The summer is in full swing and there are plenty of choices for summer reading. On the fiction list there’s “Water for Elephants,” “Literacy and Longing in L.A.” and “The Feast of Love” (that Midsummer’s Dream favorite, soon to be a wonderful movie with Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear). The well-reviewed new hardbacks from established and new writers are released for beach and porch reading: Michael Connelly’s latest, “The Overlook,” and Rebecca Stott’s acclaimed debut, “Ghostwalk,” for mysteries, and the much-awaited new releases Ian McEwan’s “On Chesil Beach” and Khaled Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” Topping the list, out this week, after a wonderful luncheon here at Guido’s, Lisa See’s amazing new novel “Peony in Love.”
For nonfiction, “Eat, Pray, Love” still tops the list there’s also “Animals, Vegetables and Minerals from A to Z” for eating, and “God is Not Great” or “Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment” for or against praying. Included on the list are “The Dangerous Book for Boys” and “Mere Anarchy,” boyish pleasures and humorous delight.
For children, dogs (farting and otherwise) top the list accompanied by pirates and princesses. Series books are strong, with new Judy Moody’s and Clique series out. All of the schools’ summer reading list books are on display in the store, but as they are required reading, they don’t appear on the bestseller list below.
Fiction
1. “Peony in Love,” by Lisa See, hardcover, Random House, $23.95
2. “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” by Khaled Hosseini, hardcover, Riverhead, $25.95
3. “Water for Elephants,” by Sara Gruen, paperback, Algonquin Books, $13.95
4. “Literacy and Longing in L.A.,” by Jennifer Kaufman, paperback, Delta Publishing, $12
5. “The Overlook,” by Michael Connelly, hardcover, Little Brown, $21.99
6. “The Feast of Love,” by Charles Baxter, paperback, Vintage, $14
7. “Stalin’s Ghost,” by Martin Cruz Smith, hardcover, Simon & Schuster, $26.95
8. “On Chesil Beach,” by Ian McEwan, hardcover, Nan A. Talese, $22
9. “The Emperor’s Children,” by Claire Messud, paperback, Vintage, $14.95
10. “Ghostwalk,” by Rebecca Stott, hardcover, Spiegel & Grau, $24.95
Nonfiction
1. “Eat, Pray, Love,” by Elizabeth Gilbert, paperback, Penguin, $15
2. The Diana Chronicles,” by Tina Brown, hardcover, Doubleday, $27.50
3. “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” by Christopher Hitchens, hardcover, Twelve Press, $24.99
4. “The Assault on Reason,” by Al Gore, hardcover, Penguin, $25.95
5. “The Dangerous Book for Boys,” by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden, hardcover, Collins, $24.95
6. “Malibu,” by Marian Hall, paperback, Angel City Press, $25
7. “Mere Anarchy,” by Woody Allen, hardcover, Random House, $21.95
8. “The Secret,” by Rhonda Byrne, hardcover, Beyond Words Publishing, $23.95
9. “Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment,” by Deepak Chopra, hardcover, Harper San Francisco, $24.95
10. “Animals, Vegetables and Minerals from A to Z,” by Barbara Kingsolver, hardcover, HarperCollins, $26.95
Children
1. “Dog,” by Matthew Fleet, hardcover, Simon & Schuster, $14.99
2. “Pirates,” by John Matthews, hardcover, Atheneum, $16.99
3. “Jay Leno’s How To Be the Funniest Kid in the Whole Wide World,” by Jay Leno, paper, Aladdin Books, $7.99
4. “How I became a Pirate,” by Melinda Long, hardcover, Harcourt, $16
5. “Walter the Farting Dog: Banned From the Beach,” by William Kotzwinkle, hardcover, Dutton, $16.99
6. “Rough Weather Ahead for Walter the Farting Dog,” by William Kotzwinkle, paper, Puffin, $6.99
7. “Nancy Drew Pocketbook Mysteries: The Set,” by Carolyn Keene, hardcover, Grosset & Dunlap, $19.99
8. “Disney Princess: Princess Mix & Match,” by Carol Monica and Mark Marderosian, hardcover, Random House, $14.99
9. “Judy Moody, M.D.: The Doctor is In!,” by Megan McDonald and Peter H. Reynolds, paperback, Candlewick, $5.99
10. “Clique #8: Sealed With a Diss,” by Lisa Harrison, paperback, Poppy, $9.99
Book list provided by Diesel, A Bookstore