SUMMER READING LIST

With summer in full swing, we asked Park Road Books owner Sally Brewster to share her top picks for the best books to read now. (Click here to check out her husband and fellow book lover Frazer Dobson's favorites in the Men's section.)

Here are Sally's favorites: 

Last Cruise by Kate Christensen (Doubleday Books, $26.95). "The vintage ocean liner Queen Isabella is making it’s final run on a two week retro cruise from Long Beach to Hawaii and what happens is a fantastic read for those us landlubbers. A great book that straddles the line between a beach read and literary fiction."

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (Grove Press, $20). "A unique, compelling read about a Japanese woman who starts working in a convenience store in college and still works there eighteen years later. Learn why it sold 600,000 copies in Japan."

Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (Berkley, $15). "Stella is smart enough to come up with algorithms to predict customer behavior but she has problems in the dating department. Being extremely logical, she decides to get professional help and hires an escort. Light and fun."

Calypso by David Sedaris (Little Brown, $28) "Who else can make essays about mortality and middle age funny but David Sedaris? Poignant but funny works of art about his family and the vacation home he buys on the Carolina coast."

Sally also recommends these two great sequels:

When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger (Simon & Schuster, $26.95) follows up on her bestselling The Devil Wears Prada by catching up with one of the characters 10 years later. 

How Hard Can it Be by Allison Pearson (St. Martin’s Press, $27.99) continues from her bestseller I Don’t Know How She Does It, but this time her protagonist is going through menopause. 

MUST-READ BOOKS

Park Road Books owners Frazer Dobson and Sally Brewster shared their favorite new books during a Holiday Books event at Queens University of Charlotte. 

Here are the best of this season's must-reads according to Park Road Books owners Sally Brewster and Frazer Dobson. They revealed this list of their favorite new books during a Holiday Books event presented by Friends of the Library at Queens University of Charlotte. Have fun picking out a few that either you, or someone on your gift list, would enjoy. All are available at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road at Park Road Shopping Center. Details: 704-525-9239; www.parkroadbooks.com. 

Artemis: A Novel, Andy Weir, $27. "From the author of The Martian, this takes place in the first colony on the moon," Sally says. "The people in the colony are chosen to be there because of either their job skills, they have enough to pay to be there, or they won a spot in the lottery. The main character has a plan to make money and ends up coming up with a plan to save the planet."

Bolt & Keel: The Wild Adventures of Two Rescued Cats, Kayleen BanderRee. $14.95. "These two cats are breaking stereotypes one adventure at a time," Frazer says. "The like to get out into the great outdoors and go camping and hiking." 

Charlotte: The Signs of the Times, Christopher Lawing, $34.99. "It's filled with photos of famous Charlotte signs including the JFG coffee sign, Park Road Shopping Center, the Penguin, the Athens restaurant and Thompson's Bootery and Bloomery."

David Tanis, Market Cooking, David Tanis, $40. "It's very focused on fresh ingredients and a lot of the recipes are vegetarian," Frazer says. 

Dogist: Puppies, Elias Weiss Friedman, $24.95. "Extraordinary dog photos for the dog lover," Frazer says. 

First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016 Ryder Cup, John Feinstein, $28.95. "There's a lot of tension but it's beautifully written," Frazer says. 

Grant, Ron Chernow, $40. "This fascinating biography of the celebrated general and two-term president is written by the author of the Alexander Hamilton book," Sally says.

How to Instant Pot, Daniel Shumski, $16.95. "A very good reference for how to use and get the most out of your Instant Pot," Frazer says. 

The Indigo Girl, Natasha Boyd, $26.99. "Historical fiction about a young woman in the 1730s who tries to save her family's rice plantation from ruin by growing indigo," Sally says. "Everyone wants her to fail."

The Last Ballad, Wiley Cash, $26.99. "It's inspired by the 1929 labor strike in Gastonia," Frazer says. "Some of it is hard to take because during the depression people were starving. It shows how we need to take care of each other."

Last Castle, Denise Kiernan, $28. "Edith Vanderbilt wasn't prepared for her husband's dream of building the Biltmore Estate, but she rose to the occasion," Sally says. 

