The first day of summer is June 20, which makes now the perfect time to curate your summer reading list.
In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, we discuss handpicked selections with people who order books for libraries in St. Louis: St. Louis County Library collection development specialist Jennifer Alexander and St. Louis Public Library materials selector Ted Reidy.
Their beach read recommendations are listed below, along with brief notes about each title.
JENNIFER ALEXANDER’S LIST
FICTION
“The Antidote” by Karen Russell, 2025
“For readers eager to immerse themselves in another time, this imaginative Dust Bowl-era novel features a prairie witch who collects the painful memories of her neighbors and holds them in her ‘vault.’”
“The Emperor of Gladness” by Ocean Vuong, 2025
“The life-saving relationship between 82-year-old Grazina and 19-year-old Hai is the heart of this wrenching novel in which Vuong explores themes of community, the dignity of work and caretaking.”
“Flashlight” by Susan Choi, 2025
“Ten-year-old Louisa and her father take a night walk along the beach in Japan. The next morning, Louisa’s father is missing, and she is found barely alive on the shore. In the decades that follow, small parts of the story of what happened are illuminated.”
“King of Ashes” by S.A. Cosby, 2025
“Roman Carruthers returns home to Virginia after his father’s car accident to find the family in disarray, with his brother owing money to dangerous criminals and his sister struggling to keep the family together.”
“Zeal” by Morgan Jerkins, 2025
“Ardelia and Oliver celebrate their engagement in Manhattan in 2019. Oliver gives his future bride a love letter written in 1865 to a free man newly discharged from the army. Their stories, and the stories of the generations between them, explore the legacy of slavery and the power of love.”
“Murder Takes a Vacation” by Laura Lippman, expected publication on June 17
“Middle-aged widow and former assistant to a private investigator, Muriel Blossom books a Parisian river cruise and soon has a case of her own to solve.”
LOCAL
“Fire, Pestilence, and Death: St. Louis, 1849” by Christopher Alan Gordon, 2018
“This is a surprisingly optimistic book about an admittedly terrible year in St. Louis history, but one that spawned many of the improvements we benefit from today.”
“The Last American Road Trip: A Memoir” by Sarah Kendzior, 2025
“St. Louis-based journalist Kendzior writes affectionately about the many road trips she has taken with her husband and children. She also contemplates the troubling ways politics, technology and the pandemic have changed life in the United States.”
NONFICTION
“Baking Across America: A Vintage Recipe Road Trip” by B. Dylan Hollis, 2025
“Hollis follows up his very popular ‘Baking Yesteryear’ with a road trip across America, presenting a total of 100 recipes from all 50 states. This book is for readers and cooks who like some quirky history with their recipes.”
“Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service” by Michael Lewis, 2025
“Michael Lewis invited writers to join him in finding someone doing an interesting job for the government and writing about them. The result is this inspiring book. With essays from Dave Eggers, Geraldine Brooks, W. Kamau Bell and more, this book depicts the work of scientists, groundkeepers, and investigators.”
“Is a River Alive?” by Robert Macfarlane, 2025
“Perfect for summer reading alongside a body of water, Macfarlane’s study combines reporting, natural history and lyrical travel writing in a contemplation of the question: What happens if rivers are treated like living beings with legal rights?”
“Mark Twain” by Ron Chernow, 2025
“This authoritative, massive biography presents a flawed and talented figure full of contradictions.”
TED REIDY'S LIST
FICTION
“Audition” by Pip Adam, 2025
“Three giants must keep speaking in order to power their spaceship, and in doing so, discover their shared histories. Rarely does a review for a book intrigue me so much that I place my hold at the same time I place the order. ‘Audition’ seems like the kind of slightly confusing, steeped-in-metaphor novel that is perfect for a meditative summer weekend.”
“The Dark Maestro” by Brendan Slocumb, 2025
“Cello prodigy Curtis Wilson is forced into witness protection when his father becomes an informant against a powerful drug cartel. When the powers that be are unable to handle the cartel, Curtis and his family need to take them down their own way. A great summer thriller, ‘The Dark Maestro’ pulls on Slocumb’s own knowledge of classical music and a suspension of disbelief to set it apart from others in the genre.”
