A Summer Reading List for Every Occasion
The best reads, literary and scientific, for the hottest months
A Day at the Beach
Circe by Madeline Miller
Maybe I’ve been on a bit of a Greek mythology high ever since I started listening to Hadestown in 2018. Nevertheless, Madeline Miller’s works are electrically charged with the power to suck me into the stories.
My dad asked me the other day what Circe was about, and in brief, I said it was The Odyssey told from the witch’s perspective. “Cool, so like Wicked,” he said. I begged to differ. Circe doesn’t try to sugarcoat Circe’s flaws and the often destructive whims of Gods and men. Instead, it offers us a window into the often isolated life of a single woman.
The Entire Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan
Ok, I know this one is also Greek mythology, but hear me out! I started reading the series as a college student with no childhood experience with Percy Jackson or his companions (another story for another day). Why? Well, from a practical perspective I wanted to relate to my millions of peers who devoured the books in their childhood and understand the memes that continue to populate my Tiktok feed. Then again, I also wanted to read something fast-paced and slightly campy in order to get through the last few months of being unvaccinated. So far, the series has been delivering! Because of the writing style (and the younger intended audience), these books are meant to suck you in and hold onto you until you are finished, making them perfect for spending a day away.
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
I was so excited to find this book because it finally was some representation of a STEM workspace in literature that wasn’t science fiction! While I understand most authors write what they know, typically the only workspaces they are familiar with are either office cubicles or writing desks. There seems to be a lot of story potential with the social hierarchies of academia, especially in science departments, so I was glad to see Gyasi take this on!
The story follows Gifty, a PhD student at Stanford studying the effects of addiction on mice. Through flashbacks of her childhood that come together like pieces of a puzzle, readers slowly start to learn what motivates Gifty and how her personal traumas parallel her research.
Sunset Drinks
Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
To be fair, I swallowed this entire short poetry collection at a coffee shop, but I still think it would be an excellent addition to an evening al fresco. The poems of this collection come together to tell a love story between Geryon and Herakles, and what happens to both of them several years after calling it quits. While based on the Greek myth in which Herakles slays the red-winged monster Geryon, the story follows its own trajectory in an Americana setting. Reading it is the perfect way to look pensive and mysterious as a long summer day turns to night.
Road Trip: Audiobooks
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
While the sheer length of the work is intimidating (you could drive from New York to Chicago listening to the audiobook alone), A Promised Land did not disappoint. Read by the author himself, the book takes a deep dive into Obama’s 2008 election campaign and most of his first term in office. The book ends with the death of Osama bin Laden, demanding a sequel on Obama’s second term. As someone who was only a young child during the first few years of the administration, it was both nostalgic and eye-opening for me to learn more about the issues I did not fully understand as a kid. On top of all this, Obama’s narration is a perfect backdrop for long stretches of road.
The Perfect Predator by Steffanie Strathdee
A nonfiction medical thriller that had me on the edge of my seat as I listened to it. If you want to learn about an infectious disease that isn’t COVID-19, this book is for you! Dr. Strathdee was an epidemiologist at UC San Diego when her husband fell gravely ill with a drug-resistant infection. Over the course of the book, Strathdee recounts her search for a treatment that can save her husband and introduces readers to the growing world of phage therapeutics.
I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong
I have a very distinct memory of listening to this on audio while I was on a hike in Utah, and the experience felt surreal. Ed Yong, who was recently awarded a Pulitzer Prize for science journalism, takes his readers on a whirlwind tour of the human microbiome. As it turns out, not all microbes are pandemic potential pathogens. As I trudged through trees, I found that my mind was blown at almost every chapter on concepts ranging from the probiotics in our food to the flora passed from mother to baby during childbirth. A great existential read to accompany beautiful views!
Do you agree with my recommendations, or do you have any books to add? Feel free to let me know!
