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Looking for books to add to your summer reading list? We tapped local authors to find out what they are loving right now. —Melissa Howsam I’m enjoying en njoying Blu Blue lue M Marlin, arrlliin n, a justreleased d novella novella by Hillsborough’s Hillsborrou own Lee Smith. Sm mit ith. A 13-year-old girl girrl observes ob her parents’ paare rents’ attempt at a second d ho honeymoon in in the Florida Keys with precocious precoc eyes, and feels excitement att m meeting eetin movie stars staying at the sam same me hotel hotel. Smith is in high form here; her her inimitable inimitab Southern voice carries carrie iess the th story throughout.” thro —Samia —Samia Serageldin
As a parent parent of a five-year five-year-old, ar-old, I love Raleigh Rallei e gh author Kelly Starling Star St a ling Lyons’ picture ctu ure r book T Tiara's Ti i ra ia r 's Hat H t Parade. Ha Parade. e Beautifully ly illu illustrated lustrated by Nicole Tadg Tadgell, gel ell, this book captu captures ures the joy of storytelling, craft and nd fami family mily y in bright colors and wond wonderful derrful prose.” —Kwamee Mb Mbalia M alia a
The he Light h Years, I’ve launched h d into T the first of the five volume English saga The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard. The family story (remember Upstairs, Downstairs?) begins before World War II, following the Cazalet family and households through the sweep of history. Witty, vividly written, rich in characters—delicious!” —Frances Mayes 22 | WALTER
I'm loving A Death in Harlem by Karla FC Holloway. This exquisitelycrafted novel transports me with its bold reshaping and retexturing of the intricate, secret societies that weave the endearing complexities of ‘death by misadventure.’ This is the perfect mystery for me during this moment. The nuances and characters carry me across and beyond vivid thresholds of a community declaring its self-expression against that period’s backdrop of race and class elitism.” —Jaki Shelton Green
It wass a National Nati Na tion ionall B Book ook oo k Aw A Awar Award war ard d finalist in 2017, but I just discovered Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado. It’s a collection of stories about the reality of women’s lives, which somehow integrates myth, folk tales, science fiction, humor and horror stories into a series of compelling and transfixing tales. It’s so good.” —Daniel Wallace
