We are leaving for our family vacation next week, and I’ve started the lists and the piles and the laundry. The first thing I did? Figure out what books I want to take with me! 🙂 Because for me, a vacation means a good excuse to get lost in a book. And if you’re reading this, I bet you have similar priorities. So I’d like to share a few summer reading suggestions with you.
What kind of summer reading do you look for?
One of my favorite podcasts, Matter of Opinion from the New York Times, just dropped an episode with reading recommendations from all four hosts. The books ranged from kid lit (Harriet the Spy and it’s sequel – who knew it had a sequel?!- The Long Secret) to historical fiction. The hosts debated what type of book they liked to take on vacation: the 1000 pages of serious they’ve been meaning to read but never have the time for, or fun, easy books to consume like an ice cream sundae.
Where do you fall this summer? Sophisticated or silly? Cerebral or candy?
One year, I took Charles Dickens’ heavy tome Great Expectations with me to our lakeside vacation in the Adirondacks. My friend turned up her nose. “Why did you bring THAT on vacation?” She had Rob Lowe’s memoir, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, resting on her lap at the time. I lugged Great Expectations up to Lake Pleasant thinking I’d finally have the chance to tackle a classic I “should” read. And I’m glad I got through it. But I’m pretty sure Stories I Only Tell My Friends was way more fun.
My summer reading recommendations
This year, I’m taking two books on vacation. I just started The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles because my book club insisted I had to read it. Most of them read it earlier this year, but I was skittish. My past experience with Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow, was interesting but a bit of a slog. I already like The Lincoln Highway better. The novel opens with so many unanswered questions: What did Emmett do to end up on a work farm? Why did his mother abandon his family? Also, the characters are interesting with unique voices (now I sound like an agent.) And the prose is gorgeous. Here’s what I underlined on page 13:
Because a farmer with a mortgage was like a man walking on the railing of a bridge with his arms outstretched and his eyes closed. It was a way of life in which the difference between abundance and ruin could be measured by a few inches of rain or a few nights of frost.
Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway.
It’s also a road trip story, so quite appropriate for summer vacation. 🙂
I’ll also stow is a collection of short stories called Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri into my travel back pack. My son gave it to me for Christmas, and since that same son is traveling with us (a bonus for the trip since said son is 19 and thoroughly enjoying the freedom that comes with college), I thought I could initiate a discussion with him as we enjoy our four hour layover in the Detroit airport.
Besides those two, here are a few books I’ve already read that would make excellent suggestions for your summer reading list.
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, Contemporary adult fiction perfect for any feminist. It reads easy and has substance. Oh my goodness, if you haven’t read this yet, pick up a copy already! My daughter read it in 48 hours and said, “It was so so good. She [the main character] goes crazy. I am in awe. If only my hair were not snot slippery so I too could put it up with a pencil.”
- Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, contemporary adult fiction about a daughter’s love for her imperfect mother.
- We Were Liars by E Lockhart. YA thriller set in Martha’s Vineyard. A summer vacation with some seriously uneasy vibes.
- The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab, a genre defying story of a girl who makes a Faustian deal with the Darkness. Beautiful prose, thought inspiring. I labeled it Magical Realism on Tik Tok and got harassed for doing so. Let’s call it fantasy.
- The McNifficents by Amy Makechnie. Middle grade kid lit about a summer of chaos for the McNiffs and their fearless, but aging, nanny, Lord Tennyson (who happens to be a miniature schnauzer.) If you like reading books aloud with your kids, this one’s a winner.
- Inciting Joy by Ross Gay. Confession, I haven’t read this one yet, but I loved his The Book of Delights and with all the bad news about the environment and China and Ukraine, I need some joy, people.
There you go, eight more books to choose from!
What are you reading this summer? Can you recommend any great vacation books?
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
