With daytime temperatures in three figures and afternoon wind gusts often in two, it’s a good time of year to stay indoors … and in a good book.
Looking for suggestions?
Predictably, volunteers with the Tucson Festival of Books are happy to help. Here’s a short list of titles they named as their own favorite books of the year so far:
- “This Vast Enterprise” by Craig Fehrman invites us to meet Meriweather Lewis and William Clark, the legendary Lewis and Clark, and join them on their 18-month journey across America from 1804-06. Employing a different narrator for every chapter, Fehrman offers a full-color, 3D view of an expedition most of us think of in black and white. — Bruce Dinges
- “Daughters of the Sun and Moon” by Lisa See is the story of three Chinese women who arrive in small, dusty, lawless Los Angeles in 1870. They are very different people leading very different lives until they were brought together by hardship and heartbreak. — Bill Viner
People are also reading…
- “Ironwood” is the second installment in Michael Connelly’s new series of mysteries set on Santa Catalina Island. Los Angeles Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been exiled to Avalon, but even there, trouble seems to find him. This time, one of Stilwell’s deputies is killed in Chapter One. — Pamela Treadwell-Rubin
- “She Drinks the Light” by Yasmin Angoe is a young adult thriller featuring Addae, a teenager who has lived her entire life on a small family-owned island off the coast of South Carolina. The family has secrets even she doesn’t know, and Addae must unravel them if she is to save her best friend … and the island itself. — Tricia Clapp
- “Big Fan” by Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur is a road trip diary of experiences that celebrate the joy and wonder of sports — all sports — all over the world. Baseball, basketball, chess, darts, stickball … Posnanski and Schur remind us why we are so drawn to the games people play. — Jack Siry
- “Whistler” is a uniquely Ann Patchett story about love, loss and family. It begins in the New York Museum of Art, where Daphne Fuller and her husband realize they are being followed by an elderly white-haired man: a stepfather she hasn’t seen in 44 years. — Maria Parham
- "Kin" by Tayari Jones was Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club pick in February. It follows Bernice and Annie, two young girls who have lost their mothers and become best friends in Honeysuckle, Louisiana. They are destined to lead very different lives but, in the end, their reunion underlines the title of the book. — Meg Files
- “Yesteryear” by Caro Claire Burke was the Good Morning America Book Club pick for April. It features Natalie Heller Mills, a social media influencer whose 8 million followers are attracted by her portrayal of old-fashioned values from her family’s ranch in rural Idaho. Then, one day, Natalie awakens in the year 1855 … with no electricity, no modern appliances and no clue how to navigate this truly old-fashioned way of life. — Lynn Wiese Sneyd
- “Famesick” is a surprisingly candid memoir by Lena Dunham, the creator, writer and star of the HBO series Girls, which aired from 2012-17. While basking in the spotlight on the outside, Dunham was fighting serious health challenges, mental issues, and addiction. Want to be famous? You sure? — Karyn Prechtel-Altman
- “Maybe the Body” is a debut collection of poems by Asa Drake that explores lineage, belonging, identity, and the many contradictions that complicate so many parts of our lives. — Cameron Quan
- “The Oldest Bitch Alive” by Tucsonan Morgan Day may be the most original novel we see all year, a polyphonic story featuring an old French bulldog living through her final days. With a surprisingly erudite voice, she ponders the world around her … and the role she plays in it. Even the bulldog’s tapeworms have roles to play. — Emily Walsh
- “Lion’s Run” by Sara Pennypacker is a young adult tale about an orphan in occupied France during World War II. Thirteen-year-old Lucas Dubois is a foundling who is growing up in an abbey orphanage in the village of Laboulaye. He has such a tender heart that the other boys call him “Petit Éclair,” yet he decides to help a new friend — and her horse — flee the Nazis. — Kathy Short
- “Honey Bee Mine” by Tucsonan Sarah T. Dubb is a small-town romance featuring a beekeeper who is desperately trying to save her family’s farm from financial ruin. Her last chance is to stage a successful honey festival, and she needs help. It is the town’s former bad boy who comes to her side. — Jessica Pryde
- “The Calamity Club” by Kathryn Stockett is a historical novel featuring an unlikely group of women in Mississippi as they struggle to survive and succeed during the Great Depression. — Tricia Schorr
- “A Vow in Vengeance” by Tucson’s Jaclyn Rodriguez is a romantic fantasy featuring a young woman who has lost her family, her home, and her freedom to the Immortals. It is time to get them back, and get even. — Jessica Pryde
