What will you be reading this summer? I’ve settled on four very different books, three fiction and one non-fiction. I’ve nearly finished Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, a contemporary take on Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in a dark corner of America during the worst of the Oxycontin crisis, and one of the better books I’ve read this year. Review to come shortly.

My next book will be the universally acclaimed non-fiction book The Wager by David Grann. ‘A tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder’ the front page alluringly tells me. It’s the true story of two different crews washing up on shore in South America with contradictory stories to tell about how they ended up there. Back in London, a court martial awaits to determine who’s telling the truth. The liars will hang.

Eco-thriller The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson has long been on my list. Recommended to me by several people, this book is supposedly both devastatingly honest on the realities of the climate crisis as well as hopeful.

Finally, Aleksandar Hemon’s The World and All that it Holds, promises to be an adventurous epic starring a peaceful pharmacists. It kicks off with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo 1914, takes us through the whirlwind that was the early 20th century ending up in Shanghai.

Would love to hear what you’re planning to read! Let me know on IG, FB or Twitter.