The Lead Left Picks: Your Summer Reading List

As we reach our end of August break, it is an annual tradition here at The Lead Left to give readers our recommended summer reading list.

Based on our perusal of the best-sellers that went to the beach house in Quogue, or were pool-side at Watch Hill, or on blankets at the Cape, see below for our candidates for best reads of the summer. Enjoy!

Fifty Shades of Covenant-Lite – This latest in the highly popular series makes the original seem like Wind in the Willows. Read about those flimsy underthings called maintenance tests. How more than 70% of all broadly syndicated loans this year have them stripped off. Ready for real junk? Takes the meaning of bondage to a whole new level.

Capital Markets in the Twenty-First Century – Didn’t think we’d get into this, but after the first 287 pages, the author makes a persuasive case that all loans are not created equal. Middle market loans, the argument goes, are the new ‘patrimonial asset class.’ Squeezed somewhere between small business and the Fortune 500, midcaps get all the investor cash, leaving the rest disadvantaged. Richly illustrated with superb charts and graphs, none of which we understood, but bound to make top-notch screensavers.