By Rachel Burt

Summer 2020 is certainly presenting us with many challenges that we’ve never faced before.  The good news is that your neighborhood libraries are still here for you, whether you’re venturing to the beach or staying home.  Here are some summer reads that will keep you entertained no matter how you’re spending the season!  Contact your local library to check the availability of these or any other titles!

Sex and Vanity, Kevin Kwan
Kevin Kwan’s follow-up to his Crazy Rich Asians trilogy centers on a young Chinese-American woman trying to determine what kind of future she wants. Lucie, an old-money New Yorker, is engaged to a white and wealthy man who will complete her dream of life as a society power couple. But when she unexpectedly runs into a Chinese-Australian surfer from her past, she starts to question those ambitions. In a story that moves between the island of Capri and the Hamptons, Kwan takes another humorous and heartfelt look at wealth, love, and identity.

The Jane Austen Society, Natalie Jenner
This novel tells the story of a group of people brought together by their love of books. In the small English village of Chawton, which the notable Jane Austen called her final home, a group of unlikely locals put aside their differences to preserve the late novelist’s legacy. On the heels of World War II and with the last of Austen’s legacy at risk, these divergent strangers come together and focus on the single thing they have in common to create the Jane Austen Society, finding hope and healing along the way.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Suzanne Collins
Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games prequel is one of the most anticipated books of the summer. The story brings us back 64 years to deliver the origin story of Coriolanus Snow, who would go on to become the dictatorial president of Panem. A film adaptation is already in the works.

The Vacationers, Emma Straub
Take a jaunt to the idyllic island of Mallorca with a couple celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary. With family and friends in tow, the relaxing locale becomes the setting for rising dramas and rupturing secrets. You’ll get swept up in this family vacation you can’t forget and don’t want to put down.  With wry humor and tremendous heart, Emma Straub delivers a richly satisfying story of a family in the midst of a maelstrom of change, emerging irrevocably altered yet whole.

The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn
For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French, this novel tells the story of an agoraphobic developmental psychologist who accidentally witnesses a crime while spying on new neighbors.  Twisty and powerful, The Woman in the Window is a smart, sophisticated novel of psychological suspense that recalls the best of Hitchcock.  The book has recently been adapted into a film starring Amy Adams.

What books are you reading this summer? Let us know in the comments!

Rachel Burt is the Director of the Hackettstown Free Public Library