It’s June! In New York it’s starting to get swelteringly hot on the subways and the summer cycle of thick, humid days punctuated by thunderstorms has begun. Maybe you’re reading this from New York too, or perhaps from the gorgeous dryer heat of Los Angeles, or the dappled gray sunshine of London, or somewhere else completely. Regardless of your location, summer means vacation, and vacation means time to dig into your reading list. Finding one book you love is a feat in itself, but something even more glorious is finding an author you connect with. Suddenly, a whole body of work is before you, and returning to a familiar authorial voice is one of the most comforting experiences in reading. It’s like reuniting with an old friend, someone you don’t need to keep in constant contact with, but know that when you do see one another it will feel as though no time has passed. If you’re on the lookout for your new favorite author (which, let’s be honest, is probably always the case), then I can help. Here are a few authors with work ranging from fact to fiction, from contemporary to long dead, and from all corners of the literary world.
Jodi Picoult: for fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and family-oriented page turners
Jodi Picoult is probably the most popular author on this list, and I included her because so many of my girlfriends tell me they’re looking for books similar to Gone Girl. Jodi Picoult’s writing is readable and engrossing, but it’s never trashy. Her books tend slightly more toward moral dilemmas and family dynamics. You’ve probably heard of My Sister’s Keeper and Small Great Things, but she’s published nearly thirty novels in total, so if you like her style you have lots of options. Her website’s tagline is “novels about family, relationships, love, & more”, so if you’re interested in ideas like what would happen if a family genetically developed a second daughter to act solely as a donor to their firstborn who is battling cancer, or how hospitals should handle racist requests from patients regarding their doctors and nurses, then you’ll love the twisty and plot-driven worlds Picoult creates.
Start with: My Sister’s Keeper, Small Great Things
Joyce Carol Oates: for fans of Criminal Minds and true crime
I realize I’ve written a lot about Joyce Carol Oates here, which is because she’s one of my absolute favorite authors. I also feel that she caters to a lot of different tastes. With her penchant for fictionalizing some of the most infamous people, events, crimes and conspiracies in recent history, her books are easy to get drawn into. Once in, her gorgeous, rich language will keep you hooked. I love that Oates writes books that are well-structured, with beautiful language and developed characters, but are also great fun to read. She also has published over 100 books, mostly dark and slightly menacing, so there’s a wealth to choose from here.
Start with: Black Water, Blonde, We Were the Mulvaneys, and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been
Donna Tartt: for fans of “good” literature and Oscar winning movies
If you haven’t already heard, Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Goldfinch will be released as a movie this year starring Ansel Elgort, so you’ll be hearing her name a lot if you haven’t already. Tartt is a relatively young author, and has only published 3 novels, but they are all meaty and delicious. They are all also relatively different. The Secret History revolves around a group of Classics students at a prestigious New England liberal arts college as they become embroiled in their charismatic teacher, each other’s lives, and a deadly crime. The Little Friend is a Southern Gothic novel told through the eyes of a young girl, and The Goldfinch is an epic story of a boy growing up after tragically losing his mother, with some art theft thrown in as well.
Start with: The Goldfinch
Nick Hornby: for anyone who needs a good laugh
Nick Hornby’s writing embodies British humor. But while the comedy is relatively dry, Hornby writes with incredible heart and empathy, lending a sense of incredible warmth to all his books. I discovered his writing as a child when I read About A Boy, a story about the unlikely friendship between Marcus, a boy who is wise beyond his years, and Will, an overgrown man-child. It’s the first book I ever remember making me laugh so much I could hardly breathe. For the whole summer after I finished it, memories of the “dead duck day” caused me to burst out laughing at completely random moments. He also wrote the screenplay for Brooklyn, and An Education, so if you liked those movies (which you should, because they’re amazing), or just want to read a laugh out loud book, Nick Hornby provies plenty of excellent choices.
Start with: About A Boy, High Fidelity, and Funny Girl
Frantz Fanon: for fans of human rights (hopefully everyone here), non-fiction, politics, history, and International Relations
When I moved to the US for college, I made a point to start taking classes about colonialism and postcolonialism, something I felt I was never taught in England. Postcolonial literature is now some of my favorite reading, and something I feel everyone should read. Some great postcolonial books include Americanah by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee, but the only place to start is with Frantz Fanon. He’s a writer and intellectual who’s widely regarded as pioneering postcolonial studies. His writing is non-fiction, rooted in psychology and politics, and incredibly important in understanding the power structures that operate throughout the world today.
Start with: Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth
Joan Didion: for those who want to hold their own in literary circles
Joan Didion is a universally celebrated author, but probably best known in the US and particularly in California (where she’s from). She wrote for Vogue for 7 years before turning to novels. As well as being a noted author, she’s an icon of culture and style. She is fastidious about sentence structure and it’s clear when reading her sparse prose that every word has been given real thought. I studied her work in almost every literature and creative writing class I took in college as an example of the kind of exemplary writing that we could only aspire to. If you appreciate seriously good writing, then you’ll appreciate all that Didion has to offer, from essays to plays to novels.
Start with: Slouching Toward Bethlehem and Play It as It Lays
Chronicles of a British Book Nerd 