What I Read This Summer

I read some amazing books this summer. I love to read year round, but there is something extra great about sitting down with a book during a slow summer day. (Probably only second best to a snow day spent reading.) In today’s post, I’m going to share books I read, what I’m currently reading, and a few books in my “to-read” pile.

BOOKS I READ:

You Me Everything // This is a great “beach read.” If you’re looking for a nice story that moves quickly, you’ll love this. The book is about a single mom who spends the summer in the French countryside at her son’s father’s resort. It’s a story of love and family.

Beautiful Day // I listened to this audiobook by Elin Hilderbrand. I usually love Elin’s books, but this one wasn’t my favorite. I can’t even pinpoint what it was about it, but I remember just wishing it would move along a little faster. The book is about a summer wedding with every detail planned by the bride’s late mother who left behind a notebook filled with instructions.

Florida // Lauren Groff is one of my favorite authors. She has such a gift for words. This book is actually a collection of short stories all based in Florida or related to Florida in some way. Each story has an overarching theme about motherhood. I absolutely loved most of the stories, although some were not as captivating as others. Typically, I would never read short stories as I prefer longer novels, but Lauren is such a talented writer that I would read a book of sentences written by her.

All We Ever Wanted // Okay, this was one of my favorite books from the summer. A few of my friends and I read it at the same time and even the slowest of the readers finished it within five days. It’s an EASY read in terms of speed, but the plot (a revealing photo of a teen girl gets leaked on Snapchat by her crush at a high school party) feels so relevant. I have a feeling that Emily Giffin wrote this with the intention of it being turned into a screenplay for a movie.

Silver Girl // Another Elin Hilderbrand audiobook here. I just love listening to her descriptions of Nantucket, especially during the summer! I liked this one a lot more than Beautiful Day. This is about a wife who discovers her uber-successful husband has cheated all of his clients out of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme. She moves into her estranged best friend’s Nantucket home. It’s a light beach read about friendship, love, and forgiveness.

Digital Gold // My friend Alex just launched Lolli, a browser extension like eBates but instead of cash, you earn Bitcoin. He recommended this book to me and I loved it. It’s the stranger-than-fiction story of the history of Bitcoin and the “misfits” who helped build it. It was fascinating and actually helped me understand cryptocurrency. Now when I read articles about it, I’m not quite as confused.

You’re Not Lost // Obviously, I love Maxie and I’m not just saying this because I’m her friend…. but I loved the book! It was like a gift from the universe when it showed up at my door because I was in the middle of a mini-life-crisis. If you’ve ever felt lost (and honestly, who hasn’t?!), you’ll love it. I think the best part is that it’s also a workbook, with probing questions to help you sort through what you’re going through and feeling. I kept a pen next to me to answer questions and to take notes in the margins. (I also listened to the audiobook, too!)

Circe // Okay so I liked this book and would recommend it. But I did not love it; it also took me forever to get through. It has great bones and the premise (the retelling and expansion of Circe’s story) is interesting. I wouldn’t say I’m the world’s biggest Greek mythology fan, but I was surprised by how much I remembered from high school and various other pop culture elements. A lot of the secondary stories came flooding back to me. The one thing that drove me crazy throughout the book was how quickly time and plot moved along. If you missed one sentence, you could miss centuries (literally) of time and entire story arcs. I almost wish that the last third of the book had been the entire book.

What I’m Reading Right Now:

The Lost Queen of Crocker County // I brought this down to the beach this weekend and I’m kind of speeding along through it. It took about 90 pages for it to pick up, but now I’m enjoying it.

Bel Canto // I downloaded this audiobook because I LOVE Ann Patchett’s writing, especially as an audiobook. It’s so easy to get lost in the character’s lives.

What’s Next

My list of books to read is growing by the day. I received a few books for my birthday and I’m fortunate enough to be on publisher’s mailing lists. The stack above is some of the collection of “to read” books I have going right now. I also downloaded Crazy Rich Asians to listen to next because I loved the movie so much!

Did you love any books this summer?