Best books for summer reading

"Fifty Shades of Grey" by E L James

If you’ve not heard about this book, you’ve not been on planet Earth the past few months. The first in a trilogy, "Fifty Shades of Grey" has been causing quite a stir amongst bookworms. Available with a choice of two covers (one so people won’t know what you’re reading on the subway), this erotic novel about a risqué and very daring affair between Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey has stormed to the top of the bestseller list. Watch this space for a feature film, but meanwhile, know that this will keep you very busy. If you love it, follow on with “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed.”

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

Another blockbuster trilogy about to hit the big screen, The Hunger Games will take you on a literary ride this summer. Set within a terrifying reality show in the near future, twelve young men and twelve young women are expected to take part in The Hunger Games. The adventure is frightening, thrilling and gripping at once. Followed by “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay,” this is another series sure to fill a hole the Twilight books once filled. Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks and Jennifer Lawrence are a few of the big names set to appear in the film version but, as is often the case, the books are usually considered better.

"In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larsen

Bestselling author of “Devil in the White City,” Larson returns with this brilliant story set during the year of Hitler’s rise to power. Set in 1933 Berlin, a Chicago professor, William E. Dodd moves his family to the German capital to become America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany. At first, he and his family adore their new life in Europe, but as it becomes apparent that Hitler is committing atrocities and they begin to realize how censored the truth is, fear and horror pervades. A chilling look at life within the Third Reich.

"State of Wonder" by Ann Patchett

Winner of the 2002 Orange Prize with “Bel Canto,” Ann Patchett has produced another novel sure to be adored in "State of Wonder." This is a beautiful novel about an Amazonian tribe that remains fertile until death, even though their bodies age and deteriorate in all other ways. Reproducing into their 70s and 80s, this imagined tribe makes for provocative reading as a pharmaceutical company tries to work out how to recreate whatever makes these women so fertile and take it back home.

"Stolen Prey" by John Sandford

If you’re after a real “whodunnit” this summer, the 22nd novel in Sandford’s “Prey" series will delight. Opening with a truly brutal murder scene in Wayzata, Minnesota, this novel is a thrillride from start to finish.

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