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Book Club Books For June 2014: What To Read This Month And Into Summer

20 Books To Read This Month And Through The Summer
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Readers, rejoice — it is the time of year when daylight takes its time going away, and we can sit in parks reading books for hours on end. That, of course, lends itself beautifully to some al fresco book clubs taking place all summer. So the only issue facing you really is, what to read?

As always, this season has plenty of juicy, easy beach reads on offer, which occasionally end up being fabulous books in and of themselves. There's also plenty of tomes coming from heavy-hitting authors, who seem to be trying to sneak their more serious works into vacations and the like (which is just fine by us, to be honest).

Check out these ideas for what to read with your book club this month, and let us know if there's a must-read for us!

Em And The Big Hoom

Book Club Books For June 2014

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Book: Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto (available June 24, 2014)

Genre: Fiction

Elevator pitch: A story about a married couple in India as narrated by their child, this book looks at what it means when your mother is the centre of everyone's world — and what it means when she changes drastically.

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Falooda and samosas

Number of pages: 240 pages

Comparables: Life Is What You Make It; Family Matters

Book: The Untold by Courtney Collins

Genre: Adventure, love

Elevator pitch: A woman is on the run in the 1920s Australian Outback, trying to escape both her lover and the police.

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Meat pies

Number of pages: 288 pages

Comparables: The Sisters Brothers; Water For Elephants

Book: The Secret Life Of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams

Genre: Historical fiction

Elevator pitch: A 1960s privileged Manhattanite tries to exert her independence by working — then ends up discovering far more about her family (and where she gets her ambition) than she ever thought possible

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: A classic martini

Number of pages: 448 pages

Comparables: The Heiresses

Book: My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff

Genre: Autobiography

Elevator pitch: A year in the life of literary assistant Rakoff found her answering J.D. Salinger's fan mail, and sucked into that world more than she would have guessed.

Will it be a movie?: Yes — rights were sold in 2012

Goes best with: Apparently, Burger King

Number of pages: 272 pages

Comparables: The Devil Wears Prada; & Sons

Book: Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey

Genre: Mystery

Elevator pitch: A woman who is losing her memory is convinced her best friend has gone missing, but while searching for her, begins to uncover a long-lost crime about her sister

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Tea and cookies

Number of pages: 288 pages

Comparables: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry; Before I Go To Sleep

Book: Longbourn by Jo Baker

Genre: Historical fiction

Elevator pitch: This rewriting of Pride & Prejudice focuses on the Bennets' housemaid, and her own feelings of rebellion (now in paperback)

Will it be a movie?: Yes indeed

Goes best with: Ice cream and punch

Number of pages: 352 pages

Comparables: The Help; The Jane Austen Book Club

Book: The Rise & Fall Of Great Powers by Tom Rachman

Genre: Literary fiction

Elevator pitch: What becomes of a little girl who is kidnapped by criminal masterminds and used in their schemes around the world? This book has an idea.

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: A pint, for the book's Welsh roots

Number of pages: 400 pages

Comparables: The Goldfinch

Book: The Book Of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez

Genre: Fiction

Elevator pitch: An American immigrant story involving a Mexican family (whose daughter has just had a terrible accident) and a Panamanian teen

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Tacos and margaritas

Number of pages: 304 pages

Comparables: The Namesake; My New American Life

Book: The Quick by Lauren Owen

Genre: Historical suspense

Elevator pitch: A brother's death leads in Victorian England leads his sister to investigate, and discover an underground world few knew existed

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Chilled champagne

Number of pages: 544 pages

Comparables: The Night Circus; The Crimson Petal and the White

Book: Summer House With Swimming Pool by Herman Koch

Genre: Medical crime

Elevator pitch: A doctor to the stars loses a patient, and realizes how much he hates the people he treats in this psychological thriller/novel of manners

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Pomegranate juice (healthy and the colour of blood)

Number of pages: 400 pages

Comparables: The Surgeon; The Dinner

Book: The Vacationers by Emma Straub

Genre: Family fiction (but adult)

Elevator pitch: From the title to the cover, is there anything about this book that doesn't scream beach read? The plot is right on the same lines, about an American family's two-week trip to Mallorca (but with truly excellent writing)

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Sangria

Number of pages: 304 pages

Comparables: Seating Arrangements; Cutting Teeth

Book: Emancipation Day by Wayne Grady

Genre: Historical fiction

Elevator pitch: A love story that brings together two people from very different backgrounds and pulls them through mid-century Newfoundland, Toronto and Detroit

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Screech

Number of pages: 336 pages

Comparables: The Orenda; Boy Snow Bird

Book: Hard Choices by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Genre: Autobiography

Elevator pitch: Basically a pre-Presidential run pitch, this book looks at the former Secretary of State's four years in office, and what her decisions meant

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Wine. Hillary seems like a wine kind of lady

Number of pages: 656 pages

Comparables: My Life; A Fighting Chance

Book: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Genre: Young adult fiction

Elevator pitch: Two teenagers with cancer fall in love, beautifully

Will it be a movie?: You bet it is!

Goes best with: Heineken (you'll get it once you read the book)

Number of pages: 336

Comparables: Eleanor & Park; Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Book: Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand

Genre: Family fiction

Elevator pitch: Family and friends gather in Nantucket for a wedding that has been "planned" by the bride's deceased mother — and it goes as well as would be expected

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: A Nantucket cocktail

Number of pages: 416 pages

Comparables: The World Without You; Girls In White Dresses

Book: Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead

Genre: Psychological fiction

Elevator pitch: Like "Black Swan," except about a woman who didn't make it to the top, got married instead, and found herself back at the ballet with her prodigy son

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Tea (ballerinas don't drink!)

Number of pages: 272 pages

Comparables: All My Puny Sorrows; The Cranes Dance

Book: Orange Is The New Black by Piper Kerman

Genre: Memoir of prison

Elevator pitch: Who doesn't want to compare the TV show to the source material? Kerman's autobiography of her time in prison is quite different from the show, but equally entertaining

Will it be a movie?: It's better than a movie!

Number of pages: 327 pages

Comparables: Brain On Fire: My Month Of Madness; Life Without Parole: Living And Dying In Prison Today

Book: The Opposite Of Loneliness by Marina Keegan

Genre: Essays

Elevator pitch: A collection of hope written by and for millennials, by a woman who died far too young

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Absolutely anything you feel like consoling yourself with

Number of pages: 240 pages

Comparables: 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found a Self-Help that Actually Works -- A True Story; After the Fire, A Still Small Voice

Book: One More Thing Stories And Other Stories by B.J. Novak

Genre: Short stories

Elevator pitch: The first effort by the actor known best for playing Ryan Howard on "The Office" will make you laugh out loud in recognition and surprise

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Scotch. Because why not?

Number of pages: 288

Comparables: Tenth of December; Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls

Book: Age Of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth And Faith In The New China by Evan Osnos

Genre: Non-fiction

Elevator pitch: The "New Yorker's" correspondent in China writes about his experiences watches the changes in the country, the psychological of the people and government and what will happen next

Will it be a movie?: Not yet

Goes best with: Tsingtao beer

Number of pages: 416 pages

Comparables: How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia; The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up

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