Staying Fit
Fiction picks of the month
Long Island by Colm Tóibín (May 7): Fifteen years after his 2009 novel Brooklyn (turned into a 2015 movie starring Saoirse Ronan), Tóibín brings back Eilis Lacey, now living on Long Island with her husband, Tony, and their two kids — an Irishwoman surrounded by a close-knit clan of Italian American in-laws. After a betrayal, she takes an extended trip to see her mother in their small Irish hometown, a community where everyone knows your business, including the fact that Eilis and local bar owner Jim were in love before Eilis mysteriously fled 20 years earlier. The quiet, moving story is told from the perspectives of different characters, each with a heartbreaking inability to express what they truly desire. Note that you don’t need to have read Brooklyn (I hadn’t) to enjoy this follow-up.
Other sure-to-be-hot books out in May include these titles:
Think Twice by Harlan Coben (May 14): Sports agent Myron Bolitar (from Coben’s long-running series) learns that his business associate and frenemy who died three years prior is actually alive and possibly a murderer. He and his friend and colleague Win look for answers and discover some frightening secrets.
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You Like It Darker by Stephen King (May 21): King’s new collection of stories — all featuring frightening or evil forces either human or supernatural — include very short tales, as well as the novella-sized “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” about a vivid dream that turns out to be a psychic glimpse of reality.
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan (May 21): The author of 2013’s Crazy Rich Asians (which became a 2018 film and now has a Broadway musical version in the works) brings us Rufus Leung Gresham, whose mother wants him to marry a rich woman but he’s in love with the girl next door.
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