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Summer Reading List Picks From Green Lake Librarian Andrea Gough

June 5, 2019 7:34am

We recently announced that Seattle Greenlaker is launching a binge worthy Summer Reading List.  We asked local experts to weigh in on their favorite summer reads. And this week we asked Green Lake Branch Librarian, Andrea Gough for five of her favorites. She kindly shared her recommendations and gave us a bonus read from last summer as you will see below.

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
Frannie stands accused of murdering her employer and his wife in a crime that roils 1820s London. In prison, Frannie writes the story of her life, from enslavement on a Jamaican plantation to her quest for autonomy in London. What drew me in and didn’t let me go was Frannie’s voice – urgent, unique, compelling.

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
After a flood has wiped out much of Earth’s lowlands, the Navajo Nation has survived largely unscathed, protected by their high altitude location and by a wall that encircles them. However, the gods and monsters of legend have returned to walk the land. Maggie Hoskie, drawing upon her clan powers, is a monster-slayer who begins to work with an unconventional medicine man when dark witchcraft comes calling. 

The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair 
In post-World War II London, Iris Sparks (perhaps a wartime spy) and Gwendolyn Bainbridge (a society widow) have teamed up to matchmake singles with The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. When one client is accused of murdering another, Iris and Gwendolyn decide the police have the wrong man and start investigating. This novel has such a light touch that it was a breeze to read, but I also learned interesting things about post-war England and the avenues that were open to women. In that sense, it’s similar to one of my favorite reads from last summer, Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce.

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
In the 1980s, Yale is a young gay man living in Chicago, pursuing a career as development director for an art gallery, and watching as the carnage of the AIDS epidemic rolls through his friend group. One of the first to die is his friend Nico; 30 years later Nico’s sister Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter, and must do her own reckoning with the way the AIDS crisis impacted her life. Makkai is masterful at bringing these places and times to life, and I felt so invested in Yale and Fiona that I couldn’t stop reading.

The Homecoming by Andrew Pyper
For a little chill in you summer, try this atmospheric horror novel set at an isolated PNW lodge. Aaron, his sisters, and his mother have all been called to the lodge for the reading of his father’s will, where they learn that they’ll inherit millions but only if they stay inside the grounds for 30 days with no access to the outside. With the trees pressing in from all sides, they start to see strange things in the forest that suggest they’re not alone. I found this creepy without being gruesome, and read it in a single day.

Green Lake Branch Library (7364 E Green Lake Drive North)
Open: Monday and Tuesday 1 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.



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