Summer Reading Challenge Check-In: Beach Read Recommendations

Our second Summer Reading Challenge is underway! This week, All Of It producer Jordan Lauf discusses some beach reads that could fit in the five Summer Reading Challenge categories. Listeners weigh in with their recommendations. Click here to sign up for the Challenge!

Alison: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Because it's Monday, I wanted to give you a preview of some of the conversations we have coming up on the show later this week. Tomorrow we'll talk with journalist Paul Tough. His reporting challenges a lot of the current conventions on how we treat kids with ADHD. Wednesday, we'll learn about a new documentary on the impact of New York City's skateboard culture and how it spawned the cultural phenomenon Supreme.

On Thursday, we'll talk to Pulitzer Prize-winning feature writer Jennifer Senior about her article, Why Can't Americans Sleep? Insomnia has become a public health emergency. Then on Friday, we'll talk about the best films of the 21st century, and we want to know what you think should be on that list. That's all in the future. Now let's get this hour started with books.

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Alison: This week on All Of It is dedicated to beach reads, those books you can't put down, the ones you take with you to the beach or park for a relaxing read, or to take your imagination to someplace you haven't been. Each day this week, we'll speak to a different author about their great new summer novel. The stories will take us to Paris, the underworld, even high-falutin NYC. First, since we're talking about summer reading, it's time to check in on our Summer Reading Challenge.

For those of you who haven't heard, we are challenging you to read five books in five different categories by Labor Day. If you complete the challenge, you get a prize. To sign up, head to wnyc.org/summer-reading. That is wnyc.org/summer-reading, or you can also find the link on our Instagram bio. Joining me now to discuss some of the great beach reads that fit within our summer reading challenge is All Of It and Get Lit producer Jordan Lauf. Welcome back, Jordan.

Jordan: Thanks, Alison. Great to be here.

Alison: Before we dive into beach reads, let's remind people of the categories for Summer Reading Challenge.

Jordan: We've got five different categories, you have to read one book in each. These are the five: a classic you've been meaning to get to, a book about or set in New York City, a memoir or biography, a recent debut novel, and a book published in 2025. Last time, we gave you seven categories, you had to pick four. This time, we're giving you five categories, you got to hit all five to get the prize this time.

Alison: Listeners, we want to hear from you. Are you participating in the Summer Reading Challenge? What book are you reading first? What's a great beach read you might want to recommend? We are taking your summer reading recommendations. Our phone number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Let's talk about beach reads. We had a discussion about this. First of all, what do you think makes a good beach read?

Jordan: We talked about this, and it's interesting. I think people have different ideas about what makes a beach read. To me, it is just something that is going to keep you occupied, keep you turning pages while you're sitting on the beach or sitting at the park. It has to be something that's going to capture your attention, and you're going to look up and say, "Oh, three hours have gone by and I've been sitting here." To me, that doesn't mean it has to be "not serious" or frothy, although it can be frothy and fun and all of those things. As long as you're sitting there, you're turning the pages, you're lost in a good book, I think that counts as a beach read.

Alison: You just came back from vacation. What did you read while you were away?

Jordan: I did. I guess these two books maybe are good indicators of my definition of a beach read. The first one, it was King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby. I've talked about it a little bit on the show already. He came on the show. It was so great. It's a family thriller about a son who's trying to extricate his family from the clutches of this gang. Maybe he gets in a little too deep himself. That was a classic thriller. I'm turning pages. I can't wait to hear what happens next.

The other book I read was The Postcard by Anne Berest, which was a novel translated from French. I picked it up because I was in France and I wanted to read something from the place. That was a really moving story about-- It's a novel, but it's based on her research into the author's own family, who died in the Holocaust. That was definitely a more serious read, but it was framed as an investigation. It definitely had those cliffhangers, and each chapter ended, and you wanted to figure out what was going to happen next. I was just glued to my seat on the beach reading that one. That's The Postcard by Anne Berest. I can't recommend it enough.

Alison: Since we're going to focus on beach reads all week long, Jordan's going to recommend some reads that will fit into some of the categories for Summer Reading Challenge. Win-win. All right. Let's start with fiction. It's probably the most classic definition of a beach read: a little romance, a little fun setting, good writing. What book fits that bill?

Jordan: This is the latest novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid. It's called Atmosphere. I really think any Taylor Jenkins Reid novel could pretty much fit the bill for this. She is just an excellent writer for exactly that category. It's going to give you a plot that you can't wait to find out what happens. It's going to give you memorable characters. It's going to give you a romance. The writing is just excellent. This new one is a thrilling story about space exploration.

