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Book Reviews

Some books are made for summer. npr staffers share their all-time favorites.

A few weeks ago, we asked NPR staffers to share their all-time favorite summer reads. Old, new, fiction, nonfiction — as long as it was great to read by a pool or on a plane, it was fair game. Scroll down to find tried-and-true recommendations for mysteries, memoirs, essays and, of course, romance.

Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene

Spare, droll, sometimes ridiculous and poignant, Graham Greene called Travels With My Aunt "the only book I have written just for the fun of it." An incurious, retired English banker named Henry Pulling travels the world with his eccentric Aunt Augusta after they meet at his mother's funeral. Henry visits a church for dogs in Brighton, smokes a joint with an American on the Orient Express and lands in a Paraguayan jail after blowing his nose on a red scarf honoring the government. Traveling with Henry out of his comfort zone is a delightful journey. — Elizabeth Blair , senior producer and reporter, Culture Desk

Happy Hour: A Novel by Marlowe Granados

Happy Hour is a diary of a "Hot Girl Summer." The novel follows Isa, the diary's writer, and her best friend, Gala, as they cavort through an NYC summer. They have next to no money, but a lot of charm — the pair penny-pinches by day and grows their social clout at the city's bars by night. As summer deepens and cash tightens, their friendship — and life in New York – becomes tenuous. I love these broke party girls and their shenanigans! It's a vibes-forward and seasonal romp, which is exactly my kind of summer read. — Liam McBain, associate producer, It's Been a Minute

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

The Pursuit of Love is a charming romp about one fabulously wealthy Englishwoman's romantic pursuits, narrated by her slightly less-romantic best friend and cousin. You might not live a life as seemingly pointless as Linda Radlett, but you will enjoy her misadventures wherever you might read them this summer. A collection of truly beautiful words about several truly beautiful people, The Pursuit of Love is that ideal summer read: deceptively mindless, appropriately fast-paced and unexpectedly gorgeous. You'll cry, you'll laugh and maybe, just maybe — you'll fall in love. — Nick Andersen, producer, Fresh Air archives

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

The epic history of the Great Migration isn't an obvious choice for a summer read: It's not "easy" and it's 800 pages or so. But reading The Warmth of Other Suns over the course of the summer, especially on vacation, gave me a chance to really absorb the story and to talk about it with family. I would read a chapter or two aloud at night and we would talk about it — something I don't think we would have or could have done during the school year. And make no mistake, it is an epic, and Isabel Wilkerson's writing has the verve and pace of a novel. — Michel Martin , host, Morning Edition

• Great Migration: The African American Exodus North
• 'Other Suns': When African Americans Fled North

The Interestings: A Novel by Meg Wolitzer

The Interestings of the title is the name for a group of teens at an arts summer camp. The book is the story of how they do or don't fulfill their potential as they grow into adulthood. How their friendships ebb and flow. How life disappoints and astonishes us.

But really it's about how friends help you see — and become — yourself. And because it's written by Meg Wolitzer, the story is gorgeous and juicy and so unputdownable — perfect to devour in summer, when life feels limitless. — Justine Kenin, editor, All Things Considered

• Summer Days Fade To Adulthood In 'The Interestings'
• Teens Rehearse For Adulthood In Wolitzer's 'Interestings'

All the Missing Girls: A Novel by Megan Miranda

Nicolette Farrell's best friend disappeared a decade ago in their rural hometown. Years later, Nicolette is home helping her ailing father, and a young neighbor goes missing, bringing back the haunting past. The magic of this book is that it's told backward, starting on Day 15 and finishing on Day 1. Like so many of Megan Miranda's thrillers, there are twists and turns you'll never see coming. It's a perfect summer read: The dialogue is great and the plot makes it a real page turner. Each day is a new chapter and this creative structure offers built-in breaks — so you can take a minute to jump in the pool. — Elissa Nadworny, correspondent

• How do you write a captivating thriller? This author found clues in the woods

Act One: An Autobiography by Moss Hart

I'd never heard the term "second-acting" until I read Moss Hart's firsthand account of mingling with 1920s intermission crowds in his teens, so he could sneak in with them to cadge Broadway jokes and songs for his Catskills summer camp revues. Practice, it turned out, for one of American theater's most storied, rags-to-riches careers, as Hart rose from poverty to write classic comedies with George S. Kaufman and direct My Fair Lady. In my own teens, in an era when live theaters mostly shut down for the summer, reading of his exploits is what kept me psyched till the fall stage season picked up. — Bob Mondello, senior arts critic, Culture Desk

The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel by Richard Osman

This jaunty mystery takes place in a retirement village, telling the story of four murder-mystery-obsessed friends who finally have a real case to crack. What's delightful is that there are no stereotypes here — the senior citizens solve the murder with wit, style and ferocious intelligence. The puzzle is intricate and involving, but there's a breeziness about it that makes it an ideal hammock read. You can likely finish it in one lazy afternoon. — Jennifer Vanasco, editor and reporter, Culture Desk

Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock

Redefining Realness is peak summer reading: a captivating escape into another life. But it also asks a daring question: What does it take to become yourself in a world that's hostile to your existence? Janet Mock's journey as a Black trans writer has had specific lessons for me as I found my footing as a gay journalist. But it's gained new resonance at a moment when trans kids are under attack — and offers insight on how to support trans youth as they become who they're meant to be. Plus, it's a lot of fun. Part catharsis, part kiki — and always a journey worth taking. — Tinbete Ermyas, editor, All Things Considered

• On 'Pose,' Janet Mock Tells The Stories She Craved As A Young Trans Person

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

A great summer read transports, which Rebecca — rather famously — does from its very first line. Narrated by the second Mrs. de Winter, what happened to the first — the titular Rebecca — unspools over the course of this Gothic classic. The narrator marries the wealthy Maxim de Winter after knowing him for just two weeks. At their estate, Manderley, the devotion of housekeeper Mrs. Danvers to Rebecca ratchets up tension and apprehension between the newly married pair. Set on the cliffs of the Cornish coast, the atmosphere and psychological suspense may send a near-literal chill down your spine. — Tayla Burney, director, Network Programming and Production

The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay

In this volume of essays from poet Ross Gay, we get a catalog of everyday little joys from a year in his life: unspoken pacts of trust between strangers on a train, a dancing praying mantis, the act of blowing things off. Along the way, he ruminates on nature, masculinity, race, and — most of all — our connections to each other. There's no ignoring the cruelty and pain that also come with life; he's finding humor and tenderness, even so. Whether you're traveling or staying home for the summer, it's the perfect read to inspire observing your corner of the world with a little more care and delight. — Erica Liao, senior digital analyst, Audience Insight-Research

The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein

Yes, I am recommending all 1,500+ pages of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels as a summer read. The four books trace the relationship between two girls across the latter half of the 20th century, exposing hard truths about female friendship while exploring the trajectory of Italian politics and the country's perpetual North/South divide. Yet I think of these novels as beach reads, not because they're easy or escapist (they're emphatically not), but because reading the story feels like being on a municipal beach in Naples: almost too hot; defiantly gritty; inescapably, heartbreakingly beautiful. — Emily Dagger, senior manager, Member Partnership

• Translator Behind Elena Ferrante Novels Says Her Job Is To Be An 'Enabler'
• In New Neapolitan Novel, Fans Seek Clues About Mysterious Author's Past

Call Me by Your Name: A Novel by André Aciman

Call Me By Your Name, the 2007 novel by André Aciman, follows Elio, 17, as he spends the summer at his parents' villa in Italy. His days are uneventful until an intriguing houseguest, Oliver, arrives. Slowly, Elio realizes he is in love with him and an all-consuming relationship ensues: the kind where you love someone so much you want them to know what it's like to be loved by you. In one heartbreaking line, Oliver tells Elio: "Call me by your name and I'll call you by mine." This is the perfect book for those looking to electrify their summer with an intense affair. — Malaka Gharib , editor, Life Kit

• 'Call Me By Your Name': Love, Their Way

Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession

This gentle novel from Irish blues musician and writer Rónán Hession follows the adventures of two sweetly bumbling, 30-something men as they go about their daily lives. The book is a delightful summer read because the characters are so incredibly likable: They enjoy playing board games and reading. They do nice things for other people. It's testament to the author's skill that this book, so lacking in the traditional trappings of drama, is somehow a total page turner. — Chloe Veltman, correspondent, Culture Desk

