The Kojo Nnamdi Show

This year's recommendations for the best summer reading from book editors and independent bookstore owners.

Barbara Hoffert
Editor, Library Journal Book Review

The Boat (Rough-Cut)

by Nam Le

Knopf

Harry, Revised: A Novel

by Mark Sarvas

Bloomsbury USA

How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone

by Sasa Stanisic

Grove Press

Beijing Coma: A Novel

by Ma Jian

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Atmospheric Disturbances: A Novel

by Rivka Galchen

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Say You're One of Them

by Uwem Akpan

Little, Brown and Company

Finding Nouf: A Novel

by Zoe Ferraris

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Condition: A Novel

by Jennifer Haigh

Harper

Wolf Totem: A Novel

by Jiang Rong

Penguin Press HC, The

The Cellist of Sarajevo

by Steven Galloway

Riverhead Hardcover

The Enchantress of Florence: A Novel

by Salman Rushdie

Random House

Traci Giganti
Co-owner of Book Crossing in Brunswick, MD

Picture Book

I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean!

by Kevin Sherry

Dial

Ages 6-9

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Rain or Shine

by Erica Silverman

Harcourt Children's Books

Ages 7-10

Game 1 (Barnstormers)

by Phil Bildner

Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Ages 10 and older

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

by Brian Selznick

Scholastic Press

Young Adults

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

by Stephenie Meyer

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Carla Cohen
Co-owner of Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C.

Fiction Hardcover

Unaccustomed Earth

by Jhumpa Lahiri

Knopf

Netherland: A Novel

by Joseph O'Neill

Pantheon

The World Before Her

by Deborah Weisgall

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel

by David Wroblewski

Ecco

Fiction Paperback

Out Stealing Horses: A Novel

by Per Petterson

Picador

Loving Frank: A Novel

by Nancy Horan

Ballantine Books

Free Food for Millionaires

by Min Jin Lee

Grand Central Publishing

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

by Mohsin Hamid

Mariner Books

Nonfiction

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa

by Peter Godwin

Back Bay Books

Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England

by Lynne Olson

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Audiobooks

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

by Junot Díaz

Penguin Audio

The Miracle at Speedy Motors

by Alexander M. Smith

Recorded Books

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

by Barack Obama

Random House Audio

Todd Stewart
Co-owner of Vertigo Books in College Park, MD

Fiction Hardcover

Mind's Eye: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery (Inspector Van Veeteren Mysteries)

by Hakan Nesser

Pantheon

Breath: A Novel

by Tim Winton

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

A Case of Exploding Mangoes

by Mohammed Hanif

Knopf

World Made by Hand: A Novel

by James Howard Kunstler

Atlantic Monthly Press

Paperback Fiction

The Opposite House

by Helen Oyeyemi

Anchor

Grotesque (Vintage International)

by Natsuo Kirino

Vintage

The Family Mashber (New York Review Books Classics)

by Der Nister

NYRB Classics

Children's Fiction

A Thousand Never Evers

by Shana Burg

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

The Underneath (Ala Notable Children's Books. Middle Readers)

by Kathi Appelt

Atheneum

Un Lun Dun

by China Mieville

Del Rey