(Photo by Eddy Milfort)

By Julie Depenbrock, WAMU

For all you bookworms out there, ‘tis the season of reading. And since no one ever has enough books in their book stack, we asked a few of the better-known names in Washington what they’re reading.

These are their recommendations—and be warned: They aren’t the typical light and breezy fare associated with the summer “beach read.”

When asked what he looks for in a great summer book, Washington Post Book Critic Ron Charles said: “I want it to be big and really engaging emotionally. And to have big ideas I can get lost in. I want it to be a book I can talk about with my friends.”

But, then, of course there are others who are just looking for escape.

“I like to take a little time in the summer to read something that’s shorter, but sweeter. Something that will give you that punch that Ron’s talking about, but ideally in under 400 pages,” Lelia Nebeker, a book buyer at One More Page Books in Arlington, said on the Kojo Nnamdi Show Wednesday.

Local luminaries gave us a wide-range of recommendations. Agree, disagree, have your own suggestions? Leave them in the comments.

Read on.

Muriel Bowser, mayor of D.C.

• Of Thee I Sing by Barack Obama
• What to Expect the First Year by Heidi Murkoff (“One for mom and one for [my daughter] Miranda.”)

Larry Hogan, governor of Maryland

• Good Night Maryland by Adam Gamble and Mark Jasper
• Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics by Charles Krauthammer

Kojo Nnamdi, host of the Kojo Nnamdi Show

• Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li (“Despite frequenting Chinese restaurants in this region for decades, I never understood the backroom culture of these restaurants and ownership ties that often hark back to China. This novel was something of a revelation in that regard.”)
• The Man Who Came Uptown by George Pelecanos (“Pelecanos informs me more about local Washington neighborhoods than any other writer I know and, at the same time, weaves an intriguing tale about the dark underbelly of the city.”)
• If God Invented Baseball by E. Ethelbert Miller (“I’m not a huge baseball fan, but I know Ethelbert is and his poetry not only makes poetry accessible. It makes just about everything he writes about accessible.”)
• The Russian Revolution: A View From The Third World by Walter Rodney (“Walter Rodney was my early mentor and he’s been deceased for almost four decades. But this work reveals his early thinking at a time when many of my colleagues and I were grappling with the same issues.”)

José Andrés, chef and philanthropist

• Pasta, Pane, Vino by Matt Goulding (“I am reading all about Italy’s amazing food and culture. This project was very close to the heart of my friend Tony Bourdain, and you can feel that in the pages of this book.”)
• Corazón Tan Blanco, or A Heart So White by Javier Marías (“ Some say he’s the best novelist alive … I don’t know, but this is a very good book.”)

Steve Inskeep, co-host of Morning Edition

• Florida by Lauren Groff (“A Floridian once told me: ‘Everyone here is crazy.’ Don’t know if that is true, but every Floridian in this book of Interconnected short stories has a crazy story. Wonderful characters, wit, sense of place and one amazing sentence after another.”)
• Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Safak (“The Turkish writer tells the story of a woman going to an elite dinner party. That’s the whole story – except she is robbed and sexually assaulted on the way, and still goes to the party, where the conversation centers on the loss of civility and democracy. Wonderful sentences by a writer who creates her novels in both English and Turkish.”)
• Franklin D. Roosevelt by Robert Dallek (“A riveting read on the political style of a man who reinforced democracy in a time of crisis, and who is the architect of so much of the world’s economic and security systems that are under pressure today.”)

Richard Reyes-Gavilan, executive director of the D.C. Public Library

• Mary of Kivu by Gary Barker
• The Afghan Vampires Book Club by Gary Barker. (“I’m also reading tons of New Yorker magazines that have been piling up in my bedroom and Spanish kids books to prepare my daughter Maggie for her dual language school in the fall.”)

Sally Quinn, author and founding editor of The Washington Post’s “On Faith”

• The Magus by John Fowles
• The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller
• Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill
• The Other Woman by Dan Silva

Mary Louise Kelly, co-host of All Things Considered

• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (“Lord, can Hilary Mantel write. I never have time to reread books, but in June I carved out time for this one. Her portrait of Thomas Cromwell captures so elegantly the ways in which both men and women wield power. It’s set in 16th century England and yet feels utterly relevant in 21st century Washington. And the language: I kept pausing to admire the silky flow of her sentences.”)
• How Hard Can It Be? by Allison Pearson (“Confession: I haven’t actually read it yet. This is because I’ve been hoarding it, biding my time, savoring the sweet pleasure to come. Pearson’s debut novel, “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” was laugh-out-loud funny and honest and sweet — and now, sixteen years later, she has resurrected her protagonist for a sequel. I bought it weeks ago and am packing it next to sundresses and flip-flops it for my upcoming beach holiday. I can almost taste it: margarita in hand, sand between my toes, beach umbrella fluttering in the salty breeze, this book in hand… My idea of PEAK SUMMER.”)

