Summer may look a bit different this year, but that doesn’t mean reading should be halted. In fact, reading is one of the best ways to improve your test scores and discover new avenues for academic exploration. So while you’re stuck at home or socially distancing, pick up one of our summer reading recommendations. This curated list, compiled by LogicPrep team members, is sure to include something you’ll love!
Atlas Obscura, 2nd Edition: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
By Dylan Thuras, Ella Morton, and Joshua Foer
WHY DAVID THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: I love this book! In a world without much travel, it has been a balm to my soul and a fun start to many a daydream.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
By Benjamin Alire Sáenz
WHY ANDREW THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Aristotle and Dante is gorgeously written without ever being hard to read. It's a book about friendship and identity, about growing up and coming to understand yourself, your friends and your family. It's New Mexico, 1987, and Ari feels suffocated in a family that won't address its own trauma, so stifled that he can hardly figure out what kind of person he wants to be. He befriends Dante, who is so unlike himself—open, curious, and full of life, and yet vulnerable to the cruelties of high school and the world. If you liked Love, Simon but craved conflicts that felt bigger than high school, this book is for you. And if you like audiobooks, this one is read by Lin-Manuel Miranda—of Hamilton, Moana and In the Heights fame!
Breakfast of Champions
By Kurt Vonnegut
WHY BRIAN THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: As the case with most Vonnegut, his dark satire is on full display here in a way that exemplifies Vonnegut in peak form. There's a lot of introspective dialogue but that does not sacrifice movement in the story. It only adds humor that brings the reader closer to the characters. A book that will truly keep readers of all levels engaged.
The Choice: Embrace the Possible
By Dr. Edith Eva Eger
WHY NINA THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: I recommend this book especially for this moment we're going through because it tells the true story of a woman who survived Auschwitz and currently works as a therapist helping people overcome traumas and very difficult situations.
The Dutch House
By Ann Patchett
WHY KIM THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: I couldn't put this book down after the first page. From great character development to beautiful imagery to real, relatable dialogue, I enjoyed every page.
The Night Circus
By Erin Morgenstern
WHY SIGRID THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: I read this book when I was having a hard time reading just about anything. I had started two different books, gotten a couple chapters in, and just couldn't keep my attention on the page. I share that for two reasons: 1) at any age, reading is a practice. Sometimes it's hard, but it's worth pushing through to build your strength as a reader, writer, and thinker. 2) This book is so awesome I couldn't put it down! It totally got me out of my reading rut, and I love the world that the author builds. The Night Circus is mysterious, fun, magical, and a great read for laid-back summer days.
The Power
By Naomi Alderman
WHY ASHLEY THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: This book imagines a world in which women discover they have a mysterious weapon that makes them physically threatening to men - and it turns society upside down. Suspenseful and engaging, themes touch on the nature of power, gender imbalance, and question how society functions.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
By Yuval Noah Harari
WHY ADAM THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: A history of a bizarre, illogical, fanciful, mysterious, and yet utterly familiar species: us. The tale begins right around the time we became, biologically and anatomically speaking, the humans we know ourselves to be, and takes us from the "Cognitive Revolution" (when the capacity of human thought expanded radically) through today, when our huge brains are still mired in cloudy judgments and wired for the daily lives we led tens of thousands of years ago, hunting and gathering, instead of the far different ones we lead now. A really fascinating book that makes you take a second look at histories, behaviors, and ideas you've always taken for granted.
The Secret History
By Donna Tartt
WHY RYAN THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Part murder mystery, part coming of age reckoning, The Secret History is an easily consumable, endlessly engaging tale of the ways adolescence is a force of re-fashioning and excavation, as the reader follows Richard Papen on his journey through a small, elite liberal arts college in Vermont. A must-read for any burgeoning classicist in particular.
This Is Where I Leave You: A Novel
By Jonathan Tropper
WHY GRETCHEN THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: I read this book a few years ago and was so moved by the story and by the characters. What an intimate and honest view into the lives of the family involved! I laughed, I cried -- all of the feels came out with this book. I have not seen the movie that was since made and cannot comment on that... but the book is for sure a must-read!
Ways of Seeing
By John Berger
WHY JULIÁN THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Really well-written introduction to art and visual culture. And bonus: there's also a really great, very 70's BBC show available on YouTube that complements the book really well.
WHY LINDSAY THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: I've been really enjoying short stories (fiction and non-fiction) and essays recently, and Joan Didion is a master of the essay form. This compilation of her nonfiction is both personal and historical, and most of all, easily readable in a very distracted moment. You can pick and choose pieces on politics, culture, and more. And it's always fun to read about life in California!
Where the Crawdads Sing
By Delia Owens
WHY ELI THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Set in the swamps in coastal North Carolina, the book follows the life of the "marsh girl" Kya who grew up on her own, teaching herself everything. While that alone would be compelling enough, the story takes a turn when she is accused of murdering one of the most prominent members of town. The book is a fascinating read, watching Kya grow up in incredibly unique circumstances and how we are all shaped by the community around us.
Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings
By Zhuangzi
WHY B. THINKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: The greatest work of philosophy ever written, one to console us through the ages. And it's hilarious! One can't say that about Kant or Hegel!