Who is Maud Dixon?: A Novel by Alexandra Andrews

Who Is Maud Dixon? is a wild ride following an aspiring writer as she tries to find her feet in the publishing industry. She takes a new gig as an assistant to an anonymous novelist and finds herself falling in love with her boss's life — and then trying to steal it. The many twists and turns in the novel make it a beach read — and the vibrant descriptions of Morocco make it a perfect summer escape. If you can't travel this summer, you can immerse yourself in the luscious descriptions of the seaside, meals and street markets in this story. — Erin Register, project manager, Network Growth

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin

To me, summer is about adventure and exploration, so my desire to read books that are a little weird and meandering totally spikes. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is one of those books. It doesn't give you much of a roadmap; instead, it plunges you into a world and invites you to come along. What is it about? I don't know — a guy living outside Tokyo, a missing cat, mysterious strangers, having too much time on your hands. What I do know is that I couldn't put it down. Reading felt like wandering through a stranger's dream: lush, surreal and totally immersive. — Leah Donnella, senior editor, Code Switch

• Haruki Murakami: 'I've Had All Sorts Of Strange Experiences In My Life'

Red, White & Royal Blue: A Novel by Casey McQuiston

Red, White & Royal Blue takes readers on a journey that turns rivals into lovers — and sees a lot of self-growth. When Alex Claremont-Diaz's mom becomes the president of the United States, all eyes turn to the first family, the "American Royal Family." So when Alex and Prince Henry fall for each other, they have to navigate the struggles of relationships, a reelection cycle and international relations. This story gives the reader a warm hug as it sees Alex learn, process and grow into his own sexuality and sense of self. It is witty and wholesome in all the best ways. June brought Pride Month and summer: What better way to enjoy a day at the beach than to dive into a heartwarming story of becoming yourself in a way that is incredibly accessible to LGBTQ+ youth and allies. — Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez, audio engineer

• 'Red, White & Royal Blue' Reigns As Must-Read Romance

No One Tells You This: A Memoir by Glynnis MacNicol

Journalist Glynnis MacNicol's memoir is an engrossing, incisive portrayal of a woman constantly in motion, whether she's pedaling her bike across New York City to a friend's party or rushing home to support her ailing mother. MacNicol has no choice but to figure out on her own how to move through life, because preset roadmaps weren't designed for people like her — a 40-year-old, single, child-free woman. Like summer, the essence of No One Tells You This is escape: to solo vacations, to a dude ranch in Wyoming and, ultimately, from a narrow idea of a meaningful life. — Rhaina Cohen, producer and editor, Embedded

Attachments: A Novel by Rainbow Rowell

Lincoln starts a job as a nighttime IT guy assigned to monitor — and therefore read — all of the office email at a newspaper in 1999. He hates his job but finds himself captivated by the hilarious messages that best friends and co-workers Beth and Jennifer exchange every day. Then he starts to develop a crush on Beth. Perhaps an office isn't the traditional setting for a summer read, but I've reread it multiple summers because it makes me so dang happy. Rainbow Rowell is on par with Nora Ephron when it comes to writing kind, lovable characters having witty conversations (my favorite thing). — Tilda Wilson, Kroc fellow

• Rainbow Rowell Does Romance With A Subversive (Read: Realistic) Twist

The Wedding Crasher: A Novel by Mia Sosa

The Wedding Crasher is a great summer read with its charm and heat. Solange is roped into helping with her cousin's wedding planning business. But instead of making sure one of the weddings goes off without a hitch, Solange finds herself crashing (and burning) it. The almost-groom Dean has a proposal for Solange — a fake relationship to help him with his career. Fake dating has been done many times before, but never with such great communication. And it was super steamy to boot. Written by a Black, Brazilian American author, The Wedding Crasher shares with us Solange's boisterous and loving Brazilian family, and they were just as much fun as the romance. — Anika Steffen, chief employment counsel

The Summer Place: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner

A posthaste engagement between Ruby and her boyfriend leads to a wedding taking place at her safta's summer home in Cape Cod. However, when the wedding day arrives, secrets are revealed, misunderstandings come to light, and this complicated family must confront their own personal mistakes and consequences. This novel is filled with juicy gossip and unparalleled family drama — and is perfect for sitting poolside with a margarita as you dig up the dirt. While at times it may resemble an episode of Jerry Springer, the love and emotion that tie this family together are stronger than DNA. — Sam Levitz, product manager, Network CMS

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo follows the life of retired Golden Age Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo through the lens of her infamous seven marriages. We follow along as she falls both in and out of love — with not only the spotlight, but with those around her. This book is like having a summer fling turn to romance — starting with excitement and intrigue and ending with a feeling of never wanting to let go. You'll never want to say goodbye to Evelyn Hugo, and you'll be thinking of her for a long time to come. — Aja Miller, associate, Member Partnerships

This list was produced by Beth Novey and edited by Maureen Pao and Meghan Collins Sullivan.

• summer books

The Summer Reading Guide

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T r a n s p o r t Y o u r s e l f t o A n o t h e r P l a c e

Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani

I Capture the Castle

by Dodie Smith

Cassandra Mortmain, 17, lives in a crumbling medieval castle in 1930s England. Her father purchased it with the royalties from his one successful novel, the income from which has long since run dry. As an escape—and as practice for her own novel, which she hopes might spring her family from its now-less-than-genteel poverty—Cassandra has dedicated herself to “capturing” the characters around her in a diaristic, curious first person: irascible, blocked-writer father; bohemian stepmother; beautiful, dissatisfied older sister; lovelorn farmhand. Cassandra’s circumstances are at odds with her romantic temperament, but they animate her narration; charm, humor, and frustration spark off of every page. I Capture the Castle has the enjoyably familiar trappings of the Jane Austen marriage plot—there are wealthy bachelor neighbors and sisterly schemes in the damp yet charming English countryside. But in this book, the tropes collapse in on one another in comic and quietly poignant ways as the reader is welcomed into the nostalgic mood of interwar Britain, with its tea cozies and tweeds and trousseaus bought in London. It’s a novel that you sink into like a chintz armchair, only to emerge warm but wistful as the light fails and the evening mist appears.  — Christine Emba

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Wandering Stars

by Tommy Orange

Orange’s previous novel, There There , conjured an interconnected cast of characters who were a part of a widespread Native community in Oakland, California. Wandering Stars , a sequel of sorts, is in part an exploration of what happens after the earlier book’s dramatic and painful ending—but it is also Orange’s attempt to provide a deeper, historical backstory to the contemporary, urban reality he described so well. The novel rewinds more than 100 years, beginning in the 19th century with a survivor of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre and following his bloodline through the decades, with characters wandering to and around California until they end up back in the present day, in Oakland. You can’t understand these people unless you delve into the years of brutality and assimilation that brought them here, Orange implicitly argues—and he brilliantly captures the confusion of the youngest generation, which feels disconnected from its roots even as its inheritance weighs heavily.  — Emma Sarappo

Someone Like Us

by Dinaw Mengestu

At one point in Mengestu’s new novel, the main character, Mamush, having missed a flight from his home in Paris to Washington, D.C., decides on a whim to buy a ticket to Chicago instead. He’s not dressed for the freezing cold, which provokes a stranger’s concern, but Mamush remains nonplussed: “What she saw was a shadow version of me,” he thinks. “My real self was hundreds of miles away in the suburbs of northern Virginia.” The soul of this short, disorienting book, which drifts between continents and cities, does indeed lie in the anonymous, dense suburbs north and south of Washington, D.C. These communities are where Mamush, a failed journalist, grew up in a milieu of Ethiopian immigrants. Mamush’s French wife, Hannah, struggles to wrap her mind around these American nonplaces —and even Mamush fails to describe them with anything but the blandest words. “We lived in apartment buildings, surrounded by other apartment buildings, behind which were four-lane highways that led to similar apartments,” he remembers. His trip home, meant to be a family reunion, becomes a sobering and eerie voyage after a sudden tragedy. But as his visit unlocks long-buried memories and secrets, these places that began as ciphers end up specific enough to make the hairs on one’s neck stand up in recognition.  — E.S.

