Summer in Miami means one thing: Staying in with a good book. It’s the time of year when it’s either too hot to step outside or pouring rain, with perhaps the occasional beach day sprinkled in, and all that wild weather makes it a perfect time to catch up on some reading. The only question is, what to pick off the shelf? Biscayne Times asked several of Miami’s most literary minds what they’ve been reading lately. We polled Miami Book Fair’s director of programs and strategy Lisette Mendez, legendary Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan, and other bookworms about town to get their picks for the best books for this summer. Read all about it.
(HarperCollins Publishers)
By Asha Elias
Both Mendez and Kaplan raved about this debut from local author Asha Elias. Her affectionate skewering of the PTA moms at a Miami Beach elementary school felt very true to life according to Mendez, who grew up in similar settings.
“They're trying to do good but they’re just being Miami extra about it,” she said of the novel’s kooky characters. “I’m a mom, my kids also go to school in Miami Beach, so I myself have been a PTA mom. It helped me make fun of myself a little bit.”
“Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk”
By Kathleen Hanna
If you missed legendary feminist punk band Bikini Kill’s gig in Miami back in 2022, you can get a firsthand perspective on the riot grrrl revolution from this memoir by frontwoman Kathleen Hanna. Mendez says the book, which traces Hanna’s involvement in the male-dominated Pacific Northwest punk scene in the ‘80s and ‘90s, is a great view into the life of a musician she admired deeply.
(Penguin Random House)
“I enjoyed reading about her life before and during the band,” she said. “We listen to a lot of music in my family and (punk) is kind of my genre.”
Mendez also notes that Hanna will return to Miami in November to discuss her memoir at the book fair.
By Griffin Dunne
Most famous for his leading role in Martin Scorsese’s downtown New York cringe comedy “After Hours,” Griffin Dunne recounts his tumultuous early years as a scion of Hollywood elites in this gripping memoir. Stories range from being rescued from a pool by Sean Connery to the literary rivalry between his father, producer and writer Dominick, and his uncle John and aunt Joan (Didion - heard of her?).
Kaplan says he enjoyed the book’s “wonderful” view into a family that was at the center of American culture in the mid-
(Penguin Random House)
20th century.
“LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority”
By Marie Arana
Mendez had much to say about this epic history of Hispanic history and identity in America, from the conquistadors to today, by Peruvian journalist Marie Arana. In particular, she praised its ability to blend the personal and the political.
“Every so often she anchors these pieces of history with real-life people’s stories,” she said. “All the different people she focuses on are Latino in some way that’s different from the others, and you walk away with an understanding of how different these communities are, even with this set background.”
By Miranda July
(Penguin Random House)
The fine folks behind the beloved Design District art book emporium Dale Zine recommended this slippery new fiction (or is it autofiction?) by multihyphenate Miranda July. Just put your inhibitions away before you dive in. According to Washington Post reviewer Ron Charles, “All Fours” is “wildly sexual,” detailing what happens when a middle-aged female artist (conspicuously similar to July) sets out on a cross-country road trip and ends up in a motel not far from home with a guy half her age.
Comparing it to Portnoy’s “Complaint” by Philip Roth, Charles wrote “I’ve never reviewed such an explicit novel before.”
“James”
By Percival Everett
It’s a simple spin on a book read by countless American schoolkids – what if you retold “Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of Jim, the escaped slave who joins Finn on his adventures on the Mississippi? Yet the change in POV allows author Percival Everett, famed for his novel “Erasure” on which the Oscar-winning film American Fiction was based, to turn the light-hearted Antebellum adventure into a tense thriller with a heightened sense of danger.
(Thorndike Press)
Kaplan praised the book’s “very interesting take” on Mark Twain’s source material and Everett’s depiction of the “brutality” of the pre-Civil War era.
By Emily Henry
This hilarious and heartfelt story of two authors bonding over their mutual writer’s block and falling in love simultaneously has “beach read” written all over the cover – literally.
Pérez Art Museum Miami curator Maritza Lacayo, who co-hosts the “Pouring Over Pages” podcast in her spare time, recommended this 2020 romance novel, which is being adapted into a movie by 20th Century Studios, calling it “a beautifully written romantic comedy that is perfect for the summer months.”
“Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture”
By Kyle Chayka
(Grove Atlantic)
Whether or not you’re welcoming our new AI overlords, Kyle Chayka’s clear-headed exploration of algorithms serves up a valuable, insightful perspective on the potential perils of letting Big Tech mediate culture, according to Sarah Cruz of Bookleggers Library.
“The book is an encouraging affirmation of the importance of physical spaces, objects and IRL human exchanges,” she said. “At a time when tech companies are trying to replace human cultural work with AI, it's a beautiful and vital argument for libraries, bookstores, community radio, live concerts, record stores, and human curators.”
By Abraham Verghese
Verghese, a medical doctor as well as an author, appeared at last year’s book fair, but Mendez is still over the moon for his sweeping, generational tale of a Christian family in India’s Kerala state weathering the historical winds of the 20th century.
“I wanted to pick up my bags and land in this part of India and stay there,” said Mendez, who read the 750-page novel in only four days. “His writing is so vivid; his characters are so full. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
The book was also an Oprah’s Book Club selection last year.
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(Courtesy of Alfonso Duran)
Rows of books, zines, and artwork line the walls inside Dale Zine’s colorful space in Little River.
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(current.miami)
Lissette Mendez is the brains behind Miami Dade College's annual Miami Book Fair.
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(FIU)
Independent bookstore owner Mitch Kaplan in his flagship Books & Books location in Coral Gables. Biscayne Corridor residents can visit the location in Bal Harbour Shops.
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(Doubleday)
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(Simon & Schuster)
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(Ecco)