-Summer's here. Summer solstice.
You feeling that? -Solsticing it up, man.
-Yeah.
Summer's officially here, and I don't have a book to read.
I don't have a good summer read.
But I want to be there.
I want to be walking around with that book that everyone's got,
like, "Oh, you?" "Yeah, me."
And you go --
Anyway, so I figured it'd be kind of fun thing
to maybe do a summer book club.
-Yeah. Yeah!
-So I figured I'd do it. 'Cause I don't know.
I haven't seen a book club since, like, Oprah.
So I think we should really do a thing.
So I'm gonna call it "The Tonight Show" Summer Reads.
And here's how I'm going to do it.
I've got five books, okay?
Here we go. I got five books.
I'm going to tell you what they're about
and I'm gonna have you guys vote on them.
Okay, we're going to decide which book I should read,
and we're all going to read it together.
-Yeah. -Right?
-Yeah. I'll read it.
-You pick it. I did research.
I did research.
I read, like, the inner flap.
I looked at the cover.
-So these books --
-Are judged by the inner flap and the cover.
That's only -- No, no.
No, they all have good buzz and they're good books.
I'll tell you what they are.
This first one is called "The Good Son," okay,
and this is by You-jeong Jeong.
And she is called the Stephen King of South Korea.
-Ooh.
-Yeah.
So, it's a chilling psychological thriller.
Get ready for this.
A son who wakes up to find his mother dead in the house.
Can't remember what happened.
Maybe he did it.
-Ooh.
-Maybe he didn't. -Ooh.
-That's the jam. -You don't know.
-"The Good Son."
I don't know. I don't know.
I didn't read the book. I didn't read the book.
That's what it looks like.
I can see me holding this, walking around.
Like, "What's up, man? How's it going?
Everything's great."
You know what I'm saying? Like, that type of stuff --
You holding that -- -People know you're hip.
-Yeah. They know I know what's up.
Right, this other one is called "I.Q." by Joe Ide.
And this is -- I like this book
because it's the first in a series of three books.
So he has two of these I.Q. books.
That's the name of the detective, right.
He's got a third one coming out in the fall.
So this is like a good investment type of book.
-Right. -You know what I'm saying?
-You go, "I know that book. Yeah, I know the third one.
I love that character." -Yeah.
-Anyway, this is a high school dropout
who happens to be a genius
that solves crimes that the LAPD can't solve.
-Ooh, snap. -Really? Yeah.
Until he takes on one case and gets in way too deep.
-Ooh.
-So it's a detective novel,
but it's got some humor in there, too.
I like this. "I.Q.," Joe Ide.
This next one is --
-What's up?
What's that? -What's up?
Oh, I can't hear you, man.
-Oh, I'm sorry. You reading "I.Q."?
-Oh, yeah. I'm reading "I.Q."
Everything's cool.
All right, this one is --
oh, yeah -- "Providence," okay, Caroline Kepnes.
I know the neon looks cool.
Nothing to do with the book, the neon.
But... -But...
-So this is part love story,
part detective novel, part supernatural thriller.
Check out this story. What?!
Shoo!
Two best friends, they fall in love in New Hampshire.
They're best friends.
And he's about to tell this girl that he's in love with her
and she's the love of his life.
He gets kidnapped. -Snap.
-Oh, he returns. -What? But?
-Years later. -What?!
-He doesn't remember what happened to him.
-Oh, snap.
But guess what. -What?
-Now he has, like, a supernatural type of thing,
a power, a special power where people --
he can kill people.
-With his mind?
-People die around him, if he wants them to.
He can -- It might be like a Seven type of thing.
-Ooh. -"Stranger Things" type of jam.
And so what he does is he goes away to Providence
because he doesn't want to run into the girl he loves
'cause he doesn't want her to be in danger.
"Providence"! Yeah! "Providence"!
[ Cheers and applause ]
You want hard cover? You got hard cover.
-No, that's pretty beachy.
-That's a good beach read, right?
-Yeah, that's a beacher.
-This one might be the jam, too.
This is "Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi.
Okay? Now, look at this jam.
Just look at that, yeah. "Children of Blood and Bone."
Now, she's a very young writer.
Picture of her here.
Look at that. Very young.
And people are comparing her to, like, J.K. Rowling.
-Ooh.
-Yeah, ever heard?
George R. R. Martin.
It's kind of a young adult "Game of Thrones-y" type of jam.
A whole new world, made up a whole new thing.
So this could be the summer jam, as well.
I don't know.
About a young woman on a quest to return the magic
that was stolen from her people by an oppressive ruling class
and in the process finding her own magic that lies within her.
-Ooh.
-I'm just saying. This is --
I feel like there's another one in the works with this one.
This is another investment book. -That's number one.
-Well, I feel like -- "Game of Thrones" is how many books?
12? -27. I don't know.
-This is the first one. "Children of Blood and Bone."
It's got great reviews, and this could be the jam
that people are gonna be talking about.
And you want to be walking around the beach like...
-Hey, man. What's up? -What's up, man?
-You blood-and-boning it?
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Oh, you know I'm boning it, man.
Come on. -24/7, man.
-All right, this is the last book of the five.
This is "The Immortalists" by Chloe Benjamin.
Yeah. I like the cover there.
This is a thriller and a love story.
Now, check this out -- It's about four family members
who go to see a psychic on the Lower East Side
here in New York City.
Norm-- No, normal thing that families do.
-Yeah. -Go check out a psychic.
Figure it out. Yeah.
So they go to a psychic.
-Sidekick? -No, a psychic.
You're a sidekick. Yeah, I know, yeah.
They go -- Psychic.
A psychic on the Lower East Side.
Wait, you live on the Lower East Side.
-I live on the Lower East Side.
-Do you know these people? -Yeah.
The Benjamins, right?
-Yeah, the poor Benjamins. No, that's a different --
This is "The Immortalists."
Four family members go to see a psychic
on the Lower East Side in New York City.
The psychic tells them the exact day
that each one of them are going to die.
-Ooh.
-Yeah. Then they move to San Francisco in the '80s.
-All of them? -Yeah. No.
I don't know. I didn't read it.
-You haven't read it yet.
-Again, these are all books I have not read.
I just read the covers and just read some --
whatever reviews I could read.
It says, "'The Immortalists' probes the line --"
first of all, probes the line... -Probes.
Count me in.
-"...between destiny and choice, reality and illusion,
this world and the next."
-Oh.
-"The Immortalists."
-Yeah.
-What's up, man?
What's up?
-Your Immor-- -What's that?
-Are you probing destiny?
-Dude, I'm probing the line, dude.
You know I'm out there probing. -Probing it up, man.
-All right, so here's my top five that I think.
This could be the book of the summer.
And I want you guys to choose.
-Nice stacking job.
-Thank you. I appreciate it.
This last one's gonna be tough.
-Oh, you got it. -Look at that.
-You got it. -Yeah, look at that.
I should work at a bookstore. -Should work at B&N.
-Any of these.
If you go to tonightshow.com/summerreads,
you can find out more of these things.
We have a week to vote.
So next Thursday we'll cut it off,
and next Friday I'll announce what book is the one
that we're all going to read together.
We'll pick it and we'll read it together.
I have not read any of these.
But I think it could be a fun thing.
-I'm in. I'm in. -You're in?
-Yeah. -All right, good.
Guys, it is the summer of reading.