Whether your summer plans include a vacation to the beach or a "staycation" in your backyard, 'tis the season for relaxing and reading. Today we’re kicking off a summer-long book club. John, Celeste and a few Takeaway contributors have posted their their top five summer books on our blog. We’re starting our summer of reading with a conversation about summer books, both from a reader’s perspective and from a publisher’s perspective.

Headed to the beach? Going on vacation? As summer kicks into gear, so does our summer reading conversation.Over the next three months we're recommending beach reading for our listeners and then talking to the authors behind the books. In June we're having producers pick the books, followed by Celeste Headlee's picks during July and John Hockenberry's choices in August.

But what about you? Check out these Top Five reading lists from our guests, and add your own! You can also join the conversation with us on Twitter. Include "#TakeawayReads" as you tweet your lists and we'll publish your picks here.  

What would our world look like without paperback books? One publishing company has taken one step closer to the reality of eliminating paperback books entirely. Dorchester Publishing has decided to change its printing schedule, focusing first on e-books, followed by a print-on-demand run of paperbacks. The question is: will this be the trend for paperback book publishers to follow?