Leonardo Da Vinci, Walter Isaacson, $35. "It's written by the author of the Steve Jobs biography," Frazer says. "He can do no wrong. It's perfect for history buffs." 

Manhattan Beach, Jennifer Egan, $28. "A fascinating book about a woman named Anna, her father and gangster in Depression era Manhattan and during World War II when Anna gets a job in a shipyard," Sally says. 

Redemption, Adam Lucas, $35. "For Carolina basketball fans, it's about how Carolina bounced back after the devastating loss of the 2016 championship," Frazer says. 

Smitten Kitchen: Every Day, Deb Perlman, $35. "A cookbook that makes you think outside the box," Sally says. 

What Can I Bring?, Elizabeth Heiskell, $30. "It's by a food writer from Mississippi," Frazer says. "It's great for fledgling cooks." 

What Unites Us, Dan Rather, $22.95. "Essays by Dan Rather on patriotism and what we have in common," Frazer says. 

When the English Fall, David Williams, $24.95. "An Amish apocalyptic novel," Frazer says. "If you're a pacifist, what do you do to protect your family when the world falls apart." 

Wild, Dan Kainen, $25.95. "A photicular with beautiful moving pictures of endangered animals," Frazer says. "It's perfect for youngsters who are animal nerds." 

The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Marta McDowell, $27.95. "The landscapes, gardening and agriculture that inspired the series," Frazer says.

A World of Cookies for Santa, M.E. Forman, $16.99. "Tales of the cookies children around the world leave for Santa," Sally says. "It's a really fun book with recipes." 

SOUTHERN FICTION AT ITS BEST AND MORE NEW BOOKS

Sally Brewster, owner of the independent book store Park Road Books, recommends these new offerings:

"The Nest" by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, a quirky drama about a dysfunctional New York City family and the fluctuating bonds between siblings. According to Sally, the author is 55 and this is her first novel published - and she was given a $1 million dollar advance.

"The Queen of the Night" by Alexander Chee has real-life events and figures of the Belle Epoque era woven into a story about the scandal-filled experiences of a girl from Minnesota who escapes to Paris and becomes a famous opera singer. 

"Lies and Other Acts of Love" by North Carolina writer Kristy Woodson Harvey is praised as "Southern Fiction at its best." In this novel a grandmother finds out her family's little white lies may have influenced her responsible granddaughter to suddenly ditch her hedge fund manager fiancé to marry a musician she's only known for three days. The author will sign copies of her book May 11 at Park Road Books during a Girls Night Out event that starts at 7 p.m.

In other news from Park Road Books, Sally says that readers are snapping up copies of "The Rainbow Comes And Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love and Loss," by TV journalist Anderson Cooper and his famous heiress/entreprenuer mother Gloria Vanderbilt.

Also popular is "Flight of Dreams" by Ariel Lawhon, a romantic adventure novel that takes place during the days leading up to the real 1937 crash of the German airship Hindenberg.

And she confirms news reports that after the terrorist attacks in Paris last year, there was a demand from readers who wanted to revisit 1964's "A Moveable Feast," a memoir of Ernest Hemingway's expat observations of Paris in the 1920s. Interest in the book has waned, but the store still has copies in stock.

Park Road Books is at Park Road Shopping Center, 4139 Park Road. Details: 704-525-9239; www.parkroadbooks.com. 

Previously recommended by Sally Brewster of Park Road Books: 

 "The Arrangement" by author Ashley Warlick. Set in 1934 in California, France and the Swiss Alps, it's based on the real-life love triangle between food writer M.F.K. Fisher, her husband, and the man she left him for. The author has taught at Queens University of Charlotte's MFA program and is now the buyer for M. Judson Booksellers & Storytellers in Greenville, S.C. 

"The Swans of Fifth Avenue" by Melanie Benjamin. The New York Times bestselling author of "The Aviator's Wife" takes readers into the world of 1950s New York High Society and its brightest star, Babe Paley, who becomes involved in a literary scandal with Truman Capote.