Summer Reading Recs Four W&L professors share their must-reads to help you round out your reading list.

By Kelsey Goodwin
June 11, 2026

Caleb Dance
Associate Professor of Classics

“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin

One of the best books I’ve read this past year, discovered on the recommendation of a friend. There is a levity and vivacity that seems appropriate to summer, even as the book explores a complex friendship.

“The Savage Detectives” by Roberto Bolaño

A novel about the mysterious origins of a Latin American literary movement, told through diary entries and transcribed interviews. Whether you read a few pages each day or dive in all at once, a love of literature permeates every corner of Bolaño’s prose.

I also recommend reading a big book with a friend or family member. I’m currently halfway through Mark Danielewski’s “House of Leaves” alongside my brother-in-law. He warned me how challenging it could be. He was right! Later this summer, I plan to tackle “Moby Dick” with my dad for the first time.

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Sybil Prince Nelson ’01, P’28
Assistant Professor of Math and Data Science

“Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir

I was so taken with this one that I read the book, listened to the audiobook and saw the film twice. You will literally end up falling in love with a rock alien.

“Kindred” by Octavia Butler

One of the most creative science fiction novels I have ever read. Written in the 1970s yet remarkably prescient, it weaves time travel with history and social injustice as a Black woman is repeatedly and involuntarily pulled into the past, forced to save her slave-owning ancestor in order to protect her own existence.

“Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah

I strongly recommend the audiobook read by the author himself. Noah’s delivery transforms what could have been a story of trauma into one of joy, compassion, humor and, yes, a bit of trauma. It is a firsthand saga of human resilience.

“The Girl with Seven Names” by Hyeonseo Lee

A captivating true story about a North Korean defector that literally changed the way I saw the world. It inspired me to invite a North Korean defector to speak with students during my Spring Term Abroad program in South Korea; many said it was the best part of the trip.

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Brian Alexander
Associate Professor of Politics

“History of Western Philosophy” by Bertrand Russell

I strongly recommend this wide-ranging survey written with Russell’s characteristic wit and eloquence. Full of keen insights, irreverent generalizations and gross omissions, it covers much of what one might encounter across several undergraduate philosophy courses.

“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë and “The Groves of Academe” by Mary McCarthy

With the publishing industry’s recent announcement that mass market pocket-sized paperbacks are being discontinued, I’ve been scouring used bookstores for summer reads. These two recent finds are favorites, and they fit in your pocket better than a phone.

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Beth Staples
Associate Professor of English/Editor, Shenandoah

“Stone Yard Devotional” by Charlotte Wood 

This may be the best book I’ve read in the last three years, so I plan on working my way backward with some of her other books this summer.

“Memory House” by Elaine Kraf

This book has an irresistible premise: The main character, once a darling of the literary world, now fading into obscurity, decides to go to Memory House, a remote and labyrinthine club of sorts where artists past their prime go to live out the rest of their days together. They all have secrets, and so does the house!