Learn Something Completely New

The Secret Life of Groceries

by Benjamin Lorr

Great nonfiction books take you into worlds you could never otherwise know: deepest space, Earth’s extremities, the past. The best nonfiction books explore places you know intimately but haven’t thought nearly enough about. The Secret Life of Groceries begins elbow-deep in trout guts and melting ice, a smell “thick in the air like you are exhuming something dangerous, which perhaps you are,” as the low-wage laborers who make a Manhattan Whole Foods fit for the daily rush do their best to clean the fish case. Lorr starts there because it’s a near-perfect metaphor for the American grocery store and its global machinery: It is gross, it is miraculous, it is where plants and animals become products , and where desire becomes consumption. After following him from specialty-food shows to shrimping boats to new-employee orientation, you’ll never think of groceries the same way again.  — Ellen Cushing

Becoming Earth

by Ferris Jabr

In his new book, Jabr invites the reader to consider the true definition of life . Earth doesn’t just play host to living beings, in his telling; it’s alive itself because it is fundamentally made up of the plants and creatures that transform its land, air, and water. “Life, then, is more spectral than categorical, more verb than noun,” he explains. It is “not a distinct class of matter, nor a property of matter, but rather a process—a performance.” Plankton release gases that can alter the climate; microbes below the planet’s surface sculpt rock into caverns and, Jabr suggests, might have even helped form the continents. Jabr is a science journalist who has written searching articles on inter-tree communication, the possibilities of botanical medicine, and the beauty of certain animals; here, he travels from the kelp forests near California’s Santa Catalina Island to an observatory high above the Amazon rainforest in Brazil to his own backyard in Portland. Along the way, he makes a convincing, mind-opening case that “the history of life on Earth is the history of life remaking Earth,” which means that humans are just one part of a changing, multifarious whole—and that we must work urgently to mitigate our disproportionate effects on the planet.  — Maya Chung

by Anne Truitt

Truitt’s sculptures—tall wooden columns of pure color—are almost mystically smooth. But her writing, especially in her first published journal, Daybook , flies in the face of those unbroken surfaces: She chronicles her complex experiences as a mother and a working artist, giving readers an intimate look into how her biography and her process cannot be separated. Daybook , which covers Truitt’s life in the late 1970s, emerges directly from her maxim that “artists have no choice but to express their lives.” In her case, that means capturing serene meditations on the creative spark, recounting the labor of applying 40 coats of paint to her forms, and groaning over the financial discomfort of raising three kids. Most spectacular are her ruminations on how life is what we feed to art in order to make it grow. Watching her daughter take a bath is a source of inspiration. “I had been absorbing her brown body against the white tub, the yellow top of the nail brush, the dark green shampoo bottle, Sam’s blue towel, her orange towel, and could make a sculpture called Mary in the Tub if I ever chose to,” she muses. Daybook is full of all the luminous colors Truitt, who died in 2004, evoked—the soothing lilacs, blaring yellows, revolutionary reds. It’s a powerful lesson that an artist is not only a person who planes towering poplar sculptures but also someone who removes a splinter from a child’s finger.  — Hillary Kelly

Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet

by James Atlas

You might not ever have heard of Schwartz, and it doesn’t really matter. Atlas’s biography of him is such a psychologically acute, stylishly executed portrait of a doomed genius and his milieu of New York intellectuals that it effortlessly propels the reader through its pages. Schwartz was supposed to become the American W. H. Auden; he had the potential to be the greatest poet of his generation, and his work provoked the awe of peers such as Saul Bellow (who loosely based the novel Humboldt’s Gift on Schwartz’s troubled life). Atlas depicts a legendary conversationalist, a brilliant wit (Schwartz coined the aphorism “Even paranoids have real enemies”), and a life brutally overtaken by mental illness.  — Franklin Foer

S t a r t the Book You’ll Read All Summer

At the Edge of Empire

by Edward Wong

For years, the only uniform that Wong, The New York Times ’ former Beijing bureau chief, could imagine his father wearing was the red blazer he put on to go work at a Chinese restaurant every day. Then he saw a photo of young Yook Kearn Wong dressed as a soldier, and two stories opened up. His nonagenarian father had once been in Mao’s army and witnessed firsthand the Communist attempt to resurrect a Chinese empire; he dramatically left China in 1962 for Hong Kong and then Washington, D.C., disillusioned with what he had seen. This mix of memoir and efficiently recounted history covers 80 turbulent years. Wong is especially detailed about the decades his father spent in the People’s Liberation Army; he was sent to Manchuria, where he trained with the Chinese air force, and Xinjiang, where he met the Muslim populations of Uyghurs and Kazakhs that the state has struggled to subdue. Along with his father’s history, Wong unpacks his own years reporting on Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power and quashing of dissent—a mirror of what his father saw. This book’s power comes from Wong’s broad sense of the patterns of Chinese history, reflected in the lives of a father and son, and from his ability to toggle effortlessly between the epic and the intimate.  — Gal Beckerman

Kristin Lavransdatter

by Sigrid Undset, translated by Tiina Nunnally

Kristin, the pivotal character in Undset’s historical 1,000-page trilogy, is introduced as a young girl in 14th-century Norway. She is the adored daughter of Lavrans, a widely respected nobleman who runs their family’s estate with wisdom and faith, and a member of a well-drawn social world of relatives, friends, and neighbors with defined feudal roles. As she grows up, she becomes beautiful, bighearted, and religious, though she is also willful and disobedient in ways that will bring her deep sorrow for the rest of her life. Kristin’s saga, rich with detail, has shades of Tess of the d’Urbervilles ’ tragedy and Brideshead Revisited ’s piety, but more than anything, the story is deeply human . Readers follow an imperfect, striving, warm, petty, utterly understandable woman from her childhood during the peak of medieval Norwegian strength to her death during the Black Plague, a time when Catholicism ordered social and political life but pagan traditions and beliefs were not yet forgotten. Her journey from maid to sinner to pilgrim to matriarch, first published in the 1920s, is gorgeous, fresh, and propulsive in Nunnally’s translation. A century later, spending weeks or months tracking the years of Kristin’s life remains wildly rewarding.  — E.S.

The Bee Sting

by Paul Murray

The setup for the Irish author Murray’s fourth novel is a classic one: Take one family and explore its dynamics in intimate detail, turning it over to reveal all of its flawed facets, and expose it as a microcosm of larger social and cultural forces roiling us all. Jonathan Franzen is the current American master of this particular novelistic gambit, but Murray brings new energy to the enterprise with his portrait of the Barneses, Dickie and Imelda, and their two children, Cass and PJ. They’re a once-prosperous family living in a small Irish town; they’ve been suddenly struck down by the 2008 financial crash, which sends Dickie’s chain of car dealerships and garages into freefall. You could read this book in a week, and you’ll want to, but give yourself the whole summer to appreciate how fully Murray inhabits the perspectives of each family member chapter after chapter. Their psychologies—scarred in so many ways, both subtle and dramatic—become impossible to turn away from. After 600 pages, the elements Murray has been putting in place build to a wrenching climax, one that, like in all great tragedies, was foretold from the first page of this beautifully crafted book.  — G.B.

I m m e r s e Y o u r s e l f in a Cult Classic

by Rachel Ingalls

If nothing else, read In the Act for the fights. Helen and Edgar, who are unhappily married, have developed a caustic fluency in the art of spiteful exchange. “You’re being unreasonable,” he says at one point. “Of course I am. I’m a woman,” she replies. “You’ve already explained that to me.” But also, read Ingalls’s sneakily brilliant 1987 novella for the absurd plot, which begins at a grouchy, oddball simmer—Edgar is adamant that Helen give him privacy to work on a mysterious project in the attic; Helen, suspicious of the sounds she hears up there, is determined to learn more—and ultimately reaches an exhilarating, tragicomic boil. In between, we discover the particular, creative way in which Edgar is two-timing Helen, the equally creative way in which she takes revenge, and just how delightful a story can be when each lean, mean sentence carries its weight.  — Jane Yong Kim

Let’s Talk About Love

by Carl Wilson

What might a music critic with a knee-jerk distaste for Celine Dion stand to gain from careful, open-minded consideration of her work? This is the premise of Wilson’s 2007 touchstone of cultural criticism, which proved so popular that an expanded edition, released in 2014, includes response essays by luminaries such as Mary Gaitskill and James Franco. Let’s Talk About Love focuses on the singer of “My Heart Will Go On,” yes, but at its core it’s an investigation of taste: why we like the things we like, how our identities and social status get mixed up in our aesthetic preferences, and how one should wrestle with other people’s wildly different reactions to works of art. The book will have you scrutinizing your own preferences, but its true pleasure is unlocked simply by following along as a critic listens to music and thinks deeply about it—particularly one as intelligent, rigorous, and undogmatic as Wilson.  — Chelsea Leu

