PW Best Summer Books of 2016

Publishers Weekly recently announced their Best Summer Books of 2016, including these 5 Macmillan titles:

Staff Picks

MAY DAY by Gretchen Marquette
“In this lovely, dark, haunted, and haunting debut poetry collection, Marquette’s ragged, sometimes very long lines can seem to be careening out of control, except that their subjects—childhood memories of a brother and bracing visions of him on military deployment overseas; hungering, fragile love; the very nature of human experience—are so carefully handled, with such resolve and resignation. ‘It’s hard to forget what you’re built to remember,’ she writes; readers will remember this book.” — Craig Morgan Teicher, director of digital operations

YOU KNOW ME WELL by Nina LaCour & David Levithan
“Two authors I love, each alternating chapters in one book? Sign me up. LaCour (I’ll never get over how good her debut, HOLD STILL, is) and Levithan (editor and author extraordinaire) write about two friends dealing with relationship drama that unfolds over Pride Week in San Francisco. If this book is anything like the authors’ previous endeavors, I know it’ll be a great balance of honesty, authenticity, and humor.”
— Natasha Gilmore, associate editor, children’s books

Mystery/Thriller

REDEMPTION ROAD by John Hart
A good cop faces criminal charges for a fatal shooting in this timely crime thriller from Hart, the only author to win the Edgar Award for best novel twice in a row. It’s been five years since Hart’s last book, IRON HOUSE, and his many fans won’t be disappointed by this tale centered on a powerful, courageous but emotionally wounded woman.

Nonfiction

THE GLAMOUR OF STRANGENESS: Artists and the Last Age of the Exotic by Jamie James
James examines six artists whose travels allowed them to find inspiration and belonging far from their homelands in locations across the globe. In addition to analyzing their art, he details their rich lives, revealing serendipitous connections among the artists. Many of James’s subjects refused to conform to the social norms of their birthplaces, namely monogamy and heterosexuality, and the description of these struggles is illuminating.

Young Adult

SUMMER DAYS & SUMMER NIGHTS, ed. by Stephanie Perkins
Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray, Tim Federle, Lev Grossman, and Veronica Roth are among the big-name contributors to this eclectic collection of 12 romances, a summer-themed follow-up to MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME. With a broad range of settings and romantic pairings, it’s about as beach-bag-ready a book as one could hope for.