TAKIN' IT TO THE BEACH

Every Last One, by Anna Quindlen

(Random House)

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anna Quindlen’s novel tells the story of Mary Beth Latham, a devoted mother who juggles the everyday ups and downs of her three teenage children, including depression, jealousy and a nagging ex-boyfriend. When said ex-boyfriend blindsides the family with a shocking act of violence, Mary Beth must cope, regroup and regain her footing in life.

A Nightmare’s Prayer, by Michael Franzak

(Threshold Editions)

A Marine Harrier pilot’s account of his yearlong deployment to Afghanistan, examining the struggle to remain motivated in a war that had been mostly forgotten and the toll of separation from his wife and young son.

The Summer We Read Gatsby, by Danielle Ganek

(Viking)

Estranged half-sisters Cassie and Peck must reunite and work together when their beloved aunt passes away, leaving her Southhampton home to them in equal shares.

A Ticket to the Circus, by Norris Church Mailer

(Random House)

Norman Mailer’s sixth and final wife offers a peek into her mesmerizing life as a mother, writer and artist who was born in Arkansas and found herself in the center of New York’s literary set.

My Teenage Werewolf, by Lauren Kessler

(Viking, August 2010)

A veteran reporter probes the long-standing mother-daughter relationship—and struggle—as her own daughter embarks on her teenage years.

How to Be an American Housewife, by Margaret Dilloway

(G.P. Putnam’s Sons, August 2010)

In Dilloway’s debut novel, the blending and clashing of cultures and traditions are seen through the eyes of a Japanese woman who marries an American soldier at the end of World War II, as well as through the eyes of her daughter.

Lies My Mother Never Told Me, by Kaylie Jones

(HarperCollins)

The daughter of James Jones recalls a childhood surrounded by the literary elite in Paris, a sometimes-contentious relationship with her alcoholic mother, and her own struggle to overcome addiction in this compelling memoir.

Stuff, by Gail Steketee and Randy Frost

(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Steketee and Frost investigate the motives that drive people, from pack rats to hoarders, to fill and ruin their lives with stuff.