Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few days, you will have seen some rather unfortunate news – that a rather well-known American newspaper allegedly published a “Summer Reading List” that was written by generative AI. Now, I know that fighting against AI feels like fighting against a storm that is coming over the horizon, but I will yell into the wind anyway. Why?
The problem with a generated list isn’t so much that it generated a list of books as that the books it listed simply didn’t exist. Now, don’t get me wrong. Some made-up titles sounded like bangers (I would love to read something called The Last Algorithm.) And this brings me back to my initial problems with generative AI. It does not know how to tell fact from fiction. It is almost like a desperate child trying to please us with all of its tricks, however, the tricks are built on lies. Some people will be able to figure out what is true and others less so, which escalates the spread of mis- and disinformation. And sadly, we are seeing the consequences of this from the most benign, like making up a few wrong book titles, to people allegedly ending their lives over generative AI influences.
So, I thought. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so terrible to make a summer reading list written and recommended by an avid reader and book-loving human with some literary qualifications up her sleeve.
Below, you’ll find six books that I highly recommend for reading over the summer. Some are new releases, and some are recent. There is a mixture of fiction and nonfiction. They are weird, serious, and hilarious. Hopefully, there is something for everyone. You get extra points if you read all six over the summer and let me know what you thought of them in the comments below.
1. The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking by Shannon Vallor
Okay, okay. I know. But hear me out. I recently read Shannon Vallor’s book The AI Mirror and found myself aggressively nodding at everything she had to say about AI. Vallor is a world-renowned scholar who specialises in ethics and AI, and her book is a must-read for anyone interested in how we might actually be able to live with AI. And more importantly, how can we ensure we don’t burn the whole planet and go crazy while using it?
Vallor isn’t an either/or thinker when it comes to generative AI. She realises its values, but is also not beguiled by all of its empty promises. This is the perfect book to read over the summer if you want to drop insightful facts over the picnic blanket. It is also great to drop in on conversations on your brat summer dates to weed out all the tech bros.
2. The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada
Firstly, this cover is everything. I cannot express how beautiful and eye-catching this green is in real life. Other editions just don’t cut it. So if you have a choice, I wholeheartedly recommend you go all out and get yourself the hardback edition.
I am a big fan of Japanese literature, as you can see from my recent posts about Butter and May You Have Delicious Meals. So, of course, I had to include a Japanese author for your summer reading.
Oyamada’s writing is short, sharp, and haunting. Her books tend to be novella-sized (usually under 150 pages). The Hole is centred on the story of a couple who move back to the husband’s small hometown. The village is strange, and the wife spends too much time at home alone. The children seem strange, and the grandfather is even stranger. She meets her husband’s brother and falls into a hole while chasing after a peculiar animal…
The Hole explores what it means to return home in the summer, and is perfect to read for a few lazy afternoons.
3. Eurotrash by Christian Kracht
Eurotrash by Christian Kracht was longlisted for The International Booker Prize 2025. I have a soft spot for Swiss writing after living for several years near Zurich. That, plus the title, had me picking this book up the moment I saw it.
This bizarre and darkly hilarious novel is about a mother and son who go on a road trip around Switzerland. The two have a complicated relationship, drink heavily, make horrible choices, and somehow still find love.
They try to give away thousands and thousands of the mother’s wealth. They almost get robbed outside a private plane they try to rent. They spend the night in a weird cult in the mountains. And get stuck in a chair lift for hours.
This book is excellent if you want some really good belly laughs.
4. Cactus Pear for My Beloved: A Family Story from Gaza by Samah Sabawi
Keeping with the theme of prize lists, Cactus Pear for My Beloved has been short-listed for the highly prestigious Australian Stella Prize. This award is for Australian female and non-binary writers. Winners received $60,000 in prize money. And the award winner will be announced tomorrow.
I absolutely loved how easy it was to read this book. It is an intergenerational story of a daughter talking with her father about his life growing up in Gaza. I felt that I learnt so much about Palestinian culture, food, and family life. Something that stuck with me after reading the book was how school kids would get bullied if another school colleague found out the first name of your mother. This gets used as power dynamics flare in the school. I found it so sweet and relatable – the things children will believe.
I hope this book wins.
5. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
There is something about reading watery books set in the ocean over the summer that helps you stay cool in ways I cannot logically explain. Julia Armfield’s novel Our Wives Under the Sea will keep you intrigued, beguiled, and perplexed.
This novel is about deep sea exploration, queer love, and what we find in the depths of the ocean and ourselves. Armfield’s novel is perfect for long train or plane rides where you can wistfully stare out the window as you contemplate the beauty of her writing and the complexity of the narrative.
This novel won’t give you easy endings, but it will make you think. I haven’t gotten this book out of my head since I read it. It is in so many ways a romance and sci-fi and soft horror novel. And it is delicious.
6. Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
I devoured this book over a long weekend. Everything is Tuberculosis is John Green’s latest non-fiction novel that explores tuberculosis’s cultural, medical, and political histories. It is fascinating. Green does a fantastic job of weaving the personal and the larger historical picture together in a really gripping, funny, sad, and hopeful tale.
Tuberculosis is a strange and persistent illness that still affects many people across the globe. Green manages to trace how racism, colonialism, power, and greed perpetuate the infection and keep it alive. It is an old, almost ancient disease that has affected humans for hundreds of years. And yet, we have not found a way to rid ourselves of it. In so many ways, Tuberculosis becomes a metaphor for human ways of being.
This is one of those books that I would recommend to anyone, and it is great for a buddy read. However, it is definitely not a book for sharing because once you start, you won’t want to stop.
As always, share the reading love.
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