Washtenaw County summer reading: Local literary leaders share favorite recent books

This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, the University of Michigan Arts Initiative, and the University Musical Society.

You can find your next read in a variety of places, ranging from a Little Free Library to BookTok, a celebrity book club, or recommendations from friends, relatives, or AI. But this summer we wanted to know which books Washtenaw County’s literary experts would recommend with their own community in mind.

We asked booksellers, publishers, librarians, and others in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti literary community for their personalized summer reading recommendations, ranging from fiction to nonfiction, lighthearted to challenging, and transporting to enlightening.

They include books to escape into and books to prompt soul-searching; books by local writers and books set in Pakistan, Australia, and Antarctica; books that examine the far-reaching effects of racism and tuberculosis; and at least one book that imagines Harriet Tubman putting together a hip-hop record in present-day New York.

We hope these recommendations will keep you reading all through the summer months — and beyond.

Joy Cichewicz, bookstore associate, Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center:

“American Dirt“ by Jeanine Cummins: “Lydia is the comfortable owner of a bookstore in Acapulco, mother of young son Luca, and wife of a daring journalist. Javier is a charming lover of books and the jefe of a new violent cartel that has taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband writes an exposé about the cartel, her entire family is killed, except she and her son, who were able to get away. To escape from Javier’s cartel, she and Luca are forced to become migrants, traveling to the U.S., testing their wits and survival skills while being pursued.”

“There Are Rivers in the Sky” by Elif Shafak: “A beautifully written saga connecting three time periods and people: a Victorian scholar, a Turkish girl in 2014, and a 2018 London hydrologist. Winding through the tale is water from the River Thames and River Tigris, along with the Mesopotamian ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’; we learn about Assyrian and London history while exploring themes of memory, loss, resilience, and stewardship.”

“The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” by Heather McGhee: “McGhee, an economist, takes a journey to explore how racism affects people. She gives example after example about how racism gets in the way of common goods for everyone. She starts by investigating why public pools were closed or filled in in the 1940s/1950s because white people preferred to go without pools, or to spend money to create private pools, over swimming with Black people. From voting for union changes to mortgages to public schools, McGhee shows how racism negatively affects the economic situation of most of us and how we can move forward in solidarity.”

“Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert” by Bob the Drag Queen: “Harriet Tubman is BACK in today’s NYC with a band made up of four of the enslaved people she led to freedom. They want to tell their story in a way that will reach today’s generation. She reaches out to Darnell, a queer, down-and-out hip-hop producer. Together they create music, confront the traumas of their past, and make a way to a better future. Full of humor, candor, and imagination.”

“James” by Percival Everett: “This is Mark Twain’s ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ but told from the point of view of Jim (James), Huck’s enslaved friend. James is about to be sold from his family, so he hides until he can create a plan. Everett illuminates James as an intelligent, educated, and resourceful man, far above those around him, who also befriend Huck. James uses cutting humor and wit to get out of one scrape after another with the unenlightened and racist characters he runs into. A must-read!”

Elizabeth Walline, librarian, collections department, Ann Arbor District Library:

“Whistler” by Ann Patchett: “This brand-new novel by the beloved author of ‘Bel Canto,’ ‘State of Wonder,’ and most recently ‘Tom Lake’ is sure to be a summer hit. Middle-aged Daphne is shocked to run into her former stepfather at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as she hasn’t seen him in over 30 years. The chance encounter leads the two adults to reflect on a lifetime of choices, both those that they made themselves and those that were made for them. Though it’s a relatively simple presence, it’s a thoughtful and moving exploration of the impact we have on one another’s lives, and how much it means to be truly seen.”

“A Far-flung Life” by M.L. Stedman: “Set in rural Western Australia in the late 1950s, the story opens with a tragic accident that shapes the future of a sheep farming family for generations to come. This book comes with a deep sense of atmosphere and place and asks readers to ponder how we overcome our worst deeds, and what makes a good life.”

“Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection” by John Green: “If you missed this 2025 bestseller, it’s still worth the read! Green details how tuberculosis has been tied to humanity for millennia, and how, despite known treatments, it still plagues rural and poor communities globally today. This curable, preventable disease still kills over a million people each year, and Green has taken it upon himself to educate us and advocate for the victims of TB. You won’t look at infectious disease the same way after reading this slim yet deeply eye-opening exploration of the illness.”

“Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” by Alfred Lansing: “If you’re looking for a good old-fashioned adventure story, look no further than ‘Endurance.’ This completely true recounting of the failed attempt of Ernest Shackleton and his men to reach the South Pole in 1913-1915 was first published in 1959 and has since been reprinted and become a bestseller. Author Alfred Lansing conducted extensive interviews with the men who served on the voyage and pored over their diaries and letters from the time. You’ll be amazed to learn about the incredible feats it took to stay healthy and alive, both physically and mentally, and the miraculous story of the ultimate rescue of every single one of the men who first set out on the journey.”

