All this month we’re featuring a selection of fantastic summer reading selected by the experts at O: The Oprah Magazine. See more topics here.
A hero or heroine embarks on a voyage and in the process is transformed. It’s the oldest story we tell. Whether it’s the tragedies of the African diaspora, a scientist decoding the mysteries of medicine while unearthing family secrets, or a gourmand’s gastronomical quest among the cities and villages of China, these enthralling titles explore how personal journeys can mirror dramatic developments in the world and in our hearts.
Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi (Knopf)
Spanning two continents and three centuries, Yaa Gyasi’s luminous debut evokes the tortured legacy of the slave trade through the story of two half sisters and their descendants. The novel toggles between plot lines: one set along Africa’s Gold Coast, the other against the brutality of American racism. The author thrillingly depicts her characters’ migrations from mud hut villages to Harlem’s jazz clubs to Ghana’s silvered beaches, celebrating how place and fate shape us all. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.
The Noise of Time, Julian Barnes (Knopf)
Barnes’s exquisite new novel charts the peripatetic career of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), Stalin’s almost victim—spared so he could show the world the power of Soviet culture even as he grapples with troubling questions about politics and art. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.
The Gene, by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner)
The Pulitzer Prize winner weaves an epic history of human speculation, error, discovery, and wonder about our genetic code in a close-to-the-bone story of hereditary mental illness in his own family. An unexpectedly enthralling inquiry into the realm of bioethics. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.
The Nordic Theory of Everything, by Anu Partanem (Harper)
After Newsweek declares Finland “the best country in the world” and the United Nations names it the second happiest, a Finnish transplant to the U.S. sets out to find a cure for her anxiety by looking homeward, in an engaging fusion of reportage and memoir. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.
Double Cup Love, by Eddie Huang (Spiegel and Grau)
When a Chinese-Taiwanese-NYC celebrity chef falls in love with an Italian girl from Scranton, Pennsylvania, he resolves to retrace his family’s migration to reconnect with his roots. From the enfant terrible behind Chairman Mao’s Cherry Cola Skirt Steak recipe and the hit memoir Fresh Off the Boat. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.
In the Darkroom, by Susan Faludi (Metropolitan Books)
When a feminist writer learns that her once-abusive father is now living as a woman, she flies to Hungary to meet the parent she never really knew and investigate urgent new questions of identity. Start Reading Now on B&N Readouts.
Looking for more inspirations for your summer reading? Explore more of The Best Books of Summer from the editors of O: The Oprah Magazine, in the B&N Review or in the pages of this month’s issue of O: The Oprah Magazine.
The Barnes & Noble Review http://ift.tt/29ig61j
Sig Nordal 