BSG Books – Summer 2024: Our Recommendations
June 12, 2024 | Blog Post
We recently asked the BSG staff for the books they would recommend adding to anyone’s summer reading list. We were impressed by the diversity and range of selections they chose – a mix of fiction, history, social science, and pop culture. The list below might help you find something great to pick up this summer season.
Normandy ’44: D-Day and the Epic 77-Day Battle for France – James Holland
“Holland does a great job of telling the full story of Operation OVERLORD, from its planning to execution and the subsequent 76-day Battle for Normandy by relating personal stories and eyewitness accounts woven together into a very engaging narrative. It was recommended to me by a military historian friend as the best account of D-Day to read as a non-military scholar. It’s a perfect read as we reflect on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.”
– Beth Hitchcock, Vice President
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
“Demon Copperhead is probably the best book I’ve read all year. A modern take on David Copperfield — but set in Appalachia at the height of the opioid epidemic. Demon Copperhead examines generational poverty and how societal and institutional failures allow the cycle of poverty, abuse, and addiction to continue. The writing is both witty and heartbreaking. Impossible to put down.”
– Valerie Chicola, Senior Director
There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension – Hanif Abdurraqib
“This is about Abdurraqib’s coming of age in Columbus, OH during the rise of Lebron James and how we view sports in the context of larger cultural narratives.”
– George Basile, Senior Associate
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder – David Grann
“I found myself tearing through the book like it was fiction, only to constantly remind myself the harrowing, and sometimes unbelievable, narrative I was reading was a true story. Grann does a great job presenting the account in a balanced manner, no mean feat given the events covered are nearly three centuries old, and the sources on which he draws regularly conflict. This is a perfect summer read”
– Andrew Muchnick, Senior Director
“As a die-hard fan of the band RUSH, bassist Geddy Lee’s long awaited memoir was already a must read. Setting this book apart from the usual rock-n-roll biography is the harrowing account of his parents’ struggle to survive the Holocaust that serves as a reminder to readers about what happens when fascism rears its ugly head.”
– Jared Wheeler, Vice President, Look Ahead Strategies
The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life – Sally Jenkins
“Written by one of my favorite sports columnists, Sally Jenkins examines the seven character traits shared by all world class athletes, and challenges the reader to implore these traits to be better performers at work and in life. Greatness does not happen by mistake, but rather, it is cultivated through deliberate decision and actions.”
– Rob Simpson, Vice President