“My Dear You” by Rachel Khong: “If short stories are your thing, don’t miss this tender-hearted and unusual collection by Rachel Khong, author of ‘Real Americans’ and ‘Goodbye, Vitamin.’ The stories center on the occasionally fantastical dilemmas of modern Chinese and Chinese-American women. At times challenging, witty, and thought-provoking, readers will appreciate Khong’s imagination and her characters’ unique perspectives.”

Chelsea Gibbons, marketing and production director, Dzanc Books:

“A Splintering” by Dur e Aziz Amna: “A disquieting and utterly gripping novel set in Pakistan that follows Tara, a morally gray narrator desperate to leave her petty life in the village and escape the iron grip of her violent, unpredictable brother. ‘A Splintering’ traces the class struggle of a woman stuck between province and metropolis, between motherhood and ambition; an exploration of a complex and unforgettable character who will risk everything to carve out a life of her own.”

“Be Gay, Do Crime: Sixteen Stories of Queer Chaos,” edited by Molly Llewellyn and Kristel Buckley: “An anthology of queer chaos from an all-queer author lineup featuring Myriam Gurba, Emily Austin, Alissa Nutting, and Francesca Ekwuyasi, among others. In 16 brilliant, wild-eyed stories, ‘Be Gay, Do Crime’ delivers a celebration and reckoning of why queer people turn to crime — unintentionally, as a means of survival, as protest, as rescue, or to right injustices big and small.”

“Entomology of the Pin-Up Girl” by Lauren Osborn: “A captivating short story collection that delivers a terrific play on the ‘monstrous feminine’ and exists at the intersection of women and insects and arachnids. A surreal exploration of nature, sexuality, disaster, and desire, Lauren Osborn’s stunning debut is a must-read for fans of Lidia Yuknavitch, Aimee Bender, and K-Ming Chang.”

“The Avian Hourglass” by Lindsey Drager: “A surrealist novel set in a town as isolated as a snow globe, where the birds have disappeared and the stars are no longer visible, ‘The Avian Hourglass’ follows a woman who dreams of becoming a radio astronomer and is struggling to raise the triplets she gave birth to as a gestational surrogate, and whose parents were killed in a car accident. At once an ode to birds, an elegy to space, and a journey into the most haunted and uncanny corners of the human mind, ‘The Avian Hourglass’ reflects on the intersecting crises of mental health, the climate emergency, political polarization, and our exponentially growing reliance on technology.”

Danielle Coty-Fattal, publicity manager, University of Michigan Press:

“Is there a better beach read than a book about the water that surrounds us? ‘Great Lake: An Unnatural History of Lake Michigan‘ by Theodore J. Karamanski offers a history of the ways humans have nurtured and loved (and abused and neglected) our freshwater resource and how the lake’s ecosystem has in turn shaped the modern Midwest.

Ella E. Hall, a Black cook and landlord in Ann Arbor, collected more than 50 of her favorite recipes, articles, clippings, and advertisements in a journal between 1920 and 1939. ‘The Ella E. Hall Recipe Book‘ is completely free to read online and gives a wonderful glimpse into the food culture and daily life of the time.

Readers may be familiar with writers Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall, who met and married in Ann Arbor. Over 15 years, until Kenyon’s death in 1995, she and fellow writer Alice Mattison exchanged more than 500 letters. “What Clever Friends: The Selected Letters of Jane Kenyon and Alice Mattison,” edited by Chad Wriglesworth, grants readers an inside view of this friendship and how two women confided in each other, argued about writing process, and helped each other gain award-winning recognition in their respective genres.

“Up North in Michigan: A Portrait of Place in Four Seasons” by Jerry Dennis, an essay collection from a celebrated nature writer, captures its author’s lifelong journey to better know this place he calls home by exploring it in every season, in every kind of weather, on foot, on bicycle, in canoes and cars. Readers will be inspired to reflect on what makes them call Michigan home.”

Elizabeth Mitchell, communications and stewardship apprentice, 826michigan:

“In ‘Unsure of the Exact Destination,’ [written by third graders at Ann Arbor’s Estabrook Elementary,] you choose how to explore three fantastical worlds full of wacky and wondrous characters and landscapes. We hope the imaginative writing of the third graders at Estabrook Elementary takes you on a path of discovery. This book has a beautiful forward written by Lemony Snicket, author of ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events,’ a book series we also recommend.

Kinyel Friday’s ‘I Feel You’ explores children who find themselves in different situations and the words that can be used to describe what they are feeling. It’s okay to feel your feelings, all of them, and to express how you feel. ‘I Feel You’ encourages children to name their emotions.”

Pat Mitchell, youth librarian, Ypsilanti District Library:

“I just finished ‘Dragons in a Bag’ by Zetta Elliott (this month’s book for my Kids Book Club, which is for grades 3-5 and meets once a month at the [Ypsilanti District Library] Michigan Ave. branch). It is the first of a five-book series. When 9-year-old Jaxson is left with Ma, a mysterious woman his mother once knew, he discovers she is a witch with a mission to deliver baby dragons to a magical realm. As he goes on this wonderful adventure with her, he learns about magic, responsibility, and the importance of family and community. They accidentally leave one dragon behind at the end of this book, so the book club and I are anxious to read the next book, ‘The Dragon Thief‘!”