Ripley’s Game

by Patricia Highsmith

The suave serial murderer Tom Ripley’s actions can be notoriously hard for readers to predict—but in Highsmith’s third novel about the con man, Ripley surprises himself. No longer the youthful compulsive killer of The Talented Mr. Ripley , the character is aging and getting bored. So when a poor man named Jonathan responds coolly to him at a party, Ripley fashions an elaborate drama for his own amusement: He cons the mild-mannered and entirely inexperienced Jonathan into taking a job as a freelance assassin targeting Mafia members, but the more Ripley watches Jonathan struggle with the task and his morals, the more Ripley itches to get his own hands dirty again. When I revisited Highsmith’s books ahead of their (rather dour) Netflix adaptation , I found myself unexpectedly drawn most to Ripley’s Game and its absurd humor. The novel explores a classic Highsmith preoccupation: how reducing strangers to archetypes can feel irresistible. Ripley is as much a petty meddler as he is a cold-blooded murderer—and that makes him endlessly fun to follow.  — Shirley Li

Sirena Selena

by Mayra Santos-Febres

In 1990s San Juan, Puerto Rico, the drag queen Martha Divine hears a young boy singing boleros while picking up cans. She helps transform him into Sirena Selena—a beguiling drag performer who is soon invited to sing at a luxury hotel in the Dominican Republic and inspires an erotic obsession in one of its rich investors. Santos-Febres has pointed out that the Caribbean has long “been a desire factory for the rest of the world,” and her story looks squarely at the power dynamics inherent in these fantasies, especially those between tourists and locals. When it was published in 2000, Selena’s story was immediately heralded as crucial Puerto Rican literature, and it remains beloved partially for the force of its central allegory: Tourism, it argues, forces Caribbean people into a performance of exoticism—yet another type of drag. Santos-Febres will make you reconsider gender and the travel industry while luring you in with prose so sumptuous that reading it feels like putting on a pair of delicate satin gloves.  — Valerie Trapp

Feel W o nder About the Universe

You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World

edited by Ada Limón

This collection of verse defines the natural world loosely: Here, yes, we have lovely descriptions of ancient redwoods and the “buttery platters of fungus” ascending their trunks; sparrows and spiderwebs and “geckos in their mysterious work.” But the book is largely about human nature , and our place in a world that contains so many other living things. An address to a saguaro becomes a meditation on immigration; a walk with a baby is tinged with sadness for the climate disasters surely to come; bearded irises give someone the strength to keep living ; lilacs and skunk cabbage are envisioned through the haze of distant memory—it’s an ephemeral act, “like wrapping a scoop of snow in tissue paper.” Who are we, the poets ask, as individuals and as a species? How have our surroundings shaped our pasts and our presents, and what can they tell us about how to exist in the future? The Earth here is rather like a supporting character—a foil—who can surprise us, devastate us, and bring us back to ourselves. As Limón writes in a gorgeous introduction, she started repeating “You are here” to herself after seeing the phrase on a trail map. When I feel like a disembodied mind this summer, I’ll take myself to the ocean, this book in hand, and try doing the same.  — Faith Hill

Lives Other Than My Own

by Emmanuel Carrère

Carrère’s books demand some surrender on their reader’s part. You have to be okay not knowing exactly where the story—to the extent that there is anything resembling a traditional story—is going. You are there to spend time with his mind. Lives Other Than My Own , my favorite of his works, is no exception. It begins in Sri Lanka in 2004, where Carrère was witness to the tsunami that pulverized the island. Amid the immense death and destruction, Carrère befriends a French family whose little girl drowned in the waves. But just as Carrère pulls us into this grieving family’s emotional upheaval, his mind drifts. He returns from Sri Lanka to Paris and shifts his attention to his girlfriend’s sister, Juliette, a judge who has just died of cancer; he then carries out an investigation of sorts about the life she lived and the loved ones she left behind. The two strands don’t obviously connect—but they also make perfect sense next to each other. Each one fundamentally shakes Carrère, forcing him to ponder death, love, and how a meaningful existence comes together.  — G.B.

by Rita Indiana, translated by Achy Obejas

Tentacle may be a bit of a spooky read for this summer: In its world, initially set a few years into the future, the island of Hispaniola was devastated by a tidal wave in 2024 that wiped away coral reefs and food stands. But as you read on, the story asks you to let go of your attachments to chronology, flitting among three time periods: a post-storm island that is livable only for the ultrarich; an early-2000s milieu of beach-town artists; and a colonial-era past centered on a band of buccaneers. The book was originally written in Dominican Spanish and sprinkled with Yoruba and French, and the English translation retains a fiery love for the dynamic Earth. In one of the timelines, “an enormous school of surgeonfish” shoots out of a coral reef like “an electric-blue stream.” In another, the same sea is described as “a dark and putrid stew.” Holding voltaic awe in one hand and profound grief in the other, Indiana helps us see how the years behind us have led to our present climate crisis, and ignites a desire to fight for all we can still save.  — V.T.

D i v e Into Someone Else’s Mind

Among the Thugs

by Bill Buford

Every time I come across footage of January 6, I think of this book, the greatest study of mob violence ever written. Since its publication in 1990, English police have largely eliminated what was once euphemistically called “hooliganism” from the soccer stadium, but Buford’s first-person account of embedding with the Inter-City Jibbers, a group of pugilistic Manchester United fans, remains as readable and relevant as ever. He unforgettably recounts the experience of being pummeled by Italian police in Sardinia—and he describes the human capacity for brutality with terrible candor and compelling empathy. The violence he experiences is addictive, adrenaline-induced euphoria, as is his technicolor, emotionally vibrant account of it.  — F.F.

Broughtupsy

by Christina Cooke

By the time that 20-year-old Akúa travels back to Jamaica to see her estranged sister, she’s spent half her life in the United States and Canada. Before Akúa even arrives at her sister’s house, she begins to realize how difficult the transition to her birthplace will be. In the cramped taxi ride from the Kingston airport, other passengers joke with one another in patois, “their words flying hot and quick.” Akúa’s inability to join their banter leaves her feeling like she’s “listening through water,” one of many such indignities detailed by her evocative, searching narration. But language isn’t the only thing that weighs heavily on her relationship with the island; she also has to confront the grief and familial resentment that have unmoored her in the years since her mother’s death. Cooke’s vibrant debut novel is a queer coming-of-age story and a chronicle of diasporic rediscovery: Akúa makes new memories with her sister—and with rebellious strangers whose lives challenge the religious conservatism around them all. Along the way, Akúa’s loneliness starts to lift, and the island’s misfits help make Jamaica feel like home again.  — Hannah Giorgis

Mina’s Matchbox

by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen B. Snyder

In 1972, a young Japanese girl named Tomoko is sent by her mother to live with her aunt’s family in the seaside town of Ashiya. Things are a bit odd in their house: Her wealthy, half-German uncle disappears for long stretches; her sickly cousin, Mina, spends much of her time hidden away indoors, but rides a pygmy hippopotamus named Pochiko to school; her aunt searches for typos in books and pamphlets, obsessively identifying these “jewels glittering in a sea of sand.” Most enchanting are Mina’s many matchboxes, hidden underneath her bed, each of them featuring an intricate, beautiful picture. Mina collects them like talismans and writes devastating stories about the characters that appear on their illustrated labels. Everything, from the eerie events that happen at home to the bigger, global events such as the terror attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics, is filtered through a child’s perspective—curious but lacking adult judgment. Tomoko’s narration is subtle, almost detached, but the reader is immersed in her ardent love for her fragile cousin, and comes to appreciate how history seeps into every life, even the most sheltered ones.  — M.C.

This Is Salvaged

by Vauhini Vara

The physical experience of being a human is pretty weird, with our little flappy arms and occasional runny noses. To read Vara’s short stories is to briefly inhabit a mind attuned to the fumbling and freedom of having a body. One character draws our attention to “a crust clinging in the tiny bulbed corner” of an eye. Another pronounces that we don’t “talk enough about labial sweat.” Even flowers are not immune to the indecency of physicality: “ Blooming seemed too formal for what the flowers were doing on their stems. They were doing something obscene: spurting; spilling.” Vara injects that same irreverence into all of her characters’ situations: Two girls work as phone-sex operators after the death of one of their siblings. One woman transforms into a buffalo. “I felt wet, porous, as if the world were washing in and out of me, a nudity of the soul,” says another character. These stories, similarly, reveal the leaky boundaries between our bodies and the universe, and bare what’s vulnerable, and beautiful, underneath.  — V.T.

