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...
