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Something for everyone: Perkins’ Recommended Reads

Pick up one of these short summer reads to devour in one sitting Enjoy these quick bursts of fun while soaking up rays at the beach or relaxing by the pool this summer.

Pick up one of these short summer reads to devour in one sitting

Enjoy these quick bursts of fun while soaking up rays at the beach or relaxing by the pool this summer. Cool down with these hot titles which can all be read in less than 10 hours – one nice sitting, just enough time to catch a tan (but don’t forget your sunscreen!). Now hold on tight…there’s a lot to go through!

Digital book (DB), braille (BR), large print (LT), and audio described videos (DVD) copies of these titles are available from the Perkins Library or the Worcester Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.

Prepared by Erin Fragola

Outreach Coordinator

Perkins Library


Around the World in Eighty Days

Jules Verne

London, 1872. Well-to-do, eccentric Phileas Fogg is certain that he can travel around the world in eighty days. He’s so sure that he’s wagered half of his fortune and set off on the grand adventure with his servant, Passepartout. For senior high and older readers. For senior high and older readers. 1873.

Download Around the World in Eighty Days, DB 53171

Download Around The World In Eighty Days, BR 9468

Breakfast at Tiffany’s: A Short Novel and Three Stories

Truman Capote

The popular tale of Holly Golightly, the former Texas child bride whose intoxicating personality takes the story’s narrator and Manhattan itself by storm. Also includes short stories “”House of Flowers,” “A Diamond Guitar,” and “A Christmas Memory.” Some strong language. 1950.

Download Breakfast At Tiffany’s: A Short Novel And Three Stories, DB 58223

Download Breakfast At Tiffany’s: A Short Novel And Three Stories, BR 1589

Call Me By Your Name

Andreì Aciman

Each summer Elio’s parents host a scholar in their home on the Italian Riviera. Oliver, a young academic from America arrives, igniting in seventeen-year-old Elio a passionate longing and desire. Years later Elio recollects his search for intimacy during that transformative season. Also available as an audio described DVD (DVD 1635). Some descriptions of sex. 2007.

Download Call Me By Your Name, DB 65344

Calypso

David Sedaris

A collection of essays from the author of Me Talk Pretty One Day (DB 50514) which uses humor to cover topics ranging from prosaic to whimsical to tragic. In “Now We are Five” Sedaris tackles the topic of his sister’s suicide. Strong language. Commercial audiobook. 2018.

Download Calypso, DB 91172

Chemistry: A Novel

Weike Wang and Julia Whelan

An immigrant doctoral student is thrown into an unexpected limbo when her boyfriend asks her to marry him. She tries to use the scientific method to understand the relationships around her to make a decision, but her romantic crossroads is not the only challenge facing her. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2017.

Download Chemistry: A Novel, DB 88331

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

Phaedra Patrick

A year after the death of his beloved wife, Miriam, Arthur Pepper is sorting through her possessions and finds a lovely charm bracelet he never saw her wear. His decision to search for the story behind each charm takes him far from his comfort zone. Some strong language. 2016.

Download The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, DB 85718

Download The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, BR 21656

Eight Hundred Grapes: A Novel

Laura Dave

Just weeks before her wedding, Georgia Ford discovers a secret about her fiancé. Wishing to take stock of her life, she travels to the family vineyard in Northern California. When she arrives, however, she finds her family fighting and the vineyard sold. Some strong language. 2015.

Download Eight Hundred Grapes: A Novel, DB 82869

Ethan Frome

Edith Wharton

A tale of retribution about a discouraged New England farmer and his hypochondriac wife. Their empty lives are suddenly changed when her cousin, a young girl who still finds joy in life, comes to live with them. 1911.

Download Ethan Frome, DB 17455

Download Ethan Frome, BR 22115

Etta and Otto and Russell and James

Emma Hooper

Octogenarian Etta has never seen the ocean, so one day she leaves her Saskatchewan home intending to walk all the way to the Atlantic. Her husband is left behind, writing Etta letters he never sends and making papier-maché animals, while neighbor Russell sets off after her. Some strong language. 2015.

