August though it is, there’s still at least one good book left of summer. So this month’s post offers 12 possible choices for your final summer read: six non-fiction and six fiction.
The six non-fiction titles include a collection of essays by the best-selling New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert, an artful and stirring new book about birds, a visit — through the contributions of artists, critics, and curators — to a museum exhibition about “Whales and Weather,” a good news history of Los Angeles, an “epic journey” through the resource landscapes of extraction, and a disturbingly timely rewrite of a history of fire in Europe.
The six fiction titles are organized and presented geographically. Each book connects with climate change in a different way and often in a different genre. There’s a thriller set in New England, a heist story that begins and ends in New York City, and a magical-realist novel set in Nebraska during the Dust Bowl. Then the tales move to New Orleans & Texas, New Mexico (actually, this one is belles lettres), and California. Pick the part of the country where you want to spend your last month of summer!
As always, the descriptions of the titles are adapted from copy provided by their publishers. When two dates of publication are listed, the second is for the paperback edition. If you purchase a book through one of the links below, a percentage of the proceeds funds our journalism.
