Summer 2018 Reading List
Typical beach reads involving serial killers, sea dragons, witches, narcissism, and making trouble.
Some of SP’s book recommendations for this summer are brand new, some are modern classics, and some we haven’t even finished yet.
However, they all share similar DNA. The themes that drew us in are big and bold: fearlessness in a fearful time, how truth-seeking can forge unexpected bonds, the importance of tearing down some myths and creating new ones … you know … the usual summertime stuff.
Pachinko
It might not be everybody’s idea of a beach read, but Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee, is gripping and powerful. The sweeping story follows four generations of a Korean family from Japanese-occupied Korea to Japan itself. And if you get emotional, like I did, you can let the ocean wash away your salty tears.
Fred Lee
Selfie, How We Became so Self-Obsessed and What It’s Doing to Us
I know, it sounds like something a bitter old man would read while cursing from his porch at millennials. But you should know, I do not have a porch. I just started reading this book, and it starts slowly, going back to ancient Greece and the concept of the ideal individual self.
Check out the New Yorker video featuring author Will Storr, he touches on the self-esteem movement from the 80s, Oprah, and the growth of narcissism among some of our elected officials. It promises to be an interesting read for anyone keen on analyzing this seemingly harmless cultural phenomenon.
Julian Damy
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
An impassioned chronicle of one woman’s obsessive search to find the Golden State Killer, one of the most terrifying serial killers in American history.
Author Michelle Eileen McNamara died before finishing the book, but her quest was not in vain. The man who terrorized California throughout the 70s and 80s was finally caught this April, 44 years after beginning his ghastly spree. Not your typical poolside read, but also not one to miss. And probably not one to read at night.
Amanda Aldinger
Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead
An empowering book by Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Cecile’s a fearless and loving person, and she really demonstrates the importance of taking action, because if you don’t do something it may never get done.
She’s been able to have a killer career and raise a family (she has 3 kids!). As a career woman, that’s so impactful for me, because work/family balance is something that I am so unsure of. Seeing successful examples gives me a lot of hope.
Stephanie Casper
Circe
Goddess, witch, outcast, proto-feminist icon … Circe (pronounced “Cersei” for Game of Thrones people) is one of mythology’s most maligned and misappropriated figures.
Madeline Miller’s lyrical first-person biography remedies that, giving her a hero’s journey typically applied to her famous visitors (charismatic Odysseus, clueless Jason and his Argonauts, brilliant, doomed Daedalus). It’s a family drama, seafaring adventure, love story, and meditation on independence and loneliness.
Matt Brown
The Colorado Kid
Stephen King’s take on classic hard-boiled mysteries provides the basis for a (quite underrated) show on SyFy called Haven. I just started watching the show from the beginning and I’ve been reading the book in tandem.
Crime mysteries are high on my go-to list of genres, and it’s a fun draw to see his familiar Maine settings through a noir lens; especially since I’m a New Englander myself. Oh, and did I mention that Stephen King is just a damn good writer?
Taylor Plimpton
The Cartel
If you like crime thrillers, this is a fantastic summer read. It’s fast paced with a flurry of storylines that Winslow weaves into an addicting wartime narrative.
Michael Siedler
The Essex Serpent
A witty, thoughtful story about love and reason, it rightfully won all the awards and got all the reviews. Headstrong Victorian protagonist railing against social norms? Yes. Conflicted minister weeding out superstition from deeper faith? Check. A Baskerville-esque legend of a long-dormant, now-awakened fantastical beast along the English coast? Where do I sign up?
Matt Brown
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
A gritty detective novel with an unexpected twist, Michael Chabon’s story unfolds in an alternate history where the state of Israel did not survive beyond 1948 leaving millions of Jews to settle in Sitka, Alaska.
As Detective Landsman pieces together the motive behind an unusual murder on the eve of a momentous anniversary, the novel elegantly captures the struggle to balance different understandings of what being Jewish means in the modern world.
Dani Blackman
Love In The Time of Cholera
If you’ve never taken the plunge with Gabriel García Márquez, summer is the perfect time. Sultry, sweaty, enduring and so poetic, this is a classic you don’t want to miss.
Gavin Fraser
