8 book recommendations for summer reading 2023

ByEmma Zlotowitz & Chi Tran KGO logo
Tuesday, July 18, 2023
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'Tis the season for summer reading. Here are 8 books to read while lounging by the pool. SPF not included (but wear some anyway). Happy reading.

1. Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen - $14.69

Zoey arrives at a mysterious apartment complex called The Dellawisp to claim her deceased mother's abandoned apartment and comes into contact with the mysterious neighboring inhabitants. When one of them mysteriously dies, Zoey sets out on an emotional journey to find the answers through a legendary writer's missing pages.

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2. The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz - $15.40

The wealthy, New York-based Oppenheimer family consists of parents Salo and Johanna and their three children, triplets Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally, who loathe each other. As the siblings grow up and go their separate ways, the parents decide to have a fourth child, throwing the triplets into a whirlwind journey to address their family's intergenerational trauma and fractured legacy.

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3. Schooled by Ted Fox - $7.12

Some high school rivalries never die. Years removed from his high school days, stay-at-home dad Jack Parker meets his arch nemesis Chad Henson again. When Chad runs for president of Jack's daughter's school board, Jack decides to run as well and be embroiled in the cutthroat world of parent politics.

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4. The Sign for Home by Blair Fell - $13.25

'The Sign for Home' follows Arlo, who has lived his whole life judged by others, being DeafBlind, a Jehovah's Witness, and under the strict guardianship of his uncle. However, when he meets a new interpreter at a writing class, he realizes what he has missed out in life and is determined to find the one who got away many years ago.

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5. Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese - $15.99

After fleeing from Edinburgh for a fresh start in The New World and unceremoniously abandoned by her husband, precocious seamstress Isobel Gamble meets the storyteller Nathaniel Hawthorne. With her husband's fate unknown, Isobel engages in a whirlwind romance with Nathaniel in new-age America, in the backdrop of accused witchcraft and the early days of the New England Underground Railroad.

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6. Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn - $11.84

A New York Times action bestseller, the book follows the menopausal quartet of Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie, who have worked for an elite network of assassins called The Museum for 40 years. Now considered obsolete, the group is sent out to retire on vacation but is immediately marked for death by The Museum's Board. It's kill or be killed in this high-concept, thrilling adventure of four old women trying to escape a relentless assassin.

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7. The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz - $18.28

When aspiring writer Alex arrives for an exclusive, monthlong retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo, she finds out that each writer must finish an entire novel in their time there - for the chance to receive a life-changing publishing deal. As Alex descends into writing madness, one of the writers vanishes, alerting Alex to the sinister events at the retreat.

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8. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - $23.11

This award-winning blockbuster debut novel tells the story of Elizabeth Zott, a woman living in the male-dominated science field in the 1960s, determined to change the status quo by becoming the unwitting host of a television cooking show.

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