Do you think of a favorite book as member of your family, or one of your best friends? Do you have too many books (or friends) or not enough this summer?

. . . Here are a few favorite reads for the summer months from your friends at Third Man. Tell us some of yours!

"Picking [three] favorite books is like picking the [three] body parts you'd most like not to lose.”

― Neil Gaiman

Chet:

"Miracle Boy and Other Stories" by Pinckney Benedict (Short Stories)

"The Brief History of the Dead" by Kevin Brockmeier (Fiction)

"Rise in the Fall" by Ana Bozicevic (Poetry)

*Honorable Mention: "Geronimo Rex" by Barry Hannah (Fiction - pictured)

Bliss:

"His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman (trilogy pictured)

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett (parallels these hot summer days and racial discrimination still heavily present today)

"The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride

Ben Swank:

"The Sellout" by Paul Beatty

"Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt" by Chris Hedges & Joe Sacco (pictured)

"1966: The Year The Decade Exploded" by Jon Savage

Rebecca:

"Decline & Fall" by Evelyn Waugh (pictured)

"A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

"Galapagos" by Kurt Vonnegut

Ben Blackwell:

1. "But What If We’re Wrong?" by Chuck Klosterman

I absolutely love everything CK has written. Even fiction, which I usually cannot be bothered with. His newest book has sincerely affected me in that I’m now constantly wondering how my actions today will be viewed 500 years from now. Also, first book I’ve read in a timely manner after release since Violet was born three years ago. After Berry Gordy, Klosterman is the living person I want to meet most. I just think he and I

could be great friends. I guess that’s the mark of a truly great writer…their ability to make themselves feel familiar to complete strangers.

2. "The Detroit Almanack" by Bill McGraw & Peter Gavrilovrich

Everything I could ever hope to know, glean or forget about the rich, beautiful and sometimes ugly history of Detroit is contained in this tome. It cures homesickness. It sparks talking points for my essay in the new Stooges book. It provided me with yarn after yarn of tales to weave into the solo album I wrote exclusively about the city of Detroit. As this thing came out in 2001 it feels like it is in desperate need of an update.

3. "TeenBeat Mayhem" by Mike Markseich

An unbelievably exhaustive account of 1960’s garage rock singles, complete with geographic locales of the bands, month/years of release, label and pressing variations…this book was over twenty years in the making and worth every minute spent diving into it.

Ariana:

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez (pictured)

"Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami

"On The Road" by Jack Kerouac

Josh:

"SELECTED POEMS" by GWENDOLYN BROOKS

"BEVERLY" by NICK DRNASO

"SUBURBAN NATION" by ANDRES DUANY AND ELIZABETH PLATER-ZYBERK

Kim:

"Faithfull: An Autobiography" by Marianne Faithfull

"Boys in the Trees" by Carly Simon

"Salt" by Nayyirah Waheed (pictured)

Robbie:

"And the Hippos were Boiled in their Tanks" by Jack Kerouac & William S Burroughs

"Pain the Board Game" by Sampson Starkweather

"The Kitchen Readings" by Michael Cleverly & Bob Braudis

Sarah:

"Rasputin" by Joseph T. Fuhrmann

"God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" by Kurt Vonnegut (pictured)

"The Hawkline Monster" by Richard Brautigan

Brett:

"A Coney Island of the Mind" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"Who I Am" by Pete Townshend

"Stress Test" by Timothy Geithner

Katty:

"Just Kids" by Patti Smith

"East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

"Positively 4th Street" by David Hajdu (pictured)

Todd:

"Swift 3 Pre-Release" by Apple

"Core Data in Swift" by Marcus S. Zarra

"Ansible for DevOps" by Jeff Geerling

Jenna Kay:

"Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier

"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

"The Heart of Yoga" by T.K.V. Desikachar

Cam:

"Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"The Handmaid’s Tale" by Margaret Atwood

"The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

Daniel:

"The Art of Loving" by Erich Fromm

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

"The Tao of Wu" by The Rza

Chloe:

"You Shall Know Our Velocity!" by Dave Eggers - fave

"My Antonia" by Willa Cather - summer

"The Miracle of Mindfulness" by Thich Nhat Hahn - current

David:

"A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller Jr.

"Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri (Paradiso is my fav jam)

Obviously our FAVORITE favorites are from Third Man Books. SUMMER READING SPECIAL SALE 20% OFF THIRD MAN BOOKS TITLES to help you choose! http://thirdmanbooks.com/

“Where your turntable’s not dead and the page still turns.”