Why and What You Should Read this Summer

When I look forward to the beautiful, lazy days of summer, I mentally go over my “summer bucket list”—except my list has only one bullet point. I want to escape to a beach or park, spend my free time lazing around, soaking up sun as a breeze washes over me and I enjoy a cold glass of lemonade. On this imaginary peaceful retreat, I envision good company and good books.I love books—all types of books. I could go on for pages about how reading has enriched my life, but I won’t. I’ll just say this: books transport us. They force us to see from the perspective of other people; they allow us to live in countries, cultures and worlds that we never could have experienced otherwise.John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars said it best:“Writing, or at least, good writing, is an outgrowth of the urge to use language to communicate complex ideas and experiences between people—and that’s true if you’re reading Shakespeare or bad vampire fiction. Reading is always an act of empathy, it’s always an imagining of what it’s like to be someone else.”And what better way to get a glimpse into God’s heart? Father Moon tells us that a life of faith requires deep empathy. “Through empathy,” he says, our hearts expand “from the individual to the family, nation and world. When someone offers acts of devotion with such heart, God will hold on to this person” (CSG, 825).So here are a few book suggestions that will make you think, force you to imagine, give you a few laughs and help you practice compassion:The Earthsea Series by Ursula Le GuinEarthsea is a magical fantasy adventure, consisting of a trilogy published between 1968 and 1972, two other novels written between 1990 and 2001 and a short story collection. The first three books offer a rich story themselves, but Le Guin returns to the world in her later books and gives us a different perspective, forcing us to ask why we so easily accepted the trilogy’s original themes. These books are appropriate for children and adults alike.Excerpt: “Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.” From The Tombs of AtuanEnder’s Game by Orson Scott CardAnother book appropriate for readers over the age of 12, this intergalactic sci-fi book makes us question what it means to be human, makes us look at our definitions of “the self” and “the other” and challenges our concepts of morality and what actions are acceptable for the sake of the greater good.Excerpt: “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them….I destroy them.”The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. JacobsWritten by a journalist who likes to write about “lifestyle experiments,” this book is a humorous glimpse into a literal interpretation of the Bible and the struggles a modern man faces trying to follow its directions. From asking his wife to sleep in a tent during her menstruation, to half-heartedly attempting to stone adulterers, Jacobs describes it all. Then, after a year, Jacobs discusses what he learned, which habits he’ll keep and which ones he’ll let go of.Excerpt: “Remember, sometimes you have to look beyond the weirdness. It’s like the temple in ancient Jerusalem. If you went there, you’d see oxen being slaughtered and all sorts of things. But look beyond the weirdness, to what it means.”Letter to My Daughter by Maya AngelouThis is a collection of essays by the world-renowned author, addressing not her biological daughter, but the women who read her books and find inspiration in them. She shares the lessons she has learned throughout her life with honesty and love.Excerpt: “There was a possibility that God really did love me, me Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry at the gravity and grandeur of it all. I knew that if God loved me, then I could do wonderful things, I could try great things, learn anything, achieve anything. For what could stand against me, since one person, with God, constitutes the majority?”How to Make a Human Being: A Body of Evidence by Christopher PotterThis nonfiction book draws from canonical philosophers, authors, scientists and other famous texts, attempting to bridge the gap between science and religion to address questions like: What is science? Is there a God? What is love? What is reality? While he doesn’t necessarily seem to be looking for answers, Potter does a lovely job of compiling famous, relevant quotes from history, putting them side-by-side to be compared and offering some of his own interpretations.Excerpt: “Ever since Newton’s time, when billiards was in vogue, science has tried to reduce the world to balls hitting one another: billiard ball atoms, billiard ball planets, billiard ball stars. For those us of who have fought shy of games ever since schooldays, it is sometimes hard to accept that ball games really are the be all and end all of existence.”A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David EggersThe title is only slightly misleading—this memoir about a young man raising his brother after the sudden death of both their parents is unlike any other. It’s beautifully written, although the language can be explicit; it is raw and honest and funny.Excerpt: “While the author searches for love—there will be some episodes involving that—and his brother searches for, you know, whatever little kids search for (gum and pennies?) and together they try to be normal and happy, they actually will probably be unsuccessful in any and every extracurricular relationship, given that the only people who they truly admire and love and find perfect are each other.”What’s on your reading list this summer?