65 Books for Your Summer Reading List
Books are a big part of my self-care and family time (quiet reading time in the evening is seriously one of the best things ever).
So it is a MAJOR bummer when I hit a book rut. A while ago I developed a rule that if I hit page 50 on a book and felt like I was struggling to get into it, I could pull the rip cord. OMG SO FREEING. I actually have recently had a fantastic run of books, but in the last couple of weeks, I have had to pull the rip cord on three different “must read” books. I know one book cannot be for everyone, but any time that happens, I am literally like, “What’s wrong with me?!”
Anyway, I recently shared about my book rut in Instagram Stories and asked people to share a recent book that they couldn’t put down. WOW, the response. So amazing! It was getting a little overwhelming trying to keep track of all of the recommendations so I decided to pull together this post, with links in case you want to buy, and otherwise organized alphabetically if you want to print the list for your library bag (so old school, I know!).
The first list includes my favorites of the 23 books I have read so far in 2021, spanning literary fiction, non-fiction, memoir, and romance. The second list represents crowdsourced recommendations shared with me on Instagram. Thank you so much to everyone who shared book recommendations. Y’all are the best! HAPPY READING!
Christine’s Book Recommendations
CHUNG, Nicole: All You Can Ever Know
CLARK, Julie: The Last Flight
GYASI, Yaa: Transcendent Kingdom
HANNAH, Kristin: The Four Winds
JERKINS, Morgan: Caul Baby
KEANE, Mary Beth: Ask Again, Yes
KENDI, Ibram X.: How To Be An Anti-racist
NORTH, Anna: Outlawed
SHIPSTEAD, Maggie: Great Circle
SOLOMON, Rachel Lynn: The Ex Talk
WILKERSON, Isabel: Caste
ZAUNER, Michelle: Crying in H Mart
Book Recommendations via Instagram
ACEVEDO, Elizabeth: Clap When You Land
ALDERMAN, Naomi: The Power
BAUERMEISTER, Erica: Scent Keeper
BEANLAND, Rachel: Florence Adler Swims Forever
BENNETT, Brit: The Vanishing Half
BERTINO, Marie-Helene: 2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas
BOHJALIAN, Chris: Hour of the Witch
DARE, Tessa: The Duchess Deal: Girl Meets Duke
DAVE, Laura: The Last Thing He Told Me
EL-MOHTAR, Amal + GLADSTONE, Max: This Is How You Lose the Time War
EUGENIDES, Jeffrey: The Virgin Suicides
FOLEY, Lucy: The Guest List
FORD, Ashley: Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir
FRANK, Dorothea Benton: Queen Bee
FULLER, Claire: Bitter Orange
GAILEY, Sarah: Magic for Liars
GREEN, John: The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
HAIG, Matt: The Midnight Library
HARKNESS, Deborah: A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Series)
HARRISON, Christy: Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating
HARROW, Alix: The Once and Future Witches
HIGGENS, Kristin: Always The Last To Know
HOSTIN, Sunny: Summer on the Bluffs: A Novel
JACKSON, Kwana: Real Men Knit
JAOUAD, Suleika: Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted
JEWELL, Lisa: The Family Upstairs
JIMENEZ, Abby: The Happy Ever After Playlist
LEE, Min Jin: Pachinko
LOCKHART, E.: We Were Liars
MASON, Meg: Sorrow and Bliss
McLAIN, Paula: When The Stars Go Dark
MILLER, Chanel: Know My Name: A Memoir
OWEN, Margaret: Merciful Crow
OWENS, Delia: Where the Crawdads Sing
PENNY, Louise: Chief Inspector Gamache Book Series
PETERS, Torrey: Detransition, Baby
POPOVA, Maria: Figuring
POWERS, Richard: The Overstory
RAYBOURN, Deanna: Veronica Speedwell Mystery Series
REID, Taylor Jenkins: Malibu Rising
SCHWAB, V. E.: A Darker Shade of Magic
SHARAPOVA, Maria: Unstoppable: My Life So Far
STEPHENSON, Simon: Set My Heart to Five
SUTANTO, Jesse: Dial A for Aunties
SVEISTRUP, Soren: The Chestnut Man
TURTON, Stuart: 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
WALD, Chelsea: Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet
WATTERSON, Meggan: Mary Magdalene Revealed
WEINER, Jennifer: Big Summer
WEIR, Andy: The Engineer's Wife
WIGGS, Susan: The Lost and Found Bookshop
WOOD, Tracey Enerson: Project Hail Mary
WORSLEY, Lucy: Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life
