Our summer book club continues today with host John Hockenberry's first pick for August. John sees summer reading as an opportunity for challenge. He spent one summer reading the Russian literature, and the following summer he devoted his reading to Charles Dickens. This summer, as the tenth anniversary of September 11 approaches, John decided it was time to tackle a few of the recent novels that deal with that tragic day. His first pick is Jonathan Safran Foer’s "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." The novel follows nine-year-old Oskar Schell in the years after his father dies in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Foer sat down with John to discuss his 2005 novel.

Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" at The Dutch Tavern? "Hey Ho Let's Go: The Ramones" on Rockaway Beach? As we enter the hottest, laziest days of summer, The Takeaway wants to know what you're reading and where you're reading it — no matter what it is and where you are. It's part of our summer book club series.  

In July, our Summer Book Club continues. This month, Celeste Headlee picks her reads. She explains her reading philosophy with a little help from our listeners, noting that heavy lifting doesn't necessarily fit with the beach. She says your summer reading should keep your mind "high and light." 

All summer long we've been compiling a list of great summer reads. Now that Labor Day is behind us, we tack one more book onto the list: "Getting to Happy." It's the highly anticipated sequel to author Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale.

Author and Rolling Stone contributing editor David Lipsky won a National Magazine Award for writing about the late author David Foster Wallace last year. We talk to Lipsky about his recent book, "Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace," and his travels with the author. We also hear from Wallace's sister, Amy Wallace-Havens, on her brother's legacy.

Planning a summer vacation? We’re making a summer reading list to help you pick some really good books to delve into during your free time. Last week we spoke to Hilary Thayer Hamman, the author of "Anthropology of an American Girl." We also asked you about what’s on your reading list for this summer. Calypso, from Oklahoma, wrote in to our website with his suggestion: A romance/mystery novel called "Paper Towns" by John Greene. A good thriller always delivers, too, and author Justin Cronin’s new book "The Passage," is getting a lot of attention for its apocalyptic twist on the vampire theme.

Excerpt from "The Passage," by Justin Cronin.

Wolgast had been to the Compound only once, the previous summer, to meet with Colonel Sykes. Not a job interview, exactly; it had been made clear to Wolgast that the assignment was his if he wanted it. A pair of soldiers drove him in a van with blacked out windows, but Wolgast could tell they were taking him west from Denver, into the mountains. The drive took six hours, and by the time they pulled into the Compound, he’d actually managed to fall asleep. He stepped from the van into the bright sunshine of a summer afternoon. He stretched and looked around.  From the topography, he’d have guessed he was somewhere around Telluride. It could have been further north. The air felt thin and clean in his lungs; he felt the dull throb of a high-altitude headache at the top of his skull. 

What book are you taking to the beach? We kicked off our summer reading series with an interview with "Anthropology of an American Girl" author, Hilary Thayer Hamann, and we've been asking for your reading suggestions. The series will keep going all summer, so come back to add books you love to the list, and take suggestions from other listeners.