It follows a female astronaut in the '80s, think maybe a little bit Sally Ride inspired, who's recruited to NASA and trains within this group of male and female candidates for a new space mission. NASA is really trying to recruit more female astronauts. Our main character falls in love within this group, but there's also some danger with the mission, and maybe it might end in disaster. That is Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and that one fits in the category of book published in 2025.

Alison: Let's talk to Diane from South Orange, New Jersey. Hi, Diane. Thanks for making the time to call into All Of It.

Diane: Oh, thank you. My summer read also fit into the 2025 category, and it was One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune. I figured out where it was going, but I enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the setting. It was a good summer read. I have read a number of summer reads, and that one was a good one.

Alison: Love it.

Diane: I also had a very good memoir called Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks, which I really very much enjoyed.

Jordan: Yes, I hear that one's great. That's the latest from Geraldine Brooks, I believe, is about the loss of her husband and that grieving process. I've heard really good things about that book as well.

Alison: Thanks for calling, Diane. This says, "Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes, a propulsive surreal crime novel set in 1959 Harlem, ultimately about New York, and sneakily about the racism that the Black characters are confronted with." That can go on your category.

Jordan: That sounds perfect for that.

Alison: Our phone number is 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We want to hear from you. Are you participating in the Summer Reading Challenge? What books are you reading first? Maybe you have a great beach read that you want to recommend. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. My guest is Jordan Lauf. She's our Get Lit and our Summer Book Challenge-- What should we call you?

Jordan: Producer.

Alison: Empress?

Jordan: Sure. I'll take it.

Alison: Book challenge empress. Let's talk about a purely romantic novel.

Jordan: If you're someone who's like, "Okay, my definition of a beach read is I want a fun romance," Emily Henry is your girl. She seems to write a new one almost every year.

Alison: Last year's was good.

Jordan: She's incredibly prolific. What was the one last year?

Alison: It was a girl who went to the Hamptons and didn't have a place to live. It was My Guest [crosstalk]

Jordan: That's Emma Cline. That's The Guest by Emma Cline, but it very well could have been an Emily Henry novel. That sounds like something she would totally write. This new one is called Great Big Beautiful Life, and it's about two competing journalists who are both fighting to write the memoir of a reclusive heiress. They want to be the ones who--

Alison: Funny story.

Jordan: Yes, that was the one from last year. Yes, yes, yes. This new one is about these competing journalists who are trying to fight for the rights to write this woman's life story. Of course, that means that they must fall in love because they're together, they're fighting, but maybe they're actually going to fall in love. Also, what's special about this book is it's not just about the central love story. It's also about this heiress and her life story, and we learn a little bit more about that as you keep reading. That is Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, and that falls under the category of book published in 2025.

Alison: What about a debut novel?

Jordan: This is one of our categories this year. I'm really excited for Lonely Crowds by Stephanie Wambugu. It's a debut novel about two girls who become friends at first in a New England Catholic school when they learn that they are the only scholarship students attending. That's how they become friends, and then the story follows them throughout their life as they move to New York City in the '90s to pursue careers as artists.

One of the friends becomes more successful than the other, and that competition and feelings of jealousy and envy threaten to ruin their friendship. This one's not out until July 29th, so it might be one that you pick up in August if you're looking for an August read, but it gives you a whole month. You'd have plenty of time. It's not super long, and this one fits in three categories. It's the rare trifecta. It fits under debut, it fits under book published in 2025, and it fits in a book about or set in New York City, so you can pick which one you want to put it in.

Alison: It's got to be in one of those categories. It's not a three-for-one.

Jordan: No, it is not a three-for-one deal, okay, everyone?

Alison: [laughs]

Jordan: If you want to be sneaky about it, please don't do that. No, you have to pick a category.

Alison: Let's talk to Lisa, who's calling in from Toms River. Hi, Lisa. Thanks for calling All Of It. What do you want to recommend?

Lisa: I'd like to recommend Butterfly Summer by Toni De Palma. It falls into the category of new release.

Alison: Can you give us what the elevator pitch is?

Lisa: It's about a Hollywood producer who has to do the finale of her show, and it's set in Italy. She goes back, and while she's dealing with her show and all the elements that go into producing the show, she has to deal with some old family business. It starts in the present, and it goes into the past, and then it returns to the present. It's a lot of fun. It's very fast-paced.

