For Readers: Blog

Summer blockbusters

Last summer, with theaters shuttered, several movies that were scheduled to be released were suddenly postponed. The result? Over the next few months, we’ve got a jam-packed line-up that is sure to excite any movie-goer, no matter your preferred genre! If there's a movie you're interested in, chances are there's a book that's similar in style, tone, or character. We've rounded up titles that are in the spirit of this summer's most anticipated movies.

ACTION-PACKED ADVENTURES

If you’re eagerly awaiting the releases of the latest Top Gun movie or the long-awaited Black Widow, check out these titles sure to satisfy that craving for perilous exploits.

Megha Majumdar’s debut A Burning chronicles the fallout from a devastating terror attack on a train in Bangladesh that leaves more than 100 people dead. Jivan, a shop girl who tutors English on the side, unthinkingly makes a comment on Facebook about the government’s response to the attack and ends up imprisoned for it, falsely accused of being behind the fire. The only people who can prove her innocence stand to gain, personally or politically, from their silence. Tense and propulsive, A Burning is a stark look at persecution, state violence, and who you can trust in a crisis. [e-book | print | audiobook]

From the creative team behind the hit Man-Eaters, comes a new graphic novel that’s perfect for the summer. Spy Island by Chelsea Cain is a comedic tale that finds Nora Freud on an infamous and mysterious island in the Bermuda Triangle. The island is rife with krakens, assassins, and other run-of-the-mill weirdness...boring! At least, that’s what Nora thinks until her marine cryptozoologist sister shows up with some unexpected news. Soon Nora finds herself preparing for the mission of a lifetime. [e-book | print]

CHILLS AND THRILLS

Whether you can’t wait for Jordan Peele’s remake of the social commentary horror classic Candyman or the latest M. Night Shyamalan thriller OLD, we have just the thing. 

Lakewood by Megan Giddings is an unsettling story rooted in the real history of medical horrors like the Tuskegee syphilis study. After the death of her grandmother, Lena Johnson drops out of college so that she will be able to financially support herself and her sick mother. She receives an invitation to be a research study subject in Lakewood, a small and unassuming town in Michigan. Thrilled, Lena accepts and begins to participate in the research being conducted. She’s told that she’ll help change the world, but soon the truth about the experiments come to light. For fans of Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching. [e-book | print | audiobook]

Carmen Maria Machado, master of horror in both the fiction and nonfiction realms, returns with a new medium: graphic novels. Set in a small Pennsylvanian mining town, The Low, Low Woods is a story of generational trauma and monsters. El and Vee wake up in a movie theater with no recollection of the last several hours. It’s an unexplained illness that plagues several women in their town, fading their memories away to nothing. Before they lose their memories for good, El and Vee embark on a journey to solve the mystery of what is causing the illness and confront the horrors that hide in plain sight. [e-book | print]

SCIENCE FICTION + FANTASY

Perhaps you turn to screen or page to be transported to other worlds. If you’ve been counting the days until the release of The Green Knight or Bios, take a look at these fantasy and sci-fi books. 

Sweeping and epic, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon is recommended for fans of R. F. Kuang’s The Poppy War trilogy and Tamsyn Muir’s The Locked Tomb trilogy. As long as the Berethnet queens have power over the kingdom of Inys, the villainous dragon The Nameless One cannot return to the land. Queen Sabran, though, is still unwed and heirless, even as evil dragons return and assassins lurk in the shadows — and she’s protected only by a single mage disguised as a lady-in-waiting. If you love political intrigue, dragons, or forbidden magic (and you’re not intimidated by the near 900-page count), The Priory of the Orange Tree is perfect for your next saga. [e-book | print]

In Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang, a century after the Martian war for independence, a group of young delegates is sent on a five-year trip to Earth in an attempt to ease rising tensions. The goal is to learn about Earth culture while teaching Earthlings about life on Mars. Struggling to reacclimate and feeling as though they belong to both planets, the Martian delegates find themselves out of place upon their return home. What follows is a tale of identity, age-old rivalries, and supposed utopias. Translated by science fiction author Ken Liu, this is Hao’s first full-length novel released in English. [print]

—Emily