June 12, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
It’s been a few years since I have posted a summer reading list, so I thought it would be a great way to transition into this year’s summer recess. I often compile a summer reading list for myself. Sometimes I get through it and sometimes I don’t. These lists are not meant to be assignments, so I always shrug off any books that didn’t get to the top, set them aside for the next break, and keep chugging on with other projects. No harm done. That’s the beauty of the summer list – it’s just for pleasure.
Having said that, I am pretty excited about my list this year, so I’ll do my best.
I have devoted an awful lot of time to Moby Dick and somehow, it still keeps calling to me. Which is how Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo ended up on my list today. At the beginning of Moby Dick, Melville lists the word for whale in a number of languages including Latin, Greek, French, and Dutch. Guo includes her own, slightly longer, list. What can I say, I’m a sucker for language, and for code-switching, and cultural difference. I’m really looking forward to this one.
I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve had Omeros by Derek Walcott for almost ten years and have yet to crack the cover. Having just finished courses on Homer, I feel the time is right to jump into Omeros. I also have an ocean theme going and I’d hate to short change the big blue. It’s my only poetry book in this summer’s reading list, which is rare, but since it’s over three hundred pages, I feel justified in selecting only one.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (translated by Ken Liu) is a must read. This will be my second time through the book. Having completed the trilogy, I am eager to begin again. I know that I missed some big ideas on the first read. Science fiction from an Asian perspective has been very refreshing. I even watched the handful of episodes on Netflix and while I do recommend the series, I was dismayed by the westernization of characters and ideas. (Having said that, I do hope they continue!)
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood promises surprise, insight, and excellent writing. Margaret Atwood never lets me down. Historical fiction with intrigue and an unreliable narrator sounds like a wonderful summer read.
Having just spent a year with Voltaire’s Candide, I know that Voltaire holds religious figures to high standards. Candide proves that many religious figures (and potentially many religions) have missed his mark, but Voltaire’s true beliefs remain murky. Hopefully Voltaire’s God & Human Beings (translated by Michael Shreve) will enlighten me as to Voltaire’s religious experience and his religious beliefs.
In this same vein, I want to more seriously engage with Seneca’s letters. I have periodically glanced through Letters from a Stoic (as translated by Margaret Graver and Anthony Long), but never given it full attention. Seneca remains an enigma to me. How can the man who wrote: “No man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom” also be the man who advised Nero? Maybe his letters will add depth to the little I know of Seneca.
Finally, I am smitten with Arthur Sze. I’ve read all of his books. I dabble in translation. So, I grabbed a copy of Transient Worlds: on Translating Poetry as soon as it came out. Poetry is one of humanity’s longest standing traditions. Imagine if you didn’t have a way to access Homer, or Proust, or Goethe, Basho or the Bible. In this slim volume, Sze compiles articles about fellow author-translators which explore classical and contemporary works in translation. The book also incorporates a wide variety of languages. “Great poetry ignites and reignites our shared humanity over time, and the transient worlds of poetry in translation play a vital role in bringing us together,” he writes in the Introduction. Exploring our shared humanity seems like a pretty worthwhile endeavor. Moreover, this book will likely inform some of the decisions for our upcoming series on Arthur Sze’s poetry in the fall. I hope you’ll join us!
Now your turn: what are you reading this summer?
Photo credit: Alissa Simon
