WD’s Summer 2012 Reading List
By Woman's Day Staff
Escape Reality
Need a reason to do some reading this summer? How about 10?! Woman's Day and WomansDay.com editors hit the books to bring you their top picks for the season. Whether you're seeking adventure, mystery or romance, click through to see which June, July and August releases we recommend. Photo credit: Crown, Ballantine, Viking, Knopf, Harper S&S, St. Martin's Press, Simon & Schuster, William Morrow
Beautiful Ruins
by Jess Walter (June/Harper, $25.99)
A young American actress is shepherded away from the film set of Cleopatra in 1962 and sent to an Italian inn. Said to be suffering from "stomach cancer," it's later revealed she's pregnant with Richard Burton's child. A young Italian innkeeper, having fallen for the actress, travels to Hollywood in search of her many years later in this entertaining epic about romance, betrayal and greed. Photo credit: Harper
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The Meryl Streep Movie Club
by Mia March (June/S&S, $15 paperback)
In March's debut novel, three cousins come together in the quaint Maine inn where they grew up to find solace and comfort in Streep's oeuvre of films after each finds her life in disarray. The movies work their magic as each woman repairs her heartache in this emotional and heartwarming read. Photo credit: S&S
The Orphanmaster
by Jean Zimmerman (June/Viking, $27.95)
Set in the 17th century Dutch colony New Amsterdam, in what is now lower Manhattan, this historical fiction work follows 22-year-old trader Blandine van Couvering and the dashing spy Edward Drummond as they try to solve cases of disappearing orphans in the colony. Suspects include everyone from the governor's wealthy nephew to a possibly possessed Native American trapper to the colony's orphanmaster, himself. As a romance develops between Blandine and Edward, their lives come crashing in when she's accused of being a witch and he's sentenced to death for espionage. This fast-paced novel keeps you enthralled in both the mystery and the romance while also immersing you in colonial life, with industry and opportunity on one hand and violence and disease on the other.Photo credit: Viking
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Where We Belong
by Emily Giffin (July/St. Martin's Press)
In Giffin's newest novel, two very different women-a high-powered TV producer and a precocious 18-year-old-find their lives inextricably joined by a secret from their pasts. Touching on themes of family, forgiveness and honesty, this book follows the pair as they discover what's really missing in their lives. St. Martin's Press
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn (June/Crown, $25)
Where is Amy Dunne? That's the question on everybody's mind as this psychological thriller unfolds. On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne comes home to find his front door wide open, the living room disheveled and his wife, Amy, missing. Once the police and media get involved, all clues point to Nick as the primary suspect in covering up Amy's possible murder. But after a chilling, bombshell twist, you won't know which clues to trust nor whom to believe. Told from two perspectives,Gone Girlforces you to ask yourself, what would you do and who dunnit?Photo credit: Crown
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Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child
by Bob Spitz (August/Knopf, $29.95)
Julia Child is perhaps the most iconic television chef of all time, but before she could find her true calling, she had to evolve from an unambitious Pasadena, CA, woman who ran off to join a spy agency during World War II. Just in time for her 100th birthday, award-winning author Bob Spitz takes us through her life with excerpts from her diaries and letters, revealing a rebel, who became one of the first women to graduate from the Cordon Bleu in Paris, and a remarkable, decades-long romance with her husband, Paul Child. Photo credit: Knopf
Motherland
by Amy Sohn (August/Simon & Schuster, $25
If there's one book that defines the faults that come with relationships,Motherlandis it. In the middle-class-family realm of Connecticut and New York, it seems that everything is as it should be. But hardly any married person is faithful. For instance, while Gottlieb, married to CC, sets out to chase his dreams, his infatuation with the female anatomy puts him on another track. The other couples, Rebecca and Theo, Joanne and Andy and Marco and Todd, along with celebrity, Melora, build an emotional web full of love, lust and regret, tinged with forgiveness. Don't worry if you don't know whether to laugh or cry during the novel-that's what makes it captivating.Photo credit: Simon & Schuster
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The Roots of the Olive Tree
by Courtney Miller Santo (August/William Morrow, $25.99)
At 112, Anne is the second-oldest person in the world, yet her life is starting anew. Her home, Hill House, fills up with all five generations of Keller women. Anne, Bets, Callie, Deb and Erin all have secrets to share, but Anne has a few she'd rather not tell. When a geneticist seeks the scientific reasoning behind Anne's longevity, her hidden truths become hard to protect. As the olive branches harvest in the Hill House grove, your heart and soul will burst with sympathy and appreciation of these lively women. Photo credit: William Morrow
Seating Arrangements
by Maggie Shipstead (June/Knopf, $25.95)
There's a wedding coming up...but the Van Meter family can't wait for it to be over. Set in the summertime on Waskeke, the island where patriarch Winn feels the most at home, the air is breezy and the beach is the picturesque backyard. About to send off his daughter, Daphne, to the Duff clan, he feels uncertain about the wedding weekend-which winds up featuring infidelity and personality clashes. The novel keeps you guessing whether the wedding will actually take place, and you'll cringe at the awkward situations that Shipstead makes seem so real. Whether or not you can identify with this affluent crowd, Shipstead shows that behind some WASPy smiles, there's a wickedness bound to come out.Photo credit: Knopf
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Summer Breeze
by Nancy Thayer (June/Ballantine, $26)
New England's Dragonfly Lake serves as the backdrop for this moving story of self-discovery and friendship, as three women come together to heal their wounds and pursue unrealized dreams. Filled with intrigue and romance, this novel shows how women's unique bonds can survive even the most tempestuous times. Photo credit: Ballantine
Original article appeared on WomansDay.com.
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