File PHOTO / JIM NEUGER
Diane Sturgeon
Updated: July 25, 2025
From beach reads to biographies: Here’s what Maine movers and shakers are paging through this summer
Photo / Renee Cordes
Maine is full of places to buy books, including the Corner Shop in Greenville which also sells souvenirs and fudge.
With summer reading season in full swing, we checked in with Maine business dynamos to see what books are getting their attention.
From the entertaining to the serious, their tastes vary as widely as the plethora of independent bookstores and public libraries that dot the landscape.
After breaking the habit of “mindless doomscrolling,” not to mention work commitments and co-chairing an animal shelter fundraiser, Diane Sturgeon says she’s finally getting back to books.
Most recently, she finished “The Summer Guests,” Tess Gerritsen’s second book in the Martini Club series.
“I love series books and enjoy Tess Gerritsen, especially living in the midcoast and recognizing some of the thinly veiled local references in her books, but the problem is I burn right through them and then I’m left waiting for the next one,” says Sturgeon, Maine district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration. “Same thing happens with Paul Doiron’s Mike Bowditch series and Lee Child’s Reacher books.”
Adding to her series collection, Sturgeon recently bought “On Harbor’s Edge, Book One: 1912-1913,” at the Isle au Haut General Store during a work trip to the island.
“I’ve only just started it, but it’s historical fiction set on a very small island off the coast of Maine in a small fishing community, told from the perspective of a new bride moving to the island following her marriage to an older fisherman,” she says. “Definitely different than what I normally pick up, but so far, I’m really enjoying it.”
file Photo / Jim Neuger
Gretchen Johnson
Gretchen Johnson, executive director of the Center for Grieving Children, likes to juggle multiple books in both hard copy as well as audio.
Currently reading “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towle, Johnson says she likes to have one book that she takes time to read along with a mix of lighter fare — usually a cozy mystery, a “romantasy” and a young adult or classic tome.
“This way, I always have something to pick up that will suit the moment,” she says.
The recent death of Andrea Gibson, an American poet and activist, prompted Johnson to add a poetry anthology to her pile.
Money, money, money
Photo / Provided
Chris Philbrook
Stepping outside his PR comfort zone, Chris Philbrook is engrossed in money matters these days.
“I’m reading 'One Up on Wall Street' because Peter Lynch makes investing feel like a cheat code for real life — spot trends, trust your gut and beat the suits,” Philbrook says.
“I keep hoping I’ll actually recognize something in plain sight, like Meta at $90 or Palantir at $8. I had both … just not enough to matter,” he quips. “Who am I kidding? Even if I spotted something, I’d probably chicken out and go back to index funds. Which, hey — Warren Buffett says isn’t a bad idea. Back to the day job.”
Non-fiction for him, fiction for her
Alexander Hitchen of Press for Success, a public relations platform for entrepreneurs, says he has found “Party of One: The Rise of Xi Jinping and China’s Superpower Future,” by Chun Han Wong, to be eye-opening.
“I’ve always loved a good biography, and working with Maine business owners makes me think a lot about how global leaders shape what happens here at home,” he says.
“One thing that stuck with me: Xi grew up in privilege as the son of a top Party official, then suddenly found himself living in a rural cave house, doing manual labor during the Cultural Revolution,” Hitchen notes. “It’s a dramatic turnaround most of us wouldn’t expect for a future world leader. Plus, I was surprised to learn he’s a serious soccer fan — so much so that I wondered if inviting Chinese investors to a Hearts of Pine match might be good diplomacy.”
Photo / provided
Sabina and Alexander Hitchen
While Hitchen is nose-deep in non-fiction, his wife and business partner Sabina Hitchen is immersed in “The Midnight Library,” a novel by Matt Haig.
“It’s one of those stories that’s easy to sink into, but still leaves you reflecting long after you’ve put it down,” she says.
“I love the reminder that our lives are full of endless possibilities —and that regret doesn’t have to run the show,” she adds. “We all carry around ‘what ifs,’ but this book makes me appreciate the meaning and joy in the life I’m actually living, in real time.”
'Real and multilayered'
File Photo / Tim Greenway
Krystal Williams
Krystal Williams, a Portland-based lawyer, nonprofit leader and entrepreneur honored as a Mainebiz Woman to Watch in 2021, recently started “Great Black Hope,” the debut novel from poet Rob Franklin.
“It is a fictional story of a queer, Black, Ivy League grad who is arrested for cocaine possession and ordered into a court treatment program,” Williams says. “Race, gender and wealth identity politics collide and co-exist in an uneasy tension in this story. It has all the drama of a good summer read set against the backdrop of very real, multilayered societal dynamics.”
An artful biography
Here at Mainebiz, Editor Peter Van Allen is re-reading a two-volume biography of Henri Matisse by Hilary Spurling.
"It's a great read and Matisse was at the middle of everything happening in Paris, from the late 19th Century to the middle of the 20th Century," Van Allen says. "He met and worked with many of the Impressionists, but was later a rival of Picasso's. Lots of drama!"
The bookseller and bibliophile
When not running the Kinetic Bookshop in a 1963 lime green Ford Econoline truck named Gladys, Jill Conner is savoring her own reading material.
“As usual, I'm working through my ever growing to-be-read pile and have been enjoying a wide variety of books from oldies such as ‘The Red Tent' by Anita Diamant to popular mystery reads such as 'The Paris Apartment' by Lucy Foley,” she says.
Unsure what she will tackle next, Conner says she anticipates being in the mood for “something a bit beefier,” like Paul Murray's “The Bee Sting.”
Conner reports that her business is having a busy debut, with plans to be at Frogmore Flower Farm in the Waldo County town of Brooks on Saturday.
“We are doing well and selling books,” she says. “People are really excited about Gladys and what we are working to achieve.”
Photo / Provided
The Kinetic Bookstore, founded by Jill Conner in a 1963 Ford Econoline truck, is having a busy debut this summer.
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