Indulge in a Breezy Beach Read

by Marisa Meltzer

There was a brief moment in 2017 when The Atlantic ’s London bureau shared a WeWork floor with the U.K. marketing team for Glossier, and this was when I first became fascinated with the cult beauty brand, its playful tubes of color, and its virtuoso Instagram presence. Meltzer’s 2023 book, Glossy , is a rich, gossipy history of the company’s rise. But it’s also a fairly succinct examination of womanhood in the 2010s: the cursed girlboss ethos, the growth of social media, the aesthetic nature of aspiration in a moment when feminism was a trend more than a movement. Meltzer thoroughly examines how Glossier’s founder, Emily Weiss, ascended seamlessly from her supporting role on The Hills to blogging to founding a billion-dollar brand; the book delivers thrilling details and structural analysis along the way. (Beauty is a business with extremely high profit margins, which explains a lot about its ubiquity in our culture when you think about it.) Mostly, the book left me marveling at how selling a business in this environment was as much about selling yourself as any particular product.  — Sophie Gilbert

by Yasmin Zaher

“Woman unravels in New York City” is hardly an innovative storyline for a novel. Yet The Coin , the Palestinian journalist Zaher’s debut—which is, yes, about a woman unraveling in New York City—feels arrestingly new. Its unnamed protagonist, a Palestinian multimillionaire who teaches at a middle school for gifted, underprivileged boys, is a neat freak, a misanthrope, a dirty-minded isolate who dislikes the United States profoundly but lives there because “I wanted a certain life for myself … Wearing heels was important to me.” Her narration is spiky and honest, her choices gleefully, consciously bad. The pleasure she takes in making those decisions and then recounting them is what makes The Coin both unusual and compelling. Our protagonist denies herself nothing she wants, and she denies her audience no detail. The combination renders the book tough to put down.  — Lily Meyer

The English Understand Wool

by Helen DeWitt

My copy of The English Understand Wool came with a little silver sticker on the front proclaiming it actually funny . Perspicacious sticker: This book is funny in the sense that it will make you laugh—for real, out loud, more than once—but also in the sense that it’s a little off-kilter and unlike anything else. Its narrator is Marguerite, a 17-year-old who has been taught by her elegant, commanding maman to play piano and bridge, spot fine tailoring from a distance, and live a life unmarred by mauvais ton : “bad taste.” On a trip to London from their home in Marrakech, Marguerite learns something that elevates the novella from a charming comedy of manners to a truly divine combination of psychological thriller, caper, tender coming-of-age story, and barbed publishing-industry satire. It also does all of this in just over 60 pages, making this a book you can actually finish over a single drink from your beach cooler—though once you do, you may well return to the beginning to try to figure out how DeWitt pulled it off.  — E.C.

The Birthday Party

by Laurent Mauvignier

Despite its title, The Birthday Party isn’t … fun , per se. It’s violent and exceedingly dark; when it was longlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize, the judges said , “It is a very scary book.” And it’s not a quick read—following a couple, their young daughter, and that family’s lone neighbor as they’re visited by three menacing men, the plot is unspooled detail by minute detail over the course of roughly 500 pages. Single sentences stretch on so long that by the end of one, you might have forgotten its beginning. But the novel, in its own way, is breezy: Mauvignier drifts gently as a leaf in the wind among characters’ perspectives, swirling acrobatically through their interior worlds and sketching their psyches finely before he plunges them into terror. The first explicitly frightening event happens about 100 pages in; by that point, I’d come to care about these people a great deal, and my jaw hurt from anxious clenching, knowing something bad was on the way. The action is made more suspenseful because it explodes in slow motion—gripping enough to make you forget about the sand in your teeth and the seagull circling your sandwich. That’s my kind of beach read.  — F.H.

Welcome to Summer Reading on Home Base!

From  May 9 th  through September 12 th ,  kids can visit the summer zone in Scholastic Home Base, a  completely free  digital destination which offers stories, characters, games, and a community of readers. Home Base is  moderated for safety  24/7.

A Fun, Free Program for Kids!

From May 9 through August 19, kids can visit the summer zone in Scholastic Home Base, a completely free digital destination which offers stories, characters, games, and a community of readers. Home Base is moderated for safety 24/7.

Visit Home Base

By creating an account on  Home Base ,  kids can join a community of readers and will be able to read books and stories;  attend weekly author events ; interact with their favorite characters; play book-based games and activities; join dance parties; and more!

Sign up for Home Base and visit the Summer Reading zone to start your reading streaks today!

Keep a Reading Streak

Kids will be able to track their summer reading by reading every day and maintaining a Reading Streak in Home Base.

The longer a child extends their reading streak, the more digital experiences they earn! Kids can read any book of their choice and download and print a report of their reading progress at any time.

Help Donate Books

By keeping reading streaks in Home Base, kids will help unlock a donation of 100,000 books from Scholastic to Save the Children. The books will go to kids in rural America with limited or no access to books.

Join Home Base and Start your Reading Streak™!

Download home base today to participate in summer reading.

By creating an account on  Home Base ,  kids can join a community of readers and will be able to read books and stories; attend author events; interact with their favorite characters; play book-based games and activities; join dance parties; and more!

Sign up for Home Base and visit the Summer Reading zone to start your Reading Streak™ today!

Keep a Reading Streak™

Kids will be able to track their summer reading by reading every day and maintaining a Reading Streak™ in Home Base.

The longer a child extends their Reading Streak™, the more digital experiences they earn! Kids can read any book of their choice and download and print a report of their reading progress at any time.

Vistit Home Base

Sign up for Home Base and visit the Summer Reading zone to start your Reading Streaks™ today!

Download the Summer Reading Activity Booklet!

Includes 8 activities featuring favorite characters!

Parents, Teachers, and Librarians:

Learn more about home base educational and safety features.

Home Base employs multiple safeguards to protect children online. Find out more by visiting our Parents and Educators page. 

The Ultimate Summer Reading Guide for Parents

Get book recommendations and reading tips for kids of all ages. Help your child continue to read and learn this summer!

Need Help Getting Started?

Head to the Home Base help page to learn how to create an account, login, and start exploring!

We also have video tutorials that walk you through Home Base, from the basics to the full features.

Get Ready for Summer Reading on Home Base!

From may 9 through august 19 , kids can visit the summer zone in scholastic home base, a free digital destination which offers stories, characters, games, and a community of readers. home base is moderated for safety 24/7.   .

  Join Home Base

By creating an account on home base, kids can join a community of readers and will be able to read books and stories; attend author events; interact with their favorite characters; play book-based games and activities; join dance parties; and more.

  Keep a Reading Streak™

Kids will be able to track their summer reading by maintaining a reading streak in home base. the longer a child extends their reading streak, the more digital experiences they earn  kids can read any book of their choice and download and print a report of their reading progress at any time..

By keeping reading streaks in Home Base, kids will unlock a donation of 100,000 books from Scholastic to Save the Children for kids in rural America with limited or no access to books.

How to join, to participate you must download or play the home base app which is available on these platforms:.

How do readers create an account for/log in to home base?

  go to scholastic.com/homebase or download “home base by scholastic” from the app store or google play.  click the play now button. click play. on this page, kids can sign in with an existing scholastic kids site account, or create a new one. if they sign in , they'll be taken directly to home base to create a new account : click the register now button fill out step 1 to create a username, then click next. enter an email address, create a password, then click register they'll get a confirmation email at the email address they provided, and they will be taken to home base  , need more information, head to our faq area to learn how to create an account, login, and start exploring, summer reading event schedule, author events, may event authors & date tdb   june event authors & date tdb   july event authors & date tdb   august event authors & date tdb    , weekly events,   monday: summer book promos [newsfeed ] newsfeed post dedicated to one book on our retail summer promotions list a week. offers 5-6 pages of excerpt using the 3-panel comic format.   tuesday: wings of fire meetups with admin becky weekly fan meetups for 30 minutes. event activities include trivia, fun facts, and more.   wednesday: writing rpg events with admin gavin weekly storytelling rpg. what will happen next   thursday: trivia event with admin becky weekly themed trivia examples: dog man trivia, the bad guys trivia, historical i survived-themed trivia   friday: fanart feature friday [newsfeed] five featured pieces of art from the newsfeed shared and pinned in one post at the top of the feed.      , what is home base, scholastic home base is a safe, free 3d interactive world dedicated to keeping kids engaged with favorite stories through book-based games, live author events, and a large community of readers.  , in home base, kids can: explore beloved stories, interact with favorite characters, and discover their next must-reads  play games inspired by popular books reinforce skills like geography, astronomy, physics, spelling, writing, and more meet scholastic authors in live digital events express creativity through writing stories and creating comics connect with other readers via filtered chat  , is home base safe, yes home base employs multiple safeguards to protect children online, including 24/7 human moderation and a sophisticated automated filter to ensure content safety. additionally, the home base admins model and encourage positive digital engagement, providing a great introduction for kids to internet safety.  .

