Our Best Summer Reading Suggestions

S. 5 E. 69

Listen to this episode to hear our best summer reading suggestions and find some good books to add to your summer reading list. 

Show notes:  

Episode Summary:

Calling all readers!  It is the beginning of summer, and we’re ready to head outdoors, drop into a comfy chair,  pour a big glass of iced tea and spend some time with a good book. When it comes to finding books, we’re always open to suggestions, so today we’ve decided to share some of our own suggestions. Grab a pencil and a notepad and get ready to write down some titles as we share some of our recent favorites.

Introduction:

Michele: I don’t think there is anything I love more than sitting on my patio on a nice summer day and getting lost in a good book. It is the perfect antidote to stress and the overwhelming to-do list that is so prevalent during the school year.

What about you Paula?

Paula: I couldn’t agree more. Reading is one of my favorite past-times and summer is the perfect time to indulge in a good book without the guilt I sometimes feel during the school year when I know there are papers to be graded and lessons to be planned.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to share some of our recent favorites.  For this discussion, we’re going to focus on fiction. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with our favorite non-fiction titles.

A book every young woman should read: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

First up is a book we both read and loved: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.

The title sounds like a textbook, but this is anything but. It is actually easy to read and funny at times, but it packs a punch.

Elizabeth Zott is the main character, a brilliant and inventive chemist in a time period where female scientists are not accepted. As she attempts to work in chemistry, she is treated with disrespect by her colleagues and delegated to tasks of a secretary and assistant. When offered a “more suitable role” in a television cooking show, she accepts.

When ensures is hardly your average cooking show as Elizabeth is out to teach more than cooking. Elizabeth isn’t a perfect character, but she stayed true to herself and found a unique support system to help her succeed despite the challenges.

This book has been turned into a series on Apple TV +. Whether or not you’ve seen the series, you will enjoy this book!

A classic book revisited: James by Percival Everett

This book is a retelling of Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the viewpoint of the runaway slave, Jim.  It has all of the adventure of traveling down the Mississippi River from Huck Finn and it is often funny.

Jim, we learn, is not illiterate and naïve, he is actually wise and perceptive. You’ll understand slavery in a whole new way after seeing the story through Jim’s eyes.  There is new perspective to the story of Huck and Tom and their adventures, and we are wiser for it. There is a lot of buzz around this book for winning a Pulitzer Prize.

Historical Fiction:  The Women by Kristen Hannah and Absolution by Alice McDermott

Paula: This story is about a group of women nurses serving in the Vietnam war.  Honestly, I hadn’t given any thought to women in this war, which is something I am a bit embarrassed to say. However, the book makes that exact point. No one really knows about the women who served our country in Vietnam. While it is a coming-of-age story about a young woman named “Frankie” in the 1960’s, it is also a unique portrayal of all that was happening in the political and social climate surrounding the Vietnam war. This captivating story is ultimately about a courageous young woman facing society’s expectations of women at that time and her experience of women as heroes not housewives. You will love Frankie, even in all of her brokenness and you will learn a lot about the political and social environment of the Vietnam War era. I have read a lot of Kristen Hannah and this is at the top of my favorites list.

Michele:  I haven’t read The Women, but it reminds me of another book I read this year, Absolution by Alice McDermott. Absolution takes place in Saigon in 1963. It is about a group of military and corporate officers’ wives and how they learn to fit into a new culture while also maintaining their role as spouses of important men. They are outsiders, very sheltered and protected, but want to reach out and help the people in the city. I’ve never read a book from this perspective before.

This book brings up the humanitarian issues of the time. It makes us question whether we are really helping those we think we’re helping. I thought it was a fascinating book. If you’ve read The Women, this might make a great follow-up.

A good YA Book: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

The this book was a National Book Award finalist, and Michael Printz Award Honor winner.

Paula: When I first picked up this young adult lit book, I was intrigued by the recommendation of New York Times bestselling author John Green on the cover. His recommendation said. “Thrilling, beautiful, and blisteringly smart. We Were Liars was utterly unforgettable.”

