Book recommendations from Vox: 12 best books of this summer.

According to Vox: Summer isn’t over yet, and there are still plenty of sunny days ahead of us. To round out your summer reading list, our staffers share their favorite books they read this summer, for you to enjoy on a sandy beach, at a neighborhood cafe, or just anywhere with air conditioning.

Whether you like it or not, summer’s not quite over yet. There are still many days of sunshine and miserably hot temps ahead. To round out the rest of your summer reading list, our staffers share their favorite books they read this summer, for you to enjoy on a sandy beach, at a neighborhood cafe, or maybe just anywhere with AC.

I love gossip, and I really enjoyed Griffin Dunne's memoir 'The Friday Afternoon Club.' It turns out that father Dominic Dunne is a recurring figure in summer novels (you might also want to lie on the beach reading about how society ladies were foolish to one another), but it turns out that his wayward actor son led a life full of interesting events. The book is full of glamour, family feuds, missteps, and at least one visit to an orgy. It also allows for tracking one of the most destructive murders in the consciousness of Americans, as Griffin lives a life after the murder of his sister Dominick. While he leans a bit too heavily on his father’s writing for those chapters, an anecdote from the filming of 'Johnny Dangerous' — now mostly a forgotten Michael Keaton film that Dunne shot at night while attending court during the day — brought unexpected tears to my eyes.

—Meredith Haggerty, senior editor, culture

My great friend Tyler invited me to join his book club. He works at our local middle school, which means I can now participate in literary discussions with the English teacher I had in my freshman year. I'm excited to learn from everyone in the group, as well as from other teachers I didn't have the chance to learn from back then. Last month we read 'The Emperor of Gladness' by Ocean Vuong. I really enjoyed his collections of poetry and other novels, but this book became my favorite of all. It’s a story about a teenager who is deeply troubled, living in a decaying town in Connecticut. He is literally drawn back from the edge of despair by an elderly widow, and he becomes her live-in assistant. The bond they form is beautiful, and the narrative also delves into his experience working in a fast-food restaurant, which deeply resonates with anyone who has worked in a similar environment. His writing is endlessly poetic and continues to make me think about dignity, memory, class, and survival.

—Gabby Fernandez, associate director, audience