Summer Reads 2024: Princeton professors share what’s on their lists

By Jamie Saxon, Office of Communications

Six Princeton professors talk about beloved books on their shelves and share what’s on their summer reading lists — from scholarly nonfiction to crime fiction, with history, poetry, rom-com, artificial intelligence, magic, democracy, philosophy and more in the mix.

Some book choices reflect our contributors’ research and teaching. Others illuminate personal interests and current issues in the headlines. 

Tina Campt

Campt is the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities, and professor of art & archaeology and visual arts at the Lewis Center for the Arts. 

Tell us about a particular book on your shelf. 

"The Sweet Flypaper of Life," photographs by Roy DeCarava, text by Langston Hughes.

This exquisite little book (which when opened, nestles perfectly in the palm of your hands) is a volume I teach regularly, but it’s also an endless source of inspiration and a beacon of hope. DeCarava’s intimate black-and-white photos of Harlem street and domestic life allow us to “feel” Black sociality through a complex play of darkness, shadow and light which resonates with deep affective power. 

His work is a prime example of a concept that lies at the heart of my research: “visual frequency” — a term that describes imagery that registers beyond what we see by soliciting powerful emotional responses. It captures ineffable qualities of Black sociality and its irrepressible strivings even in the face of the most challenging circumstances.

What’s on your summer reading list? 

As I prepare to go on sabbatical, I have the privilege of allowing my personal and professional booklists to merge as I now begin to embrace the delight of extended unstructured reading time — beginning with two books of poetry:

"To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness" by Robin Coste Lew takes us on a lyrical journey through the author’s family photographs and the confluence of insights, responses and emotions that emerge through our encounter with the memories and relations that photographs conjure.

"Bluest Nude" by Ama Codjoe is a collection of verses which enact through poetry what I aspire to do in prose. Like me, she "writes to" the artwork of Black artists including Betye Saar, Malick Sidibé, Mickalene Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, and my Princeton colleague in visual arts Deana Lawson, among others.

Rounding out the top three titles on my work/pleasure reading list is ”Devotion,” the first catalog/collection of essays on and conversations with the genre-defying filmmaker Garrett Bradley. With essays and interviews by an exceptional range of artists, critics, curators and scholars including Huey Copeland, Tyler Mitchell, Joy James, Doreen St. Felix, Legacy Russell, Kevin Quashie, Arthur Jafa and Linda Goode Bryant, quite frankly, I cannot wait!