2025 Summer Reading List
Last week, my hometown paper, the Chicago Sun Times, included an insert which had a summer reading list generated by AI. It was an editorial debacle that included books that don't exist. It got me thinking about an AI essay I want to write, but also the nature of summer reading lists.
I find, by and large, that summer reading lists tend to be mini reviews of books already read. In the worst lists, they are driven by publishers to elevate their own work. In the best case, the author pours their love of the works into the list. In both cases, the author of the list knows the works already.
I decided to try something different. The list I have compiled contains the books I intend to read each summer, and the reason why. There is nothing specifically summer about them, other than the odds are I will get a lot of the reading done while sitting outside...
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
I read this book in college, which was a long, long time ago. I had a vague recollection of it when I saw a copy of it at Bookends and Beginnings a month or more ago, and decided to give it a reread. I find Hemingway a "love him or hate him" sort of author with most people.
Personally, I am excited to read it. I am a fan of his tight, dialogue heavy prose. I enjoy how his work lets my brain fill in the blanks. It certainly is more entertaining for me than the door stops I run across in modern fantasy fiction.
The Murmuring Grief of the Americas
Daniel Borzutzky
This work is a collection of poems I received as a gift last year, and has been demanding I spend time with it for a while. The subject matter, an exploration of the private interests driving Western humanitarian decisions, appeals to me. As does the physical object itself, which is filled with interesting layout decisions to elevate the language of the poems.
This book will likely be a pick up and put down situation all summer. Poem anthologies are tough for me to just read straight through, unless they are in the vein of the Lay of the Cid or Paradise Lost.
The Bird on the River
Kage Baker
It angers me that Kage Baker isn't better known to the world. Years ago I discovered her other eclectic fantasy works, The Anvil of the World and The House of the Stag, and was blown away. The structure of the works are so different from modern fantasy authors, and her subject matter connects to the human in ways I find more famous fantasy authors don't.
I mean, the sainted Ursula K. Le Guin was a fan of her work and these books.
Unfortunately, Kage was taken from the world by cancer before this last book of hers was published. Until recently I was unable to track down a physical copy, so very excited to read this last entry in her related, but stand alone novels.
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Katrin Harter, Anna Mader-Kratky, Martin Mutschlechner, Birgit Schmidt-Messner
This year I was lucky enough to check some boxes off on my bucket list that began as a teenager. I spent ten days in Central Europe, starting in Prague, then traveling down the Danube to Budapest. During our stop in Vienna we went to the Schönbrunn Palace, which was amazing. In the gift shop there I found this book and had to grab it.
Prince Eugene of Savoy has long been a fascinating figure for me. He lived at a place and in a time that has long drawn my attention. He also reflected interesting contradictions, being both a soldier and a patron of the arts. I am excited to dive into this book slowly, as it is a collection of several essays and lavishly illustrated.
Dark Matter
Blake Crouch
I am late to the party with this one, as it has an Apple TV show already. Another gift from last year, it falls into my general love of cyberpunk and cyberpunk adjacent works. I have read mixed reviews, but alternative worlds fiction is usually a can't miss for me.
Let's Play White
Chesya Burke
I came upon this collection of short stories by accident via Bluesky. A small publisher out of Lexington, Apex Publications, specializes in horror, science fiction, and fantasy works from authors not typically picked up by the big five. It is centered in Afrofuturism, which is right up my alley, and the cover by Jordan Casteel is haunting.
October
China Miéville
Years and years ago, China was the new hotness author. The Bas-Lag books were on everyone's list, and I just didn't join into the fun. Maybe it was my sensibilities at the time ran in a counter direction. It could also just be that my interests tend to lead me towards things less desirable by mainstream audiences.
Or it could just be ADHD brain...
Either way, this one caught my attention. It isn't a novel, but a narrative exploration of what happened in Russia during 1917. The bit I flipped through when I saw it in the book store was engaging and the cover by Andrea Guinn is striking.
The Tensorate Series
Neon Yang
Last year I picked up the first two books in this series, The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune and fell in love. They are lovely novellas with captivating prose, but didn't get the last two in the series. The author is from Singapore, so their style and speculative subject matter is delightfully different than what my Western ears are usually exposed to.
Now I have the last two books, The Ascent to Godhood and The Descent of Monsters and couldn't be more excited to reread the first two and dive into the new ones.
The Elusive Shift
Jon Peterson
I have to thank Luke for letting me know about this book. I had read Jon's previous opus, the single volume version of Playing at the World, but hadn't realized he was still exploring these subjects. The origins of things in a cultural context has always fascinated me, so this is right up my alley. I found his writing a little slow in the previous work, but worth the work, so looking forward to diving in.
Testament - Segnom and Dhmelos
Broken into five parts, Segnom and Dhmelos continues the journey of mortals and immortals reshaping them with every step. Segnom explores what it costs you when you climb back up from defeat. Conversely, Dhmelos explores the price of power and what is required of leaders to be worthy of it.
Each page of Testament was block printed, hand painted, and handwritten. Those pages were then faithfully reproduced within.
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