Summer Reads
It’s summer, and every summer vacation or staycation requires excellent books to read! Here is a roundup of some of my most recent favorites, perfect for whatever your summer holds.
Happy Place by Emily Henry. This book has Henry’s signature offbeat characters and Gilmore-like snappy dialogue. It’s a second-chance love story centered on the places that feel like home, and the people who make them feel that way.
Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams. This is a continuation of her Rome, Kentucky, series, but it stands alone well all by itself. A love story set in small town Kentucky between a flower shop owner and a celebrity bodyguard sounds unlikely, but Adams makes it all work with a minimum of cheesiness, and whole helpings of genuine enjoyment. I loved the two main characters in this book, and the cover was adorable.
Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn. It’s a New York City story, which I fall for every time. Reid, a quant working for a big financial firm, meets Meg, an artist specializing in lettering, when she designs his wedding program. After his wedding is canceled, he reaches out to Meg, hoping she can explain the hidden code only he identified in the program she made and can help him understand why the relationship failed. What follows is a unique and lovely story of two people who are trying to understand how to accept themselves and find the place where they belong.
The Book of Eating by Adam Platt. This is a memoir of a national food critic who chronicles his life in eating. It reminds me of Bill Bryson, if he wrote about food, and was a fun and lighthearted look at a many-layered world of food.
Plenty by Hannah Howard. Another food book, this one looks at Howard’s own experience being a food writer and follows her journey for female mentors in the food world, as well as looking at her issues with her body, especially as she gets pregnant. The book felt a little disjointed at times as it made room for all these various topics, but her writing was excellent, and I just love food writing all the way through.
From Here by Luma Mufleh. This is Luma’s memoir, starting with her childhood in Jordan and going through her college and young adult years. It looks at her conflict between loving her family and her home and the realization that as a gay woman, remaining in Jordan would mean death. It’s a powerful and meaningful young adult book. Joe and I talked to her on Paperback Readers–you can listen to more about it from her here.
Thank You for Listening by Julian Whelan. Julia Whelan is a renowned audiobook author, and her novel has two audiobook narrators as main characters. Mistaken identity, broken dreams, and insight into the audiobook industry all made this novel a thoughtful and fun romance read.
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith. I’ve never read a memoir quite like this one, and I loved every moment. Smith, an award-winning poet, writes about the dissolution of her marriage, in her trademark beautiful language. The prose uses lots of white space with short chapters, some just paragraphs or sentences long, and as a result, the book reads like a series of snapshots of pain and love and an intensely beautiful life. I really want to read it again.
Let me know if you’ve read any of these, or if you have any suggestions for me on what would make a really fantastic reading summer! You can also connect with Joe and me on Paperback Readers, where we talk every two weeks about what we’re reading. We’d love to hear from you.