Books for a read hot summer

Let’s face it, you probably won’t read that hardcover you lugged to the beach once you hit the sands. Thank God for the air-conditioned, hours-long commute.

Spinning true and true-to-life tales of adventure in China, Nigeria and Mexico City, they’re a trip themselves.
 

 

 

‘Mexican High’ by Liza Monroy
Spiegel & Grau,
$22
For the bus ride to the Cape, pack along this coming-of-age romp through Mexico City’s drug-fueled teen scene. Monroy’s heartfelt debut will make you feel better  when you’re flipping through that Us Weekly spread of celebs sunbathing in Cabo and St. Tropez.
 

 

 

‘The Painted Veil’ by W. Somerset Maugham
Knopf
$14
For that solo skip to Revere Beach, throw this delish read in with your sunblock.  Even if you saw the movie, you’ll lap up every juicy morsel — tea, crumpets and adultery, anyone? — as told from the POV of a British woman married to a bacteriologist who makes her pay for cheating by taking her to the center of China’s cholera outbreak! 
 

 

 

‘Man of the People’ by Chinua Achebe
Knopf
$12
You’ll finish this book by the time the conductor announces you’re at Manchester by the Sea — and probably make anyone sitting nearby think you’re insane as you guffaw uncontrollably. Set in West Africa after the transition from British colonial rule to local power, blatant corruption and politics become heelarious comic fodder — and a window into how easily man can be bought. 
 

 

 

‘Confessions of an Economic Hitman’ by John Perkins
Penguin
$15
Tote this controversial confessional along for the two-hour ferry trek to Nantucket. Narrated by a former U.S. government operative hired to sabotage foreign economies by compromising their leaders, it reveals the shady dealings our government was up to in the ’70s and ’80s.