Summer literature? Take your pick: an extraordinary and bizarre debut from Norwegian author Johan Harstad, Afrikaans author Ingrid Winterbach's meditation on love and loss, and new work from Ann Patchett, Adam Ross, and Kate Christensen are just a few new releases we're looking forward to in June.
1. Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad
© Seven Stories Press
Mattias, a 30-something Norwegian gardener who idolizes Buzz Aldrin, wakes up to find himself in the Faroe Island at the beginning of a bizarre oddysey.
2. Ladies and Gentlemen: Stories by Adam Ross
© Doubleday
Doubleday, June 28, 2011
In Ladies and Gentlemen Adam Ross (Mr. Peanut) delivers a collection of dark short stories about "brothers, loners, lovers, and lives full of good intentions, misunderstandings, and obscured motives."
3. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
© Harper
Harper, June 7, 2011
Ann Patchett's State of Wonder follows a research scientist in search of her mentor who has vanished in the darkness of the Amazon jungle.
4. The Astral by Kate Christensen
© Doubleday
Doubleday, June 14, 2011
Kate Christensen's The Astral takes its name from a Brooklyn, NY apartment building, home to the poet Harry Quirk, who has recetly been tossed out of his home by his wife, Luz, a nurse who suspects him of infidelity.
5. The Book of Happenstance by Ingrid Winterbach
© Open Letter
Open Letter, June 14, 2011
In Afrikaans writer Ingrid Winterbach's award-winning novel The Book of Happenstance, a lexicagrapher moves to Durban to help protect the Afrikaans language and has a cherished collection of shells stolen from her, an intrusion that leads her into a deeper understanding of life and happenstance.
6. The Curfew by Jesse Ball
© Vintage
In the dystopic city of C, a near-future version of Chicago, William and his young daughter Molly risk everything to find the mother/wife who was taken from them.
7. Untold Story by Monica Ali
© Scribner
Scribner, June 28, 2011
In Untold Story, Monica Ali (Brick Lane) boldly imagines the life of Princess Diana had she averted tragedy and not died 13 years ago.
