Earlier this week, an AI-generated, syndicated summer reading list was published in newspapers around the country, including the Chicago Sun-Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer; it included made-up books by famous authors.
The list has no byline. But writer Marco Buscaglia has claimed responsibility for it and says it was partly generated by Artificial Intelligence, as first reported by the website 404 Media. In an email to NPR, Buscaglia writes, “Huge mistake on my part and has nothing to do with the Sun-Times. They trust that the content they purchase is accurate and I betrayed that trust. It's on me 100 percent.”
Ugh.
Here’s my 100 percent non-AI-generated summer reading list. It reflects my bookish interests: literature for young people, memoir, literature in translation, romance. Happy reading!
Home Has No Borders by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra (eds.) (out now)
An “uplifting contemporary teen anthology celebrating South Asian stories and writers.”
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Lee (out now)
In this quietly devastating account of life after the death by suicide of both of her sons, Yiyun Li refuses to use “mourning” or “grieving” because they cannot adequately contain the magnitude of her experience. — The Guardian
The Unbroken Coast by Nalini Jones (out now)
An “atmospheric, multigenerational novel that explores class lines, love, and death in modern India,” according to Kirkus.
Always Be My Bibi by Priyanka Taslim (June)
Kirkus says: “family dynamics, love, and dating make for a bracing cuppa.” I say: Priyanka does funny well; this will be a hoot.
The Dry Season by Melissa Febos (June)
People have been abstaining from sex for centuries — some purposefully, others not for lack of wanting. But, Febos argues, that’s precisely the point of her story. By examining the lives of famous women in history, many of them also voluntarily celibate and/or single, The Dry Season re-considers “an old set of themes,” Febos says. “How do we not lose ourselves in love? How do we hold on to our beliefs and our ethics in the face of great feeling? I’m trying to look at that in a moderate way, trying to find new ways of looking at a very old problem.” — ELLE
I’ll Tell You When I’m Home by Hala Alyan (June)
In this debut memoir, Alyan’s experience of suffering multiple miscarriages, and then choosing to embark upon motherhood via surrogacy, forces her to confront her own past and the legacy of her family’s exile and displacement. — Lit Hub
The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida, translated by Bruno Navasky (July)
An international bestseller; “tells the delightfully quirky and heartfelt stories of the store's customers and employees, offering us all a unique recipe for a good, fulfilling life.”
Killing Stella by Marlen Haushofer, translated by Shaun Whiteside (July)
The novel's chilling dissection of moral apathy, while confined to a small group of well-educated bourgeois in an urban European setting, is especially prescient since it implicates all of us. Our natural sins of omission can be extended to any marginalized individual or group, due to our cowardice, our insistence on the status quo, or our need to maintain emotional safety and social stability. — NPR
Love is a War Song by Danica Nava (July)
A “Muscogee pop star and a cowboy who couldn’t be more different come together to strike a deal.”
A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (July)
Sera has lost her powers and been cast (ha) from her guild. Now she runs an inn with her no-longer-dead great-aunt, whom she restored to life (which might have something to do with her getting the boot from the guild), and a talking “semi-villainous” fox. Then one day, a magician shows up, hoping to also discover the spell that Sera has recently learned could restore her magic. Prediction: Kissing parts to follow. — Book Riot
The AI list🤯