Six satisfying reads for a cool literary summer

Summer is practically here and, with it, the growing desire to lose yourself between the breeze of turning pages.

A number of early 2023 books strike the balance the season calls for: compelling and entertaining, accessible while bearing real literary craft. Here's a brief look at six titles that will make for a satisfying summer — and others ready to take the next spot in your to-be-read pile.

Dave Eggers, "The Eyes and the Impossible"

Pointing his prose toward young readers, Eggers ("What is the What," "The Circle") sets ancient wisdom in the heart of Johannes, a free dog who keeps watch — literally and philosophically — over the park he inhabits. When Johannes follows the impulse to deliver some confined creaturely friends, and himself becomes beholden to artwork encountered in an outdoor exhibit, questions of purpose and true freedom arise.

Older children will cherish the story's sense of adventure and common good; adult readers will appreciate Eggers' soulful, rolling sentences — a sort of canine stream-of-consciousness — and his call to see the world anew.

Priya Guns, "Your Driver is Waiting"

Guns' debut novel is billed as a subversive, gender-swapped rendering of "Taxi Driver." And similarities arrive, especially in the late chapters.

But the true thrill ride here is Guns' voice-driven writing, as she fully realizes her anti-heroine rideshare driver Damani. "Your Driver is Waiting" is too fast-paced to be termed a meditation, but the book deliberates over how chance encounters and the contours of modern activism can form a wrecking ball, swinging through the identity of longstanding communities.

Will Leitch, "The Time Has Come"

Adopting the cinematic motion — collage, then collision — of auteurs such as Robert Altman and Paul Thomas Anderson, Leitch nudges his characters' stars till they align over an Athens, Georgia pharmacy.

Some lives shine bright, like a late judge's wife thriving, even in widowhood; some are collapsing upon themselves — the conspiracy theorist certain the pharmacy houses some nameless evil. Leitch, a longtime sports and pop-culture journalist (and St. Louis Cardinals diehard), never avoids or excuses our social divisions but carves away cynicism to see the real people behind our strange-but-true modern tensions.

Curtis Sittenfeld, "Romantic Comedy"

Sittenfeld's latest is the very definition of a smart summer read. Set against the backdrop of a "Saturday Night Live"-esque show (and eventually, our early lockdown days), nimble conversational volleys and realistic romance characterize the story of a female sketch writer whose punchlines about unbalanced pairings are tested by a golden-boy pop star.

The novelist exercises a masterful yet light touch in creating characters who are fully-formed and worth cheering; Columbia readers should also keep their eyes open for well-placed references to The Blue Note and the University of Missouri.

Clint Smith, "Above Ground"

Among our moment's most gifted writers, Smith alternates between expressions of his first literary love, poetry, and remarkable works of nonfiction such as the best-selling "How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America."

His latest set of verses captures the unbidden, stop-you-in-your-tracks joys of fatherhood — as well as parenting's emotional cost; the beautiful inheritance of Blackness; and the ways bodies absorb the effects of every American crisis, new and eternal.

"I haven't cried in a long time. / There have been 11,315 sunsets / since I was born and I haven't stopped / to watch any of them," he writes in the achingly soulful "For the Doctor's Records — Follow Up."

Michael Farris Smith, "Salvage This World"

Storms are forever blowing up and through the prose of Mississippi novelist Michael Farris Smith. In his latest, ominous, twinned fronts bear down upon one estranged family: a literal, impending hurricane and the Pentecost winds of unholy revivalists obsessed with violent means and ends.

Through all this weather, Smith poses ancient questions in painfully relevant language: Who — and what and where — are we bound to? When the end of your world draws near, what's still worth believing? While rough and flawed, his characters endear themselves; and their circumstances will first have you looking over your shoulder, then peering deeper within.

More promising titles, just in time for summer

A number of promising titles are here or on their way, in plenty of time to still make your summer reading list. They include:

Fiction: "The Wind Knows My Name" by Isabel Allende (June 6); "All the Sinners Bleed" by S.A. Cosby (June 6); "Crook Manifesto" by Colson Whitehead (July 18); "Mobility" by Lydia Kiesling (Aug. 1); "Tom Lake" by Ann Patchett (Aug. 1); "The Heaven and Earth Book Store" by James McBride (Aug. 8)

Nonfiction: "Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs" by Jamie Loftus (out now); "Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture that Shapes Me" by Aisha Harris (June 13); "A Most Tolerant Little Town" by Rachel Louise Martin (June 13); "Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush" by Tom Doyle (July 15); "Pulling the Chariot of the Sun" by Shane McCrae (Aug. 1)

Poetry: "Hydra Medusa" by Brandon Shimoda (June 27); "So to Speak" by Terrance Hayes (July 25); "I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times" by Taylor Byas (Aug. 22)

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. Find him on Twitter @aarikdanielsen.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Six satisfying reads for a cool literary summer