“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
― Stephen King, On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft
Every writer knows the importance of reading. A good book doesn’t just entertain; it teaches writing craft, strengthens word choice and voice, and inspires you to get back to the page. From the classics to the contemporaries—Kafkaesque narratives to Sally Rooney’s romances—every piece of prose has something valuable to offer.
With summer revving into full swing, we asked our author-instructors for a few recommendations to add to your Summer Reading List. Whether you’re lounging on the beach, drinking coffee on the patio, or catching a quick break between work, errands or picking up the kids, these works of fiction, memoir, essays and more are sure to brighten your summer. Check out our list and pick out one or two…or read them all!
(In case you missed it, we have book recommendations for middle grade and teen readers, too!)
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From Liz Alterman, TWC instructor, author of psychological thrillers, a memoir, and laugh-out-loud fiction
Horror at Home
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
Nightwatching is perfect for thriller fans looking to cool down during a heatwave. The story opens as a mother who’s just put her children to bed hears footsteps on the staircase leading to their bedrooms. As a blizzard descends, the family is trapped in their isolated home. I’ll say no more but the audiobook is fantastic and gave me goosebumps. I believe a film is in the works and I can’t wait.
Loyalty, Heartbreak, and Daughterhood
Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur
In the memoir category, summer is the perfect time to pick up Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur. This reads like fiction and the Cape Cod setting will transport you. Readers who enjoyed Belle Burden’s Strangers will find this “wild” tale of betrayal hard to put down.
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From Colleen Markley, TWC instructor, memoirist, and author of humor and feminist fiction
“Living Thinkingly Alongside Death”
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
When I first heard about this memoir, I decided to never read it because it just sounded way too sad. Then I read it, and now I tell everyone I know, “you must read this.” It’s the good kind of sad that reminds us to appreciate the full scope of our human experience – life affirming and gratitude inducing. Yiyun Li shares her story in a way that teaches us about resilience and love and that impossible yet achievable place of radical acceptance. And she does it all with such lyrical language that the journey is pure beauty.
A Lesson on Rejection
Rejection by Tony Tulathimute
This collection of seven connected stories is a great lesson in compassion and opening our eyes with empathy for those who struggle, especially with relationships. I wasn’t aware it was possible to make such deep understanding within this tricky emotion of rejection. Tulathimute does it brilliantly, from incel men stinging from unavailable relationships all the way to his final story, a rejection letter for his story collection on rejection.
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From Libby Cudmore, TWC instructor and author of mystery and crime fiction
A Monster Tale with an Emotional Core
The Jellyfish Problem by Tessa Yang
Yang’s prose is beautiful and tender, witty when it needs to be, and exciting. I teach her story “Princess Shipwreck” in both my adult and teen flash fiction courses classes!
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From Erin Madigan White, TWC instructor, journalist, and children’s book writer
A Reunion and A Secret
Mothers and Other Strangers by Corey Ann Haydu
I’ve long admired Haydu’s books for middle grade readers and teens, and I stayed up way past my bedtime reading this, her adult debut. It’s a keenly observed, gracefully written story about the power of female friendship. Haydu captures so many beautiful, messy nuances of mother-and-daughter hood, with unexpected twists and turns along the way.
Essays for the Greater Good
Spinning Toward the Sun, Essays on Writing, Resilience and the Creative Life edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter
This is an inspiring collection of essays published after the floods in western North Carolina, benefitting World Central Kitchen and Beloved Asheville. The lineup of contributors includes celebrated authors such as William Alexander, Erin Entrada Kelly, Alan Gratz, Liz Garton Scanlon, and many others. It’s a book you can return to again and again for a needed dose of community, creativity, and understanding.
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From Judith Lindbergh, TWC founder/director and author of historical fiction
Returning to the Scene of the Past
Daytime Moon by Kerri Schlottman
In her latest novel, Kerri Schlottman follows a young woman who returns to the place of her complicated childhood on the edge of California’s toxic Salton Sea. Schlottman writes with grit and candor about neglected pockets of modern life that many have chosen to ignore. Powerful.
Complicated Sibling Relations
The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline
You can’t go wrong with anything written by the wonderful Christina Baker Kline who has been a friend and supporter of The Writers Circle since its inception. Her fascinating new novel follows two sisters in nineteenth-century North Carolina who marry Chang and Eng, the world-famous conjoined twins from Siam.
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These titles and so much more are available at your local independent bookstore. (Some of our local favorites include The Collective Bookstore in Verona, NJ, Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ, The Nature of Reading in Madison, NJ, Words in Maplewood, NJ, and Howling Bassett Books in Lambertville, NJ). Or check out TWC’s bookshelf on Bookshop.org.
Here’s to many long, quiet summer days of reading!
