As a kid, my mom would take me to Melrose Public Library at regular intervals during summer vacation- each visit was capped with a visit to “Sweet Spot,” a local penny-candy store (and, man, do I miss the flying saucers!). After I had checked off my required school reading, I would dive into all the recommendations my favorite librarian had been saving for me throughout the year. This summer, I challenged myself to read 40 books outside of the Fletcher/HBS curricula (and attempted to reconjure some of that adolescent summer nostalgia). You’ll notice I didn’t have a particular genre/author/writing style I preferred.