Summer Literary Journeys: A Pathway of Pages into Growth, Grit, and Collective Imagination

Commonfund Institute is excited to share our annual summer reading list, thoughtfully curated with recommendations from our Commonfund colleagues. Inspired by the spirit of the summer solstice – expansive, reflective, and radiating with possibility – these selections span from personal insight, historical grounding, and bold ideas for transformation. Whether you are seeking a new perspective, escape, or inspiration, this list offers a compelling literary journey for the season ahead.

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession | Michael Finkel

“Stéphane Bréitwieser is the most prolific art thief of all time. He pulled off more than 200 heists, often in crowded museums in broad daylight. His girlfriend served as his accomplice. His collection was worth an estimated $2 billion. He never sold a piece, displaying his stolen art in his attic bedroom. He felt like a king. Until everything came to a shocking end. In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, Michael Finkel gives us one of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of our times, a riveting story of art, theft, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.”¹

The Big We: How Giving Circles Unlock Generosity, Strengthen Community, and Make Change | Hali Lee

“Through stories of real giving circles around the country, including her own experience starting the Asian Women Giving Circle, Lee shows us a more expansive vision for the future of philanthropy. One led by people who are refocusing on community, who care about rebuilding the civic space, and who are yearning for connection, purpose, and shared vision. Through these giving circles do we see not only the immense impact we can have in our own backyards, but also the tremendous scope of change we can achieve through the power of collective action.”²

Both/And: A Memoir | Huma Abedin

“The daughter of Indian and Pakistani intellectuals and advocates, Abedin grew up in the United States and Saudi Arabia and traveled widely. Both/And grapples with family, legacy, identity, faith, marriage, motherhood—and work—with wisdom, sophistication, grace, and clarity.”³

The Creative Act: A Way of Being | Rick Rubin

“The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distills the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime’s work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments—and lifetimes—of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.”⁴

“From an eminent legal scholar and the president of the ACLU, an essential account of how transportation infrastructure―from highways and roads to sidewalks and buses―became a means of protecting segregation and inequality after the fall of Jim Crow. Our nation’s transportation system is crumbling: highways are collapsing, roads are pockmarked, and commuter trains are unreliable. But as acclaimed scholar and ACLU president Deborah Archer warns in Dividing Lines, before we can think about rebuilding and repairing, we must consider the role race has played in transportation infrastructure, from the early twentieth century and into the present day.”⁵

“When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers/listeners of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.”⁶

“Mesmerizing, electric, and wholly original, Kim Fu’s Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century blurs the boundaries of the real and fantastic, offering intricate and surprising insights into human nature.”⁷

“If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words—Let Them—will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them Theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands—and this book will show you exactly how to do it.”⁸

“Nationally recognized philanthropic leader, Dimple Abichandani, revolutionizes the precepts of modern philanthropy. Offering 10 provocative practice shifts, A New Era of Philanthropy engages readers with fresh answers to the question of how philanthropy can meet this high-stakes moment—from reimagining governance to aligning investments to crisis funding and beyond. Abichandani highlights paradigm shifts that model the way forward, moving beyond critique into real transformation, with relatable stories about funders who are forging a new era of philanthropy.”⁹

Presence | Amy Cuddy

“Brilliantly researched, impassioned, and accessible, Presence is filled with stories of individuals who learned how to flourish during the stressful moments that once terrified them. Every reader will learn how to approach their biggest challenges with confidence instead of dread, and to leave them with satisfaction instead of regret.”¹⁰

“With cinematic sweep, Becky Aikman follows the stories of nine of the women who served, drawing on unpublished diaries, letters, and records, along with her own interviews, to bring these forgotten heroines fully to life. Spitfires is a vivid, richly detailed account of war, ambition, and a group of remarkable women whose lives were as unconventional as their dreams.”¹¹

“Through experiments ranging across the conversational spectrum—from speed daters who ask too few questions (or too many), to future business leaders averse to topic forethought, to traffic stops that reveal the essence of kind language—Brooks takes us inside the world of conversation, giving us the confidence and the advice to approach any interaction with more creativity and compassion.”¹²

“Percival Everett’s The Trees is a page-turner that opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, Mississippi. When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive, they meet expected resistance from the local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a string of racist White townsfolk. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till.”¹³

Sources:

1. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
2. The Big We: How Giving Circles Unlock Generosity, Strengthen Community, and Make Change
3. Both/And: A Memoir
4. The Creative Act: A Way of Being
5. Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality
6. James: A Novel
7. Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
8. The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can't Stop Talking About
9. A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth into a More Just and Sustainable Future
10. Presence
11. Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II
12. Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves
13. The Trees: A Novel