School is out, and it got me thinking about summertime during the school year. I can remember looking forward to reading every summer break.

There would be lists of possible choices to read, and I inevitably discovered something fun and fascinating that I might not have plucked from a shelf otherwise. It’s how I first encountered the original Sherlock Holmes stories, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and other classics.

And I thought it would be fun to revisit those days of summer reading for a few weeks with puzzle-centric book reviews!

Today I’m starting off my summer reading series with Matching Minds with Sondheim by Barry Joseph.

Most people know Stephen Sondheim as a titan of Broadway and the American stage, the composer and lyricist behind dozens of iconic works. West Side Story. Gypsy. Into the Woods. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. (My personal favorite? Assassins.)

Many puzzle enthusiasts know him for his advocacy for cryptic crosswords (aka British-style crosswords). New York Magazine featured his cruciverbalistic efforts for years, and Will Shortz now possesses Sondheim’s exhaustive collection of Listener cryptic crosswords.

But fewer puzzlers know about Sondheim’s love of games or his penchant for creating puzzly scavenger hunts and murder mystery events.

Which makes this magnificent deep dive into Sondheim’s love of games and puzzles even more of a treat.

Joseph takes us into Sondheim’s puzzle- and game-filled home, decorated and adorned like an immersive snapshot of hobby history. He shares the puzzly influences behind some of Sondheim’s theatrical and cinematic endeavors. He reminisces with those celebrities and luminaries who participated in Sondheim’s legendary puzzly adventures and remember them fondly.

The reader even gets a few wonderful glimpses into the creative process behind these one-off experiences.

Plenty of biographical texts reveal the author’s affection for the subject, or grant insights into them that the casual reader or fan might not know. But it’s very rare to feel like I got a chance to pick the brain of their subject and learn from them.

Joseph’s diligent research and narrative storytelling lets the reader feel like they’re at the table with him and Sondheim, plotting a puzzly adventure together.

With photos galore, puzzles to solve, and even instructions for creating your own versions of Sondheim’s puzzle and game events, this was part-biography, part-game design guide, featuring the best of both worlds.

Some celebrities are onions, revealing new layers as you go deeper. When I was a theater major, I was delighted to learn more about Sondheim the musical theater composer. When I started working with puzzles, I was delighted to learn more about Sondheim the cryptic crossword aficionado.

And after more than twenty years in my puzzly career, I’m still learning about Sondheim on both levels, thanks to Barry Joseph’s Matching Minds With Sondheim.

Make some time this summer for this book. You won’t be disappointed.

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Are you doing any reading this summer, puzzly or otherwise, fellow reader? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.