In an enduring effort to promote literature and good summer reading, the IE features summer reading recommendations from remarkable people in our community. We hope our readers will be inspired to pick up a book and share it with others this season. In this installment, we asked novelist and University of Washington English professor Shawn Wong, author of “Homebase” and “American Knees,” to share his top picks for great reading this summer. He graciously shared these five.
1. Starting From Loomis and Other Stories
By Hiroshi Kashiwagi
“A memoir [due out this summer] by Nisei writer Hiroshi Kashiwagi that begins in Loomis, California,” said Wong.
2. What Poets Are Like: Up and Down with the Writing Life
By Gary Soto
“A funny, introspective peek into the life of a poet.”
3. War Baby/Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art
Edited By Laura Kina and Wei Ming Dariotis
“A fascinating book on mixed-race identity and visual art.” Editor’s note: This also serves as the catalogue for a traveling show, which comes to Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience this August.
4. Troubling the Family: The Promise of Personhood and the Rise of Multiculturalism
By Habiba Ibrahim
“A very smart and thought-provoking book that examines multiculturalism in the 1990s begins with Tiger Woods and ends with Barack Obama.”
5. The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life that Follows
By Brian Castner
“A memoir about returning home after three tours of duty in the Middle East as commander of an EOD unit (Explosive Ordinance Disposal).”