Are you looking for that special novel to sidle up by the pool with this summer? Well, you're in luck. Each expert Potts Point staff member has handpicked their most eligible book - and the great news is they're all single and ready to mingle (the books, that is) ... with you! Find that one summer read you'll remember with a glint in your eye through the cold winter months.
Naomi’s Pick - Heather, The Totality by Matthew Weiner
The characters at first seemed like sketches, but after I put down the book I realised how clever and insightful each observation was. It’s a read-in-a-sitting kind of story - totally compelling and one of the best twists in any book I’ve read.
Simon’s Pick - Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
In Manhattan Beach we follow Anna Kerrigan through the Depression and World War II as she determinedly forces her way into a job as the only female diver in the Navy Yard, and investigates the disappearance of her father. With irresistibly engaging characters, crystalline prose and rich historical detail, Egan hits all the right notes with precision, perception, and panache.
Joel’s Pick - Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang
Zhang's debut story collection, and the first book published on Lena Dunham's Random House imprint, is obscene, earnest and moving. A millenial tragicomedy ushering in a unique new voice in fiction.
Tim’s Pick - The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
A gorgeous symphony of a novel which spans fifty years of friendship between a group of artists, writers and lovers. Each sentence is constructed with exquisite care and the characters are drawn with warmth and complexity. I sense I’ve just read next year’s Booker Prize winner.
Anna’s Pick - Vanity Fair Diaries 1983 -1992 by Tina Brown
Tina Brown took a magazine in decline and turned it into the toast of the town. In these merciless diaries, Brown spills the beans on all of the industry gossip, making her book a total indulgent pleasure to read, and all the more thrilling because the entries were written in the midst of the action.
Nat’s Pick - A New England Affair by Steven Carroll
A New England Affair is a beautifully written meditation on memory, love and regret. Carroll reimagines the relationship between TS Eliot and Emily Hale, creating a heartbreaking story of what was then, what is now and what could have been.
Kate’s Pick - Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
From the first page of this darkly witty debut, I knew I had fallen for Rooney’s characters in all their narcissistic imperfections. This fresh-voiced debut throws the reader into a deliciously doomed love quadrangle that zigs and zags in the most enjoyable and unpredictable ways.