Summer Reading 2026: From the SNHU Community to Your Bookshelf

It’s that time of year when you find yourself lying in the sun, enjoying a slow weekend morning and looking for your next 5-star read. A book recommendation can be exciting, especially when it comes from a friend, family member or community member. It can add a personal touch to the reading experience.

Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) community is full of talented writers, including instructors, academic deans and SNHU alums, who have recommended a selection of their own writing, along with suggestions from another author they believe you should add to your summer reading list.

Ashley Franklin

SNHU connection: It has now been over a decade that I’ve been an English Composition adjunct instructor for SNHU. I’ve also served as a team lead and subject matter expert at times during those years.

What book do you want to recommend from your own writing?

It’s hard to pick just one of my picture books, but for an audience who values education, I’d have to recommend "Xavier’s Voice." It’s about a boy who struggles to make friends at school but learns that even though his voice is small, it still gives him the power to connect with others and navigate situations in his own (superhero) way. Recognizing the power of our voice as a student or educator is essential for success, and this book is a fun little reminder of that.

What book by another author would you recommend?

Right now, I am reading (and loving) Ayana Gray’s "I, Medusa." It’s excellent if you enjoy mythological retellings, complex female characters and feminine rage that disrupts power structures while keeping you turning the page.

Read more: Author & Teacher Ashley Franklin Strives for Inclusion in Storytelling

Ben Nugent

SNHU connection: I’m a professor of English in the School of Arts, Sciences and Education on campus, and I direct the Low-Residency MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction.

What book do you want to recommend from your own writing?

My most recent book, a short story collection, "Fraternity," is in part inspired by true stories my SNHU students told me back when I was a young creative writing professor at SNHU, 10, 15 years ago. I loved teaching undergraduates, especially the ones who had some connection to the SNHU’s campus Greek life, which was unfamiliar to me and a complicated and funny world.

What book by another author would you recommend?

"Lives of the Saints" by Nancy Lemann is a classic novel about being a rudderless 20-something, and a beautiful, dreamy, funny work of Southern literature in the tradition of William Faulkner and Walker Percy. It’s set in New Orleans in the 1980s, and just about every sentence is perfect and strange. It went out of print for decades, but it’s recently been rediscovered by word of mouth and reissued.

Read more: A Q&A With MFA Director Benjamin Nugent

Beth Revis

SNHU connection: I'm an adjunct professor in the (online) MFA program, currently helping students in their capstone classes before graduation. Over the course of three terms, students will entirely complete a novel and revise that novel for publication under my guidance.

What book do you want to recommend from your own writing?

"Chaotic Orbits" is an omnibus collection of a novella trilogy that will be coming out this summer. It's about a woman determined to do the wrong thing, committing crimes as she jetpacks across the galaxy, with a Sherlock-style detective hot on her trail. It's got witty banter, twisty mysteries and a will-they-or-won't-they romance that's a lot of fun!

What book by another author would you recommend?

I recently finished reading Veronica Roth's "Seek the Traitor's Son," which opens up with a bombshell of a prophecy that the characters must navigate. Even when the future is literally foretold, I had no idea how this story would end up, which is a sign of excellent writing.

David Moloney '17G

SNHU connection: I am an alum of SNHU, earning my MFA from the low-residency program in 2017. I am currently an associate professor of English and coordinate the (campus) undergraduate creative writing program. Student to teacher!

What book do you want to recommend from your own writing?

My first novel, "Barker House" (Bloomsbury), is about a fictional county jail in New Hampshire (NH). Local readers (to Manchester, NH) might recognize the setting as Valley Street Jail, where I worked as a corrections officer for five years. If you’re looking for a peek inside our justice system, warts and all, this book is for you.

My new novel "Lion in Love" comes out March 9, 2027, from Regal House Publishing. Look out for the pre-order this fall!

What book by another author would you recommend?

My summer reading recommendation is "Down Time" by Andrew Martin. It’s about messy relationships, addiction, loaded with dark humor. I tend to not enjoy “summer beach reads,” so I look for a book that’ll make me want to cool off in the ocean while reading.

Read more: MFA Alumnus’ Debut Novel Released by Major Independent Publisher

Jessica L. Cozzi '22G

SNHU connection: I graduated from SNHU's creative writing MFA program in November of 2022!

What book do you want to recommend from your own writing?

"We've Hit Turbulence" is a YA rom-com in which Olive, our Type A protagonist, finds herself stuck on a cross-country flight with her ex that she never truly got over... and did I mention she's on the plane because she's en route to figure out why her current boyfriend is being so fishy? What follows is a whirlwind trip to Hawaii, lots of swoons and stolen glances and, yes, even some pizza-related tattoos.

What book by another author would you recommend?

"The Summer of Broken Rules" by K.L. Walther is one of my go-to summertime YA romances. It's sweet, it's fun, there's a lot of emotional depth and the love interest will make you blush. If anyone's ever looking for a good vacation read, it's always the first one I mention!

Read more: Book Talk With Jessica L. Cozzi, Published Author and MFA Grad

Dr. Lisa Wood '18G '19G

SNHU connection: I've always been here... LOL! I earned my Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing from SNHU in 2018 and my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in 2019. I've also been teaching here in both online undergraduate and graduate since 2020. Finally, I became a team lead in 2023.

What book do you want to recommend from your own writing?

My vampire novel, "The Promise Keeper," was mentioned in The Black Gothic panel at StokerCon 2026 as a reference point for those interested in working within that horror subgenre or reading material that sits squarely in it. It is a psychological horror approach to a traditional antagonist. I am so honored to have been spoken of in such a way. In 2019, this novel won the Golden Stake Award during IVFAF, a vampire festival that, among other things academic and literary, celebrated the 200th anniversary of the release of "The Vampyre" by John Polidori (1819).

What book by another author would you recommend?

I would suggest "My Monsters Ain't Like Yours" by R.J. Joseph. It is a Southern Black Horror collection of stories from an author who excels in showcasing Black women.

Paul Witcover

SNHU connection: I've been an instructor, a team lead, a subject matter expert and now the associate dean of the online MFA.

What book do you want to recommend from your own writing?

My novel "Tumbling After" is largely set during a summer at the Delaware shore... though also in a far-future post-apocalyptic world where rogue AIs have integrated deeply with mutated humans and the natural world itself. Why should you pick it up? It's weird, based on a role-playing game of my own design and plotted like a Möbius strip. It's a beach read that will make you wonder what might come out of the ocean.

What book by another author would you recommend?

When it comes to recommending a summer read by another writer, I'm going to recommend a wonderfully odd series of slim novels by Solvej Balle, a Danish writer. There are four volumes published in English so far, each one a single installment in a longer novel titled "On the Calculation of Volume." The premise is simple and, to an extent, familiar: a woman, Tara Selter, wakes up one morning on what she has every reason to believe is November 19.

However, the repetition of certain events makes her realize that, rather than a new day, she is living in a rebooted November 18. No one else seems to have any awareness of this. Rather than interrogate how time's needle has gotten stuck in the groove of November 18, what it means and how to undo it, the novel follows with acute attention the mundane physical actions of Tara over days and weeks and months as she comes to accept her new life and gradually separates herself from her old one. It's a novel of small things, of repetitions, of meanderings in the world and in the mind that reveals how much we miss in our headlong rush from day to day.

Read more: Academic Spotlight: Liberal Arts Associate Dean Paul Witcover

Alexa Gustavsen ’21 '26G is a content marketing specialist and writer at Southern New Hampshire University. Based in New Hampshire, she completed her bachelor's in creative writing and English on campus at SNHU. She also earned a master's in marketing from the university. Connect with her on LinkedIn.