Download Etta and Otto and Russell and James, DB 81286

Everything I Never Told You

Celeste Ng

Examines the secrets of the Chinese-American Lee family of Ohio before and immediately after the 1977 drowning death of their middle child—high school sophomore Lydia. History professor James and his wife Marilyn—whose medical school plans were aborted by pregnancies—had high hopes for her. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. 2014.

Download Everything I Never Told You, DB 80393

Exit West: A Novel

Mohsin Hamid

Set in an unnamed city with a strict social code, atheist Nadia rebels against the strictures put upon her. She falls in love with the gentle, religious-minded Saeed as their city falls into chaos and militias seize control, forcing the pair to flee together. Violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. 2017.

Download Exit West: A Novel, DB 87691

Download Exit West: A Novel, BR 22136

Florida

Lauren Groff

Collection of short stories from the author of Fates and Furies (DB 82476). The stories range across characters and time periods, but share a sense of place. The tales communicate the landscape, climate, history, and state of mind of the state of Florida. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.

Download Florida, DB 91297

The Girls in the Garden: A Novel

Lisa Jewell

Clare Wild has recently moved to a new apartment with her two daughters, Pip and Grace. They are thrilled by the communal garden space until one midsummer evening, when thirteen-year-old Grace is found unconscious and bloody among the roses. Some violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2015.

Download The Girls In The Garden: A Novel, DB 86047

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The glitter and recklessness of the Jazz Age is the backdrop for this novel about Jay Gatsby’s desperate attempt to recapture the past, and along with it, the love of Daisy Buchanan. Amid extravagant parties at Gatsby’s palatial estate, his neighbor narrates the story of his obsession with the American dream. 1925.

Download The Great Gatsby, DB 16147

Download The Great Gatsby, BR 11057

The Last Summer (Of You and Me)

Ann Brashares

Alice and her tomboy older sister Riley, both in their twenties, spend the summer at their parents’ modest beach house on Fire Island. Along with their wealthy friend Paul, they experience romance, illness, and a secret that thrusts them into adulthood. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. 2007.

Download The Last Summer (Of You and Me), DB 64944

Less

Andrew Sean Greer

A failed novelist turning fifty is invited to his ex-boyfriend’s wedding. Instead of attending, he decides to accept every other invitation he has received, even if it means traveling the world for random, odd literary events. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2017.

Download Less, DB 88794

The Lone Pilgrim: Stories

Laurie Colwin

Collection of thirteen stories, most about women in their 30s. The title story tells of the perennial house guest, the lone pilgrim—housepet to several families: friendly, cheerful, good with children—and what happens when she meets Gilbert Seigh. 1981.

Download The Lone Pilgrim: Stories, DB 17032

Look Alive Out There: Essays

Sloane Crosley

Humorous personal essays from the author of I Was Told There’d Be Cake (DBC 1326). This collection shares her experiences scaling a volcano, crashing a shiva, investigating chupacabra sightings in Vermont, and more. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.

Download Look Alive Out There: Essays, DB 91222

Lord of the Flies: A Novel

William Golding

With horrifying implications, a group of English boys are wrecked on a desert island and have to establish their own system of government. For senior high and older readers. 1954.

Download Lord of the Flies: A Novel, DB 48388

Download Lord of the Flies: A Novel, BR 9480

Lost & Found

Brooke Davis

After the death of her father, seven-year-old Millie is abandoned by her mother in a department store and meets two octogenarians who are also grieving the loss of loved ones. The unlikely trio set off on a road trip across the Australian desert to bring Millie home. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2015.

Download Lost & Found, DB 80899

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror

Mallory Ortberg

A collection of eleven darkly humorous stories from the cocreator of the website The Toast, inspired by classic children’s tales. Includes “The Rabbit,” inspired by The Velveteen Rabbit (DB 41681), in which a stuffed animal appears to draw the life force from a boy. Some violence. 2018.

Download The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror, DB 90991

Miller’s Valley: A Novel

Anna Quindlen

A girl comes of age in the Pennsylvania valley her family has farmed for generations. Begins in the 1960s, when Mimi is a young girl and her family is divided by the news of government plans to flood the valley. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. 2016.

