compiled by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager
It always amazes me how quickly the days speed by and that I’m posting once again about some of the books my colleagues and I are planning to read during the summer. Perhaps you’ll find a familiar author or title in the list below or be inspired to pick up something different from what you usually read based on these selections. To learn more about the titles, or to order from a bookstore near you, simply click on the cover images shown.
We hope your summer days are filled with plenty of enjoyable activities, including reading!
Seven Games: A Human History
Author: Oliver Roeder
Publisher: W. W. Norton (a Westchester client)
Why I Want To Read This Book: I inherited an appreciation of games from my father. And although time constraints or other interests have always limited me to nothing more than a casual gamer, my wife knows that my guilty pleasure at any given time over the years is often over-devotion to one game or another, so she gifted this book to me. Games are nothing if not metaphors and I’m looking forward to what Roeder’s “human history” will have to say about the human condition. It’s disappointing that the TOC doesn’t show an eighth chapter that would relate the rich history to the more recent renaissance of Euro-influenced tabletop games, but I expect to enjoy this read nonetheless.
Selected by: Scott Keeney, Director, Production and Customer Service
The Negro Leagues are Major Leagues, Collected Essays
Author: Edited by Sean Forman and Cecilia M. Tan
Publisher: Society for American Baseball Research
Why I want to read this book: This book combines two interests: baseball (Go Sox!) and history, specifically the reexamining of history through a lens that recognizes all contributions. A friend and former colleague, Adam Darowski, is now the Director of Product at Sports Reference, LLC (Baseball-reference.com being one of my favorite sites for stats), one of the groups behind the publication of this book. Adam has an essay included in the collection, so I’m eager to read his work as well as those of the other contributors.
Selected by: Kevin J. Gray, President and Chief Content Officer, Westchester Education Services
Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Brontë
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Why I want to read this book: I’m in a book club and we select books to read every month. It’s a great motivator and we get to read some interesting titles. We choose a classic for this month and I’m very excited to read it since I’ve heard so much about the Brontë sisters and this book in particular.
The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Why I want to read this book: I was reading another book, The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams, and in it, The Kite Runner is mentioned. The Reading List is about a unique friendship between a widower and a librarian, and without giving away the ending, The Kite Runner was selected as part of series of books they read. I’m interested in learning more about the friendship between the boys in the book and I hear to have tissues handy!
Submissions selected by: Laura Cunningham, Content Director, STEM, Westchester Education Services
The Island
Author: Adrian McKinty
Publisher: Little, Brown
Why I want to read this book: I love thrillers! This is a new author I have recently become interested in, and I am excited about the upcoming release.
Girl A
Author: Abigail Dean
Publisher: Harper Collins
Why I want to read this book: This came out last year, but I haven’t gotten my hands on it just yet. Yes, it’s dark, but I find real-life tragedies fascinating. Also, the events took place in my state, not far from where I live, which adds to my intrigue.
To round out my summer reading will be all the Patricia Cornwell, Michael Connelly, and James Patterson hand-me-downs from my parents’ collection.
Submissions selected by: Noelle Cristea, Senior Editor, Literacy & SEL, Westchester Education Services
The Hairy Dieters Simple Healthy Food
Authors: Si King and Dave Myers
Publisher: Seven Dials
Why I want to read this book: The time I spent cooking at home during lockdown and the ensuing work from home time was an enjoyable highlight with my family during otherwise stressful and challenging times as we all adapted to what 2020 was going to bring next. Amongst the cookbooks I burned through were two by the then Hairy Bikers, UK TV chefs who during the pre-pandemic era hosted travelogue/cooking programs that we could watch here in the States on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Well, if the Hairy Bikers could become the Hairy Dieters and shed some pandemic weight for their health, I figure so can I. When I saw their upcoming “The Hairy Dieters Simple Healthy Food” I immediately preordered a copy, and am hoping it can help undo some of what my enjoyment of their books on baking pies and more did over the course of the past two years.
Selected by: Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer, Westchester Publishing Services
The Price You Pay For College
Author: Ron Lieber
Publisher: Harper
Why I want to read this book: With a freshman in high school and a middle schooler in the house it is never to early to learn more about the next chapter in their lives, college. Between choosing where they should go, how much it should cost and everything in the middle, this is one of the biggest decisions they will make to this point in their lives. It helps to be informed, and this books looks like just the way to do it.
Selected by: Kevin Schroeder, Director, Client Solutions, Westchester Education Services
This Time Tomorrow
Author: Emma Straub
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Why I want to read this book: The novel is a nuanced take on the movie plot for “13 Going on 30”, where viewers watch hilarious events unfold as a 30 year old woman goes through adult life as her 13 year old self. The main character in “This Time Tomorrow” is a woman on the eve of her 40th birthday, and like many of us this age she has a parent who isn’t in the best of health. After a bit too much celebrating the night before, she wakes up to find she’s 16 years old again and her father is now younger and healthier than she remembers. Life informs art, with the author drawing (perhaps morbid?) inspiration from the medical issues her father, horror novelist Peter Straub, has faced in the last couple of years to craft this story. The question of whether you would change anything in the past if you had the ability to is an interesting one, and I’m curious to discover the author’s answer.
Submitted by: Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager, Westchester Publishing Services
The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom
Author: Felicia Rose Chavez
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Why I want to read this book: I want to read this book because I truly believe it’s imperative for all students to have a voice. The traditional writer’s workshop model platforms white voices and white comfort. I look forward to learning about Chavez’ experience in and out of the classroom. I hope I can help bring inclusive, amplifying spaces for students of color into more educational materials.
The Atlas Six
Author: Olivie Blake
Publisher: Tor Books
Why I want to read this book: I love a solid fantasy and have heard great things about this series. Mostly it’s the tagline on the cover which caught my attention: Knowledge is Carnage. I can’t wait to find out where the author takes that idea! https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250854513
Selections submitted by: Jennifer Cole, Content Director, Literacy, Humanities, and Languages, Westchester Education Services
