33 Reading Recommendations for Your Summer Vacation

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On this week’s “Matter of Opinion,” Michelle, Ross, Carlos and Lydia offer their recommendations for your summer reading and lay out what they’re excited to dive into themselves. Plus, listener book picks.

Books mentioned in this episode:

From Michelle:

• Thursday Murder Club series, by Richard Osman

• “The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder,” by David Grann

From Lydia:

• “Slow Horses,” Book 1 in the Slough House series, by Mick Herron

• “The Transit of Venus,” by Shirley Hazzard

• “Middlemarch,” by George Eliot

• “Grant,” by Ron Chernow

• “King: A Life,” by Jonathan Eig

From Carlos:

• “Trust,” by Hernan Diaz

• “The Long Secret” and “Harriet the Spy,” by Louise Fitzhugh

• “Conversación en La Catedral,” “Aunt Julia and The Scriptwriter" and “The Feast of the Goat,” by Mario Vargas Llosa

• “Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose” and “Wise Blood,” by Flannery O’Connor

• “Heartburn,” by Nora Ephron, audiobook narrated by Meryl Streep

• “The Sellout,” by Paul Beatty

• “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” “The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon” and “The White Darkness,” by David Grann

From Ross:

• “The Stand,” “The Institute” and “The Shining,” by Stephen King

• “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia,” by Rebecca West

• “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli,” by Mark Seal

From Matter of Opinion listeners:

• The Three-Body Problem trilogy, by Liu Cixin

• “The Fisherman and the Dragon: Fear, Greed, and a Fight for Justice on the Gulf Coast,” by Kirk Wallace Johnson

• “The Kingdoms,” by Natasha Pulley

• “The Education of Kendrick Perkins: A Memoir,” by Kendrick Perkins with Seth Rogoff

• “Demon Copperhead,” by Barbara Kingsolver

• “Still Life,” by Jay Hopler

• “The Tempest,” by William Shakespeare

• Maisie Dobbs series, by Jacqueline Winspear

More from the hosts:

• "How 'The Great Brain' Explains America ()," by Carlos Lozada for The New York Times

• "My Fantasy Bookshelf ()," by Ross Douthat for The New York Times

• "A Look Back at Our Future War With China ()," by Carlos Lozada for The New York Times