Random House – It’s National Read a Book Day
Perfect excuse to catch up on our favorite summer reads.
September 6 is National Read a Book Day! Since it’s still technically summer, celebrate by cracking open one of these impeccable summer reads.
“One of our major novelists” (Salman Rushdie) tells the story of a woman reflecting on her uncompromising life, and the life of a former lover, in this provocative novel.
Lilia Liska has shrewdly outlived three husbands, raised five children, and seen the arrival of seventeen grandchildren. Now she has turned her keen attention to the diary of a long-forgotten man named Roland Bouley, with whom she once had a fleeting affair. READ MORE »
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“Posterity, take notice!”The exhortation, or the plea, appeared twenty-three times in Roland Bouley’s diaries. Every time Lilia read the line, she reassured him: Yes, Roland, I’m here, taking notice. If one of her children in their younger years had asked her not to ever die, Lilia would have spoken with equal certainty: I never will. But that was a promise made to be broken. Roland had not asked for the impossible, only the eternal. Who else could be his posterity but her?
The single volume of his diaries, over seven hundred pages, was the only book Roland had published. He had culled sixty years of entries, and left instructions to have them printed by a friend’s press. He had left everything to Peter and Anne Wilson, his wife Hetty’s favorite niece.
Lilia disapproved of the Wilsons. Resented them wholeheartedly. They had edited Roland’s diaries from three volumes into one, inserting ellipses where records should have been kept intact. The first time she read the book, and Peter Wilson’s introduction that justified the culling, Lilia had sent a letter to Aubrey Lane Press, the address a P.O. box in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. What arrogance to say that Roland’s journals were “at times repetitive.” Life is repetitive, she wrote. Loyalty to a dead man should be the editor’s foremost requirement. She had received no reply. CONTINUE READING
With sharp, gorgeous prose, It Is Wood, It Is Stone takes place over the course of a year in São Paulo, Brazil, in which two women’s lives intersect. READ MORE »
The secret daughter of a French politician and a famous actress drops the startling revelation that will shatter her family in this beguiling debut novel of intrigue and betrayal.
Margot Louve is a secret: the child of a longstanding affair between an influential French politician with presidential ambitions and a prominent stage actress. This hidden family exists in stolen moments in a small Parisian apartment on the Left Bank. READ MORE »
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Meet James Samuel Vincent, an affluent Manhattan attorney who shirks his modest Irish-American background but hews to his father’s meandering ways. James muddles through a topsy-turvy relationship with his son, Rufus, which is further complicated when Rufus marries Claudia Christie. READ MORE »
Penguin Random House ▸ ENJOY WHILE READING
As you savor the last few weeks of the season with our final collection of summer reads, treat yourself to this Slow-Roasted and Fresh Cherry Tomato Salad from Eden Grinshpan’s Eating Out Loud.
Summer may be winding down but the abundance of sweet, ripe tomatoes available this time of year is cause for celebration. This recipe combines both fresh and roasted tomatoes to showcase their flavor and is tossed with a roasted garlic vinaigrette, feta, and lots of fresh basil. It’s a perfect farewell to these long, warm days as we look toward the fall.
Discover a playful new take on Middle Eastern cuisine with more than 100 fresh, flavorful recipes.“
Finally! Eden Grinshpan is letting us in on her secrets of her healthful and deliriously delicious cooking. Giant flavors, pops of color everywhere and dishes you’ll crave forever. It’s the Eden way!”—Bobby Flay READ MORE »Order Eating Out Loud Penguin Random House ▸
Join us on Tuesday, September 15 at 8:00 PM ET on Zoom for the final installment in this event series. You’ll hear from Regina Porter (The Travelers), Yiyun Li (Must I Go), Gabriella Burnham (It Is Wood, It Is Stone), and Sanaë Lemoine (The Margot Affair).To stay up to date on Random House Events, subscribe to our newsletter! LIMITED TIME EBOOK DEALS*
$5.99 $2.99“An incisive and necessary” (Roxane Gay) debut for fans of Get Out and Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, about a father’s obsessive quest to protect his son—even if it means turning him white. READ MORE »Order We Cast a Shadow 
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