Memorial Day is coming up this weekend, and you might be looking for something thought-provoking to read. Literary fiction is extremely versatile, and novels that fall within this genre are guaranteed to make you think. Books like A Little Life and Fates and Furies took the literary world by storm last year, and there are more good summer reads that have been released recently. We searched for the best summer reads of 2016 for literary fiction so you don’t have to!
Best Summer Reads 2016: Literary Fiction
Everybody’s Fool
Richard Russo
Twenty-three years after the release of Russo’s Nobody’s Fool, Everybody’s Fool continues the story of Sully and his life in Upstate New York. He just learned that he only has a few years left to live, and he’s trying to figure out how he’s going to tell his family. Sully is the main character of the book, but it also features a large ensemble of interesting and colorful people. The Boston Globe called it “a big, rambunctious novel with endless riffs and unstoppable human hopefulness.”
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The Nest
Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
The Nest is D’Aprix Sweeney’s debut novel, and it has been delighting readers everywhere since its release. The Plumb family is startlingly dysfunctional, and their story is one to which many people can relate. Each member of the family is dealing with their own issues, and it all comes to a head in a stunning turn of events. PopSugar referred to The Nest as “a compulsively readable novel that will keep you thinking about how expectations can shape our lives.”
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Britt-Marie Was Here
Fredrik Backman
Fredrick Backman is the best-selling author of A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Ask Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, and this new release is just as charming as its predecessors. After walking out on her cheating husband, perfectionist Britt-Maire is in search of a place to call her own. She may be a bit neurotic, but you can’t help but fall in love with her story. Shelf Awareness stated that Britt-Marie Was Here is “a brilliant mix of belly-laughs, profound insight, and captivating events.”
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The Assistants
Camille Perri
If you added a bit of blackmail and corruption to HBO’s Girls, then you’d get The Assistants. Tina has been working as an assistant for a wealthy CEO for six years, and she’s finally over the glamour of her important New York City company. When she decides to take the money that came from her boss’s expense report error, she starts a revolution of assistants who are tired of playing by the rules. This novel is “smart and fresh” according to Publisher’s Weekly, and it would make the perfect beachside read.
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Last Ride to Graceland
Kim Wright
Have you ever dreamed of going on one of those “self-discovery” road trips? In Last Ride to Graceland, blues musician Cory Ainsworth drives from South California to Memphis to figure out whether or not Elvis Presley was her father. She stops through many small towns on the way, creating an exciting trip that any reader will envy. RT Book Reviews says that this book is “a perfect pick to add to your summer TBR list… [creating] memorable stories with interesting and unique backgrounds.”
Buy on Amazon Buy Nook Book Buy iBookThe Apartment
Danielle Steel
Already a New York Times Bestseller, The Apartment is the newest release from one of the world’s most popular authors. It follows the story of four women who meet by chance and decide to live together in a spacious Hell’s Kitchen loft. Their life is similar to an all female version of the popular TV series Friends, and it shows just how much a group of friends can care about one another.
Buy on Amazon Buy Nook Book Buy iBookEligible
Curtis Sittenfeld
Hilarious and clever, Eligible is a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. In this version, Liz Bennet is a magazine writer living in NYC who has to move back home when her father starts to have health problems. Throughout the story, you will find your favorite Austen characters in the most amusing and witty modern settings. Eligible has already received ample praise, with sources like Entertainment Weekly calling it a “sparkling, fresh contemporary retelling.”
Buy on Amazon Buy Nook Book Buy iBookThe Loney
Andrew Michael Hurley
Set in England, The Loney tells the story of a family that takes an Easter pilgrimage to the Lancashire coastline in hopes of curing their disabled son, Harry. Terrifying events occurred that day, and Smith must try to recall what happen forty years later. The Loney has been praised as a “modern classic” by reviewers from the Sunday Telegraph.
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