Summer Reads from the Inkwell Team

IF YOU DRILLED toward the Earth’s core on one of these hot summer days and happened to hit the New York subway, the London tube, or some underground transport system, you’d still find a number of people inside with a book in their hands. I always get a little pep in my step when I see this—as the warm thought spreads through my mind, people do still read, despite what the Atlantic has prophesied.

We’re confident that, somehow, someway, reading will stick around, and that our community will stay bookish, come what may. As Marilynne Robinson once told Inkwellians, “I am not surprised that innovative forms of information and entertainment have their appeal, their own beauty. But the book—the codex—has been around for two thousand years at least, for very good reasons.”

Anyways, check out what our team has been reading below. But first… what books have been your summer companions? Let us know in the comments. We’re also curious…

Cloistered in my ice-cold home to survive the Alabama heat, I’m reading The Need for Roots, by the queen of extremes herself—Simone Weil. Here’s her pretty solid list of the 15 things every soul needs: order, liberty, obedience, responsibility, equality, hierarchy, honor, freedom of opinion, security, Risk, punishment (justice), private property, collective property, truth, & rootedness. And JLS’s new book just arrived in the mail, This is the Main Event!!

Currently just starting Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi, and the first few chapters are delicious. I really like books that delight in the fleeting sensations of food and travel and strangers you’ll never meet. I also like books that have nondescript covers that trust themselves to find the right reader.

i’m reading Airships by Barry Hannah because i love short stories and because i have it on good authority he takes fiction by surprise and also because he’s lots of my favourite writers’ favourite writer.

While in California, I picked up a hellaciously used copy of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut for $3.75. It traveled with me through the scorching Central and San Joaquin Valley. It rode with me up Route 1 to Monterey. Each page tore off after turning. So it goes.

Existing in English, surrounded by the towering evergreens of the PNW, this is my current reality—but my soul would rather be free to exist in Spanish, amongst clapping palm trees. So, to offset this longing, I've been reading Isabel Allende's latest novel, Mi Nombre es Emilia del Valle. It doesn't replace the tropical summers of my childhood, but immersing myself in Allende's storytelling and the lyricism of the language certainly help!

I’m reading The Waves by Virginia Woolf, her experimental novel about the inner lives of six children, meaning there is no dialogue, scenes, or much plot. This reading is a part of my MFA program with Whitworth University, taught by the one and only Mischa Willett!

I just finished Peace Like a River by Leif Enger and it ruined me… Absolutely unreal. And now I’m reading his other book, I Cheerfully Refuse.

No summer reading list is complete without some romance, so this is our gift to you. Enjoy our new poetry collection gleaned from our submissions inbox and curated by Sarah Jane Souther. This collection is sure to keep the fire of the four loves burning for the rest of the season! Read here.

Choosing this year’s Young Storyteller Fellows cohort was a difficult (but fun!) task with over 400+ incredible applicants. Here are our new fellows! Excited to introduce them all to you and to pour into them over the next six months!

Enjoy this conversation between Joshua Luke Smith and Dana Masters in our next installment of The World in Our Words…