Northeast Ohio bibliophiles suggest books for our annual ‘Summer Reading List’

Monday on the "Sound of Ideas," we'll talk to Northeast Ohio bibliophiles about their favorite books of 2026 so far. They'll be recommending new novels, nonfiction reads, some classics, as well as new books by Northeast Ohio writers. The group will also touch on how to keep kids engaged in reading over the summer, and how to cut back on screen time in order to read more. Guests: - Karen Long, Former Manager, Anisfield Wolf Book Awards - Kate Merlene, Branch Services Supervisor, Orange Branch - Cuyahoga County Public Library - Lori Zaim, Owner, Fireside Bookshop - George Bilgere, PhD, Poet; English Professor, John Carroll University Guest Picks "The Calamity Club" by Kathryn Stockett "Life & Death & Giants" by Ron Rindo "Playground" by Richard Powers "Whistler" by Ann Patchett "The Midnight Train" by Matt Haig "A Paris Apartment" by Michelle Gable "Missing Sam" by Thrity Umrigar "Cool Machine" by Colson Whitehead "Earth 7" by Deb Olin Unferth "Eating Ashes" by Brenda Navarro "House of Day, House of Night" by Olga Tokarczuk "John of John" by Douglass Stuart "Mule Boy" by Andrew Krivak "This is Where the Serpent Lives" by Daniyal Mueenuddin "Wreck of the Mentor" by Eric Jay Dolin "Don't Call It Art" by Austin Kleon "London Falling" by Patrick Radden Keefe "Land" by Maggie O'Farrell "The Antidote" by Karen Russell "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir "Kin" by Tayari Jones "Dog Show" by Billy Collins "Season of the Second Thought" by Lynn Powell "Ghost Variations" by Elton Glaser "Train Dreams" by Denis Johnson "The Imperfectionists" by Tom Rachman "Devil in a Blue Dress" by Walter Mosely "Quartet in Autumn" by Barbara Pim "On The Hippie Trail" by Rick Steves "The Land and Its People" by David Sedaris "The Death and Life of the Great Lakes" by Dan Egan Ideastream Staff Picks "Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin "Football" by Chuck Klosterman "Fever Beach" by Carl Hiassen "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis "The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth" by Zoe Schlanger "Darkwater: Voices From Within The Veil" by W.E.B. DuBois "What Did You Eat Yesterday" by Fumi Yoshinaga "Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke "1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation" by Andrew Ross Sorkin "Wild Dark Shore" by Charlotte McConaghy "My Friends" by Fredrik Backman "Lil' John: Laughing My Way Through Life: Stories from an Accidental Career on Cleveland TV―and More!" by Lil' John Rinaldi