Download Miller’s Valley: A Novel, DB 84596

Download Miller’s Valley: A Novel, BR 21489

Motherhood: A Novel

Sheila Heti

In her late thirties, when her friends are discussing when they will become mothers, one woman debates whether she wants motherhood at all. Wanting to make a wise choice, she seeks guidance from philosophy, mysticism, chance, and her own body. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.

Download Motherhood: A Novel, DB 91079

My Mrs. Brown

William D. Norwich

Quiet, contained Mrs. Brown is helping inventory the estate of the wealthy and fashionable Mrs. Groton. She falls in love with a beautiful, tasteful black dress and decides she must buy something just like it for herself. She will need help from some new friends to make it happen. 2015.

Download My Mrs. Brown, DB 85060

The Pearl

John Steinbeck

A folktale of lower California is the basis for this narrative about Kino, a simple fisherman, who finds an enormous pearl that promises to provide for all his family’s needs. When it brings nothing but misfortune, Kino throws it back to the sea and resumes his difficult way of life. 1945.

Download The Pearl, DB 50037

Download The Pearl, BR 12570

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

A beautiful youth has his portrait painted by an artist with a flair for the morbid. The portrait becomes the mirror of its innocent appearing subject’s inner life. 1890.

Download The Picture of Dorian Gray, DB 11341

Download The Picture of Dorian Gray, BR 9281

The Pisces: A Novel

Melissa Broder

After breaking up with her boyfriend, Lucy heads to Venice Beach, California, to dog-sit for her sister. She meets Theo one night as he sits alone on the rocks and thinks her bad luck with men might have finally changed, only to discover that Theo is a merman. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.

Download The Pisces: A Novel, DB 91202

Red Clocks: A Novel

Leni Zumas

In a small Oregon fishing town in a near-future America, five women navigate new barriers surrounding sexual and reproductive rights. They face single motherhood, crumbling marriages, teenage pregnancy, modern-day witch hunts, and more. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.

Download Red Clocks: A Novel, DB 90345

The Secrets of Midwives

Sally Hepworth

Neva is a third-generation Providence, Rhode Island, midwife; but when she becomes pregnant, she is determined to keep the baby’s father a secret for as long as possible. The pregnancy complicates her relationship with her mother, Grace, and brings back painful memories for her grandmother, Floss. Descriptions of sex. 2015.

Download The Secrets of Midwives, DB 81111

Sharp Objects: A Novel

Gillian Flynn

Chicago reporter Camille Preaker, recently treated for psychological problems, arrives in her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri, to investigate the murders of two preteen girls. Camille sees her mother and thirteen-year-old half-sister for the first time in years. But events from the past overwhelm her. Commercial audiobook. Some violence. 2006.

Download Sharp Objects: A Novel, DB 63109

Download Sharp Objects: A Novel, BR 16931

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel

Gabrielle Zevin

When his most prized possession, a rare volume of poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, is stolen, bookstore owner A.J. Fikry begins isolating himself from his friends, family, and associates. Then he receives a mysterious package that compels him to remake his life. Strong language. Bestseller. 2014.

Download The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel, DB 78978

Tempting Fate

Jane Green

Married forty-three-year-old Gabby is shocked by her friends’ flirtatious behavior on her first girls’ night out. But she meets younger Matt that night, and they begin a long-distance friendship that evolves until Gabby’s marriage is in jeopardy. Some strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2014.

Download Tempting Fate, DB 79096

This Is Where I Leave You

Jonathan Tropper

Shortly after he finds his wife Jen in bed with his radio-show-host boss, Judd Foxman is called home to sit shiva for his deceased atheist father. Judd finds himself dealing with his family’s dysfunctional relationships and Jen’s announcement that she is pregnant. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex. 2009.

Download This Is Where I Leave You, DB 71875

The War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells

The Martians, a loathsome though highly organized race, invade England and, with their superior weapons, subdue and prey on the people. For high school and adult readers. 1897.

Download The War of the Worlds, DB 38464

Download The War of the Worlds, BR 9590

Warlight

Michael Ondaatje

Now an older man, Nathaniel Williams uses archival materials to investigate his parents and the reasons why, during the waning days of World War II, they would have left him and his sister in the care of two men who might have been criminals. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.

Download Warlight, DB 90958

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