Alison: Sounds like it's a good plan. Thanks so much for calling. Let's talk to Melanie from Lock Arbour, New Jersey. Hi, Melanie. Thank you so much for making time to call All Of It today.

Melanie: Hi. Thanks for this show. I just finished My Friends by Fredrik Backman. He's the man that wrote A Man Called Ove, which was a wonderful book also. My Friends, it was wonderful. I listened to it, actually, and the narrator was fabulous. I know people who've read it, and everybody feels the same way: "Oh, my gosh, that was great."

Alison: Love it. Thank you so much. This says, "I'm currently reading Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. It's funny, thoughtful, and well-written. I'm reading it for the challenge." That would be in our memoir biography.

Jordan: Exactly. Perfect. I want to just say, for that last caller, Fredrik Backman, I think is how you say his name. He's got a lot of good summer reading books. I think Anxious People was another one that people really liked from him. He's a good one to check out if you're looking for something to pick up this summer.

Alison: The next book is by a local author. It's called-- Okay, I get this right, Maggie: Or, A Man or a Woman Walk Into a Bar?

Jordan: By Katie Yee, yes. It's set up like the punchline of a joke. It's like a man and a woman walk in a bar, and then-- Katie is a local author. She actually works for the Brooklyn Museum in her day job. This story begins when our protagonist finds out that her husband has been having an affair with a woman named Maggie, and in the same two weeks, she also gets diagnosed with breast cancer.

As a humorous coping mechanism, she decides to name her tumor Maggie, the name of the woman her husband is having an affair with. It goes from there. It's a really slim, very well-written debut novel about grief, about moving on with your life, about resilience, and about female friendship. There's a really beautiful friendship at the center of the book. I really recommend that one. Katie is coming on the show on Thursday, so you can hear a little bit more about it.

Alison: Let's talk to Laurie from the Upper West Side. Hi, Laurie. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Laurie: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. My book is from 2018, but I just discovered this author. Her name is Faith Martin. She's written different series. The one I just read was Fatal Obsession. It was terrific. It's a 1960s from crime. It has a lot of twists and turns. I could not figure it out. I thought it was at least two stories. At the end, it all comes together, but it's very exciting. She's a wonderful author. As I said, she's written different series. The last series before this was by a detective named Hillary Greene. I can't recommend more, both series, but this one, Fatal Obsessions, was really exciting.

Alison: Is it one of the kind of books you go to the beach and you're reading and you look up and it's a couple hours later?

Laurie: Definitely. Absolutely. Definitely, definitely, definitely. It kept me up at night. I looked all of a sudden, and it was midnight after reading it for two hours.

Alison: Wow.

Laurie: Terrific book.

Alison: Thanks for calling, Laurie. Listeners, we'd love to hear from you. Are you participating in the Summer Reading Challenge? What books are you reading first? What's a great beach read you want to recommend? We are taking your summer reading recommendations. Our number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. After the break, we'll hear from one of our older friends, Gary Shteyngart. Stay with us.

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Alison: You are listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. In studio with me is Get Lit and Summer Reading empress, Jordan Lauf. [laughs]

Jordan: I'm going to put that in my new biography, empress.

Alison: We are talking about the Summer Reading Challenge. Jordan has a lot of recommendations for you. We also want to hear from you. Are you participating in the Summer Reading Challenge? What book are you reading first? 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Before the break, I gave a little tease to our friend, Gary Shteyngart. He has another novel out?

Jordan: Yes, he's got a new one out. For those who are like, "Oh, that name sounds familiar," he was one of our Get Lit authors a couple years ago for his last novel, Our Country Friends. This new one is called Vera, or Faith. It is out July 8, which is tomorrow. Happy almost pub day to Gary Shteyngart. This one is about a family that's threatening to fracture apart. Also, as our political situation is fracturing, there's some mirroring going on there. Our protagonist is their daughter. Her name is Vera. She's a kid who's desperate to keep her parents together.

Something special about Vera also is that she is half Korean, and her birth mom has been out of the picture for a long time. Her dad's remarried. The couple she wants to keep together is her dad and her stepmom, but she also wants to figure out what's going on with her birth mom. I just think that Gary Shteyngart's writing is so insightful and so funny. There was a kid character in Our Country Friends that I remember just finding so fascinating and hilarious. I'm excited that he's dedicated this entire book to a point of view of a kid.

