At last, it’s a nice long summer holiday break! With triple-digit temperatures, there’s no better time to pour a nice tall cool one, put your feet up in a shady spot and take a bite out of your summer reading list. Don’t have a list? That’s what we’re here for. Today we reprise our big list of summer reading lists with a few new twists for Summer 2012.
1. Bring up the (Beach) Bodies. No, you won’t find steamy e-romance or a Nikki Heat page-turner among them, but for a sure thing to toss into your beach bag, check the summer reading recommendations from the Books of the Times. (Best title: Granddad, There’s a Head on the Beach), and dive into The New York Times’ Book Review 2012 summer reading issue. Not at the beach? Here are Six Smart and Sensible Ways to Beat the Heat at Home to help keep your favorite reading spot cozy and cool.
2. Mind expanders. To keep feeding your business brain, check the Top 10 Summer Reading List for Business Leaders from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, as well as blogger Seth Godin’s list of book recommendations for 2012. (One of his top picks: Standing on the Sun: How the Explosion of Capitalism Abroad Will Change Everything.) With all due respect to those big brains, however, our award for the most creative and comprehensive list in the mind-expanding category goes to Teach.com’s amazing flow chart of 101 summer reading picks.
3. Politicians, patriots and … fallen angels. As the presidential campaign heats up, we turn to the nation’s capital, and the reporter-panelists from PBS’s Washington Week. No surprise, their summer reading list is heavy on biographies of past presidents and presidential hopefuls (first on the list is historian Robert Caro’s Passage of Power). But, given their day jobs, we especially enjoyed the fiction titles on the list, like Devil in the White City, Bringing Up the Bodies and the soon-to-be-released Danial Silva novel, The Fallen Angel. For even more books about patriots and politicians, check the New York Times’ staffers favorites here.
4. By Invitation Only. What are the rich reading this year? Check in with the annual J.P. Morgan Summer Reading List—10 titles hand-picked by the private bank for its wealthiest clients. This year’s recommendations include Passion and Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders, plus Taking People with You: The Only Way to Make BIG Things Happen and By Invitation Only, the story behind Glitz.com.
5. Fit for foodies. In Fourteen Great Reads for Food Lovers, the James Beard Foundation book committee serves up memoirs, history and fiction for food lovers. Not nearly enough Julia Child on that list for you? Visit the JC100 Facebook tribute page, created by her publisher Alfred Knopf to celebrate the culinary queen’s 100th year. You’ll find video and written tributes to Child from food celebrities, photographs and quotes—and links to 100 of her recipes, recreated by food bloggers. Need more food? Check the LA Times Squid Ink summer reading list of new food books for the entire family.
Finally, a tip: Consider adding a reading list to your LinkedIn profile. It’s one more way to connect. Find the Reading List by Amazon app under the More tab and select “Add Applications.” And tell us what you’re reading this summer in the comments below.