I had high expectations. About halfway in, I thought, “This is good and captivating, but unforgettable? Not so sure about that.”  However, when you get to that half way point, I encourage you to keep reading. It is unforgettable. I listened to this one on audio and finished the book on the way home after a meeting that went late. When I walked in the door, I had been sobbing so hard, my son looked at me and said, “Mom, are you okay? What happened at your meeting?”

Michele: I read this a few years ago, but liked it and it kept me guessing.  It is a great choice for those of you who like thrillers. You will either love or hate the ending.

Science Fiction/Fantasy/Time Travel: The Measure by Nikki Erlich and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Neither of us is a big science fiction or fantasy reader, but sometimes we really like these books. We have a couple in this category to share with you.

 The Measure by Nikki Erlich

Paula: The Measure was nominated for best science fiction book of 2022 and best debut novel by Good Reads Choice Awards.

How would your life change if you knew when it would end? Would you want to know if you had the opportunity to find out when you would die?

That is the premise of this book. I am not ruining anything by telling you, that the premise is that everyone on Earth over the age of 22 receives a mysterious box with a length of string that tells them the length of their life. The question is, would you want to open the box and find out how long your string is?

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Paula: This, like The Measure, is one of my favorite books of all time.

Basically, every moment we make choices that impact the rest of our lives. The premise of this book is that the main character has an opportunity to go into a library of sorts filled with endless volumes of books. Each book represents what her life would have looked like if she had made a different choice at any given time. She has the opportunity to explore these lives.

Good Reads description:

 “ Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?”

How intriguing is that?

A book series:  Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear, The Comfort of Ghosts

Michele: I have loved series books since I was a kid and first read The Boxcar Children series. If you love series, I highly recommend the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear.

It takes place between WW1 and WW2.  We meet Maisie as a young girl who is a servant. When her employers realize she is actually quite gifted, they mentor her. Eventually she becomes involved in both world wars and is a private investigator and a spy.

The book I am most excited to read this summer is The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear. It came out June 4^th, and is the final book about Maisie Dobbs in a series of 18 books.

A book about Witches and history and magical realism: Weyward by Emilia Hart 

Paula: This book was recommended to me by two different friends so I knew I had to read it. Most of the story takes place in Weyward Cottage, the home of Kate’s great-aunt. It is a story about Altha, who is going through a witch trial in the 1600’s, Violet who is coming of age in the 1940s and Kate, their relative who is living through a crisis in 2019.

The book weaves together their stories of bravery, courage, compassion, and female resilience. If this gives you any idea of the book, the final lines include a quote about the connections between and among women being among the most transforming force on the planet.

Our last book, a generational family saga: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Michele:  I loved this book and didn’t want it to end, which is saying a lot because it is 715 pages.  It is a current best seller.

The book takes place in India, beginning in 1900. We meet our 12 -year- old protagonist, who is on her way to be married to a stranger she has never met. Then we follow her and her family through seventy some years. We meet her children and friends and the people in their community. We experience all of the heartbreak and sorrows of the years and also the joys.

I learned a lot about India and the Caste system that separates those of different social standing and different religions.

If you love a big, juicy book that allows you to really know the characters, I highly recommend this one. It is a commitment, but it is beautifully written.

Conclusion

We hope that our suggestions intrigued you to pick up a good book and spend some time relaxing and recharging this summer.

 Recap: As a quick recap- here are the titles we mentioned in this episode:

• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
• James by Percival Everett
• The Women by Kristen Hannah
• Absolution by Alice McDermott
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• The Measure by Nikki Erlich
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear
• Weyward by Emilia Hart
• The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Please note, we have included affiliate book links in this post.  If you buy a book on Amazon through our link, we earn a small portion of the price at no extra cost to you. This allows us to pay for the costs of podcasting in order to keep our content free for you.

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