For several years now, I’ve made seasonal reading lists. The change in season lends itself to a change in focus. At the start of each season, I gather around my bookshelves and pull off the ones that call my name. It’s my time now, they whisper, as I read the titles on the shelf. While I have an intentional thought process behind my Fall, Winter and Spring reading lists, Summer reading is mostly a free-for-all.
What books sound fun right now?
In Summer, I tend to choose lighter books. Books I can read while being interrupted a gazillion times with calls for sunscreen, splashes from the pool or ocean, puppy attacks, or kitchen timers signifying jam is done. I choose books that I don’t feel an urge to book dart every other page.
I make my summer reading list in May, which is the beginning of warmer weather in New England. I look at Reading Lists from Modern Mrs Darcy and The New York Times, then I glance at my shelf to see what I already have on hand. Inevitably, books get added along the way; from cute little bookstores on vacation, library book sales and lucky day shelf, the Target book aisle, and monthly Book of the Month selections. By the end of Summer, I’ve usually read two handfuls of easyish books.
We’re now at the Summer mid-point, so today I’m sharing a glimpse of what I’ve finished—and what’s left—on my Summer Reading List.
What I’ve Read So Far
Book Lovers by Emily Henry—🌟🌟🌟🌟
A fun and easy read. It’s perfect for vacation with friends and family when there’s lots of chatter and not a lot of quiet time. I liked Beach Read better, but I have no real complaints about this one.
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder—🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I cannot stop thinking about this one. It was strange, but the audiobook was fantastic. Yoder portrays just how difficult it is to be a mother and an independent woman at the same time. This story awakened parts of me that have been dormant for many years. I found myself saying, ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ over and over again as the story progressed. The main character—who interestingly doesn’t have a name other than ‘Nightbitch’—is an artist who has set her career aside to care for her son. Over time, she begins to wonder if motherhood is enough to fulfill her desires and dreams. As a dog, Nightbitch can express her desires in a way that isn’t possible for a human, raising fascinating questions regarding society’s impossible demands on the modern mother.
Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton—🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
You really can’t go wrong with reading Chanel Cleeton. Her latest book, set in Spain, brings back her character Isabel Perez and her sister Beatriz. If you haven’t read the rest of the series, you could pick this up and read it as a stand alone. I love Cleeton’s work because I always fall in love with the characters while also learning something about history.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune—🌟🌟🌟🌟
I started this several months ago but returned it to the library after the second chapter, but when my book club selected it for June I decided to give it another chance. Most of the Woebies (my pet name for my book club) gave this book 9-10 stars (we rate out of ten). I gave it 7. The plot is mostly predictable, but it does have the potential for great discussion about racism/classism/ageism/differentism. I was disappointed in the writing style; it felt too juvenile, and I never really felt like he dug deep enough with the characters.
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell—🌟🌟🌟
July’s book club selection, I just finished this last week. I had no idea it was nonfiction when I first started reading, so I had to re-read the first three chapters when I discovered it was fact, not fiction. I may have liked this one a bit more if I hadn’t read any other nonfiction about presidents. It felt like I was reading large lists of presidential assassination trivia. The third section about President McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt was probably the best section. I’m sad I’ll miss book club when they talk about this one, because I think my opinion of it may change after discussion. All in all, it’s a decently written, mostly fun nonfiction book to help you keep learning this summer.
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams—🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
This is another book I cannot stop thinking about. When I grabbed it off the shelf at Costco on a whim, I thought I would be reading about words and dictionaries, but The Dictionary of Lost Words is about so much more. The main character, Esme, is the daughter of a word collector, who is putting together the very first collective dictionary. She begins to discover words that aren’t included in the dictionary, and begins to wonder why women are cast aside when it comes to the words that matter. If you choose any book from this list to read this summer, I hope it’s this one.
Meant to Be by Emily Giffin—🌟🌟🌟
I’m a huge Emily Giffin fangirl, and if I ever have the chance to meet her in person, I hope she has time for a long chat over her favorite drink. A lawyer turned novelist who lives in Atlanta, she is one of my greatest role models. Giffin can always be counted on for a fun read, and Meant to Be was exactly that. It is not her best work (sorry Emily, I still love you) but it is a fascinating story that contemplates the question of “What if history was different”? I devoured it in less than 48 hours, and it is the perfect addition to your beach bag.
