I always long for the reading days of summer. During the
school year, I mostly read student papers, journal articles, and get my “fun”
reading in with online literary journals and the occasional full book. My plans
for most summers are to read at least 100 books for pleasure, alongside rereads
of old favorites. This summer, though, I’ve been extra busy and have also been
designing a new syllabus, reading research books for a novel, and readings a
bunch of books on pedagogy and multimodal communication/composition. So, I’ve
cut my planned pleasure reads down to 60 and only a few rereads. *cue sad harp
music here* So, I’m trying to capitalize on less books by instead having an
even wider array of books than usual. Here are six of yet to be read pile (I’ve
only read 35 of 60 so far, so I best get on it).
The Book of Joan by Lidia Yukanivitch. Sci-fi: check.
Language and politics: check. Interesting take on gender: check. This book
ticks all my boxes, so hopefully it’ll live up the praise it’s been getting from
literally everyone.
October by: China Mieville. One of my favorite sff writers
takes on non-fiction with this account of the Russian revolution. 
Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer. These writing prompts, essays
on writing, and fun illustrations serve two purposes (research for my syllabus
and reading for pleasure because ILLUSTRATIONS).
Globalectics by Ngugi wa Thiong ‘o. One of my favorite
authors (seriously, everyone, please read Wizard of the Crow) writing about the
issues that have always been prevalent in his books: the politics of language
and translation, oral storytelling versus written, and national vs world
literature.
The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories by AC Wise. I love
Wise’s work and her generosity to her characters and humanity. The few stories
from here, I’ve read so far, have been delights.
The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. I love a mystery and
I also love some of the mystery shows Horowitz has written for (primarily
Foyle’s War which is a favorite of mine).
POSTED BY: Chloe, speculative fiction fan in all forms, monster theorist, and Nerds of a Feather blogger since 2016. Find her on Twitter @PintsNCupcakes.
