Arts & Entertainment

A Midsummer Night's Reading List in Fort Greene

Pick up a new book for the beach by a local author.

Whether you're spending the weekend out of town, taking the family to a local beach or simply looking to spice up your morning subway commute, there are a slew of great books by local authors for you to enjoy. 

Here we've chosen a few varied reads perfect for a midsummer reading slump! 

The Book - The Namesake
The Author - Jhumpa Lahiri
The Blurb - Lahiri's latest book, The Lowland, won't be out until this September. But you can bone up now on one of the author's best-known works: The Namesake, which tackles the immigrant experience, culture clash, and generation gap as it follows the story of the Ganguli family in Cambridge, Mass.

The Book
 - Outerborough Blues: A Brooklyn Mystery
The Author - Andrew Cotto
The Blurb - Travel along as local resident Andrew Cotto crafts a Brooklyn noir set in early 1990s gentrifying Fort Greene, that follows drifter Caesar Stiles as he tries to earn an honest buck, avoid his trouble-making brother and evade an arch nemesis who goes by the handle The Orange Man. 

The Book - A Visit from the Goon Squad
The Author - Jennifer Egan
The Blurb - Music lovers and former performers will love this richly woven, time-hopping story about an aging punk rocker, his kleptomaniac employee Sasha and a cast of other characters that make up their life. (I've actually just started it myself!)

The Book - Zone One
The Author - Colson Whitehead
The Blurb - Picture a post-apocalyptic New York City, plagued by a pandemic that has divided the population between the sick and the healthy, and you will have just scratched the surface of this engrossing horror novel by Fort Greene's own Colson Whitehead. Some call it the thinking man's zombie read, and we would tend to agree with those persons.

Have a favorite summer read by a local author? Share your own suggestions in the comments below.


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