From behavioral science to translated Japanese fiction, The Disco presents six books to settle into this summer. Check your local library for your new favorite reads!
Agatha Christie | 1926 | 312 pg.
I was unfamiliar with the hype and controversy surrounding Agatha Christie's third Hercule Poirot novel (the British Crime Writers' Association voted it the best crime novel ever in 2013), but after reading it I certainly understand the commotion. It's really good. Gripped from the beginning by an extremely rich cast of characters, I found myself rather impressed with the amount of detail Christie not only was able to include, but seemed intent on exploring. The mystery was the cast. The clues were in the characters which required a way of reading murder mystery that I was not accustomed to. The writing is enticing, the payoff well worth the wait, and the twists and turns more than enough to keep you pressed to the page.
Mitch Prinstein | 2017 | 288 pg.
Perhaps the book I’ve recommended most to people over the last few years, Ohler, with his unmatched narrative style, made me reconsider everything I thought I knew about historical non-fiction. Fast-paced and unexpectedly intriguing, Blitzed provides a new lens with which to consider a conflict we likely perceived as already completely documented. What Ohler demonstrates, though, is that World War II is a story we only think we know the gist of. But with every page turn of this book, I learned there's so much more to that conflict, period, and the personalities involved than I was ever taught in school. Blitzed introduces a disturbing and largely unspoken layer to the Second World War in a way that nearly reads like fiction. If only it were.
Kate Atkinson | 2008 | 400 pg.
Picked up as an effort to explore more modern murder mysteries, this book left me chilled, shaken, and a bit disturbed. But it also left a deep impression on me that my adventures with Le Blanc and Christie don’t. Atkinson does not present us with a witty, easy-to-love detective like Arsène Lupin nor does she present us with a charming, wise investigator like Hercule Poirot. Atkinson offers us a private investigator by the name of Jackson Brodie, a very broken man with none of the gusto and far more angst than I’ve come to expect from the genre. The mysteries, though darker than those of 100 years ago, are no less enticing, full, and riddled with unexpected twists. Whereas I’m accustomed to lingering more on the view of a case from the detective’s perspective, Atkinson spends much more time exploring the cases from those directly involved, leaving the detective behind and me feeling like I’m exploring a scene without my chaperone. It’s an unsettling book, no doubt, but a very different way of thinking about mystery that though I didn’t enjoy, I have no choice but to respect.
Jennifer Lynn Barnes | 2013 | 320 pg.
My return to young adult (YA) fiction was triumphant and delightful as a result of Barnes’ spectacular first installment of the first YA series I’ve read in at least a decade. I heard it was described as a YA version of Criminal Minds and what a spot on description that was. This book and the series in general offer everything I love about YA fiction: the drama, the angst, the love triangle, the high stakes paired with the silliness of being a teenager, all of it! The Naturals was the only series I’ve committed to in the last 12 months and it did everything I needed it to and more. I finished the whole series (4 books, 1,445 pages) within a week, delayed only by my library’s availability. I’ve recommended it to all the YA girlies I know (aka Emersen lol) and it has not missed yet. Even if you’re not a YA fan (yet), this is your way in. This is your sign!
Gary Thomas | 2021 | 224 pg..
I’ll admit that I was initially rather skeptical about this book, as I am with most “Christian” literature about romantic relationships. Lots of these books claim to be Biblically sound but often reveal themselves to be the mere opinion of the author supported by out of context scriptures without reflecting the heart of Christ at all.
This book didn’t feel like that to me. I read it for one of my church’s quarterly small groups, which are essentially mini-book clubs. And as I read more and discussed it more, I found this book pressing me to consider things about dating that I truly never considered before. There are certainly ideas Thomas presents that I’m not entirely convinced of, but I didn’t read this book to be convinced of anything. I read this book to identify areas of dating that I had simply not thought about so that I could formulate my own opinion about them. And Thomas’ conversational writing and, most importantly, the reflection-centric formatting of the book allowed me to ask the questions I had never asked myself before. As I’m easing my way back into dating, I am definitively better off having read this book.
Satoshi Yagisawa | 2010 | 160pg
A deceptively short book, Yagisawa’s debut novel packs emotion, care, and substantial character growth in a small package, easily read in a day. I was charmed by the simplicity of it. I’m not particularly familiar with slice of life fiction, but the detail such a story allows you to dive into felt really calming and enveloping, like a weighted blanket. Translated by Eric Ozawa, this book was also a delightful introduction for me into translated fiction, which I intend on pursuing much more of as a result of how much I enjoyed this book. It’s light, easy, and heart-warming, perfect for a shady summer evening.
