It is time to think about back to school!  Not shopping, but reading!  Whether you call it campus fiction or campus lit, these books remind us what it was like to be in school (for better or worse!).  You may think of titles like The Secret History by Donna Tartt or Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, but there are a whole host of books set in academia awaiting you.  Here are a couple of our favorites:

Deanna’s Pick:  For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing

“I just finished this creepy prep school thriller and I loved it!  Teddy Crutcher has been named “Teacher of the Year” at the prestigious prep school Belmont where he works.  Teddy has an interesting approach to teaching these privileged kids – he is not afraid to teach them lessons “for their own good”.  So now there have been a few suspicious deaths at Belmont and as readers, we are left wondering just how much Teddy knows about them.  And then Fallon, one of those students he taught a “lesson”,  returns to the school as a substitute and the fun really begins.   I don’t want to tell you too much about the plot – there are so many fun twists and turns and I don’t want to give anything away.  And I don’t want to spoil the fun, because this was a real page-turner – not just trying to figure out what is going on and who is doing it, but hoping that perhaps Teddy gets taught a lesson of his own.  If you like that campus lit genre, if you like unreliable narrators, if you like a little attitude with your suspense, then give this one a try.”

Jessica’s Pick: Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo

“My pick is a little of a darker mystery, set on a famous college campus. The book takes place primarily at Yale University and the town of New Haven, though there are flashbacks to the main character’s life in Los Angeles. I don’t necessarily like to rely on an author’s biography in fiction, but Bardugo did attend Yale, and that likely informs her vivid description of the people and places there. Our main character is Galaxy “Alex” Stern. Alex is a very troubled girl: after a tragic incident in her pre-teens she spirals off into objectification, using and selling drugs, and some very bad relationships. She does, however, possess the rare talent to see Ghosts, or Greys as they are referred to in the book, and they haunt her everywhere she goes. This “talent” gains her the notice of Lethe, one of the nine “secret societies” at Yale University, well-known in the real world as somewhat sinister in nature, but in the world of the book, the secret societies actually do possess certain types of dark magic that members practice and wield to maintain the power and status of the ultra-rich and powerful. These societies break the rules of this magic all of the time, and in doing so, attract ghosts from the underworld. So Lethe decides they will recruit Alex’s talent to keep the Veil, that is the liminal space between the living and the dead, intact. In return for Alex’s talent, they provide her with a full ride to the University. Of course, Alex is terribly lost and on the verge of giving up halfway into her freshman year, when the mysterious death of a New Haven townie on campus draws her in to a web of secrets, intrigue, and murder. Bardugo brilliantly weaves mystery, thriller, horror and fantasy into an atmospheric, coming-of-age tale full of sadness, redemption and a little hope amid the darkness.”

If these sound interesting to you, check out more suggestions that will take you back to class below.

Happy Reading!

I don’t know about you, but I love a good spy novel.  Daniel Silva is one of my favorite authors and I have been waiting for his new book, The Cellist, since I finished the previous one last July.  His series character, Gabriel Allon, is an Israeli spy, as well as a talented artist and art restorer on the side.  He is cool under pressure, smart (like, ten steps ahead of everyone else smart), and not afraid to do the things that must be done to ensure the safety of his family, his agents, his country, and his allies across the world.  If you have not read Silva before, I recommend starting with the first in the series, The Kill Artist.  If you are looking forward to his latest like me, here are a few suggestions to tide you over while you are waiting.

The Impostor Syndrome by Kathy Wang

Julia Lerner seems to have it all – she is a top executive at the social media company Tangerine, she is a recent wife and mother, and she lives a wealthy glamorous lifestyle.  But Julia has a secret.  She is a Russian spy, chosen from a sea of candidates to come to America and gain a position of power in Silicon Valley.  She has done that and more, and now her handler is asking for private information about Tangerine users, which could get Julia into big trouble if discovered. It also causes Julia to stop and consider what exactly the Russians will be doing with this information. Alice Lu works in the IT department at Tangerine, a job beneath her abilities but a girl has to pay the rent. One day, she is performing a routine operation and sees a large amount of transmission activity from an anonymous user.  She is curious, but what she learns alarms her – could THE Julia Lerner be a spy?  Each of these women will have to decide what is worth defending and what lines they will cross to save themselves.

Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich

This is the first book in a trilogy featuring Dr. Jonathan Ransom, a surgeon working with Doctors Without Borders.  He and his wife Emma are on a ski trip in the Swiss Alps when a blizzard strikes and Emma is lost in a tragic accident as they try to make their escape off the mountain.  The next day, he receives an envelope with her name on it containing two baggage claim tickets.  Curious, he goes to the locker, but is attacked when he arrives. Fleeing with the contents of the locker, he discovers an incredible betrayal and now he is on the run, trying to stay ahead of those that are chasing him.  With his wife gone, he knows that he must discover the truth behind her secrets to stop a conspiracy that threatens the world.  Reich has created a great character in Jonathan Ransom – a man out of his depth, drawn into the high-tech world of spies, trying to do the right thing.  If you like this one, follow it up with Rules of Vengeance and Rules of Betrayal.

 American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

This is one that has been on my TBR list for a while.  Here is what the catalog says:  “1986, the heart of the Cold War. A young black woman working in an old boys’ club, Marie Mitchell’s FBI career has stalled out and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. Given the opportunity to join a task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. In the year that follows Marie observes Sankara, seduces him– and has a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American”.  Sounds good, doesn’t it?

See below for other spy novel recommendations, from the masters of the genre (Ludlum, LeCarre) to those expanding the boundaries (Rosalie Knecht, Viet Thanh Nguyen).  Happy reading!

There is something fascinating about sharks – they are creatures of the deep, seeming alien as they glide gracefully through the water.  Some are harmless and some are quite dangerous. They can clear a beach just by passing through the neighborhood. They can also fuel a reader’s imagination.

I remember reading Jaws by Peter Benchley when I was a teenager. I was visiting my grandparents and they had a copy.  Did it scare me?  Yes!  Did I refuse to go into the water for the rest of vacation?  Yes!  Did it matter that my grandparents lived on a lake and not the ocean?  Not even a little bit!  If you have read Jaws, or have seen the movie and can hear that soundtrack in your head, then you know what I mean.  Other books that might make you leery of the beach include the Meg series by Steve Alten or The Raft by S.A. Bodeen.

Not all shark stories end badly, however.  In Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn, a young boy falls overboard while on a cruise. Sharks appear in the water, frightening everyone, until the boy is delivered safely back to his mother by one of the sharks, a legendary story that will follow him throughout his life.  In The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor, Maeve is attacked by a blacktip shark. Eighteen years later, she is a well-respected marine biologist studying and swimming with the very animals that once threatened her life.

If nonfiction is more your thing, my favorite book about sharks is The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey.  The Farralon Islands, known as “the devil’s teeth”, are off the shore of San Francisco and they are part of a well-documented great white shark migratory path.  Lured there by the abundance of seals, they linger for several weeks each year.  This allows marine biologists to study them up close.  And I mean up close – they have a boat that they call “the dinner plate” because of how dangerously near to the sharks they can get.  Susan Casey is a journalist and she became fascinated with the story of the Farralon Islands sharks.  She spent a season with the scientists, learning more than she ever wanted to know about great whites, and about the people who study them.

For more reading suggestions to keep you out of the water, check out our Shark Week reading list below!