“The River Has Roots” by Amal El-Mohtar, 2025
“A novella that blends prose and poetry to tell the story of two young sisters living on the edge of fae lands — and the drama that follows when one falls in love with a faerie. The plot may sound familiar to anyone with experience in the “romantasy” genre, but this title sets itself apart by emphasizing the bond between sisters above all else.”
“Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity” edited by Lee Mandelo, 2025
“Queer and trans anthologies have become very popular recently, and in recognition of Pride Month, I wanted to include ‘Amplitudes’ as one of the most recent entries in the genre. ‘Amplitudes’ is a speculative fiction collection that includes 22 stories, each by a different author, that explore the future — from just a decade to thousands of years from now. My favorite story of the collection is ‘Six Days’ by Bendi Barrett, a very short story that describes a few days in a commune working to survive after some undescribed apocalypse has happened.”
“Hot Air” by Marcy Dermansky, 2025
“A single mother and her young daughter are briefly pulled into the world of the super-rich when a hot air balloon crash lands in a neighbor’s swimming pool. This is a short novel, but it’s packed with such memorable characters that it feels like watching the best seasons of a long-running sitcom.”
LOCAL
“America's Great Neighborhoods Series: Lindenwood Park, St. Louis Missouri” by Jay Unnerstall, 2025
“In this book — the first in what I hope to be a long series — author Jay Unnerstall invites the reader on a walking tour of his home neighborhood, Lindenwood Park. Both admiring architecture and community, this is a loving tribute to a local neighborhood that inspires the reader to look for similar beauty in their own surroundings. Also: it features the Machacek branch of the St. Louis Public Library!”
“Living Legacy: The Story of the Endangered Wolf Center” by Jeannette Cooperman and Christy Marshall, 2023
“‘A Living Legacy’ tells the history of the nearby Endangered Wolf Center, tracing more than 50 years of work, play and education efforts of the center. Its adorable, full-color photos of the wolves fostered by the center trace the original wolves down to the great-great grandpuppies. It’s an excellent book that immortalizes the work done to prevent the Mexican gray wolf from becoming extinct.”
NONFICTION
“Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream” by Megan Greenwell, 2025
“Journalist Megan Greenwell reports on the effects of private equity on the American economy through the lens of four American workers: a Toys R Us manager, a rural doctor, a small newspaper journalist and an affordable housing organizer. The focus on the human aspect is refreshing, and as somebody who doesn’t often reach for the nonfiction shelf, this book is one of my most anticipated of the year.”
“The Art and Science of Natural Dyes” by Joy Boutrup and Catharine Ellis, 2018
“Growing up, tie-dyeing was a summer activity staple. I would help my mom set up booths at local festivals and usually end up with several shirts of my own. This book takes that familiar concept and dives deep into the science and mechanics behind how fabric is dyed — and does it using exclusively natural materials and methods. The guides are easy to follow, and excess scientific information can be ignored or enjoyed, depending on reader preference. I personally enjoyed the in-depth scientific explanations of why dyes fade and how people have historically tried to prevent that phenomenon.”
“Slither: How Nature's Most Maligned Creatures Illuminate our World” by Stephen S. Hall, 2025
“‘Slither’ is a complete biography of the snake, covering biological, cultural, ecological and scientific matters. Hall touches on every aspect of the animal and does so in a way that feels conversational, like a friend telling you fun facts about their favorite animal.”
“Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji” by Keith Houston, expected publication on July 1
“Similar, yet wholly different from the previously mentioned ‘Slither,’ this title promises an enjoyable timeline of emoji — from faces constructed from seldom used punctuation, to emoji taking on meanings much more complex than the simple shapes they are. This kind of cultural study is always intriguing to me, as it combines low stakes with a subject almost everyone is familiar with. It’s a great nonfiction beach read.”
“Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life” by Dan Nadel, 2025, and “Existential Comics: Selected Stories from 1979 to 2004” by R. Crumb, 2025
“This is a two-for-one recommendation: a biography of the cartoonist and a collection of his works that serve as their own window into the mind of Robert Crumb. Both the biography and the comics are unapologetic examinations of a man’s worst impulses, but the biography adds more depth to Crumb and his place in comics history, shining a kinder light on the man than his own autobiographical work does.”
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
