400-The Life June 2017 Book Review

Make sure you've got one of these titles on you this summer

Here are some top titles we deemed perfect for your beach bag, airplane carry-on or back porch lounge chair.

"Two From the Heart," by James Patterson with Frank Costantini

Two heartwarming tales about the power of a good story to open our eyes to life's possibilities.

Anne McWilliams has lost everything. After her marriage falls apart and a hurricane destroys her home, she realizes that her life has fallen out of focus. So she takes to the road to ask long lost friends and strangers a simple question: "What's your best story?"

Can the funny, tragic, inspirational tales she hears on her journey help Anne see what she's been missing?

About this article

This article was originally published in the June 2017 issue of 400-The Life, a publication of the Forsyth County News. To read the entire magazine, click here.

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"The Silent Wife," by A.S.A. Harrison

"Soon to be a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman, fans of "The Girl on the Train" and "Gone Girl" will love "The Silent Wife." "I gobbled it down in one sitting." – Anne Lamott, People

"The Arm," by Jeff Passan

Equal parts medical thriller and cautionary tale, "The Arm" is a searing exploration of baseball’s most valuable commodity and the redemption that can be found in one fragile and mysterious limb.

"Brain on Fire," by Susannah Cahalan

In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen.

"Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction," by Derek Thompson

From the dawn of impressionist art to the future of Facebook, from small Etsy designers to the origin of Star Wars, Derek Thompson leaves no pet rock un-turned to tell the fascinating story of how culture happens and why things become popular.

"The Wrong Side of Goodbye," by Michael Connelly

"....a powerful, Macdonald-esque meditation on the claims the past exerts on the present. Few mystery novelists make background facts and simple descriptions sing the way this writer does. And no writer exploits Los Angeles - its geography, its historical power wars, its celebrity culture, its lore - as compellingly as Connelly....he must be read." — Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Tribune

"The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between," by Hisham Matar

The Pulitzer Prize citation hailed "The Return" as “a first-person elegy for home and father.” Transforming his personal quest for answers into a brilliantly told universal tale of hope and resilience, Matar has given us an unforgettable work with a powerful human question at its core: How does one go on living in the face of unthinkable loss?

400 Life