Summer Reading Guide 2024
Our Recommendations for the New (Mostly) and the Tried and True (Some)
Introduction by Mark Trowbridge
As the page turns on your calendar, you are likely Googling the best places to travel this summer — both internationally and domestic — and trying to make plans for that once-in-a-lifetime getaway. Locales like Fiji Bali, and the Amalfi Coast are popping up on your computer screen, as well as San Diego, Bar Harbor, and the ever-reliable Grand Canyon. All these destinations evoke excitement to the seasoned traveler, as well as the newbie explorer, especially to those of us who have stuck closer to home the last four summers thanks to a worldwide pandemic.
As you browse the internet, the most important questions you are seeking answers to at this moment are: what’s your budget, where will you stay, what will you wear, and, of course, what will you read?! We have the answer for you.
Once again (like last summer), Coral Gables Magazine has partnered with the brilliant book seller Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books, citizen extraordinaire and former Miami Herald publisher David Lawrence, and yours truly, the CEO and president of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce, to craft our very own Summer Reading List.
Equal parts new titles and future releases, as well as a balance between fiction and non-fiction, we present varying topics, including new business-related books (recommended by me) and the latest in books with historical insight (thank you, Dave Lawrence). This year, we added the insights of Lowe Art Museum Curator Jill Deupi on the subjects of art and culture, with Mitch handling the latest in fiction.
We have it all for you across 40 hot titles. Some of these books are on shelves now and others will be released over the next few months — with our curated list designed to keep your summer mind engaged, your interests keen, and your suitcase stuffed with deliciously good reads.
And even if you stay close to home this season, your nightstand will be as welcoming of these titles as your carry-on.
Fiction & Memoirs
State of Paradise: A Novel
by Laura Van Den Berg
A ghostwriter for a famous thriller author returns to her mother’s house in the Florida town where she grew up. As the summer sets in, she wrestles with family secrets and memories of her troubled youth. But it’s not just the ominous cats, her mother’s burgeoning cult, or the fact that her belly button has become an increasingly deep cavern – something is off in the town….
The Women
by Kristin Hannah
From the author of “The Nightingale,” here’s another riveting story about a woman navigating heroically through a very fraught time and place; this time, she is immersed in another time when we found ourselves most divided – during the Vietnam War – where she serves in the Army Nurse Corps. “Hannah again shines her light on overlooked women in history.” – People Magazine
The Paris Novel
by Ruth Reichl
Food, art, and Paris. Who could want more?! This is a gorgeously uplifting new novel about living – and eating – deliciously, and no one writes about food like Ruth Reichl. “Food critic and novelist Reichl serves up a delectable story of an introverted copy editor’s life-changing visit to Paris in the 1980s.” – Publishers Weekly
Pink Glass Hours
by Asha Elias
Social satire is at its best in this debut novel by one of our very own, which will have everyone in Miami talking! It is seductively set in the world of wealthy PTA moms at an elite elementary school in Miami Beach. “Delicious, decadent, and utterly diabolical. No one serves up a scandal like Asha Elias.” – Kirsten Miller, author of “The Change”
Lies and Weddings
by Kevin Kwan
A globetrotting tale that takes you from the black sand beaches of Hawaii to the skies of Marrakesh, from the glitzy bachelor pads of L.A. to the inner sanctums of England’s oldest family estates. This is a juicy, hilarious, sophisticated, and thrillingly plotted story of love, money, murder, sex, and the lies we tell about them all.
Victim
by Andrew Boryga
A debut by a Miamian who has the courage to tackle difficult questions head-on. “You get debuts this blazing once in a generation, if you’re lucky. Boryga is brilliant, a brilliant writer, a brilliant satirist; his voice could light up a city. Victim is a stake of truth aimed at our vampire culture’s charlatanic heart.” – Junot Díaz
Oye
by Melissa Mogollon
An inventive debut, this is a telenovelaworthy coming-of-age story and family drama told over one long telephone conversation – a phone call you won’t want to hang up on. “By a dazzling new voice, this book is a funny and heartfelt exploration of growing up, resilience, sisterhood, and finding your path.” – Electric Literature
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk
Kathleen Hanna
The raw and insightful memoir of the legendary front woman of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. “A fantastic journey into an unconventional life, pulsing with raw energy and vulnerability that I witnessed firsthand. It’s honest, funny, witty, and smart. And most of all, it’s important to the herstory of Kathleen’s place in blazing new trails.” – Joan Jett
The Friday Afternoon Club
Griffin Dunne
A memoir of growing up in a larger-than-life family in Los Angeles and Manhattan, this celebrity memoir has a boldface cast of characters and jaw-dropping scenes. “Dunne’s writing is vivid, openhearted, and full of a rich irony that inflects even the most emotional scenes… The result is a raucously entertaining homage to an unforgettable dynasty.” – Publishers Weekly
All Fours
by Miranda July
A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from L.A. to N.Y. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in an entirely different journey. An irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious and surprising novel about a woman upending her life.
