Summer is the best time to read because you aren’t being forced to do so for a class or a research paper. It’s just pure enjoyment.

Instead of trying to give you a list of top 10 books, 10 staff members sat down and picked one book that they would highly recommend to someone.

So prepare your Kindles, Nooks or whatever method you use to read books these days — here’s the UP staff’s 10 highly recommended books.

illusions by Richard Bach

Gideon Grudo, Editor-in-Chief

I read this really short book at least once a year. The story follows a man who is reluctant to live his life to the fullest. It’s a helpful reminder of things I may have forgotten.

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Mariam Aldhahi, Art Director

This book looks at humanity and its wrongdoings through the main character, Ishmael. Ishmael is a gorilla who is a teacher and communicates with humans telepathically. It may sound weird, but Ishmael needs to be non human in order to be effective. Looking in on civilization from the outside gives him an opportunity to criticize humanity without hypocrisy.

brave new world by Aldous Huxley

Sergio N. Candido, News Editor

Written in 1932, this book is about a futuristic society in which everything is controlled by the government and people are produced in factories/labs. Love doesn’t exist, there is only casual sex, and most literature has been destroyed. It is basically illegal to be in a bad mood or depressed, so people have to take a drug called soma. The book is a like mix between George Orwell’s 1984 and the movie Gattaca, but it’s better than both.

Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Ryan Cortes, Sports Editor

One of the most influential sports books ever written, this book conveys how a team like the Oakland A’s, which had a bottom-barrel payroll, was able to compete with heavily financed teams like the New York Yankees by exploiting inefficiencies in the marketplace. The ideas lauded in the book were adopted from the derivatives market on Wall Street, and changed baseball forever.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Alyssa Cutter, Features Editor

Basically, it’s about this kid, Ender Wiggin, who is a super genius. He lives on a futuristic Earth, which is at war with a recently discovered alien race dubbed “the buggers.” Ender is recruited by Earth’s army to be its savior from almost certain destruction. He is sent to battle school, where he begins his training and fights for his life.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Brianna Bramm,Training Editor

Although it’s an old novel, Jane Eyre is not your typical love story. There are

several dark and mysterious twists in this book that will fulfill your need for mystery while you enjoy an old classic. And for a bonus, it was just made into a movie starring Mia Wasikowska from Alice in Wonderland.

Voices from the Plain of Jars: Life under an Air War by Fred Branfman

Ricky Michalski,Copy Desk Chief

This is a brief, easy-to-read, but shocking history of the American war in Laos during the Vietnam War. It is written from the perspective of Lao civilians, who endured years of intense bombing raids. It’s essentially a collection of drawings and essays by farmer families. It’s really awesome because it’s filled with children’s drawings, which quite innocently depict blood, gore, violence, hatred, sadness and violence in a Tim Burton/Edward Gorey sort of way.

Principles of Economics by Dr. Carl Menger

Chris Persuad,Circulation Manager

Most people learn about economics as if it is some sort of mathematical model, or has some sort of vague moral foundation. Principles, on the other hand, shows — through the eyes and actions of the individual — how individuals act together to progress a society economically. Menger illustrates how value is totally subjective. Unlike past economists such as Adam Smith or Karl Marx, who believed that an object attains value based on how much labor is put into it, Menger contends that value is in the eye of the beholder. He explains how water can be worthless to many people, while jewelry can be very valuable.

Sula by Toni Morrison

Fiji Blaize, Top 10 Designer

This is the confusing tale of two best friends, a horrible secret, a questionable relationship and the things that come between them, such as men, death and society.

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

Mark Gibson, Senior Reporter (top 10 guy)

A class of junior-high-school students is taken to a deserted island where the students are forced to participate in a game called Battle Royale. The students are given backpacks containing random weapons ranging from a fork to an Uzi. The classmates are forced to fight each other until there is only one standing to claim victory. It’s a shocking “can’t put it down” book that will have you on the edge of your seat. Warning: not a book for the weak stomach.