Looking for something to read this summer? AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) has the list of books you need to check out this season. Whether your tastes lean toward true life stories, classics reimagined, stories featuring seasoned characters, or nonfiction to help and inform, these standout picks will help you spend less time searching and more time reading.

Borrow them in Libby, the free reading app from your local library, accessible from wherever you are. Audiobooks, adjustable text size, and reading on your Kindle are just a few easy-to-customize features that make Libby just right for the young and the young at heart.

Here are a few of the AARP recommended reads you can borrow from your library in the Libby app:

FICTION

The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher
Also available as an audiobook

This is a mystery set in an assisted living community featuring octogenarian Florrie Butterfield. Readers of moving fiction about late-in-life second chances such as Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove and Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will love this un-putdownable book.

All Fours by Miranda July
Also available as an audiobook

This tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a 45-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.

Until August by Gabriel García Márquez
Also available as an audiobook

Constantly surprising, joyously sensual, this book is a profound meditation on freedom, regret, self-transformation, and the mysteries of love — an unexpected gift from one of the greatest writers the world has ever known.

RELATED READ: “Until August,” Gabriel García Márquez’s final novel published against his wishes

James by Percival Everett
Also available as an audiobook

This reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is told from the perspective of the enslaved character Jim (James, actually). James’ agency, intelligence, and compassion is told in a radically new light.

Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
Also available as an audiobook

In his ingenious fifth literary whodunnit in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, Detective Hawthorne is once again called upon to solve an unsolvable case — a gruesome murder in an idyllic gated community in which suspects abound.

Long Island by Colm Tóibín
Also available as an audiobook

Get ready for a book about longings unfulfilled, even unrecognized. The silences in Eilis’s life are thunderous and dangerous, and there’s no one more deft than Tóibín at giving them language. This is a gorgeous story of a woman alone in a marriage and the deepest bonds she rekindles on her return to the place and people she left behind, to ways of living and loving she thought she’d lost.

This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Also available as an audiobook

Over seven decades, from 1940 to 2010, the pieds-noirs Cassars live in an itinerant state — separated in the chaos of World War II, running from a complicated colonial homeland, and, after Algerian independence, without a homeland at all.

You Like it Darker: Stories by Stephen King
Also available as an audiobook

From legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary new collection of 12 short stories, many never before published, and some of his best EVER.

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton
Also available as an audiobook

From the author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water comes an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop, and an audacious solution. Solve the murder to save what’s left of the world.

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
Also available as an audiobook

In a globetrotting tale that takes us from the black sand beaches of Hawaii to the skies of Marrakech, from the glitzy bachelor pads of Los Angeles to the inner sanctums of England’s oldest family estates, Kevin Kwan unfurls a juicy, hilarious, sophisticated, and thrillingly plotted story of love, money, murder, sex, and the lies we tell about them all.

Mind Games by Nora Roberts
Also available as an audiobook

The New York Times bestselling author of Identity presents a suspenseful new novel of tragedy and trauma, love and family, and the evil that awaits.

After Annie by Anna Quindlen
Also available as an audiobook

The author’s trademark wisdom on family, friendship, and the ties that bind us are at the center of this novel about the power of love to transcend loss and triumph over adversity.

NONFICTION

How to Be Old: Lessons in Living Boldly from the Accidental Icon by Lyn Slater
Also available as an audiobook

In this paradigm-shifting memoir, Lyn exemplifies that, even with its unique challenges, being old is just like any new beginning in your life and can be the best and most invigorating of all of life’s phases, full of rebellion and reinvention, connection and creativity.

Indulge: Delicious and Decadent Dishes to Enjoy and Share by Valerie Bertinelli

Beloved actress and New York Times bestselling author Valerie Bertinelli returns with her most indulgent cookbook yet, a collection of 100 recipes to nourish the body and the soul.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson
Also available as an audiobook

Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter — a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals.

Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”

Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking – How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives As We Age by Caroline Paul

This book is a high-spirited call for women to embrace the outdoors, not back away from it, in our 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond, casting our own futures in a new and dazzling light.

The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters by Susan Page
Also available as an audiobook

This is the definitive biography of the most successful female broadcaster of all time — Barbara Walters — a woman whose personal demons fueled an ambition that broke all the rules and finally gave women a permanent place on the air.

Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy by Sharon Malone, M.D.
Also available as an audiobook

Part medical handbook, part memoir, and part sister-girl cheerleader, this book is filled with useful resources and real-life stories of victory and defeat. It not only highlights the current data around women’s health issues, but it also places that data in a helpful context.

Bits and Pieces by Whoopi Goldberg
Also available as an audiobook

From multi-award winner Whoopi Goldberg comes a new and unique memoir of her family and their influence on her early life.

What a Fool Believes by Michael McDonald with Paul Reiser
Also available as an audiobook

Interwoven with the unforgettable tales of the music, Michael tells a deeply affecting story of losing and finding himself as a man. He reckons with the unshakeable insecurities that drove him, the drug and alcohol addictions that plagued him, and the highs and lows of popularity.

*Title availability may vary by library & region.

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