To many, a good summer read is a high-energy adventure or a fluffy rom-com to be read on the beach. But for Up To Date book panelist Steve Paul, it's more than that.
"My idea of summer reading is to revisit or visit books that I failed to read while in college," Paul said.
Books like Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" and Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" are the "purposeful projects I'm after," he added.
But if revisiting classics isn't your style, Mid-Continent Public Library reader engagement librarian Angie Strathman says the popularity of cross-genre books right now means readers can easily find well-balanced stories to dig into.
"I think some of my favorite authors are ones who combine that kind of humor with a more heartfelt story that's also thought-provoking in different ways. So I think just as we're mixing genres, we're also mixing tones as well," she told KCUR's Up To Date.
Strathman and Paul were joined by local author and KC Book Beat member Elizabeth Bird to share their summer reading recommendations.
Angie Strathman's recommendations
"Sag Harbor" by Colson Whitehead (literary fiction)
If you only know Whitehead from his Pulitzer-winning novels "The Underground Railroad" and "Nickel Boys," you may not expect to find a perfect summer read in his backlist. "Sag Harbor" is a lovely and funny slice-of-life coming-of-age story, depicting one 1985 summer in Sag Harbor through the eyes of teenager Benji. Whitehead’s writing is playful, exuberant and immersive while depicting Benji’s summer of working at an ice cream parlor.
"Only Lovers in the Building" by Nadine Gonzalez (romance)
Ben and Lily, our main characters in this rom-com, spend a lot of time reading romance books by the pool, and the pool is the perfect setting for reading this friends-to-lovers romance. Lily impulsively rents an Airbnb in Miami for the summer after quitting her job. She starts a romance book club with neighbor Ben, which soon takes off both in their building and online. As the duo are reading about all the romance tropes and beats, will they be able to bring love off the page and into their lives?
"The Whyte Python World Tour" by Travis Kennedy (satire, historical)
Travel back in time to the 1980s, when the Cold War was on and hair metal was hot. Drummer Rikki Thunder’s fortunes are looking up when he gets a girlfriend, a new gig as drummer for rising metal band Whyte Python … and recruited by the CIA to spread democracy throughout the Eastern Bloc through propagandistic rock anthems. Rock on! The audiobook, narrated by Wil Wheaton, is especially fun.
"One Yellow Eye" by Leigh Radford (science fiction, horror)
As London is recovering from a zombie epidemic, scientist Kesta Shelley is desperately hoping to be part of the secretive team researching a cure. Perhaps it’s because she’s hiding a pretty big secret of her own— her undead husband chained up in her bedroom. As Kesta tries everything to save her husband, it becomes increasingly unclear who’s the monster— is it Kesta’s zombie husband or her? Part science fiction, part horror, part love story, "One Yellow Eye" is also a fascinating exploration of grief and the thin line between sacrifice and selfishness.
"These Memories Do Not Belong to Us" by Yiming Ma (literary, science fiction)
In a near-future world controlled by the Qin Empire, the Mindbank technology allows people to record and share their memories, which also makes those memories susceptible to government bans, edits and erasures. A son inherits his mother’s memories, including some banned ones, and decides to share them before the government censors can catch up to him. Each memory is its own compelling story, but taken together, the reader is left to question: Why was this memory banned? And why was it saved?
"Magic in the Air: The Myth, the Mystery, and the Soul of the Slam Dunk" by Mike Sielski (nonfiction, sports)
The slam dunk is one of the most exciting plays in sports, and so are the stories behind some of the players and coaches most associated with the slam dunk, from Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell to Michael Jordan and Ja Morant. Sielski takes us through a tour of the history and evolution of the dunk, which turns out to also be a history of the sport of basketball itself. It also mirrors the social and cultural history of the country, touching on everything from race to globalization alongside the alley-oops and throwdowns.
Steve Paul's recommendations
"Peace Is a Shy Thing: The Life and Art of Tim O’Brien" by Alex Vernon (biography)
In his novel "Going After Cacciato" and his creative nonfiction collection "The Things They Carried," Tim O’Brien created some of the most important stories of how the Vietnam War cast a shadow over American culture and shaped more than one generation of people. As an Iraq War veteran, and professor of literature who happens to hail from Prairie Village, Alex Vernon is just about the perfect author to present this absorbing study of O’Brien’s anxiety-filled life and haunting body of work.
