29) An unexpected wedding guest gets surprise help on her journey to starting anew. … 1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can't control. 2. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) A study of the barriers to progress in the U.S. 3. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer on how to be a creative person. 122 4. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books: $28) The true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea: a partnership stretched to its limits. 5. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense. 6. 2024 by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, Isaac Arnsdorf (Penguin Press: $32) The inside story of a tumultuous and consequential presidential campaign. 7. Super Agers by Eric Topol (Simon & Schuster: $33) A detailed guide to a revolution transforming human longevity. 8. The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad (Random House: $30) A guide to the art of journaling and a meditation on the central questions of life. 9. We Can Do Hard Things by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, Amanda Doyle (The Dial Press: $34) The guidebook for being alive. 10. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne (illustrator) (Scribner: $20) On gratitude, reciprocity and community, and the lessons to take from the natural world. … 1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20) 2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20) 3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18) 4. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19) 5. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17) 6. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19) 7. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Scribner: $20) 8. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (Berkley: $19) 9. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Perennial: $22) 10. Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (Berkley, $20) … 1. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin: $21) 2. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21) 3. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Vintage: $19) 4. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12) 5. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $13) 6. Sociopath by Patric Gagne, Ph.D. (Simon & Schuster: $20) 7. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17) 8. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18) 9. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $20) 10. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. (Penguin: $19)
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Loving the Wimbledon drama? Add these 9 stellar tennis-based novels to your shelf
Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn more Wimbledon might soon be coming to a close, but that doesn't mean our tennis obsession has to end with it. Whether your favourite player lifted the trophy or made their exit in the first round (sob), the perfect way to keep the sporting spirit alive is with a good book. From gripping thrillers to steamy romances, we've rounded up 9 must-read tennis books that will help you smash those Wimbledon blues and keep you hooked until the next serve. Whether you're after the drama of high-stakes matches, behind-the-scenes secrets, or swoon-worthy love stories, this list serves up something for every tennis enthusiast. Carrie Soto is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid £9.99 Shop By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. But six years later, she finds herself watching in the stands as a stunning British player, Nicki Chan, defeats her Grand Slam record. At 37 years old, Carrie decides to come out of retirement for one last season, attempting to reclaim her record. Even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. This novel by The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo author is the perfect summer escapist read, combining the glamorous world of tennis with the personal cost of sports stardom. The Winner, Teddy Wayne £9.99 Shop More of a thriller than a romance fan? This is the book for you. Conor is a recent graduate from a law school nobody's heard of. With no prospects and needing to support his chronically ill mother, he takes a job teaching tennis to a magnetic divorcée in her gated community. It quickly develops into a sexual relationship, made all the more difficult when Conor meets and falls for Emily, with whom he has his first taste of intimacy. He soon finds he's leading a double life – and inevitably, that always ends in disaster. Apples Never Fall, Liane Moriarty £9.99 Shop Another of Liane Moriarty's gripping page-turners, Apples Never Fall follows the perfect (and tennis-mad) Delaney family, whose lives are thrown into disarray when the matriarch, Joy, disappears. As her husband Stan becomes a prime suspect, their four adult children are forced to confront their family history and hidden secrets – particularly when a mysterious young woman named Savanna appears – questioning everything they thought they knew about their parents and each other. The Singles Game, Lauren Weisberger £7.99 Shop This sexy romance by Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger follows beautiful tennis prodigy and America's sweetheart, Charlotte 'Charlie' Silver. But when she makes a pact with the devil – infamously brutal coach Todd Feltner – and good girl Charlie is banished. She finds herself catapulted into a world of celeb stylists, private events and secret dates – but in a world obsessed with good looks and hot shots, is Charlie willing to lose herself to win it all? Towards Zero, Agatha Christie £9.99 Shop One of Christie's iconic novels, Towards Zero sees Superintendent Battle called to investigate a murder at the home of an elderly widow at a clifftop seaside house. What links a botched suicide attempt, a schoolgirl falsely accused of stealing, and the love affairs of a world-famous tennis star? At first glance, nothing at all. But when a group of guests assemble at Gull's Point, the coastal estate of an aging widow, the past resurfaces with shocking consequences… Clean Point, Meg Jones £9.99 Shop Scottie Sinclair was meant to be tennis royalty – until a doping scandal, courtesy of her own dad, blew her career apart. Now she's broke, humiliated, and very much off the court… until she's thrown a wildcard. It comes in the form of her new partner, Nico Kotas, a fellow disgraced player with his own baggage (and annoyingly good abs). Neither of them wants to be there. Neither trusts the other. But as they train for Wimbledon, the rivalry turns into chemistry – and the comeback gets a lot more complicated. Enemies to lovers, tennis scandals, and a whole lot of sexual tension: this one's a winner for romance fans. Double Fault, Lionel Shriver £8.99 Shop Willy is a fiercely ambitious pro tennis player who meets her match – literally – in Eric, a charming underdog she beats in a casual game in Riverside Park. Sparks fly, and soon they're married and chasing success together on the pro circuit. But what starts as a sexy, competitive romance soon sours when Eric's career begins to rise just as Willy's is derailed by a brutal knee injury. As she watches him live out the dream she thought was hers, their marriage becomes a battleground of egos, ambition, and heartbreak. This is a gripping novel about rivalry and love, and fans of Shriver's novel We Need to Talk About Kevin won't be disappointed. Match Point, Katherine Reilly £9.99 Shop Elena's a rising tennis star with her sights set on the top. Alex is her new mixed doubles partner: talented, cocky, and not exactly her type. But on the court, their chemistry is undeniable. As they chase a Grand Slam title, sparks start flying off the court too – and not just the good kind. With egos, old flames and the pressure to win piling up, it's anyone's guess whether they'll crash out or go all the way. If you love a good enemies-to-lovers romcom, this is the perfect spicy summer read. The Wild Card, Judy Murray £9.99 Shop Written by tennis legend and mother of Andy Murray, this funny, feel-good underdog story shows Judy's knowledge of the gossipy and glamorous world of tennis. Abbie's tennis career fizzled out years ago, but when she gets an unexpected wildcard entry to Wimbledon it's a shot at redemption she can't refuse. The problem? She's out of shape, out of practice, and her old rival (and ex) is back in the picture. As Abbie tries to reclaim her place in the sport she walked away from, she finds herself juggling tricky media attention, family drama, and a spark she thought she'd buried for good.
