MINIPROMPT! The Prompt Mag’s Official {Summer Reading List}

Butterfly in the sky

I can go twice as high

…with the help of my peers here at The Prompt. We assembled an #IncompleteAndGrowingList of the books we’re reading this summer… at least the ones we admit to!

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Zach Straus

Summer books should be fast paced and easily segmented, best reserved for chapter by chapter reading, something akin to a good bathroom book, but one that you’re not embarrassed to take out of your bag in a public space. To that end, I strongly recommend Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi, a dysphoric tale of internal haunting that sprawls across two continents and one ocean, narrated by a young Nigerian struggling to find a stable sense of place and self. The book is short and intense, allowing you to remember exactly where you were when you put it down, and it’s one of the few books I’d recommend as an audiobook instead of an actual paper copy (unless you’re well versed in Igbo culture and language), as the immense power in the rhythm of the shifting language could get lost without narration by a native speaker.

Anthony Rogers-Wright

I gotta pull some hometown Seattle pride and nominate Tom Robbins, Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates. The book reads like a Seinfeld episode with better story development and way more clever drug references. Robbins, as always, demonstrates his mastery of character development, leaving the reader wondering if they are rooting for a given character’s ultimate success or epic demise—but you still desire to know what happens to them and how it unfolds. By the end of the book, seemingly disparate themes and character stories collide head first in a fantastic disaster, which is to say an axiomatic conclusion. The best part is finding yourself lost and then found as you navigate Robbins’s written ethereal nebula. Prepare to laugh, don’t prepare to cry, but mostly prepare yourself to ask, “what the fuck is he talking about?” and then being slightly embarrassed that you couldn’t see the answer coming from far away.

Enjoy.

Dennis William

I’m recommending Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard, the book that Quentin Tarantino turned into Jackie Brown. Leonard is famous for his concise writing that has every ounce of fat trimmed away. This makes the story of Jackie Brown (a blonde, white lady in the book, but come on, you can’t not picture Pam Grier) and her involvement in a gun smuggling heist fast-paced and entertaining. It takes place in Florida, so it has a summer feel to it. The characters are fun yet realistic, and the story holds your attention. Read it. Love it.

N. Alysha Lewis

I would be remiss if I didn’t offer up the book that inspired my first (and currently only) tattoo: I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. Pick up this book if you like stories where ordinary people’s lives are changed by the smallest moments, descriptions of terribly old dogs who smell awful and like coffee, and the kind of prose that can be funny one minute and so beautifully poetic the next. Zusak is more widely known for writing The Book Thief but TRUST: this is the better of the two.

Erin Vail

In my opinion, the quintessential summer read should be something you can’t put down, and something that is equal parts soapy, thrilling, and sexy. Look no further than A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, the first in the All Souls trilogy. It’s about a cool lady history professor who’s doing research at Oxford, and she just happens to be a witch. She bumps into a hot vampire scientist, and they team up to try and find a book that holds the secrets of all magic. This book is like adult Twilight, but the main character actually has agency and a personality, and there’s a lot more action, history, and traveling around to different European locations. Also, it’s being made into a TV series starring Matthew Goode as the hot vampire. Do I really need to say anything else?

Ryan Fay

First off, imma go 2-in-1 but on a theme because I’m torn. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is set in summer and explores both the archetypal haunted house and a large degree of repressed lesbianism. Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero also explores a mildly haunted house and good ol’ fashion lesbianism. (No the theme in mind isn’t the haunted houses.)

Sonja Straus

People have very good ideas about summer books and the perfect mix of pacing and exotic setting and delicious foamy top layer, but you know what I want to read about as we barrel into the armpit of summer? Snow. Ice. Tundra.

This started around fourth grade with books like The Golden Compass (Svalbard) and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (“always winter and never Christmas!”). As an adult, this has generally meant Russians. So, so many Russians. Summertime is my time for the Overcoat and Onegin and A Young Doctor’s Notebook.

This year, it’s Excursions by Henry David Thoreau, which includes the essay “A Winter Walk.” The joy and wonder Thoreau expresses for an icy morning goes right into the core of my being and renews the protective permafrost around my heart. It’s in the public domain too, so everyone can go read it right now for free-ninety-nine!

Josh Bard

A great read for the summer, and especially in light of recent news, is Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. Most of us are familiar with Bourdain’s outstanding television series, but less have read the book that put him on the map. Kitchen Confidential is a great read giving us the dirty details of the restaurant industry, and shedding light onto Bourdain’s rocky path to fame.

Jillian Conochan

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but last week I was feeling rebellious so that’s exactly what I did. The Tunnel by Ernesto Sábato caught my eye at the super kawaii bookstore Kinokuniya. Written in first person—my fav—the novel explores temperamental artist Juan Pablo Castel, who, while adored by critics, feels wildly misunderstood. Until one day, he sees in the eyes of a patron that she can see what it is he expressed in his painting. A torrential obsession ensues; likewise I was torrentially obsessed with this book.

With satisfyingly short chapters and a canny, almost clinical use of language, I devoured this book in a day. So your takeaway is this: either check out The Tunnel or grab any gorgeous book from the Penguin Classics rack and see how you fare.

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