Great Escapes: The Joy of Summer Reading

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2024 Free Summer Reading Programs for Kids

This post may contain affiliate links.

Want to keep your kids reading over the summer? How about joining a free summer reading program or two!? My kids loved the free books, so we participated in more than one program. I especially recommend programs that reward with BOOKS, not food.

But first, you might want to know about these Imagination Soup resources:

SUMMER READING LISTS BY GRADE LEVEL

SUMMER READING BINGO

FREE SUMMER READING PACKET

SUMMER READING TIPS FROM AUTHORS, TEACHERS, & LIBRARIANS

READING JOURNAL FOR KIDS

READING CHALLENGE FOR KIDS

Ready for the 2024 list of summer reading programs?

I will keep updating this list if any new summer reading programs are announced.

Plan for a summer reading program (or two) because it helps motivate kids with reading incentives as well as provides accountability. Here are all your options:

1. Your Public Library Make this your first stop for summer reading . Most public libraries will be kicking their summer reading program in May. They will often have the chance to get free books or prizes–even with the strange times in which we live. Hopefully, your local library will be open for storytime and other activities.

4. Amazon Summer Reading Challenge (not yet updated for 2024) Harper Collins Summer Reading on Amazon This program is a pretty lame reading challenge if you ask me– read 7 books and get a certificate and one free book from National Geographic Kids. Still waiting to get the 2022 details…

8. Pizza Hut’s Book It Program Register online for the next school year to earn prizes and pizza for reading.

10. Sonlight Summer Reading Challenge Try this reading challenge for many different ages and reading levels from the Sonlight homeschool curriculum.

Encourage your child to read this summer by participating in one of these programs. They may want to participate in a huge national program or maybe the local library summer reading program is more their speed. Maybe an individual challenge will motivate them the most.

Summer Reading Book Lists by Grade Level

Picture Book List for Pre-Readers

1st Grade Reading List (age 6 – 7)

2nd Grade Reading List (age 7 – 8)

3rd Grade Reading List (age 8 – 9)

4th Grade Reading List (age 9 – 10)

5th Grade Reading List (age 10 – 11)

6th Grade Reading List (age 11 – 12)

7th Grade Reading List (age 12 – 13)

8th Grade and High School Grade Reading List (age 13 and up)

More Summer Book Recommendations

Read Alike Book Lists

Adventure Books for Kids

Fantasy Books for Kids

Funny Books for Kids

Historical Fiction Books for Kids

Mystery Books for Kids

Nonfiction Books for Kids

Science Fiction Books for Kids

You Might Also Like:

Good Books About Summer Vacation

Indoor Vocabulary Scavenger Hunt

Melissa Taylor, MA, is the creator of Imagination Soup. She's a mother, former teacher & literacy trainer, and freelance education writer. She writes Imagination Soup and freelances for publications online and in print, including Penguin Random House's Brightly website, USA Today Health, Adobe Education, Colorado Parent, and Parenting. She is passionate about matching kids with books that they'll love.

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10 Comments

Where can you start turning in reading log for prizes

It depends on the program but usually, it’s the place you picked up the log.

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The Goodreads Guide to Summer Reading

Readers' Most Anticipated Books of Summer

Reading Roadtrip: A Book Tour of the USA

Book Recs for (Nearly) Every Kind of Summer Reader

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One Summer, 73 Books

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Book Review

One summer, 73 books. No matter what you like — thrillers, audiobooks, cookbooks, historical fiction, music books, sci-fi, romance, horror, true crime, sports books, Hollywood tell-alls — we have recommendations for the perfect literary escape.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

As book bans have surged in Florida, the novelist Lauren Groff has opened a bookstore called The Lynx, a hub for author readings, book club gatherings and workshops , where banned titles are prominently displayed.

Eighteen books were recognized as winners or finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, in the categories of history, memoir, poetry, general nonfiction, fiction and biography, which had two winners. Here’s a full list of the winners .

Montreal is a city as appealing for its beauty as for its shadows. Here, t he novelist Mona Awad recommends books  that are “both dreamy and uncompromising.”

The complicated, generous life  of Paul Auster, who died on April 30 , yielded a body of work of staggering scope and variety .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

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Summer Reading Program

The College of New Jersey’s signature Summer Reading Program for first-year and new transfer students each year selects a​n overall theme and ​a book for incoming new students to read and discuss with each other over the summer. The program culminates in a keynote by the author and a group discussion led by a faculty or staff member on Academic Welcome Day.

The 2024 Summer Reading selection for the class of 2028 is  Saving Us:  A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided Worl d  by  Katharine Hayhoe.

2024 Intellectual Theme: Connection, Coalition, Change

The theme “Connection, Coalition, Change” invites us to pursue conversations about climate change and other challenging topics. Hayhoe invites us to reflect on the concerns we share and our common goals, and to build alliances to achieve small and large scale change. We hope that reading this book will encourage the campus to engage in community-centered problem-solving and organize rich and varied programming throughout the year.

Convocation Day Schedule – August 26th, 2024

11:30am – Book Signing 12:00pm – Lunch and Discussion with Facilitators 1:30pm – First Keynote Address 1:30pm – First Summer Reading Group Discussions 3:00pm – Second Keynote Address 3:00pm – Second Summer Reading Group Discussions 4:00pm – Book signing

Student Assignment Description

Completion of the Summer Reading Program, SRP 099, is a graduation requirement at TCNJ. All First Year Students are required to complete the SRP Assignment in the Summer prior to their first year at TCNJ. In order to complete this requirement please follow the instructions below.

If you have any questions, please contact the SRP Team at [email protected].

Full assignment details TBD. Please pay attention to your TCNJ email and Canvas for updates. 

View Summer Reading Archive

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Ramapo College of New Jersey Home Page » Academics » First-Year Seminar » Summer Reading

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Ramapo College has a summer reading program that is academically linked to the First-Year Seminar (FYS) course. Students read the book over the summer and come to campus prepared to discuss the book with their FYS classmates. They will also be assigned an essay question in their FYS class based on the book that asks students to exercise their critical thinking skills, their reasoning and analytical thinking skills, and their writing and communication skills.

The book is selected by a committee composed of students, faculty, and staff from the Ramapo College community. Committee members use selection criteria to ensure that the book that is chosen will:

• Have a strong relation to Ramapo’s mission and/or strategic plan
• Have literary merit

The Personal Librarian

• Be engaging
• Have a subject that will cause students to “stretch”
• Present an underrepresented perspective

The 2024 FYS Summer Reading Book

The 2024 summer read is The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. The book will be featured in the Opening Convocation on September 3, 2024.

Ramapo College Celebrates Good Writing!

2023 Essay Winners with Drs. Grace M. Cho and Yvette Kisor

Past essay winners:

• Class of 2027: Demiana Ghattas, Sarah Glisson, Ryan Grompone
• Class of 2026: Marina Gannon, Stefanie Viera, and Emma Wunder
• Class of 2025: Aafnan Alam, Anne-Marie Daly, and Giovanna LaMonica
• Class of 2024: Danielle Bongiovanni, Bobby Ciarletta, and Solie Kang
• Class of 2023: Danielle di Pentima, Caitlin Kovacs, and Matthew Wikfors
• Class of 2022: Gabriela Buniowska, Khalisah Hameed, and Taisei Miles
• Class of 2021: Ashley Francis, Jessica Ryan, and Lauren Storch
• Class of 2020: Natalie Dahl, Gunnar Hopson, and Rachel Loia
• Class of 2019: Jose Carrillo, Amie Wuchter, and Scott Yunker, Jr.
• Class of 2018: John Distefano, Victoria Tommasulo, and Matthew Earl
• Class of 2017: Nathaniel Birrer, Emily Aurora Boyle, and Josephine Han
• Class of 2016: Steven Bunin, Jennifer Paldino, and Max Zerbian
• Class of 2015: Melanie Ciandella, Thomas Colella, and Jonathan Mangel

Fall 2023 Essay Questions

Tastes Like War: A Memoir tells both Grace Cho’s personal story of growing up as a mixed race child in a rural community and imagines the experiences of her mother as a Korean immigrant who struggles with mental illness. What aspects of the story resonate the most with you?