Summer Breakdown by Colleen Temple—🌟🌟🌟
I was SO excited to read this debut novel by my friend Colleen. She worked SO hard on birthing this book baby, and I am so very proud of her for going the distance. This is a fantastic book for anyone struggling with motherhood, with what it means to be a daughter, what it means to be a wife, or what it means to be a woman in the midst of all of those other things. Set in the North Shore of Massachusetts, I loved the locality and could really picture the scenes as they happened. It would make a fantastic movie set in the scenic town of Newburyport.
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton—🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I fell in love with Edith Wharton last year when I visited her Massachusetts home, The Mount. We vacationed in the Berkshire Mountains at the end of June, so I had to bring along my copy of Ethan Frome, set in a fictional town in the Berkshires. As we drove around and experienced the small towns of Pittsfield, North Adams and Cheshire, Wharton’s characters came to life in my mind. I could really picture what life was like in these small towns many years ago. Wharton’s books tend to be very short and lightweight, so they are great for weekend road trips.
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles—🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
A Book of the Month selection that has remained on my shelf unread since I got it a year ago; July felt like the right time to dig in. I haven’t quite finished this book, but I am loving every single page of it, so I’m rating it prematurely. Each character in The Lincoln Highway is flawed, yet Towles somehow makes you fall in love with each one of them. I find myself cheering them on, even though what they are doing is definitely dumb—and quite possibly illegal. Every page is part of an incredible journey; it may be 500+ pages, but it feels easy to read. I hardly want to put it down.
I also started but abandoned Six Walks, Wicked, The School for Good Mothers, Her Hidden Genius, and Portrait of a Thief. That doesn’t mean I won’t return to them at some later date, but I just wasn’t feeling their magic this go round.
What I’m Reading Next
A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance
My latest Audible listen, A Splendid Ruin is about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The main character—who has not a penny to her name—goes to live with her very wealthy family in San Francisco after her mother dies. I’m just barely into the story, but there’s a spooky vibe that I’m really enjoying.
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
Razorblade Tears has been recommended to me so many times I was thrilled to finally pick up a copy from the library. Even the librarian, when I picked it up, commented on what a great book it is. “It’s heart-wrenching, though” she said; “make sure you have some tissues.” The combination of race-relations as well as LGBTQ characters promises to make this an unforgettable read.
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
This was my Book of the Month selection for May, and I intended on reading it right away but life got really busy and I didn’t read much at all during May. I’m hoping to pick it up when I finish The Lincoln Highway and Razorblade Tears. This is an important book for women, especially in light of the recent Supreme Court decision regarding abortion. I’m prepared for it to tear me apart.
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
When this book showed up on MMD’s Summer Reading List for the second time, I decided this might be the year I actually read it. It’s about a women lawyer in India in the 1920s, so I’m not sure why I haven’t read it before now. I’m especially excited about the recipes in the back of the paperback I snagged from the thrift store a year or so ago.
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
Another book that has been recommended to me over and over again, The Cartographers feels like the perfect mid-summer read. A little mystery, a little thriller, a little magic all tied into one story about people and maps. I’m looking forward to this one later this month.
A Little Hope by Ethan Joella
I chose this from Book of the Month because it’s set in a small town in Connecticut. Even though New England mostly feels like home after six and a half years, it still feels so foreign at times. This is not a very long book, so it will make for great road trip reading when we head south later this month. From the description, I get a little of an Ethan Frome feel, so I’m excited to give it a go.
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
This one may be pushed back to my very late Summer/Early Fall reading list simply because it feels dense. A Place for Us gets incredible reviews by anyone who has read it, but the small print has scared me away from it so far. It’s another book that showed up on MMD’s summer list for the second time, so it feels like an important book to read some time this year.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
When a writing friend told me they devoured this book in a day, then I saw it on sale at Target, I couldn’t resist grabbing a copy. With cooking shows being my very favorite thing to watch on TV, this book feels like it’s written just for me.
The Baby on the Fire Escape by Julie Philips
I have no idea how I first discovered this book, but I immediately put a hold on it at the library. I was three sentences into reading the library copy last week, when I ordered my own copy to highlight, write in, and book dart. It’s all about mothering and creating and I just can’t wait to read it. It’s not my typical summer read, but I think it’ll be a great book to take with me on my solo writing workshop week.
Finding Freedom by Erin French
Another one that isn’t my typical summer read, Finding Freedom looks like great research for my own memoir that I am very slowly in the process of writing. It’s about a chef who falls in love with food while living on a farm and later finds her calling in a professional kitchen—what’s not to love about that?
Not that I need to add anything to my list, but what are you reading this summer?!
By the way, you can find all the books listed here in my Summer Reading Bookshop List. All links are affiliate links, which means if you buy a book, I’ll get a few pennies. After a few people buy a few books, I can buy myself a coffee!
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