Thought you were done with summer reading assignments when you graduated? Think again. This collection of books can be considered beach reads on speed—thoughtful, challenging, and enlightening.

First, there’s Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview and Other Conversations. This new anthology collects interview from throughout the iconoclastic author’s career to decipher what drove Vonnegut to write and how his work will be viewed after his death.

Then, dive into the dark and captivating novella of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Diamond As Big As The Ritz that was loosely based on the author’s own youthful summer.

Finally, page through Harry Houdini’s findings from criminal interviews and police reports in The Right Way to Do Wrong. Who better than history’s greatest escape artist to muse on the most foolproof ways to get away with a crime?