Through her mother’s experiences, Grace Cho explores the effects of the Korean War and the cultural experiences of mental illness, all through the lens of food. How does the author conduct this research and what argument does she make about these historical realities?

Contest Parameters:

1) Make sure to reference the summer reading in your essay. You may use supporting evidence from other sources, but your primary source should be Tastes Like War .

2) Please consider the context of critical thinking when writing your essay.

3) Essays will be judged based on use of text, effectiveness of reflection, and use of supporting evidence.

4) Please limit your response to 1000 words to help us ensure that all submissions receive fair evaluation.

5) All work must be your original contribution.

6) All essays must be received by August 13th, 2023 at 5:00 PM. The three winning essays will be announced at the Opening Convocation.

7) Entries must be submitted to Prof. Yvette Kisor, Director of First-Year Seminar, by attaching your essay to an e-mail message and sending it to this address: [email protected].

8) Please send your essay as a Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF file. You will receive an email acknowledgement of your submission.

Suggest a Book for the Next Summer Read

If you’ve read a book that you believe is a “must-read” for new students, please click on the button below and let us know! We’re always open to good suggestions.

Summer Read Suggestion Form

• Fall 2023: Tastes Like War: A Memoir by Grace M. Cho
• Fall 2022:  Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
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20 new books you need to read this summer

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There was a time when “summer books” meant popcorn reads you consumed in a sunbaked afternoon — disposable books devoured and left behind for the next hotel room guest.

Not that there’s anything wrong with the joy of a high-paced thriller, the passionate heights of romance or the horror that raises goosebumps in the heat. We love them ourselves. But summer is also a time for slowing down to taste lots of literary flavors, whether it’s the spiciness of a globe-trotting adventure, the sweetness of late-life companionship or the bite of salt-and-vinegar short stories. Summer 2024 is an overflowing picnic basket of choices.

Here are 20 forthcoming books — publishing between late May and August — that we recommend to kick off the reading season. For those of us unable to travel this year, nothing beats the simple pleasure of a great book with a cold drink on a summer afternoon.

Ah, summer. The time of year when school lets out, days grow long and grills fire up. Even in places like L.A., though, where rain can be scarce, there are plenty of reasons (too hot, too lazy, too sunburned) to stay inside and curl up with some AC. That’s where The Times’ 2024 Summer Preview comes in: As you check out our guides to the movies, TV shows and books we’re looking forward to this season, be sure to read the stories below about some of the most highly anticipated.

• We strap in with director George Miller, the ‘Mad Max’ mastermind, back with ‘Furiosa’
• ‘I relive it every night’: Jeremy Renner reflects on the day he almost died, and why he’s alive

A gender-fluid childhood at an RV park in the desert. Zoë Bossiere wouldn’t change a thing

Kittentits By Holly Wilson Zando-Gillian Flynn Books: 368 pages, $28 (May 21)

Ten-year-old homeschooled Molly is bored with life at the nun-haunted House of Friends. Scuzzy daredevil Jeanie arrives at their living community after a disastrous fire, leaving Molly enthralled. When Jeanie fakes her own death, Molly runs away to find her at the 1992 Chicago World’s Fair and to connect with their dead moms. Molly learns a passel of thinpgs in this surrealist, carnivalesque bildungsroman.

Swift River By Essie Chambers Simon & Schuster: 304 pages, $28 (June 4)

Chambers’ funny debut is set in a 1980s New England mill town in decline. Seven years after her father’s disappearance, Diamond Newberry and her mother are struggling, but Diamond’s observations provide comic leavening. During the summer of 1987, her mom files to have Pop declared dead, which is when things get complicated. Diamond receives a letter from an unknown relative, which starts her on a path to learn her family — and the nation’s — history.

Kathleen Hanna is a troubadour unafraid to speak out

Kathleen Hanna’s memoir, ‘Rebel Girl,’ is a bold portrait: a crucial book about feminist politics and art and a tender examination of a woman who survived abuse and sexual assault.

May 2, 2024

Godwin By Joseph O’Neill Pantheon: 288 pages, $28 (June 4)

“The next Pelé” or “the next Messi” are words sure to ignite the fantasies of soccer fans anywhere. When tech writer Mark is contacted by his sports agent, half-brother Geoff, Mark leaves Pittsburgh to join him on a madcap adventure to find such a phenom: an African teenager known only as “Godwin.” O’Neill combines the brothers’ exploits with sharp observations about international business and issues like greenwashing and corruption that have tarnished the world’s game.

The Phoenix Ballroom By Ruth Hogan William Morrow: 320 pages, $19 (June 11)

How late is too late for a woman to change her life? In Hogan’s novel of life during widowhood, Venetia Hargreaves searches for a new self in her 70s. After 50 years of marriage, Venetia, who used to be an accomplished dancer, embraces her newly independent life. On a walk, she passes by an old building that had once been the Phoenix Ballroom, which she buys and restores. In hopes of a return to her youthful days, Venetia finds community in an entertaining motley crew of lost souls.

Summer Books Preview

20 books to keep you reading through August If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org , whose fees support independent bookstores.

Sons of El Rey By Alex Espinoza Simon and Schuster: 384 pages, $29 (June 11)

Lucha libre took its hold in Mexico, and its high-flying masked performers are the superstars in its freestyle wrestling rings. In Espinoza’s entertaining and poignant novel, he writes of Ernesto Vega’s fame and fortune as a luchador known to his fans as El Rey Coyote. In East Los Angeles, his son, Freddy, fights to save his dad’s gym while Freddy’s gay son, Julian, seeks purpose. As Ernesto reaches the end of his life, his son and grandson will find their own answers in the streets of 1980s L.A. and the present reality of West Hollywood.

Bear By Julia Phillips Hogarth: 304 pages, $28 (June 25)

One of “Grimms’ Fairy Tales” inspired Phillips, a 2024 Guggenheim fellow and lauded author of “Disappearing Earth.” Sisters Sam and Elena live on an island off the coast of Washington, their birthplace that’s become a dead end for them both. When Sam spies a swimming bear from the ferry where she works, she is shocked, but it’s an even bigger surprise when the bear shows up at their house. A retelling of “Rose Red and Snow White,” “Bear” is a fantabulous delight.

Another North By Jennifer Brice Boreal Books: 240 pages, $18 (June 25)

Brice previously chronicled her Alaska youth in “Unlearning to Fly.” In “Another North,” she returns to Fairbanks as a divorced woman longing for a sense of home. The new collection takes readers from her life as a professor in New York‘s Leatherstocking Country to her days piloting small planes in the Alaska bush. Brice is a beautiful prose stylist, and her book navigates the turbulence of middle age with a steady — and elegant — hand.

3 best mystery books to read this spring

Explore the mysteries of fictional and real worlds with four Los Angeles writers who pay homage to giants of the genre while creating stories that are irresistible in their own right.

April 3, 2024

Pink Slime By Fernanda Trías Scribner: 240 pages, $24 (July 2)

Trías won the National Uruguayan Literature Prize in her native country, and “Pink Slime,” newly translated by Heather Cleary, is a great display of her chops. Set in a city diminished by plague and a poisonous algae bloom, the narrator focuses her attention on her remaining relationships. In writing about the ways folks hold together during difficult times, Trías untangles the myths and realities of resilience.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore Riverhead: 496 pages, $30 (July 2)

Moore takes readers to an Adirondack summer camp in the mid-’70s. When Barbara Van Laar’s bunk turns up empty one morning, it sets off a frenzied search by the surrounding community. Barbara appears to have suffered the same fate as her brother, who disappeared 14 years prior. Moore’s familiarity with the Adirondacks — and the area’s long history as a playground of the rich — inspired this multilayered novel about wealthy wilderness camp people and the blue-collar folks who must accommodate them.

All This & More By Peng Shepherd William Morrow: 512 pages, $30 ` (July 9)

Shepherd, a finalist for a 2023 L.A. Times Book Prize, returns with another clever novel that plays with time and space. Here readers meet Marsh (short for Marshmallow), a 45-year-old woman who is disappointed with her lot in life. Happiness beckons when she is selected to star in a reality show where all of her past mistakes can be fixed, if she is willing to accept the consequences. Shepherd includes “choose your own adventure” moments for readers so Marsh’s fate is in their hands.

The Heart in Winter By Kevin Barry Doubleday: 256 pages, $28 (July 9)

Irish Booker Prize nominee Kevin Barry traverses the Atlantic in this story set in 1891 Montana. Immigrant workers toil in the copper mines that build Butte’s fortunes. In the midst of the archetypical frontier town, Tom Rourke fuels himself by drinking, doping and writing. When he falls head over heels for the mine captain’s new wife, Polly, a cadre of crazy Cornishmen take off in hot pursuit of the poet and his muse.

