10 Thought-Provoking
Summer Reads
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
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S ome of you reading this may be extroverted and energetic,
in which case this summer book guide is not necessarily
for you. But for those beachgoers who prefer to sit under an
umbrella with a shirt on, shunning the big blue ocean in favor of
a deep dive into literature, we’ve got just the thing. Here, for your
reading pleasure, are the 10 books you should keep an eye out for
in summer 2019.

The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead (July 16)
The newest novel from the Pulitzer Prize-
winner tells the story of Elwood Curtis, who
is about to enroll in the local black college
in the early ’60s, buoyed by the strength he
derives from the civil rights movement. But
a misstep lands him instead in a juvenile
reformatory called the Nickel Academy,
where he’s subject to physical and spiritual
torture at the hands of the staff. Based on the story of a real insti-
tution, The Nickel Boys is another ghastly strand of American
history Whitehead holds up to the light.

Trick Mirror: Reflections on
Self-Delusion Jia Tolentino (Aug. 6)
According to press for this collection of
essays from Jia Tolentino, a staff writer at
The New Yorker, this book about millen-
nial life and the deception it requires is
“for readers who’ve wondered what Susan
Sontag would have been like if she had brain
damage from the internet.” What more do
you need?
The Testaments
Margaret Atwood (Sept. 10)
Atwood’s follow-up to her immensely pop-
ular The Handmaid’s Tale picks up 15 years
after the action of the original (and is being
published 34 years after, too).

10 JUNE 6, 2019
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Taffy Brodesser-Akner (June 18)
Brodesser-Akner, a staff writer for The
New York Times Magazine, turns her mas-
terful skill for profiles to characters she’s
created herself. Fleishman Is in Trouble is
the tale of a recently divorced New York
doctor who gets a new lease on his life —
sexual, professional, familial, you name it.

However, Brodesser-Akner approaches her
characters in the same way she approaches
her subjects at her day job, with a critical, if understanding, eye.

However revealing it is to see what people choose to reveal about
themselves to you, there’s no substitute for a simple change in
perspective. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and
Memory in Northern Ireland
Patrick Radden Keefe (Feb. 26)
Yes, technically, this book came out in
February. But you’d be hard-pressed to find
a more engrossing, thrilling read than jour-
nalist Patrick Radden Keefe’s account of the
reverberations from one murder that took
place during Northern Ireland’s “troubles,”
the resolution of which comes with conse-
quences for the living and the dead. Keefe’s
skills as both a writer and reporter shine.

How to Do Nothing: Resisting
the Attention Economy
Jenny Odell (April 9)
This one, too, came out before the summer.

But what better time to think about the
virtue of unproductive time and the ways
in which our phones and computers can
take over our lives than when we’ve plopped
down on the beach? Weaving academic
research and personal reflection, Odell
explains the ways in which doing nothing
can be a salve to the soul.

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I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way
Through the TV Revolution
Emily Nussbaum (June 25)
Th ere is much to argue about with regards
to television. Is it better than it used to be?
Is it more culturally relevant than movies?
What has Netfl ix done to the way we con-
sume it? Just about the only thing we can
agree upon is that there’s a ton of it. Th e New
Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum, who has been
writing about TV during another of its Golden Ages, assesses
the most interesting shows of the last decade and a half in this
collection of her essays.

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Orange World and Other Stories
Karen Russell (May 14)
Russell’s bizarre stories suck you in from
the fi rst sentence, and her 2011 novel,
Swamplandia, remains an absolute must-
read. Readers of Russell oft en debate which
of her skills rises victorious over the other
— novelist or short story writer — so read
Orange World and then Swamplandia so you
can throw your hat in the ring on one side.

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Coventry Rachel Cusk (Aug. 20)
Rachel Cusk’s Outline Trilogy was beloved
by those who read it (Th e Washington Post
called them “literary masterpieces”), and
her skill as a novelist is unquestionable. If
you just can’t get enough, this collection of
her essays on motherhood, feminism and
more are sure to satiate.

Inland Téa Obreht (Aug. 13)
Obreht’s follow-up to Th e Tiger’s Wife is the
story of two intertwined lives on the Arizona
frontier in 1893, a brutal, arid place. Inland
is “an epic journey across an unforgettable
landscape of magic and myth.” ●
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