You’re Ready to Win Summer Reading Bingo

Books to help you get five-in-a-row

Hi friends!

The summer reading season is officially upon us and so is BINGO.

How To Play

• Get a copy of your card here.

• Fill it in with books you read between now and Labor Day.

• We’ll run on the honor system, but I’m asking everyone to use each book for a single category (i.e. if you listen to an audiobook by a favorite author, you can only use it for one square).

• Submit your final card here by Friday, September 8 (Don’t worry. I’ll remind you.) for the chance to win prizes.

• If you get Bingo, you’ll get one entry to the raffle. If you fill out your entire card, you’ll get two!

There are some really fabulous prizes (Signed Jasmine Guillory! Early copies of new books! A memoir by Arpana from “Indian Matchmaking”!) this year. Check out the full list here.

To jump start your progress, I’m spotlighting some previous recommendations that will help you cross off at least one box.

Happy Bingo!

You Want to Start with a Laugh

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

Finlay Donovan is Killing It is, without a doubt, the funniest book I have ever read about a hitman. I laughed out loud at multiple passages, drawing looks from my neighbors while reading in the park.

The story’s heroine, Finlay, is a newly-divorced single mom of two, struggling to finish a book she owes her publisher. After Finlay describes the plot of her new romantic suspense novel to her agent over lunch in a Panera, a neighboring diner mistakes her for a contract killer and hires Finlay to kill her husband. From there, Finlay ends up in a conspiracy involving the Russian mob, her ex-husband and a hunky bartender.

Finlay Donovan is Killing It is probably the book I have recommended most in-real-life in the past few years. Any time someone tells me they’re feeling bummed, this is the one I push on them.

If you’ve already read it and you want to knock off that sequel box — or want more laughs — there are two (!) sequels out.

You’re Looking for a Book set in Multiple Time Periods

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle is a masterful novel about Marian Graves, a daredevil female pilot in the first half of the 20th century. The book alternates between following Marian’s quest to become a pioneering pilot and the story of a contemporary actress playing the aviator in a movie. Marian’s story begins in 1914 when she and her infant twin brother Jamie are rescued from a sinking ocean liner. Years later, as a teen desperate to become a pilot, Marian enters into a partnership with a bootlegger. It’s a decision that will hang over her for the rest of her life.

I loved so much about Great Circle. While I enjoyed Shipstead’s first two books, Astonish Me and Seating Arrangements, Great Circle is on another level, a sweeping, multi-generational saga. The relationship between Marian and her brother Jamie — so close and so complicated — made me cry. It’s impeccably researched, illustrating this era of aviation, life in the American West in the 1900s and London during World War II. The second plot line, focusing on the movie, adds a layer of complexity to the novel, raising questions about how we remember and depict famous women. Fans of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo will find a lot to like about Great Circle.

You Want an Award-Winner

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

When You Trap a Tiger, a middle-grade book that won the 2021 Newberry Medal, is the literary equivalent of a Pixar movie. Readers of all ages will get something from it. When You Trap a Tiger follows Lily, a preteen, who begins to see the tigers that exist in the folktales her halmoni, or grandmother, told her. As Lily watches her halmoni grow increasingly ill, she makes a deal with a tiger in an attempt to save her.

I love this cover

It’s a beautiful exploration of grief, growing up and why the stories we tell matter. I loved the way it incorporated traditional Korean folklore into a modern tale. I thoroughly enjoyed it and think younger readers will too.

You Plan to Cross off Book in Translation

The Black Jersey by Jorge Zepeda Patterson, translated by Achy Obejas

Before I read The Black Jersey, a mystery set at the iconic bike race, the only things I knew about the Tour de France were Lance Armstrong, doping and what I gleaned from “Tour de Pharmacy,” Andy Samberg’s movie satirizing cycling. Now, though, I recognize the competition as requiring shrewd strategy and brute strength. And, as a bonus, the book is a great, tightly-plotted mystery.

Marc Moreau, a former military police officer, is now the second in command on the world’s top-ranked cycling team. His one job during the Tour is to ensure his team’s lead, Steve Panata, an Armstrong-type figure, wins the race. Marc rides in front of Steve, his best friend, to shield him from the wind, and if the lead’s bike breaks, he’s supposed to give up his own. But, when multiple riders are involved in suspicious accidents, the French police ask Marc to investigate his competitors as he rides thousands of grueling miles.

The Black Jersey is a gripping, suspenseful read. The Tour de France is a brilliant setting for a mystery. Each of the competitors has a motive to undermine other cyclists. The suspects are stuck together all day for weeks on end and the opportunities for sabotage are nearly infinite. If you’re a mystery fan — or a cycling obsessive — this book is for you.

You’re Seeking a Summer-time Book

Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky

Set over the summer in a tony Connecticut suburb, during the Trump Administration, Very Nice includes:

• A mother-daughter love triangle that somehow isn’t creepy.

• Alternating perspectives from a diverse set of characters who don’t understand how interconnected they are.

• An adorable, spoiled, apricot poodle.

• A backyard pool that plays such a critical role it is almost a character.

Very Nice is frothy and fun, reading at times like a classic farce, while simultaneously offering wry commentary on art and writing, politics and violence. It could be enjoyed at, yes, a pool with a cocktail in hand, or in a more studious environment. (I read it poolside, but have reflected on it quite a bit since reading it.) If you’re looking for a summer book club pick — light, but still discussion-provoking — Very Nice is your book.

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