American Spirits
Russell Banks
Three interlocking stories about how our political discourse has arrived where it has also demonstrated the power of empathy to bring us all a greater understanding of each other. “I learned so much about storytelling and about our country reading these stories, and I finished the book full of gratitude that such a man, and a writer, could have existed.” – George Saunders
Baumgartner
by Paul Auster
Baumgartner’s life had been defined by his deep love for his wife, Anna, killed in a swimming accident nine years earlier. Now 71, he continues to struggle to live in her absence as the novel sinuously unfolds into spirals of memory and reminiscence. Auster’s brilliant final novel speaks of the preciousness of time, memory, and love. It resonated with me far after I finished its last pages.
Reading The Room: A Bookseller’s Tale
by Paul Yamazaki
Paul Yamazaki, one of the spiritual forces behind the legendary City Lights Bookstore, gives us a love story to books and bookselling. “Yamazaki is one of the greatest and most influential readers in the world. [This volume] reminds us that reading is an act of imagination, defiance, optimism, and love. Paul brings the whole of his being to the world of books.” – Katie Kitamura
Long Island Compromise
by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalized, and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids less than a week later, only slightly the worse, and the family moves on with their lives. But now, nearly 40 years later, it’s clear that nobody ever got over anything. An exhilarating novel about one American family.
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
by Dr. Amishi Jha
Erik Larson, author of “The Devil in the White City,” finds another pivot in history that he brings to life as only he can. This time, it’s the period between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the start of the Civil War. “Twisty and cinematic… a mesmerizing and disconcerting look at an era when consensus dissolved into deadly polarization.” – Publishers Weekly
An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The author of “Team of Rivals” artfully weaves together biography, memoir, and a history of the 1960s, illuminating public and private moments through the intimate prism of her marriage to the brilliant Richard Goodwin, and through the experiences with the powerful leaders they served. “With her skillful grasp of revealing detail, Ms. Goodwin brings political figures back to life.” – The New York Times
Art & Culture
The Tale of Genji (Penguin Classics)
by Murasaki Shikibu and translated by Royall Tyler
The first new translation in 25 years of this masterpiece of Japanese literature. Lady Murasaki’s great 11th century novel is a beautifully crafted story of love, betrayal, and death at the Imperial Court. At the core of this epic is Prince Genji, the son of an emperor, whose passionate character, love affairs, and shifting political fortunes offer an exquisite glimpse of Japan’s golden age.
Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris
by Alicia Foster
Gwen John was one of the most significant British artists of the early 20th century, active in Paris and London and featured in the highly influential avant-garde Armory Show in New York in 1913. Demolishing the myth of the recluse, this sustained critical biography of a much-loved artist locates her firmly in the art worlds of London and Paris, where she lived and worked.
Just Kids (National Book Award Winner)
by Patti Smith
It was a summer of love and riots, and a summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led poet/performer Patti Smith and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. “Just Kids” begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. A fable of New York City during the late ‘60s, it is a portrait of two young artists pre-fame.
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
by Robert A. Caro
Robert Caro’s monumental book makes public what few outsiders knew: that Robert Moses was the most powerful man of his time in New York City and State. In telling the Moses story, Caro portrays how politics really happens. Moses built an empire, lived like an emperor, and was held in fear – his dossiers could disgorge the dark secret of anyone who opposed him.
Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa
by Marylin Chase
The story of a woman who wielded imagination and hope in the face of intolerance and who transformed everything she touched into art. In this compelling biography, author Marilyn Chase brings Ruth Asawa’s story to vivid life. She draws on Asawa’s extensive archives and weaves together many voices to offer a complex and fascinating portrait of the artist.
Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art
by Thomas Hoving
From Simon & Schuster, “Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art” is an unforgettable autobiography for any arts and culture fan. In this book, a former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art reveals his bold and brash life at its pinnacle – and the clandestine deals which secured blockbuster exhibitions for the museum and which made him a legend.
The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance (Illustrated)
by Edmund De Waal
Two hundred and sixty-four Japanese wood and ivory carvings, none larger than a matchbox: Edmund de Waal was entranced when he encountered the collection in his great-uncle Iggie’s Tokyo apartment. When he later inherited the netsuke, they unlocked a far more dramatic story than he could ever have imagined. This illustrated edition transforms an intimate saga into a work of visual art.
In Praise of Shadows
by Junichiro Tanizaki
An essay on aesthetics by the Japanese novelist, this book explores architecture, jade, food, and even toilets, combining an acute sense of the use of space in buildings. The book also includes descriptions of laquerware under candlelight and women in the darkness of the house of pleasure. A fully illustrated, beautifully produced edition of Junichiro Tanizaki’s wise and evocative essay on Japanese culture.
History
Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged from Roosevelt’s Shadow and Remade the World
by David L. Roll
The book that “rehabbed” Harry Truman was David McCullough’s “Truman” from 1992. It turned out that Truman was not only a good man, but a pretty good president, too. Now comes this book, centered on his ascension to power after FDR’s death in 1945 and focused on just three years leading to his semi-stunning election in 1948. Insightful storytelling.
Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power
by Timothy W. Ryback
A great successor to Volker Ullrich’s two great books covering Hitler from 1889 to 1945, this one captures the final year of Hitler’s ascent to power. He could have been stopped, obviously should have been stopped. Storm Troopers didn’t do the deed here. All sorts of folks miscalculated, including the business community. (“He’s better than the Communists and we can handle him.”)
Table for Two
by Amor Towles
Amor Towles doesn’t write bad books. My favorite: “A Gentleman in Moscow.” Wonderful tale of a Russian nobleman who, after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, is exiled to the Hotel Metropol in Moscow. His intelligence and savvy and decency converts his captors. His newest book: A splendid set of short stories inhabited by fascinating characters, plus a novella of quality.
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
by Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie no doubt thought the fatwa days were long gone, but the pledge-to-kill order by Khomeini was still carried out against him two summers ago. Twenty-seven seconds and 15 stab wounds. Only by a miracle is the great author alive to tell the story. It is that story, and a love story, as well.
The Education of Eva Moskowitz
by Eva Moskowitz
The charter schools she launched in New York City, serving 20,000 students in 53 schools, remain demonized by a powerful union. I met the author in Miami, went to see for myself, coming away wowed by what I witnessed in first and second grade classrooms. Her book is the saga of a struggle for schools of choice making a difference for many families.
James
by Percival Everett
Like other high school students going back generations, I read “Huckleberry Finn,” Mark Twain’s classic told from Huck Finn’s perspective. Hemingway told us, “All modern American literature comes from (this) one book.” Now Jim has his turn, and it turns out he’s smarter and wiser than we had been led to believe. There’s much to learn from Jim. This is a masterpiece.
Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn
by Daniel Gordis
This book could not have been more timely. A fair-minded, fact-focused author gives us the story of a nation and how it came to be… and why it always needs to be. This book chronicles the pain and the problems and the promise – and, yes, the faults and failures – and emerges as a basic text for understanding the Middle East’s only democracy.
Charlie Chaplin vs. America: Where Art, Sex and Politics Collided
by Scott Eyman
The great artist, famous throughout the world, never did know a whole bunch about what was going in the world – and paid the price for his naivete. A Brit, he came to America and loved it here, then couldn’t come back. A sad and telling story about the Red Scare and his exile from a country – this country – that he loved.
Business & Leadership
The Algebra of Wealth
by Scott Galloway
Today’s workers have more opportunities and mobility than ever before. They also face unprecedented challenges, including inflation, labor, and housing shortages, and climate volatility. In “The Algebra of Wealth,” Scott Galloway lays bare the rules of financial success in today’s economy. In his unvarnished, no-BS style, he explains what you need to know to better your chances for economic security.
Right Thing, Right Now
by Ryan Holiday
In “Right Thing, Right Now,” Holiday draws on fascinating stories of historical figures such as Marcus Aurelius, Jimmy Carter, Gandhi, and Frederick Douglass, whose examples of kindness, honesty, integrity, and loyalty we can emulate as pillars of upright living. Through the lives of role models, readers learn the transformational power of living by a moral code – and the consequences of an ill-formed conscience.
On the Edge
by Nate Silver
Professional risk-takers – poker players, hedge fund managers, crypto true believers, blue-chip art collectors – can teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the 21st century. Taking us behind the scenes, from casinos to venture capital firms to the FTX inner sanctum, “On the Edge” is a deeply reported, all-access journey into a hidden world of power brokers and risk-takers.
The Everything War
by Dana Mattioli
For over 20 years, Amazon was the quintessential American success story, whilst its “customer obsession” approach made it indelibly attractive to consumers across the globe. From veteran Amazon reporter for The Wall Street Journal, “The Everything War” is the first untold, devastating exposé of Amazon’s endless strategic greed, its pursuit of total domination by any means necessary, and the growing efforts to stop it.
Drive
by Daniel Pink
“Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” is a non-fiction book which argues that human motivation is largely intrinsic and that aspects of this motivation can be divided into autonomy, mastery, and purpose. He argues against old models of motivation driven by rewards (money) and fear of punishment. The book asserts that higher pay and bonuses don’t necessarily result in better performance.
Master Mentors
by Jeffery Miller
For busy professionals and lifelong learners seeking practical strategies for reaching new heights, “Master Mentors” distills 30 essential learnings from Seth Godin, Susan Cain, Trent Shelton, and other top business minds and thought leaders of our time. Whether you are challenged, affirmed, informed, or inspired—Master Mentors guarantees you will experience a transformative shift in your personal mindset, life skillset, and career toolset.
Peak Mind
Dr. Amishi Jha
Amishi Jha is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Miami, where she serves as the director of contemplative neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative. The research in her laboratory, The Jha Lab, is dedicated to studying the neural bases of attention and the effects of mindfulness-based training programs on cognition, emotion, and resilience. These are her insights.
The Road to Freedom
by Joseph E. Stiglitz
Taking on giants of neoliberalism such as Hayek and Friedman, and examining how public opinion is formed, Stiglitz reclaims the language of freedom from the right. He shows that “free” – unregulated – markets that promise growth and enterprise in fact reduce it, lessening economic opportunities for majorities and siphoning wealth from the many to the few – both individuals and countries.