7 (Fairly) New Books Every Middle-Aged Person Should Read This Summer

“Clever, intelligent, and believable on a subject few of us really understand. Lorrie is one of the most vivid—and complex—characters I've read in years. Wonderful.” -- Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You

“Honest and simple yet full of lasting strength, the author’s prose demonstrates what makes a life better rather than worse--including something as simple as picking up heart-shaped stones on the beach with a grandchild. Optimistic, slightly humorous reflections on living a fully engaged, meaningful life.” -- Kirkus Reviews

"Totally involving from its very first words... a dangerous journey into the soul, an exploration of the relationships of men and women to each other, to their environments and—ultimately most devastatingly—to themselves." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"In this elegant bestseller set during World War II, Guggenheim fellow Anthony Doerr uses radio’s ability to cross enemy lines as a device to weave together the fate of a young, blind French girl and an orphaned German boy. There is a fairytale quality to the book—the girl and her father must flee to a rickety old house by the sea; the boy must march with monsters and yet retain his humanity—that works perfectly with Doerr’s evocative prose." -- Barnes & Noble

“This riveting tale of beating the odds (and the Germans) at the 1936 Olympics is a rousing story of American can-do-ism. It’s also a portrait of the nine boys who first rowed together for the University of Washington, and of the one in particular who made the sport his family and his home.” -- Parade

“An impressively geeky debut…the technical details keep the story relentlessly precise and the suspense ramped up. And really, how can anyone not root for a regular dude to prove the U-S-A still has the Right Stuff?” -- Entertainment Weekly

“It’s a joy to welcome The Children Act. . . . [The novel’s] sense of life-and-death urgency never wavers. . . . Profound. . . . You would have to go back to Saturday or Atonement to find scenes of equivalent intensity and emotional investment.” -- The Wall Street Journal