Robenas Tadesse's Top 3 Recommended Books to Read Over the Summer

Summer is filled with nostalgic and never-forgettable memories that you cherish throughout the school year. Although it feels slightly early, allow me to guide you through my top picks for books you should read over the summer, in order from least recommended to most recommended. Enjoy while our last bittersweet moments of the school year fade away…

Dune by Frank Herbert

I am sure that many of you have seen or heard of the two Dune movies (featuring Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, and Timothée Chalamet). Well, the movies were developed from a book. I can’t say too much about the book because I am only 200 out of 700 pages in but Dune by Frank Herbert is a science fiction novel published in 1965 and is actually the first book of a six-book series. The book mostly takes place on a planet called Arrakis (A.K.A. Dune). Arrakis is a desert planet covered in sand dunes. Pretty much no one can live in Arrakis’ harsh conditions except for the Fermen, a group of resourceful and resilient people who have adapted exceptionally well. Arrakis is the only known source of the spice melange, infused in the shifting sands. This melange substance is known to extend life, enhance mental abilities, and allow for space navigation. Because of this, many houses exploit Arrakis.

The main character, Paul Atreides, is of the House of Atreides, and in the beginning of the novel, the stewardship of the Arrakis is transferred to the leader of the House of Atreides (Leto Atreides, father of Paul) by Emperor Shaddam IV. Little do they know, this “honor” is part of a larger plan by the rival House of Harkonnen to eliminate the Atreides. 

Overall, the plot is very interesting and refreshing, and I liked reading Dune for some time but since the book is so long, I eventually lost interest. To be honest, this is probably only a good summer book because it’ll take the whole summer to finish, but if you like science fiction and want something new to read over the summer, look no further than Dune!

The Aru Shah Series by Roshani Chokshi

This series is definitely on the lower reading level but I thought it was worth putting on here, plus, you don’t always have to be reading books at your reading level. The first Aru Shah book was published in 2018 in collaboration with Rick Riordan. Aru Shah revolves around Hindu mythology. The plot, I will admit, is a little childish for our age. The book starts with a 12-year-old girl living in Atlanta. Aru’s mom owns the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture. One of these days, Aru Shah lights a lamp relic to impress her not-so-nice classmates, releasing a demon that, if not stopped, will lead to the end of time. Along the way, she learns that she is a reincarnation of one of the five Pandava brothers, who were something like heroes in Hindu mythology. Aru Shah must find her other five Pandava siblings to help her in the tasks to come throughout the series. 

I will warn you now, that this novel can be extremely cringy, and I found myself grimacing at some of the romantic and comedic passages. I still like Aru Shah because I learned quite a bit about Hindu mythology and it was still a pretty captivating series to read. If you’re looking for an easy read and are interested in learning about new mythology, I would say the Aru Shah series would be a great pick for you.

The Rick Riordan Saga

    Everyone reading this has heard of the Percy Jackson series, but I don’t think anyone should stop after reading The Last Olympian. No, No, you should definitely go on to read The Kane Chronicles, The Heroes of Olympus, Magnus Chase, and The Trials of Apollo (in that order). It’s hard to explain these masterpieces and I can’t exactly summarize each one but Percy Jackson and the Olympians revolves around Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood in the modern Greek mythological world, The Kane Chronicles revolve around Carter and Sadie Kane in the Egyptian mythological world, The Heroes of Olympus has each chapter for each POV of the main characters and is a mashup of Greek and Roman mythology. The new main characters that are introduced are Piper McLean, Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque, and Frank Zhang. Magnus Chase focuses on a miscellaneous group of people in Norse Mythology. The Trials of Apollo brings us back into Greek and Roman mythology with a new dilemma, Apollo has been transformed into a mere mortal by the name of Lester Papadopoulos because Zeus got a little hot-headed. 

Anyway, the reason I called these books masterpieces is that they all take place in the same universe and the same world and it’s really cool because you can see little easter eggs of all of the coexistence of gods. Altogether, it’s 21 books of amazingness to last you the whole summer. And if you’ve already read the entire saga, read it again! I like these books a lot, just trust me.