E. Ethelbert Miller, D.C. poet and literary activist

• Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over by Nell Painter
• Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America by Gregory Pardlo (“I’ve been teaching memoir classes the last few years and looking at how successful writers change genre. I like how Painter and Pardlo bring a considerable amount of honesty to the page.”)

Diane Rehm, host of Diane Rehm: On My Mind

• The Appeal by John Grisham (“It’s all about the selection of a State Supreme Court Judge, the use of dirty money and the influence of behind the scenes actors. Not only is it fun, but totally relevant to today’s debate over a new Supreme Court justice.”)
• The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz

Sean Doolittle, Washington Nationals pitcher

• Ward No. 6 and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov (“I’ve always really liked Russian literature because I’m fascinated by its dark themes that challenge you to contemplate your very existence. It’s philosophical. I really enjoy reading fiction and my wife, who is much smarter than I am, makes sure I’ve read the classics that I probably should have read by now.”)
• Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck (“‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’ is my favorite Springsteen song so I figured I should actually read the Grapes of Wrath.”)
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (“We live in Chicago in the offseason so [my wife] recommended The Jungle so I can learn more about the city’s history.”)

Michel Martin, weekend host of All Things Considered

• Hunger by Roxane Gay
• I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, And Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith In Beyonce by Michael Arcenaux (“They are very different—Roxane’s is solemn meditative reflection on her struggle with excess weight and the horrible event at the root of it; Michael’s is laugh-out-loud funny. But they are both reflections on race, sexuality , faith and the hard work of finding out how to live your truth. As a straight person I also appreciated the insight into how the acceptance I take for granted is so painfully elusive for others.”)
• The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty (“To read it is to see the food with fresh eyes and new appreciation for the ingenuity behind it. Like all good food writing, it’s really the story of worlds colliding.”)

Andy Shallal, owner of Busboys and Poets

• Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder (“Gave me a better understanding of the significance of poetry as an art form.”)
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (“A perennial read for me and the best entrepreneurship book written. It is rich and layered and hopeful and each time I read it (about six or seven times so far) I learn something new about myself!”)
• The Incendiaries by R. O. Kwon (“Because Ron Charles told me that I should read it!”)
• The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations by Barry Posner and James M. Kouzes and The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni (“As a CEO of a growing company I need to stay on top of my game. These two business books are essentials and they are on my list to read in the next couple of weeks.”)

Ari Shapiro, co-host of All Things Considered

• Fight No More by Lydia Millet (“The stories are so tightly connected that you could almost describe the book as a novel. The author takes us into people’s homes in and around Los Angeles, and the houses provide a window into characters’ internal lives. A real estate agent ties the book together, and the stories run the emotional spectrum from comedy to tragedy to magical realism.”)
• Come West and See by Maxim Loskutoff (“The first story in Maxim Loskutoff’s debut collection…gives you a sense of what’s in store. It involves sex, blood and a grizzly bear. Loskutoff lives in Montana, and these stories paint a dark and violent picture of the rural American West that feels far from urban coastal cities.”)
• Florida by Lauren Groff (“There is an alligator in every swamp and a snake in every tree. Her Florida is not the land of Disney and South Beach. These stories explore the swampy, steamy, wild side of the state.”)

Amanda Alexander, interim D.C. Public Schools Chancellor

• Ish by Peter H. Reynolds (“I included this book as part of DCPS’ Summer Book Club, because it encourages us to be in a continuous state of learning. Whether you are a teacher or a doctor, there is always a need to continue to grow and explore new things to perfect your craft…I’ll be discussing this book and others as part of our book club series on August 7 at Benning Library.”)
• They Knew Lincoln by John E. Washington (“I am falling in love with this classic account was written by former Cardozo High School teacher John E. Washington. ‘They Knew Lincoln’ tells the stories of many African Americans who knew or encountered Abraham Lincoln.”)

You all! Readers recommended the following via Twitter:

• Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
• Twisted Prey by John Sandford
• Cooked by Michael Pollan
• The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
• Evicted by Matthew Desmond
• Tender by Sofia Samatar
• Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World by Annie Lowrey
• This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
• The Captain Class: The Hidden Force That Creates the World’s Greatest Teams by Sam Walker
• Less by Andrew Sean Greer
• The Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer
• White Tears by Hari Kunzru
• Black Against the Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party by Joshua Bloom and Waldo Martin
• Maggie Terry by Sarah Schulman