6 Great Summer Reads +Bonus Books
Updated: Sep 4
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I am outside again it has been a while since I wrote a blog outside and there are two reasons first and foremost it is a gorgeous day and I want to spend some more time outside and second I am coming at you with a summer book recommendation It might already be summer or winter where you're at who knows but where I am it is starting to be warmer which for me is positive and negative. However, I find summer to be an interesting time for reading because in some cases you want an easy book time and I can digest more of those complicated time-investing books.
I have a couple of romances couple of mysteries a couple of historical fiction and this time I also got some nonfictions coming because these nonfictions are awesome and we're just going to get into it.
I have two romances for you because they're an easy go-to. Emily Henry came out with her debut novel last year and she just recently came out with her sophomore novel and her second novel she just came out and both of them are phenomenal romances especially if you're just looking for what you call maybe a beach read you don't need a beach to read them though they're just fun to read. So let’s start.
1) People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
The reason I think Emily Henry is a good author to pick up for the summer is she has very much vacation-esque romances I mean this one is literally about vacations and her debut novel is a beach read so obviously this is a good beach read.
Emily Henry has a way with romances that seem believable but two people grappling with liking and then eventually loving each other and they're easy to read.
At the same time, it’s fun so if you're looking for a good romance pick and you have not picked up one or both of Emily Henry’s romances I highly suggest them in the summer anytime or any time whichever suits you.
2) Station 11
I picked this as a summer read rather than maybe a fall or winter because it is about a troupe of Shakespeare theatre players traveling the United States 20 years after a disease wipes out the majority of the population.
I associate summer with Shakespeare's plays because a lot of times Shakespeare's troops and Shakespeare's plays pop up in the summer. The Shakespeare Festival well not the festival but Ashland opens up in the summer and that's a very prominent area for Shakespeare plays it's beautiful if you've ever heard of Ashland Oregon.
I highly suggest looking it up and that's why I associate Shakespeare with the summer but Station 11 is an amazing book. It took me by surprise because the idea of Shakespeare and their troop roaming around desolate America doesn't sound appealing but Emily's Saint John Mendel is an amazing author who just has a beautiful way of writing.
This book is more about exploring human nature after devastation happens and it was an amazing book at least to me. I’ve heard a lot of other people talk about it so it's not just me who likes it I promise if you haven't picked it up I highly suggest this is one book that you might want to pick up this summer.
3) The Vanishing Half by Brett Bennett
I picked up this last summer and that's why I suggest you pick it up this summer it is about two twins that can be white-passing and they live in a town that is very white-passing and the color of your skin the lighter your skin is the more the better it is basically and it's historical fiction.
These two twins take divergent pasts one does go through life as a woman who's white-passing she marries a white husband she has a child who ends up never knowing her roots as a black female or half black half white and then has the other sister going through life fully black and just watching the generations pass in this book.
It’s interesting how these two sisters break apart and then eventually come together it's an interesting book and it was talked about a lot and then I haven't seen it being talked about too much recently and so I suggest it if you haven't read it yet and just to bring it back because it is a beautiful book do it.
4) Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
This is a book that is about oh was it Mississippi. Somewhere in the deep south there is a girl who's been abandoned by her town and her family and she basically raises herself in the swamps of one second It's set in North Carolina so still the South but not Louisiana or North Mississippi.
She raises herself in the marsh and she discovers what it is to be the outsider and the town. It doesn't sound good when I say it like that but it truly is a phenomenal book.
I enjoyed it and it did make me cry at the end I have to admit but I highly suggest picking it up because it was great. It blew away my expectations I wasn't expecting a lot from that book and it was just phenomenal.
5) Radium Girls by Kate Moore
I truly recommend you pick it up this summer it is a phenomenal read for nonfiction if you are not a non-fiction fan this book doesn't read like nonfiction. There are a lot of narrative stories in here but this book is about factory girls during it was World War 1 (I guess) They would take radium and paint it on the dials of airplanes and the clocks dials so that fighter pilots could see them in the dark.
The girls would be very free to do what they wanted with this radium they would put it in their mouths they would put it all over their bodies because they were told that it was completely safe these were very sought-after jobs because these girls would be paid well and they could send home money and radium was seen as this like wonder drug it would cure all diseases.
But as we know now and acts they didn't know then as well radium is very dangerous and these girls quickly fell ill and were not compensated at all and so it's about these girl's stories getting workers’ rights passed through and it's a well before.
In this book, it was unknown what happened to these girls because they were working girls who didn't have money they were unknowns when their stories started coming out workers’ rights escalated to girls as well and it's just an important story and it's sad too but it's a great book as well.
6) Wild by Cheryl Strayed
There's that movie with Reese Wither Spoon and I suggest the movie as well but the book is a great compliment to it I suggest the movie because a lot of it was shot in Oregon and as you know
I’m a huge fan of Oregon. The book is also phenomenal There was this phase I went through and I’m still going through where I’m absolutely in love with the Pacific Crest Trail huge trail that goes from the border of Mexico all the way to the border of Canada and wild is about Sarah Cheryl Strade's journey basically taking that trail as a woman alone in the 80s.
It's a lot more common now for women to take this trail alone and for people to do it alone in the first place but in the 80s it was not as common point blank and so reading this book in the summer gives you some wanderlust I’ll say that, to say the least, and it's also a great look at perseverance.
Bonus Books:
Crazy Rich Asians
The first book or even just the series is what I consider a fun romance to get into. I even watched the movie as well. It was about a decent middle-class girl and a guy belonging to an extremely wealthy family. The guy's mother didn't like the girl his son was dating because her financial status was not like theirs. She even bullied her son's girlfriend which really annoyed me.
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
To say the least, it's a dark mystery and you go deep into the main character's mind like what happened to the sister and what's happening in this small town Gillian Flynn. If I’m not mistaken is the author of Gone Girl and if I’m not mistaken sharp objects aren't as talked about as in Gone Girl so that's why I wanted to talk about this book and suggest this book.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
I’ve recently read this and I have to admit it's not a five-star read but it's an interesting one to pick up if you have different perspectives it keeps you on your toes the whole time. I’m suggesting it as a summer read because it is about a wedding party going to this mysterious island and guests getting picked off one by one and you have this closed circle mystery because of a wedding and what's warmer than a wedding.
Extra: My End of the Summer Bonus Pick
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
A Most Anticipated Book by Today ∙ Oprah Daily ∙ Katie Couric Media ∙ BuzzFeed ∙ SheReads ∙ Zibby Mag ∙ PopSugar ∙ BookRiot ∙ Culturess ∙ Her Campus ∙ The Everygirl ∙ and more!
A random connection sends two strangers on a daylong adventure where they make a promise one keeps and the other breaks, with life-changing effects, in this breathtaking new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After.
Wrap up:
This is my long summer reading list I didn't realize how many books I would actually recommend for the summer but I highly suggest these books please leave in the comments down below if you have any books, in particular, you want to tackle this summer or you're just excited for this summer.