Summer is a time for reading. Work slows down a bit, at least for some. I’m not traveling as much to speak and teach. School’s out. I spend more time at the lake. In fact, I’ve probably spent more time reading on a couch next to a lake than any other place. I’ve read everything from history to fiction to theology on that couch—it helps put my mind in the right place to relax then concentrate.
One of my favorite guests is back on Gospelbound to talk about summer reading as we close out the spring 2025 season. Melissa Kruger is the vice president for discipleship programming at The Gospel Coalition and cohost of the hit new podcast The Deep Dish. We talked about why we love reading and why reading still matters with social media and AI. And we offered dozens of book recommendations in many different genres.
Summer Reading Recommendations
Collin’s Summer Reading List
Godric by Frederick Buechner
The Fate of the Day by Rick Atkinson
The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis
Melissa’s Summer Reading List
Homecoming by Kate Morton
The Lord’s Work in the Lord’s Way and No Little People by Francis A. Schaeffer
The Expulsive Power of a New Affection by Thomas Chalmers
History: Biographies
Melissa:
A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot
Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Dr. Howard Taylor and Geraldine Taylor
Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose
The Watchmaker’s Daughter by Larry Loftis
Collin:
Luther by Heiko A. Oberman
Here I Stand by Roland H. Bainton
Jonathan Edwards by George M. Marsden
Augustine of Hippo by Peter Brown
Churchill by Andrew Roberts
Fiction
Melissa:
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
Collin:
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Historical Nonfiction
Melissa:
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone
Collin:
With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge
Remaking the World by Andrew Wilson
Nonfiction
Melissa:
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
Collin:
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
How to Reach the West Again by Timothy Keller
Making Sense of God by Timothy Keller
Challenging Reads
Melissa:
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Collin:
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Spiritual Growth
Melissa:
The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson
Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks
Collin:
God’s Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts
Letters of John Newton
Easy Beach Reads
Melissa:
The Traitor’s Wife by Allison Pataki
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
Collin:
From Eden to Egypt by Alex Duke
How to Know a Person by David Brooks
Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Also Mentioned
“B” Is for Betsy by Carolyn Haywood
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Shel Silverstein poems
Papa’s Daughter by Thyra Ferre Bjorn
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
No Easy Day by Mark Owen
The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, Elizabeth Sherrill, and John Sherrill
The Gospel Coalition