Jodi's Summer Reading List
Looking ahead to new releases and a summer of reading
There are many books that I am excited to read this summer. With law school beginning in the fall, I want to read as much as I can before textbooks get in the way. In anticipation of my summer of reading, I have generously been sent advance reader copies (ARCs) of exciting summer releases from several publishers that I write about below. This post will be different from normal, mostly because I haven’t read any of these books yet, but all of them have come recommended from trusted sources or are written by authors that I love. If any of these books look interesting to you, please consider checking them out from your local library or buying them from an independent bookstore.
I also plan on publishing a 2022 Summer Reading Guide in the coming weeks, which will include recommendations for books that I have read and think are great for the season. In the meantime, you can check out my 2021 Summer Reading Guide here.
Either/Or – Elif Batuman (Release Date: May 24, 2022)
Either/Or is the sequel to Elif Batuman's best-selling 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist novel, The Idiot. In Either/Or, readers are reacquainted with main character Selin, now in her second year at Harvard, as she reflects on her previous year, her summer, and her burgeoning relationships as her college career and identity develop.
The Latecomer – Jean Hanff Korelitz (Release Date: May 24, 2022)
Jean Hanff Korelitz is the author of The Plot, one of my favorite books of 2021 and featured in my 2021 Summer Reading Guide. Now, one year later, Hanff Korelitz is back with The Latecomer, which centers around a dysfunctional wealthy New York City family. Hanff Korelitz is known for fast-paced novels with well-developed characters, the perfect combination for a summer read.
Yerba Buena – Nina LaCour (Release Date: May 31, 2022)
Yerba Buena, Nina LaCour's adult fiction debut, follows two women with complicated pasts who meet and develop a relationship at a restaurant in Los Angeles. It is a story of found family and unexpected love, and is being heralded as one of the most anticipated books of the season.
Tracy Flick Can’t Win – Tom Perrotta (Release Date: June 7, 2022)
Tracy Flick, who first appeared in Tom Perrotta's Election (also a movie with Reese Witherspoon), is back in Tracy Flick Can't Win, now toiling away as an assistant principal at a public high school in suburban New Jersey. When the principal announces his retirement, Tracy Flick sees this as her opportunity for promotion, but nothing seems to go her way. Perrotta is known for dark comedy and satire, which is on display in his latest work.
Nora Goes Off Script – Annabel Monaghan (Release Date: June 7, 2022)
I heard about this book after a rave review from Annie B. Jones of The Bookshelf and the From the Front Porch podcast, which usually means I'm going to love the book as well. Nora Goes Off Script is about a romance channel screenwriter who writes a script about her own divorce that then becomes a major sensation.
Battling the Big Lie – Dan Pfeiffer (Release Date: June 7, 2022)
Battling the Big Lie, the non-fiction outlier on this list, is about right-wing misinformation and the machinery behind the lies that fuel hate and challenge American democracy. This is Dan Pfeiffer's latest book and is being heavily advertised on Pod Save America where Pfeiffer is a co-host.
So Happy for You – Celia Laskey (Release Date: June 7, 2022)
So Happy for You is Celia Laskey's second book, this time about a wedding weekend that goes awry with the bride and her maid of honor at the center of the chaos. Robin, a queer academic who has been selected as Ellie's maid of honor, finds herself doubting her choice to participate in this funny and satirical book about the "wedding industrial complex" and female friendship.
The Setup – Lizzy Dent (Release Date: June 7, 2022)
Mara realizes she's in a bind after she finds herself impersonating her fortune teller to a cellist from Australia, who she informs will meet the love of his love in three months at a pub in an English seaside town. The woman she predicts he will meet is her, and she has three months to get herself together and hope that her con pays off. Lizzy Dent is the author of The Summer Job, a book with a similar trickster premise, so I can say on authority that Dent knows how to write entertaining summer reads.
Woman of Light – Kali Fajardo-Anstine (Release Date: June 7, 2022)
Woman of Light is a highly anticipated summer release and has been heralded by Ann Patchett, which definitely means this book is going to be good. The novel is advertised as a multi-generational family epic of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American west looking to connect with a dramatic familial past and preserve it for generations to come.
Ghost Lover – Lisa Taddeo (Release Date: June 14, 2022)
Readers might know Lisa Taddeo for her previous two books, Three Women and Animal. I was a fan of her non-fiction, Three Women, but did not enjoy Animal at all. I'm giving Taddeo a third chance with Ghost Lover, a collection of short stories about female obsession, love, and connection.
Learning to Talk – Hillary Mantel (Release Date: June 21, 2022)
Hillary Mantel is best known for her two-time Booker Prize winning Wolf Hall trilogy. When the pandemic began, I read all three of these lengthy books and was incredibly impressed by Mantel and her writing. Now, Mantel is back with Learning to Talk, a collection of loosely autobiographical stories about childhood in northern England.
Dele Weds Destiny – Tomi Obera (Release Date: June 28, 2022)
Dele Weds Destiny is a debut novel about three college best friends who reunite after thirty years in Lagos, Nigeria to reminisce and assess where their lives have taken them in the years that have passed. This is a book about complicated friendships and the divergent paths they each influenced one another to take.
Elsewhere – Alexis Schaitkin (Release Date: June 28, 2022)
In this quasi-dystopian novel exists a community where girls become wives, then mothers, and then some disappear into the clouds. Vera, the protagonist of the story, watches as her peers begin to marry and give birth, and is sucked into speculation surrounding what happens next, who will be deemed fit to stay with their child, and if not, where will they go? Elsewhere is being compared to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Margaret Atwood and is sure to be a unique addition to typical summer reading.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin (Release Date: July 5, 2022)
This book is the piece of literary fiction that everyone is talking about, including Annie B. Jones and Emma Straub, who have already named it one of their favorite books of the year. Spanning thirty years, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, is a novel about two friends who become creative partners in video game design, and the influence success has on their approach to life. Do not ignore this book just because it is about video games - everyone who has read this book has praised the writing and its ingenuity.
Carrie Soto is Back – Taylor Jenkins Reid (Release Date: August 30, 2022)
Author of Daisy Jones and the Six and her most recent Malibu Rising, Jenkins Reid is known for her entertaining and well-constructed novels on interesting subjects. In Carrie Soto is Back, a legendary tennis star decides to make a comeback for one final season in an attempt to reclaim her record. I was not a big fan of Daisy Jones and the Six, but am excited to give her latest a chance after already seeing rave reviews.
I frequently review ARCs outside of my normal monthly round-ups. If you want to stay up to date on what’s being published and what I thought of these books, you can find all of my reviews as they are posted here.
I have several of these on my TBR and I'm looking forward to reading Carrie Soto is Back closer to the publication date for my review of it. Thanks