Alison: Let's talk to Craig from Morganville. Hi, Craig. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Craig: Hey, how you doing? This book came out a while ago, and I don't know the author, but it's called The Hello Girls. It's about these women operators during World War II that would put the wires into the calls, and they were responsible for a lot more stuff to the war effort than they thought. It was a very fascinating read. It's called The Hello Girls. Really cool book.

Jordan: Looks like it's by Elizabeth Cobbs. It's The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers. That sounds really interesting.

Craig: It was really cool.

Alison: Thanks for calling, Craig. "Just finished Actress of a Certain Age, Jeff Hiller, a memoir. Starting Four Squares, Bobby Finger, set in New York City. My other challenge will come from books brought up on All Of It. This is so fun. [unintelligible 00:17:32]-

[laughter]

Alison: -both of those gentlemen as guests." All right. I'm going to say this is actually the name of the book. We texted it. It says, "I recommend a debut novel by Damilare Kuku entitled Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow."

Jordan: Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow.

Alison: "It's a debut novel. It's funny and irresistible about a Nigerian family, secrets, judgmental aunties, and Brazilian butt lifts. I actually listened to the book for those of you who like listening and audibles because it was so funny. It has you in stitches and laughing."

Jordan: That's going immediately on my to-be-read list.

Alison: [laughs]

Jordan: I have to say, I've just looked it up as you're talking, and the cover is fabulous. Great job to this cover designer. I really love this cover.

Alison: Oh, that is a good-looking cover.

Jordan: That looks cool.

Alison: All right. Let's round things out with another debut novel.

Jordan: This one was actually recommended to me by your friend Scooter. Scooter is a regular at our Get Lit with All Of It-

Alison: Yes, he is.

Jordan: -events. He stopped me at one of the recent ones, and he was reading a book, and he said, "Have you guys had this one on the show yet?" I said, "No." He said, "I'm going to have to talk to Alison about that." I don't know if he ended up talking to you, but I'm going to plug the book now.

Alison: Do it.

Jordan: It is called Luminous by Silvia Park. It's a futuristic story. It's set in a world in which Korea has reunified and AI robots have become increasingly lifelike. It follows two siblings who were actually raised alongside an AI robot as their brother, but as they got older, their brother disappeared. Now they're trying to figure out what happened to him. Again, he's their brother, but also a robot. It's actually shockingly relevant to our current times, where people are falling in love with AI and considering AI to be their friends. It's really timely in that way. That one would count for, in two categories, a recent debut or published in 2025. That's Luminous by Silvia Park.

Alison: Scooter's the only person I know who reads more than you and more than me.

Jordan: [chuckles]

Alison: The only person.

Jordan: That's a tough task.

Alison: [laughs] Let's talk to Harold in Brooklyn. Hey, Harold. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Harold: Oh, hey, long time, millionth time. I wanted to suggest a classic I read that was-- It was ported to a movie, but the book is so much different than the movie. It's called The Remains of the Day. I don't want to butcher the author's name, but it's like Kazuo Ishiguro.

Alison: Yes, that was good.

Harold: The book is so much more about isolation and just this-- It's just so powerful and moving, and I really, really loved it. I read a lot. It was my favorite book of the year. Then also there's a new book that I love that came out this year called Superbloom by Nick Carr. It's about communication technology. I think it really makes you rethink how you use your phone.

Alison: Thank you so much. I think we lost in the end there, but Nicholas, thanks for calling in. This is interesting. I don't know if you have an answer, if you want to think about this for a little bit. Someone texted in, "Having a problem finding a classic for the challenge."

Jordan: That's interesting. I think one place that you could start to look is to see if any local universities near you have a syllabus. Sometimes English classes have a survey course syllabus that is either required for all students or English majors. I sometimes find inspiration there, just to see what are college kids being required to read these days? It gives you book list outside of what maybe you're used to thinking about. Anniversaries are also always helpful.

Alison: Anniversaries are big.

Jordan: It's a big year. It's 1925, the 100th year, so you've got The Great Gatsby, you've got Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf are both celebrating big anniversaries. It was also the James Baldwin centennial last year. That was a really good excuse for me to read some Baldwin. I guess my final suggestion would be to think about anything that's being adapted. I think I might pick up East of Eden by John Steinbeck because that is being turned into a series starring Florence Pugh, and I'm really excited for that one.