Why Don Winslow’s ‘City in Ruins’ will be his last novel

Don Winslow reveals why his latest novel, ‘City in Ruins,’ the final installment in the Danny Ryan series, will be his last.

April 1, 2024

Bad Tourists by Caro Carver Avid Reader: 336 pages, $29 (July 9)

In addition to malfunctioning airplanes, one of the hazards of traveling is getting caught up in a group of bad tourists. In Carver’s tropical paradise of a book, a trio of friends heads to the Maldives to make over their 40-something lives. What should be fun turns dangerous when a body shows up on the white beaches outside their resort. In both a romp and a thriller, Carver immerses readers in secret-filled waters.

The Striker and the Clock: On Being in the Game By Georgia Cloepfil Riverhead: 208 pages, $27 (July 16)

A watershed moment in women’s sports this past spring has cast a light on the athletes who, instead of riches, face uncertain futures after graduation. In this riveting memoir by professional soccer player Cloepfil, she takes readers on a trip with her to find a living playing in South Korea, Australia, Lithuania and other far-flung locations. A paean to the beautiful game, the book chronicles how Cloepfil overcame adversity to strike joy.

Sugar on the Bones By Joe R. Lansdale Mulholland: 336 pages, $29 (July 16)

Lansdale makes a triumphant return to his Hap and Leonard novels with this scorcher. When Minnie Polson comes to the duo’s PI agency seeking help, things go south after an ill-timed remark causes her to storm out. She later turns up dead and the guilt-stricken pair seeks her killer. Minnie’s family — full of eccentricities and petty grievances — are the unusual suspects.

The Bright Sword By Lev Grossman Viking: 688 pages, $35 (July 16)

Grossman follows up his wildly successful “The Magicians” trilogy with this tale of misfits at King Arthur’s Round Table. Arthur is dead and just a few of his knights remain in Camelot. Enter Collum — two weeks too late to serve Arthur — a young knight who teams up with Merlin’s former apprentice and Sir Bedivere, Sir Palomides and Sir Dagonet. Their journey through a land riven by conflict in search of Arthur’s successor will reveal the country’s bloody origins.

Instead of writing about Princess Diana, Chris Bohjalian opted for her Vegas impersonator

Author Chris Bohjalian discusses his 25th novel, ‘The Princess of Las Vegas,’ and how ancestral trauma from his Armenian heritage contributes to the dread in his work.

March 19, 2024

The Wilds By Sarah Pearse Pamela Dorman Books: 400 pages, $30 (July 16)

Detective Elin Warner can’t get a break from her job. Each time she goes on a vacation or retreat, murder follows. She travels to Portugal to immerse herself in nature but her sojourn is interrupted by a young woman’s disappearance. The missing woman’s map leads Elin into the wilderness where scenes of great beauty turn dark and threatening. Pearse has written another intriguing page-turner.

Queen B: The Story of Anne Boleyn, Witch Queen By Juno Dawson Penguin: 224 pages, $18 (July 23)

Dawson is the queen of young adult fiction in the U.K., and her nonfiction works have explored LGBTQ+ issues. Set in the court of Henry VIII, “Queen B” follows Lady Grace Fairfax as she seeks the traitors who betrayed Anne Boleyn. When witchfinders are sent to root out members of the condemned queen’s coven, court intrigue follows. Juno summons a tale that is the perfect length for a sultry weekend read.

The Modern Fairies By Clare Pollard Avid Reader: 272 pages, $28 (July 23)

Those in search of a bawdy fairy tale should look no further than Pollard’s novel set during the reign of Louis XIV. Intellectuals from Versailles gather at the home of Madame Marie D’Aulnoy. They bring court gossip and romantic desire with them, and they entertain each other with ribald tales of missing glass slippers, beauties and beasts, while remaining oblivious to the wolf that waits outside their salon door. Pollard imagines the origins of many of the tales gathered by Charles Perrault.

The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982 By Chris Nashawaty Flatiron: 304 pages, $30 (July 30)

The summer of 1982 took moviegoers on epic rides through the sci-fi worlds of a future L.A. and the Australian desert, and introduced a lost extraterrestrial trying to get home. In all, eight sci-fi adventures were released that summer, and Nashawaty, former Entertainment Weekly film critic, expertly covers their behind-the-scenes conflicts and (not surprising) ego clashes. Hollywood boldly went where it hadn’t gone before and Nashawaty chronicles the journeys.

Mystery Lights By Lena Valencia Tin House: 256, $18 (Aug. 6)

Kelly Link has praised the “gorgeous” “Mystery Lights.” It’s the debut short story collection by former L.A. resident Valencia. Among the collection’s delicious bonbons are stories about an anxious screenwriter trapped in an SUV; 20 women who need a retreat from the business retreat they’re on; and an obsessed artist who longs to capture an otherworldly light. In the umbra of these darkly tinged stories, readers will experience late-night fears and the sweet relief of daylight.

More to Read

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May 15, 2024

The week’s bestselling books, May 12

May 8, 2024

10 books to add to your reading list in May

May 1, 2024

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200 Summer Words for Writing, Vocab, and More (Free Printable)

The hottest word list of the year!

Summer vocabulary is hot! Use our list of summer words to write end-of-year summer to-do lists, write poems about what makes summer special, or create jokes to tell around the campfire. The words in these lists are all about fun in the sun, activities that can only be done in warm weather, and all the things that remind us of summer. If students want to research summer sports, describe summer weather, or write a story that takes place in summer, we’ve got you covered.  

Just fill out the form on this page to grab a free printable with all these words to share with your students.

Summer Weather Words

• rainbow 
• thunderstorm
• UV protection

Summer Travel Words

• amusement park

Summer Activity Words

• backpacking
• beachcombing
• berry picking
• fishing 
• garage sale
• inline skating
• lifeguard  
• roller coaster
• shell collecting
• skateboarding

Summer Food Words

• raspberries
• strawberries

Summer Clothing Words

Summer nature words.

• grasshopper
• Mother Nature
• shooting star

More Summer Words

• air-conditioning
• convertible
• Independence Day
• perspiration

Get Your Free Summer Word List Printable

Print copies of this summer word list and hand them out to students to use for writing assignments, vocabulary practice, and more! Click the button below to share your email address and get instant access to the list.

Plus, check out Summer Poems for Kids of All Ages and end-of-year bulletin board ideas .

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1:1 Literacy Support In Person - Summer

UNH Community 1:1 Literacy Support: In-Person - Summer 2024

Work on your goals for reading and writing with a CLC tutor!

Students meet individually with a tutor for 45 minute sessions. During their first meetings, students complete assessments and establish a literacy goal. Tutors use students’ assessments, interests, and goals to guide research-based, developmentally appropriate literacy instruction. Activities might include: word chains, word ladders, phonics instruction, reader’s theater, riddles, jokes, assisted reading, writing activities, and more. 

Who: Students in grades K-12

Where: UNH Community Literacy Center, Morrill Hall, Suite 109

When: Day(s) and time(s) will be scheduled upon receipt of registration. Day and evening meetings are available. Summer literacy support meets the following weeks:

• July 29-August 2

After registration is complete, the CLC will contact you to learn about your child as a reader and writer and set up your tutoring schedule (#sessions per week and time).

Tutoring sessions are purchased via punch cards. Purchase the number of  sessions you will need for the whole summer. For example, if would like your child to meet 2x per week for 4 weeks, purchase 8 punches.

Click the '+' on the block(s) on the right to select punch-card option and enroll. If using a mobile device, the block(s) may appear at the bottom of the page. Literacy Support is scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. Register early for the greatest time/day selection.

Online Registration Instructions: please review before enrolling for the best outcome. Family Accounts are recommended for enrolling multiple children from one family in any UNH Youth Program. If you already have an account in our system, you will be asked to log into either a Family or Student Account. Be sure you know which type of account you have and know your username and password. We recommend you attempt to log into the Student or Family account before enrollment opens as this will minimize difficulty and time while enrolling. Email [email protected] if you require assistance recovering your account information. Do not create a new account if you have one already.

For program questions and more information, contact Bethany Silva:  [email protected]  

For the program website: Community Literacy Center

The Community Literacy Center also offers 1:1 Literacy Support remotely

5-Session In-Person 1:1 Literacy Support Summer 2024

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