What's on your Summer Reading List?

My top five books of 2024 so far.

I used to track my books with these adorable bookmarks; now I keep a list in my journal.

We’re already half way into the year! The biggest benefit of being self-employed is that I am able to spend summers with my kids. On the flip side, that means I have fewer hours in the day to think and write, so I decided to keep it simple this week and share some of the books I’ve enjoyed so far this year in case you’re still looking to add a book to your summer reading list.

a list of books I’ve read so far in 2024. I keep a list in my journal. Anything here spark your interest?

What are you reading this summer? I’d love to know! Not that my TBR list needs any more books…

So, without further ado, here are five books that meant something special to me:

1. Another Word for Love
by Carvell Wallace

I can’t figure out how to embed a link to the individual post (this is supposed to be a quick one, remember?) so screenshot it is. Carvell Wallace is an amazing writer - I’ve been following him for years. Their voice is so very soothing, too, so definitely recommend the audio book.

2. Strong Female Character
by Fern Brady

“Witty, dry, and gimlet-eyed, this is a necessary corrective in a world where Autistic women are all either written off as quiet and docile, or erased entirely.” —Devon Price, Ph.D., author of Unmasking Autism

Scottish comedian Fern Brady was told she couldn't be autistic because she'd had loads of boyfriends and is good at eye contact. In this frank and surreal memoir, she delivers a sharp and often hilarious portrait of neurodivergence and living unmasked.

In addition to this being such an honest and raw account of her life, I just couldn’t get enough of her Scottish accent. At times hard to understand for me, it was so worth it.

3. The Collected Schizophrenias
by Esmé Weijun Wang

I am so glad I picked up this book. They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but that’s what drew me towards it. You can also find the author here on Substack: https://substack.com/@esmewwang

4. Killers of the Flower Moon
by Davin Grann

This book was action packed and filled with historical information that everyone should know about. It’s a gripping read and informative and heartbreaking. The movie was good, yes, but didn’t get anywhere close to the book.

A friend recommended this to me, no she kept pushing it on me, insisting I’d like it; and I’m so glad she did. I thought it was going to be dry and the fact that the FBI was in it seemed…just not my thing, but I was wrong. So so good. Highly recommend!

5. Hello Beautiful
by Ann Napolitano

"He'd always assumed openness was synonymous with danger and that if he wasn't holding on tight to the new life he'd built, it would blow away. But with the barriers down, he'd discovered that life became bigger."

The feeling of holding on so tight to a life out of fear it might all crumble if I just relaxed a little bit... So relatable!

I also loved this part:

"It's not that she's happy," Emeline said, "because I know she's heartbroken about Julia. But she's beautiful. She's fully Sylvie."

I love this idea that life is not about being happy or feeling good all the time; but rather about being fully oneself. In Co-Active Coaching, the authors describe fulfillment as being fully alive; as the state of fully expressing who we are and doing what is right for us.

As I wrote on LinkedIn, I see how that can show up as beauty...the confidence and ease and harmony that someone is able to express when living a fulfilled life. Beautiful!

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Since I wrote this, I have also finished “The Vaster Wilds” by Lauren Groff and I feel like it deserves an honorable mention. I added all of her other books that I haven’t read yet to my list. Her writing style is so unique and different from what I typically read and it doesn’t feel forced or contrived. She makes beautiful prose sound so effortless, I love it.

Need more inspiration? Here are the Best 100 Books of the 21st Century as voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

What are you reading this summer? Let me know in the comments.