If you’re attempting to replace (at least some of) the time you spend watching Netflix with time spent reading books, you’re not alone.
Here at marie claire, we’re holding ourselves accountable with a monthly book club filled with everything you need to read for the month ahead, already devoured – and thoroughly enjoyed – by yours truly.
Below, the best August releases to read this month.
Our House by Louise Candlish
One of the top new books on Goodreads (every avid reader’s favourite website), Our House is a thriller set in suburbia following what happens when working mum Fiona Lawson, who has a modern co-parenting arrangement with her estranged husband and their two sons, comes home one day to find strangers moving into her house and her children missing.
Let Me Be Like Water by S.K. Perry
Described as “a beautifully poignant and poetic debut about love, loss, friendship, and ultimately, starting over,” the first novel by S.K. Perry Let Me Be Like Water follows twenty-something Holly, who is trying to cope after the death of her boyfriend. Warning: you’ll need the tissues handy for this one.
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
Winner of the Man Booker International Prize, Flights is a series of mini-essays and personal and philosophical meditations on travel in all its forms. This book is being celebrated worldwide – and for good reason.
Rust & Stardust by T. Greenwood
Inspired by the real-life kidnapping of 11-year-old Sally Horner, who was taken by an ex-con named Frank LaSalle and abused for two years, Rust & Stardust is the novel that finally gives voice to Sally. As her kidnapper drives her from Camden to San Jose, Sally’s life – and the lives of those she encounters along the way – are changed forever.
The Third Hotel by Laura Van Den Berg
Dubbed “[A] future cult classic” by The New York Times Book Review, The Third Hotel needs to go straight to the top of your must-read list. Clare, recently widowed, goes to Havana, Cuba, to attend a film festival which her late husband, Richard, had purchased tickets for. However, late one night Clare sees Richard standing on the road wearing a white linen suit she’s never seen before – and definitely not dead.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
The Great Believers is a novel of friendship and redemption, set between 1980s Chicago – where a group of close-knit friends affected by the AIDS epidemic – and contemporary Paris years later, when one of the main characters travels to France and reconnects with an old friend.
Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot
Heart Berries depicts the author’s coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. After losing custody of her children, Terese is hospitalised with post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder. This New York Times bestseller was picked by Emma Watson to feature in her hugely popular book club, Our Shared Shelf. Watson says she “read this book in one sitting” and felt “transformed by the story. A gripping, heartwrenching read.
If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim
The debut novel by Crystal Hana Kim takes place during the 1950’s and 1960’s in Korea, following a young couple in love as war tears their country apart. Both a forbidden love story and a portrait of war and refugee life, If You Leave Me will tear at your heartstrings. A breathtaking can’t-put-down read.
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
The Mars Room tells the story of Romy Hall, who used to give lap dances for a living at the Mars Room Strip Club and is now at the start of two consecutive life sentences, plus six years, at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018 and a New York Times Bestseller, this powerful novel is the book version of Orange is the New Black, but better.
Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry
Debut author Katie Henry writes a hilarious novel about a young boy – who happens to be an atheist – sent to a new school – which happens to be strict Catholic. Prepare to laugh out loud almost every page.
Whisper Me This by Kerry Anne King
Single mother Maisey Addington never married and, according to her own mother, wasted her IQ on dead-end jobs. Maisey was sure her relationship with her 12-year-old daughter was the one stable part of her life until she gets a devastating phone call. With 4.2 stars on Good Reads and over 5.5k ratings, you can be sure you’ll love this stunning novel.
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