The most popular book club books of the summer, according to Indie Next List

Oliva – whose family has a close connection to the U.S.-Mexico border and who has worked as a translator for immigrants to the U.S. – explains the complexities of immigration to the United States. She reflects on how refugees’ trauma must be processed and packaged for the immigration system, questions who should be considered worthy of American citizenship, and examines how many immigrants are not immediately welcomed but end up taking over our most valuable industries, like food crops and more.

When the nameless narrator of The Tree Doctor returns to California in the early days of the pandemic to care for her terminally ill mother. Separation from her husband and children – who are in Hong Kong – and the burden of caring for a loved one sends her adrift. She becomes fascinated with her mother’s garden and soon begins an affair with an arborist. Meanwhile, she notices parallels between the novel she plans to teach remotely – The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki – and life during a pandemic.

In this sequel to Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle, it’s 1971 in Harlem, and Ray Carney has given up on the life we ​​saw him lead in the previous book. Now he’s focused on growing his business legally – until his teenage daughter wants tickets to see the Jackson 5. To get them, he reconnects with corrupt NYPD cop Munson, who draws Ray back into a world of stolen goods and beatings. In the second part of the book, it’s 1973, and Ray and his partner Pepper get involved in the strange world of blaxploitation films. Finally, in 1976, the accomplices are on the hunt for the man who set a series of fires around the city, one of which injures a young boy.

This was one of the you books in the last year. With a premise that involves high-profile female gladiators fighting for their lives in a corrupt prison system, it’s easy to see why. The author of Friday Black tells the bloody story of Loretta Thurwar and Hurricane Staxxx, two women who are friends, lovers and beloved Chain Gang All-Stars. As All-Stars, they have fought other prisoners in deadly combat to win reduced sentences in a hotly contested program run by the controversial organization Criminal Action Penal Entertainment in a (not-so) alternate America. Loretta’s day is upon us, but the weight of all she has done — and still has to do — weighs heavy on her in this devastating look at America’s prison industrial complex and culture of violence.

If you have read any of Moreno-Garcia’s other books – like The Daughter of Doctor Moreau or Mexican Gothic – you know she jumps between genres with ease. In her latest film, she presents 90s Mexico City, the film industry and occultism. Despite her talent as a sound engineer, Montserrat is held back by a sexist film industry. On top of that, she longs for her best friend, former soap opera star Tristán. When Tristán gets a new neighbor – cult horror director Abel Urueta – his and Montserrat’s lives change. Urueta asks her to help him finish his unfinished film about a Nazi occultist in order to lift a curse, but then things get really serious.