Can’t think of what book to give this holiday season? On today’s Brian Lehrer Show, Amy Eddings talks to Dwight Garner of the New York Times Book Review, Susan McHenry of Black Issues Book Review, and Sarah McNally of the McNally Robinson NYC bookstore about some of their recommendations and why. Suggestions from Garner include Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas, Out Stealing Horses by Per Patterson, and Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris.

Listen below for the rest of the suggestions, and also tips on how to buy various types of books.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan showed up on Fresh Air from WHYY yesterday to discuss three books she believes should be staples of your summer. Yes, you.

The first, Hilma Wolitzer’s Summer Reading, Corrigan thought at first glance was “a bald appeal to book clubs across the land.” The story centers around a secluded woman whose only job is to lead book club discussions, specifically for a group of Hamptons women, the Page Turners, who convene every so often and gossip about novels of their choosing. Wolitzer uses them as a vehicle to examine how reading can, says Corrigan, “both enlarge and warp the world views of susceptible readers,” and makes examples of three women from markedly different social standing. Notable also is the clever incorporation of plot elements from novels the Page Turners read into the primary plot.

Andrew O’Hagen comes in second with Be Near Me, set in a rainy Scottish town on the Irish Sea. Father David, the town’s priest — “a lonely aesthete,” says Corrigan — takes up company with two rebellious teenagers, whose casual interest in debauchery and illicit behavior, awakens memories of a more madcap life spent at Oxford in the 60s. A reverse coming-of-age? Fascinating!

The anchor of Corrigan’s list, as well as everyone else’s, is Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach, which follows two virginal newlyweds to their honeymoon, during which time they become paralyzed in equal parts by performance anxiety and the repulsive mechanics of the consummate act. The great irony, as Corrigan points out, is that the groom, Edward, is a student of “the great man theory of history,” but neither he nor his new wife can transcend the constraints of their own personal histories, crippling the marriage from the outset.

Read or listen to the article here. NPR has also made an excerpt of McEwan’s novella available, which you may view here.

More, more, ever more lists of what to read this summer from people who know more about books than you do. Today, NPR’s Morning Edition features such lists from three independent booksellers from around the country, and the result is one of the most interesting and varied collections I have seen yet this summer.
The lists feature under-the-radar apocalyptic hospital drama in Chris Adrian’s The Children’s Hospital, Thai murder mysteries in John Burnett’s Bangkok Haunts and the mystery of Huck Finn’s father explained in Jon Clinch’s Finn. Read the whole list here.

The Early Show has featured brief articles on two books this week:

Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly has recently published a collection of his columns that appeared on the back page of the magazine for many, many years. The book is called Hate Mail from Cheerleaders and Other Adventures in the Life of Reilly.

You may finally sleep through the night again knowing why bananas and apples go brown, or why your cereal gravitates to one side of the bowl, or why onions, like so many other things, make you cry. The answers are all here: Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze? And 114 Other Questions, a collection of questions sent in from New Science Magazine, and of course, their corresponding answers. Do they have the answer you’re looking for?

Excerpts from both of these books may be found here.

NPR book critic Alan Cheuse assembled a lineup of summer reads. Included are both the new—Annie Dillard’s second novel, The Maytrees—and the old—books from Chekhov, Bradbury, John Gardner—in his list and there’s nary a diet book in sight, so you should feel free to eat a cookie while you read the books on Cheuse’s list.

Are summer reading lists overrated? Is there anyone that truly knows what makes a good summer read? We’re starting to think it’s all a buncha hooey. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Cosmopolitan’s John Searles uses Today as a vehicle to display his wonderful taste in the form of 10 summertime books “for when you’re loafing around in your bikini.” Searles’ two cents include Khaled Hosseini’s newest, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is, by no stretch of the imagination, a beach read, as well as new books by other chipper folk like Ian McEwan (On Chesil Beach) and Justin Evans (A Good and Happy Child).

It’s not all gloom and doom, though. “The Simpsons” producer and supervising writer Larry Doyle’s newest is I Love You, Beth Cooper, which details one Denis Cooverman’s public proclamation of love for cheerleader Beth—at his own graduation, no less—and the ensuing 17 hours.

You can view the whole list here, and tailor your wish lists accordingly.