Books I Loved Reading in the Summer

Not to be confused with summer books. These are just books I read and loved over the years during the summer months. You get it.

I have a handful of books I wanted to share with you during this first week of July but first, here’s something I read that I can’t stop thinking about.

Now and then someone writes something so near to the thing I would want to say if I had the mental clarity to say it that there is no use to try to say it differently or from my own point of view. It’s easier to just share the well-articulated piece and hope that other people also find it a relief that someone has put it all into words for us, for now.

This week it is this piece by Gabby Llewelllyn at Gabby Writes Things: Are we allowed to dream when the world’s on fire?

“We’re currently living through a chaotic and revolutionary time in history, and don’t know how this story is going to end. Is it okay that I’m still making breakfast and planning birthday parties? Is it okay that I’m writing this stupid, little Substack or watching movies?

Instead of answering these questions head on (mostly because I don’t have the answers), I’m finding it normalizing to realize that even during the horrors of WWII, people fought, protested, died, mourned, and also took baths, read poetry, made art, and fell in love like they always have.

Maybe there isn’t a neat answer to daily living in these times.”

-Read the rest here at Gabby Writes Things

In summer I work less hours and make more cold food. I consume less headlines and take Instagram off my phone for a while. The slowness is needed and it also gets in the way when I want to be precise and efficient and productive. I’m glad to find other writers working to articulate things I want to say but haven’t found a way to say yet.

With that, here are 8 books I’ve read in the summertime that have stayed with me through the years: