The New York Times's Summer Reading Bucket List

A three-month summer reading challenge invites participants to read from a list of 10 literary books. Readers are asked to complete at least five titles before summer ends and to track progress using a checklist. Submissions are made through a form, which also enters participants into a prize drawing. Ten readers receive personally curated goodies selected by editors. Book recommendations include a stream-of-consciousness novel, Angel Down by Daniel Kraus, recently published and recognized among the year’s best books. Another recommended novel is The Hill by Harriet Clark, featuring Suzanna, who moves between a hilltop prison and a New York City apartment, with themes shaped by Clark’s personal background and a reimagined coming-of-age story.

"Over the next three months, we invite you to read along with us. We've put together a list of 10 literary to-dos: Can you get through at least five before summer ends? Track your progress using our checklist. When you're ready, you can submit your list using the form at the bottom of this story and be entered into this year's prize drawing! We may not be able to throw all of you a pizza party, but we will be selecting 10 readers to receive some goodies personally curated for you by our editors. All the details are in the form."

"I'm partial to a stream-of-consciousness novel, which makes my choice of book published in the last year easy: Angel Down, by Daniel Kraus, one of our 10 Best Books of 2025. In the past few weeks, since the novel won the Pulitzer Prize, I've heard from readers delightfully surprised by their love of the book, and from some who were grossed out or underwhelmed. I'm excited to dive in and form my own opinion."

"I'm fascinated by Harriet Clark's new novel, The Hill. Suzanna, 8, shuttles between the hilltop prison where her mother is incarcerated and the New York City apartment where she lives with her grandmother, a former Communist. Clark draws on her own life experience — her mother was a member of the Weather Underground and imprisoned throughout Clark's childhood — and the novel sounds like a coming of age that completely refashions the genre."

Read at www.nytimes.com