Here’s what movers and shakers in Monterey County are reading and what they recommend.

The golden days of June, July and August are often reserved for festivals, vacations, beach days – and maybe finishing off the mountain of books that’s been growing steadily in size before school and the fall bustle begin again.

The Weekly checked in with a few notable locals in politics and the arts to see what’s on their reading lists. Here’s what they had to say:

 Leon Panetta

Former White House Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense, director of the CIA, congressman, and current chairman of The Panetta Institute for Public Policy

Currently reading: Commander in Chief: FDR’s Battle with Churchill, 1943 (FDR at War) by Nigel Hamilton

“I need to remind myself what presidential leadership is all about.”

Recommends: Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West by Christopher Knowlton

“As a westerner, I love stories of the Old West.”

Jayanti Addleman

Director of Monterey County Free Libraries

Currently reading: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

“I admit I am a classics junkie, and often read and re-read the old standards. All Quiet is considered one of the best war books ever written. Set in World War I, this book is full of beautiful quotable lines that you have to stop and ponder. In this era of incessant war around the globe, this book remains as relevant as it was when it was first published [in 1929].”

recommends: “Chick lit and romances often get a bad rap, but it is hard to beat them when you need to get away from the stress and grind of daily life. For anyone looking for some fun beach or airplane reads, how about Helen Simonson’s Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and her more recent The Summer Before the War?”

Susan Shillinglaw

Director of the National Steinbeck Center

Currently reading: “I’m enjoying Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, a meditation on race in America.”

Recommends: Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

“I loved it because it’s such a quirky, uplifting book to read. It’s about a grieving family, visited by a crow.”

Paul Goodwin

Music director of Carmel Bach Festival

Currently reading: The Trial by Franz Kafka

“I have always intended to read this book about mind games and paranoia and an extreme political situation, told with great humour and irony. It helps to put today’s situations in perspective.”

Recommends: Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

“This is my travel-on-a-plane book of the moment, as I am interested in science and future scenarios for the human race that need a lot of thinking ‘outside the box.’ It keeps my mind and thinking processes flexible.”

Jimmy Panetta

U.S. congressman for District 20

Currently reading: Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild

“It’s a book about listening to different perspectives, and is a window into how people in other parts of the country live.”

Recommends: Unto the Sons by Gay Talese

“I read it in college, and it’s remained one of my favorites. It’s a story about an Italian family that emigrated to America in the early 1900s. They were risk-takers who sacrificed for their dream of a better life. It reminds me of my own family’s immigration story.”

Erin Lee Gafill

Big Sur artist

Currently reading: Niccolò Rising by Dorothy Dunnett

“Historical fiction set in pre-Renaissance Europe, the book is a fascinating and complex exploration of science, politics, commerce, and humanity with an endlessly fascinating central character whose rags-to-riches ascent through the ranks makes for a compelling read.”

Recommends: “Dorothy Dunnett is my favorite author, always stretching my grasp of geography, language and historical movements. Her book King Hereafter, a historical novel based around the life of Macbeth, is one I read again and again for all the same reasons. Her ability to paint a picture with words is beyond compare.”

Sam Farr

Retired congressman

Currently reading: The Stranger in Big Sur by Lillian Bos Ross

“The closure of Highway 1 has removed the sounds of machines and tourists, Big Sur has reverted to being total nature before roads and culture. Lillian Boss Ross captures the lifestyles of pioneers. Her books expand your appreciation of survival in pure Big Sur that only road closure could achieve.”

recommends: Three Years in California (1846-1849) by Rev. Walter Colton

“If you love this area, this book is a must to learn how the nation-state of California began here in Monterey. [This] journal of people, land, politics and law and lifestyles sets the foundation of this great state.”

Garland Thompson Jr.

Local poet, actor, poetry slam organizer, computer coding camp counselor

Currently reading: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Short and to the point, he breaks it down beautifully in his warm humorous style that makes it all so accessible. This book makes me want to know more.”

Recommends: A Glass of Water by Jimmy Santiago Baca

“His book is focused on two immigrants but tells a powerful story of what it’s like to be one in America today. It’s got solid characters, good writing and the author pulls no punches in describing the life the main characters, two brothers, have and what they face daily.”

Mary Adams

Monterey County supervisor for District 5

Recommends: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

“It is an engaging novel I have read many times, and each time, another dimension emerges. Years ago, I read it aloud to a young girl badly injured in a car accident to make her laugh. I shared it with a friend and to this day, 37 years later, we still talk about the characters.”

Mike Scutari

Henry Miller Memorial Library public relations manager

Currently reading: The Blackhouse by Peter May

“A suspense/murder mystery that takes place in The Outer Hebrides, off the west coast of mainland Scotland. Crisp, well-constructed, and as evocative as a misty Scottish dawn.”

recommends: Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge by Mark Yarm

“Recommended for anybody interested in the [’90s grunge] era. The book is both hilarious and profoundly tragic.”

Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts

Local poet and former MPC writing professor

Currently reading: The Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21st Century Bestiary by Caspar Henderson

“From axolotl to zebrafish, Henderson writes about real animals so strange that our limited human minds can barely imagine them. He looks at what these beings tell us about ourselves and this period now called the Anthropocene, ‘a time of extinctions and transformations as momentous as any in the history of life.’”

Recommends: Step Into Nature: Nurturing Imagination and Spirit in Everyday Life by Patrice Vecchione

“A beautifully written guide to exploring the natural world and discovering how important the natural world, whether a tree in a downtown parking lot or the elaborate ritual mating dance of the peacock spider, is for our well-being.”