Our correspondent Abbie Martin Greenbaum has curated a list of 10 recommended books to read for your Summer 2022 book club.
10 recommended books to read for your Summer 2022 book club
We have a secret – summer is the best time to start a book club. Think about it. The decadent hours of sunlight have us all wanting to socialize, and isn’t conversation more fun when it can happen outside, with an iced drink in hand? We think so.
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If you aren’t in a book group already, this is the right time to reach out to friends (or strangers – book clubs are also a great way to make friends) and get things started. And we even have some book suggestions for you!
10 perfect books to read for a lively Summer 2022 book club
These ten books are all new releases – out sometime between April and the end of June – and all of them would make for fresh, thought-provoking book club conversation. They range from serious works of nonfiction to silly works of absurdist romance, so we know there’s at least one title on the list you’ll love.
10 perfect books to read for a lively Summer 2022 book club
And if you’re already in a book club? Consider making one of these your pick of the month.
10 recommended books to read for your Summer 2022 book club
1. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
After escaping her father’s dangerous temper, Joan lives with her mother and sister in Memphis, Tennessee. She grows up in her mother’s childhood home, and turns to painting as a way to cope with years of inherited trauma – because she was not the first one in her family to experience violence. Will she be able the one to finally break the cycle? If you like sprawling family sagas that span decades – and generations – then this is the summer book for you.
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2. We Are The Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth by Dahr Jamail
Climate change is on everyone’s minds, and we think it’s time you bring the topic to book club. A composition of research and conversation, We Are The Middle of Forever is a discussion with Indigenous people from North America about the climate crisis. But if you are worried about this being a work of apocalypse, don’t be – this is a hopeful book, and one that suggests a possible path forward. Indigenous communities have been aware of climate change for many generations, and here they share their expert knowledge.
3. Counterfeit by Kristin Chen
If it’s good enough for Reese’s Book Club, then it’s good enough for yours. Ava Wong lives the perfect life – at least, on the outside. On the inside, well… that’s another story. So when an old college friend reappears in Ava’s life and invites her to join a counterfeit handbag scheme, she is tempted. After all, what could go wrong? If you like your midlife crisis stories with a side of crime and cultural commentary, then this is the pick for you.
4. This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
All of Straub’s juicy, delicious reads seem perfectly primed for a book club pick, and none of them more so than her latest. The morning after her 40th birthday, Alice is in for a big surprise: she’s sixteen again. And most shocking of all, her father – whose health has recently begun to fail – is a healthy, forty-something man again. If you’ve ever wondered what you might change if you had the chance to go back in time (or even if you’ve just been thinking a lot about your relationship with your parents), Straub’s book is the one you’ve been waiting for.
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5. Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen
If your book club is searching for a riotous read, then we have to point you towards Patricia Wants to Cuddle. It’s coming out at the end of this month, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it. The book takes place on the set of fictional reality show “The Catch,” where four women are competing for the love of one man. And if you’ve ever wondered to yourself, “what if Bigfoot were to interrupt the proceedings of The Bachelor?” well, there’s finally a book to answer that question. A little horror, a lot of comedy, and a charming queer romance – this sounds like a great summer read to us.
6. All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami
The author of Breasts and Eggs and Heaven, Kawakami is one of our favorite writers. And her newest novel – about an isolated woman working as a copy editor in Tokyo – would be a perfect book club choice. Kawakami’s books all probe at difficult, pertinent questions of loneliness, beauty, dissatisfaction, and womanhood, and her May 2022 release is no exception. If your group sometimes struggles to make meaningful conversation, Kawakami’s latest will make it easy.
7. His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa
Everyone knows George Floyd’s name, but not everyone knows his story – the story of his life before his brutal murder in spring of 2020. In this vital new biography, Samuels and Olorunnipa use research and interviews to tell that story, putting Floyd’s life in the context of what it means to be a Black man in America, faced constantly with the country’s systemic racism. One of the most significant new releases of 2022, and a must-read.
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8. Portrait of a Thief by Grace Li
Will Chen is an art history major at Harvard, whose life is forever changed when a mysterious benefactor presents him with a mission: if he can steal back five historic Chinese sculptures that were looted from Beijing, he will receive fifty million dollars. With the help of an incredible team, he might be able to pull it off – but the stakes include something more complicated than money. If Will and his team fail, it will be another reminder of all that colonialism has stolen. One of the most talked-about books of the season, Portrait of a Thief has everything that you’re looking for in a summer read, and more.
9. You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Feyi Adekola’s life imploded when her partner was killed in an accident. Now, five years have passed, and she thinks she might finally be ready to move on. But when she finds herself falling for her new boyfriend’s father, she realizes that moving on might not be as simple as she had hoped. Emezi is one of our favorite authors, and we cannot wait to see how they tackle this compelling new story.
10. More Than You’ll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez
What is it about “double life” books that make for such irresistible summer reads? In this one, Cassie Bowman is a true-crime writer, searching for new material. And when she stumbles on a crazy story – of a woman named with two husbands, one of whom murdered the other – she is desperate to find out more. But in her search, she risks disturbing the peaceful life that the woman, Lore Rivera, has built for herself. Full of suspense, this is the kind of new release you won’t ever want to put down.
10 recommended books to read for your Summer 2022 book club
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Abbie Martin Greenbaum grew up in New York City and currently lives in Brooklyn, where she drinks a lot of coffee and matches roommates together for a living. At Oberlin College, she studied English and Cinema, which are still two of her favorite things, along with dessert and musical theater. She believes in magic.
