The 2025 Summer Reading List - Loyola Alumni Edition
Summer is finally here, so it’s time to head outside, kick back, and relax with a book.
Whether you're lying on the beach, hitting the “recline” button on a plane to your summer vacation destination, or just putting in a little hammock time in the backyard—nothing helps summertime pass pleasantly like a page-turner.
While you’re in the market for summer reads, consider your fellow Greyhounds! As a Loyola graduate, you’ve got something in common with some of the world’s most widely appreciated authors. Consult this list of books penned by Loyola alumni before you crack open your next poolside paperback.
From political intrigue and dessert recipes to science fiction and poetry, there’s something for every taste.
Read one or read them all—and have a sensational summer.
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern Warfare by Mark Bowden, ’73
Buy Black Hawk Down
Mark Bowden provides a riveting account of a 1993 American military operation in Mogadishu—the longest sustained firefight involving U.S. troops since Vietnam. Adapted as an action-packed motion picture of the same name, the No. 1 New York Times bestseller was also described by USA Today as “one of the most gripping and authoritative accounts of combat ever written,” which more than fulfills the page-turner requirement of a summer read.
A versatile and prolific author of nonfiction, Bowden also wrote the top-notch Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw and The Best Game Ever: Colts vs. Giants, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL. Both are excellent summer reading options for fans of true crime and/or long-form sports writing.
Speaking of lighter fare...
Next Time I Move, They’ll Carry Me Out in a Box by Michele Wojciechowski, ’90
Buy Next Time I Move
If you love a “moving memoir,” why not switch it up with a memoir about moving? Regardless of why, how, or where you’ve doing it, changing your permanent address involves “universal misadventures” that are sure to resonate with any Loyola graduate who’s been through a move-in day or two.
Michele Wojciechowski wrote Next Time I Move as a laugh-out-loud account of one particularly fraught move that serves as a hilarious guide to surviving “the actual hellish act of relocating yourself.”
And if her account of a relocation is a little too real for you, try:
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, ’91
Buy Mickey7
If you’re looking to escape to a distant world through the pages of a science fiction novel, Edward Ashton’s dark comedy sci-fi delivers on that promise while also helping you feel grateful to still be here on Earth. Mickey7 tells the tale of an intentionally disposable spacecraft employee on an expedition set to explore and colonize an ice planet. As an “expendable,” Mickey is ideally suited for the most dangerous dirty work in the galaxy—any time he perishes, the crew just prints out a new clone.
Adapted into a major motion picture by Academy Award-winning director Bong Joon-Ho (which screened on campus earlier this Spring), Publisher’s Weekly said of Mickey7 that “sci-fi readers will be drawn in by the inventive premise and stick around for the plucky narrator.”
If you find yourself attached to the titular character, you can also read the second book in the Mickey series, Antimatter Blues, or foray into more Ashton-penned sci-fi satire with the upcoming novel After the Fall.
Of course, you don't have to go to space to find a wild tale.
No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller by Harry Markopolos, ’81
Everybody knows now that Bernie Madoff perpetrated fraud on a scale that “changed thousands of lives forever—as well as the world’s financial system.” But did you know a fellow Greyhound was the first to catch his scent?
No One Would Listen, a New York Times bestseller, is the only first-hand account of how Markopolos and his “team of financial sleuths” pursued “the greatest financial criminal in history” and uncovered the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. Think of it as a true crime novel wrapped in a white collar, with a protagonist who's easy to root for as a Loyola graduate.
Of course, if you prefer fictional intrigue to the real thing, there's one particularly well-known Loyola grad author you've probably been scanning this list for...
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy, ’69
Did you know the ultimate Dad movie is based on a book by Loyola’s most well-known alumni author? Lazing on the couch for a THFRO viewing during the summer months might be seen as a little antisocial, so grab the book instead and take it with you!
Tom Clancy’s first Jack Ryan novel is a techno-thriller set during the Cold War, centered around an undetectable nuclear submarine that goes rogue with unclear intentions. We won’t spoil the rest but suffice to say the stakes are about as high as possible.
If that synopsis doesn’t pique your interest, or if you’ve already seen the movie so many times you can quote it in your sleep, check out one of Clancy’s as-yet-unadapted novels, such as The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Without Remorse, or Rainbow Six.
Launching While Female: Smashing the System That Holds Women Entrepreneurs Back by Susanne Althoff, ’92
Summer can also be a time when dreams start forming into plans. Journalist, professor, and Loyola graduate Susanne Althoff explores some of the practical ways we can open the entrepreneurial system to everyone. Althoff provides a rallying cry and a way forward for women entrepreneurs and their allies, showing that change is urgent and within our reach.
Publisher’s Weekly said Launching While Female, “Debuts with a wise collection of advice and encouragement for aspiring female entrepreneurs,” and continued to add, “Althoff’s incisive, practical guide should be required reading for any entrepreneurial woman.”
In the Secret Service: The True Story of the Man Who Saved President Reagan’s Life by Jerry Parr, M’87
In what is probably the most extreme historical example of enrolling in a Loyola graduate program to pursue a career change, Jerry Parr earned his master’s degree from Loyola after working as a Secret Service Agent. Even more impressive, Parr was guarding Ronald Reagan in 1981 and was instrumental in thwarting history's most recent assassination attempt on a sitting President.
Parr’s account of the incident combines an insider view of the Secret Service, a pulse-quickening retelling of an averted tragedy, and a reflection on the (very Jesuit) mindset required to sacrifice oneself for the good of another.
Sally’s Baking Addiction: Irresistible Cookies, Cupcakes, and Desserts for your Sweet-Tooth Fix by Sally McKenney, ’07
As Sally McKenney, ’07 can attest, summer reading can be about more than pulpy genre fiction, nonfiction whodunits, and other beach reads. It can also be about trying a new cookie recipe with visiting grandkids and other aspiring Greyhound chefs.
Apocalypse Mix by Jane Satterfield, ’86
Winner of the 2016 Autumn House Poetry Prize, Apocalypse Mix “dives into a musical, war-torn, elegiac past.” Beth Ann Fennell, Poet Laureate of Mississippi from 2016-21, said, “Thank god we have Jane Satterfield’s beautifully conceived, beautifully executed poems to guide us.”
...And there we have it. Far from an exhaustive list of literary works by Loyola alumni, but hopefully a nice starting point for any Greyhound who's simply looking for a breezy summer read.
If we missed something, let us know! We'd love to include your suggestions in future editions of the alumni summer reading list or Bound By Hounds.
Interested in more literature associated with Loyola?
Please visit Loyola’s Apprentice House Press catalog, the first student-run publishing house in the United States. From acquisitions to design and publication of every book, students at Loyola University Maryland are responsible for every aspect of the publishing process.
