June's Best Books

Dig into dark thrillers, searing memoirs, juicy fiction and more

By Caroline Leavitt
Published: Jun 03, 2008

Meat: A Love Story - My Year in Search of the Perfect Meal
By Susan Bourette
G. P. Putnam’s Sons $24.95
Mad cow disease. E. coli poisoning. The cruelty of cattle and chicken farms. It was enough to send meat-lover Bourette into a life of vegetarianism. But, after a while, she began to crave steak and she set off on a quest to find humane, delicious, and healthy meat. From gamely nibbling whale blubber with the Inuit, to joining a Canadian moose hunt, Bourette’s adventurous spirit infuses the book with charm and wit. While this book isn’t going to make most vegetarians hanker for prime rib, meat-eaters will delight in Bourette’s exploits and her rosy portrait of a compassionate new kind of carnivore.

No One Tells Everything
by Rae Meadows
MacAdam Cage $23.00
In this film nourish page turner, Grace, a thirtyish copy editor, becomes obsessed with the young murderer of a female college student. Charles, the killer, is a seemingly nondescript guy from a Cleveland suburb like Grace, and under the auspice of reporting, she strikes up a friendship with him in prison, sure that there is more to the case than what is being revealed, But as what really happened that day is slowly revealed, Grace begins to discover some unsavory secrets of her own. Hypnotic and beautifully rendered.

Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe
by Jennie Shortridge
New American Library, $14.00

Tuck this one in your beach bag along with your sunscreen. Mira’s a high school science teacher pushing the northern side of forty. She’s been playing by the rules of good daughter, super mom, and loyal wife, right up until her husband ditches her for a younger, sunnier sweetie. Of course she bolts, heading north and stopping only when her car breaks down in Seattle, where she takes a job at one of the area’s ubiquitous coffee shops. The jolt it gives her life is satisfying, rich and makes for a delectable read about self-discovery.

Comfort: A Journey Through Grief
by Ann Hood
W.W. Norton & Company $21.95
Imagine having a happy, healthy six-year-old who’s admitted into the hospital for something routine and then dies hours later. Such a shattering tragedy happened to novelist Ann Hood, and in this extraordinary series of essays, she chronicles how she traveled through the grief of her daughter’s death into some sort of comfort. Stunningly powerful and bravely honest, Hood’s book is a brilliantly written heartbreaker that’s still anchored by hope.

American Nerd, the Story of My People
by Benjamin Nugent
Scriber $20.00
Were you the last one called on for teams in gym? Do you care more about intellectual pursuits than playing a winning game of baseball? From nerds in Howard’s End to the body-numbing horrors of Phys Ed, Nugent’s cool book about geekdom, tells the history and the deeper meaning of being a nerd with tongue firmly planted in cheek. After reading this, you’ll surely wear your pocket protector as a badge of honor.

Voracious reader Caroline Leavitt is the author of eight novels, most recently Girls in Trouble. She can be reached at http://www.carolineleavitt.com.

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