Pointed cultural criticism by a smart and often sharp-tongued writer. Crispin, a native Kansan, brilliantly examines a half-century of male-female relationships through the shifting lenses of movies starring Michael Douglas, from “Fatal Attraction” to “The Game.” This is not an indictment of the actor but an insightful analysis of the socioeconomic forces that have shaped American society and take us to the current moment in which manhood politics is front and center.
"Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance" by A’Lelia Bundles (biography)
Bundles’ previous book encompassed the life of Madam C.J. Walker, the celebrated Black millionaire and entrepreneur who created a hair care empire and became a vital voice in social activism. Now she takes up Walker’s adopted daughter (and the author’s grandmother), A’Lelia Walker. Though she inherited leadership of her mother’s company, Walker lacked some of her fortitude and discipline. Still, she led a luxuriant life that opens a dazzling window into the rise of Black high society in the face of Jim Crow America.
"The Annotated Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by James L.W. West and "The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Novel Adaptation" by K. Woodman-Maynard (fiction)
This “great American novel” turned 100 this year and there's been no end of new editions and debates over its importance in the long stream of literary culture. This special anniversary edition from the Library of America delivers the full novel with explanatory notes, images and scholarly commentary in the margins along the way. Katharine Woodman-Maynard’s graphic version is a lovely though reduced retelling in words and pictures that manages to preserve some of the high points of Fitzgerald’s glorious prose.
"Clete" by James Lee Burke (fiction)
Crime, corruption, violence, the heat of New Orleans and bayou country, and the ghost of Joan of Arc course through the fast-moving pages of this novel by one of our most heralded writers. This is another entry in Burke’s four-decade-long series featuring the former New Orleans cop Dave Robicheaux. In this one, Dave goes along for a wild ride that mostly focuses on his ex-cop, ex-con, private-eye buddy Cletus Purcel.
Elizabeth Bird's recommendations
"Better Homes and Hauntings" by Molly Harper (mystery, romance)
Nina Linden is hired to revive the lush gardens of the Gilded Age manor known as the Crane’s Nest, hoping the job will also save her foundering landscape architecture business. Tech mogul and adorkable billionaire Deacon Whitney hopes restoring his family’s ancestral home will prove the Whitneys' fortunes are finally turning — it’s been nothing but misery after the lady of the Crane’s Nest, Catherine Whitney, was found murdered over 100 years ago. Now, Deacon and Nina have to put the spirits of the Crane’s Nest to rest if they want their love to stand a ghost of a chance, and, even more unlikely, finish construction on schedule.
"The Standard Book of Anything" by Andrea H Rome (cozy fantasy adventure)
Em Strider can fix anything, and cannot resist a challenge. So when the Warding Tree of Protection for her small town of Brookerby collapses, she heads off on an adventure to find a way to fix what most believe unfixable. She never expected this simple repair to lead her to the capital city, where magic and enemies are everywhere, as she races to save her home.
"A Blade So Black" by L.L. McKinney (fantasy, adventure)
Life for Alice is complicated. By day, she’s just a normal high school student in Atlanta, but by night, she is the fiercest warrior in Wonderland. It’s difficult to balance keeping the evil Nightmares at bay while placating her overprotective mother. When Alice’s mentor, Hatter, is poisoned, it becomes a race against time to not only save him, but also stop the Nightmares from running amok in Atlanta.
"The Unhoneymooners" by Christina Lauren (romantic comedy)
Olive is unlucky. She, the maid of honor at her sister’s wedding, has to spend the entire day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, the best man, who just happens to be the groom’s brother. Her luck looks like it’s finally taking a turn for the better when she is the only one who avoids food poisoning and has to take her sister’s all-expenses-paid honeymoon to Hawaii. The only downside: Ethan has to go, too. To top things off, Olive runs into her boss in paradise, and a little white lie spirals out of control. Now, to keep up appearances, Olive and Ethan must pretend to be newlyweds. Strangely, she doesn’t mind it.
"The Gates" by John Connolly (fantasy humor)
Samuel Johnson is showing initiative by going trick-or-treating on Oct. 28. Things go from bad to worse when he sees his neighbors at 666 Crowley Road decide to have some "fun" by opening a portal to hell. Meanwhile, at CERN, the big particle reactor is acting up, leaving scientists uncomfortably excited. Now, Samuel and his dachshund, Boswell, have to stop whatever trouble is brewing ... if he can get anyone to believe him.
- Elizabeth Bird, author and KC Book Beat member
- Steve Paul, Kansas City-based writer and editor
- Angie Strathman, reader engagement librarian, Mid-Continent Public Library