I think Wuthering Heights is also getting a new adaptation by Emerald Fennell. That could give you some inspiration to pick that up. That would be my third place to look is what's being turned into a TV series or movie. Oh, it's also the anniversary of the Pride & Prejudice film with Keira Knightley. If you're looking for an excuse to read Pride & Prejudice, that's another anniversary that works.

Alison: What about a good fantasy book?

Jordan: I really, really like V.E. Schwab. I really enjoyed her book, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, that came out a couple years ago. She's got a new one out this year called Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. It is a vampire tale that follows three different women from three different periods of history. There's one woman in 16th-century Spain, one woman in 19th-century England, and one woman in 21st-century Boston. Each of these women are queer and are dealing with that experience in different ways.

Obviously, being queer in 21st century Boston, or being a gay woman in 21st century Boston is definitely different than in 16th century Spain. Each of these women ends up having an encounter with a vampire that could change the course of their lives forever. Is this vampire the same vampire? Is it a different vampire? You'll have to read and find out. I will caveat to say that this is a longer one. It's 544 pages. If you're not feeling brave about lugging it to the beach, if you're a Kindle reader, that could be a good one. Or an audiobook reader, that counts as well. It is out now, and that one fits under the category of published in 2025.

Alison: All right. Let's move on to nonfiction, especially since we have a category of biography or memoir. What's a biography or memoir that could fit in well with a beach read, as we said?

Jordan: A beachy vibe, you might want to pick up Ina Garten's memoir. It's called Be Ready When the Luck Happens. This recommendation honestly comes from my mom, who loves this book. I think she read it in two days. She really liked learning the ins and outs of how Ina Garten started her business in the Hamptons. It's got that beachy, barefoot-contessa vibe, but it really goes into that story of launching her business and, of course, her relationship with Jeffrey, her beloved husband, as everyone knows. It's pretty short. It's a good one to lug on the beach. It is out already, and that one would fit under the category of memoir or biography.

Alison: There's another memoir that has a lot of people talking, The Dry Season. What's this one about?

Jordan: This is from Melissa Febos, who you might know from some of her other memoirs. I think she wrote a book called Body Work. She is a former sex worker and dominatrix, I believe.

Alison: We've had her on the show, yes?

Jordan: We have had her on the show before. This one is about her decision to abstain from sex for a year after a bad breakup. She realized that she had been jumping from relationship to relationship, and she wanted to take a very intentional break. This is a memoir about what she learned about herself and about sex and about pleasure by taking some time to very intentionally abstain from hookups, from sex, from romance. I think it'll be a really good conversation starter. If you're in a book group of some kind, this could-

Alison: Oh, yes.

Jordan: -be a fun run to talk about with your friends over a glass of wine.

Alison: Maybe two glasses of wine. [laughs]

Jordan: Maybe two glasses of wine if you're feeling a little uncomfortable talking about sex. This one fits in two categories. It could fit in memoir or biography, and it could fit in published in 2025.

Alison: This one says Women in White by Wilkie Collins, published in 1860, a mystery.

Jordan: Oh, so that could be a classic for sure.

Alison: That could be classic. All right. Any final biographies that might be a good summer read?

Jordan: Yes, if you're a big old sports fan and you want to really immerse yourself in sports this summer, there are two new biographies for you. One is a biography of Caitlin Clark. I was a little surprised. I mean, wow, she's so young to have a biography already, but she really has changed women's basketball and women's sports. This book is called On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports by Christine Brennan. If you like boxing and complicated people, you might like the new biography of Mike Tyson. It is called Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson. It is by Mark Kriegel. Both of those could fit under the category of memoir or biography, and they seem really interesting to sports fans.

Alison: All right. Can you give people all the information about the Summer Reading Challenge one more time?

Jordan: Yes. To sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge, you can head to wnyc.org/summer-reading. You can also find the link in our Instagram bio if you follow us on Instagram. You'll find the link to sign up. You'll find a PDF you can print out and write down all of your selections. You don't have to send any selections into us. You don't have to message us and say, "Okay, now I'm reading this one." You can if you want.

Alison: [laughs]

Jordan: I love to see it, but you don't have to. At the very end, we'll send you a form to fill out for the whole challenge. That's wnyc.org/summer-reading. Just a reminder of the five categories are a classic you've been meaning to get to, a book about or set in New York City, a memoir or biography, a recent debut novel, and a book published in 2025. You've got to hit one in all five to get your prize.

Alison: Jordan Lauf, our Get Lit and Summer Challenge empress, thanks for being here.

Jordan: I love being the empress. Thanks so much, Alison.