Summer Reading List: 5 Books Everyone's Reading & 6 Books That Fly Under The Radar
An easy compilation of page turners to get those reading juices flowing again!
Aziz Acharki on Unsplash As children we read all of the time. We love it! They bring the book fair to our school; we have an entire class period in elementary school dedicated to the library. We spend our rainy days lost in worlds we create in our minds with help from our favorite authors.
But somehow, as adults we lose it. I think that part of the problem is the effort that goes into selecting books.
With movies its easy. We see previews on TV, we listen to the actors on talk shows, on the radio. We see movie posters in stores, on the subway, at the mall. We know every movie that is going to come out because we always see them advertised. We know based on the actor or the genre if we’re going to like it or not and if its worth watching.
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With books its harder. We don’t get as many advertisements. We have to read summery after summery to find out what each book is going to be about, and by the time we’ve picked out a book we want to read, were tired of reading!
At the end of the day its easier just to zone out and watch Netflix than it is to pick out a book.
We’re striving to make it a little bit easier for you. What we have below is a list of books that are great summer reads for 2019 that you can pick up and read one chapter a week, or maybe you won’t be able to put down.
Some books are more popular that maybe you’ve heard of, and some fly more under the radar. Whatever kind of reader you are, you are sure to like the books on this list.
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Here are some books that everyone is reading right now:
1. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
The Immortalists is a book by Chloe Benjamin focused on the idea knowing your own future. In its first chapter four siblings, Simon, Klara, Daniel, and Varya, go to see a fortune teller and she tells them the day they are going to die.
Throughout the rest of the book we see how that information effects the way they live their lives, and for some of the siblings, how it effects the way they die. It explores the idea of destiny vs. choice.
2. Supermarket by Bobby Hall
Supermarket is a book written by Bobby Hall, who is more commonly known by his stage name Logic. It is a book, about a young man who is trying to write a book about a supermarket, and more so a man named Frank, who seems just odd enough to make the perfect protagonist. As he is writing you slowly watch him lose his sanity.
The story is so compelling that you won’t be able to put it down. Just when you think you’ve figured out what’s going on, there’s another twist.
3. The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin
The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin is a fantastic book about a woman, Fiona Skinner who writes a poem called The Love Poem, that becomes an iconic work of literature. The book begins with Fiona as an Old Woman giving a talk about the poem to a room full of people.
The rest of the book happens in flashbacks to her childhood. You learn about her siblings, about their complicated relationships, and how she learned to love. It is a painful and beautiful insight into the different types of love we feel and how they impact our lives.
4. I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
I’m thinking of ending things is a story about a woman who is traveling to her boyfriend’s parents house for dinner. She is looking back over the relationship and thinking about how things aren’t working out. She is thinking about perhaps breaking up with her boyfriend.
Meanwhile, in the car, she keeps getting phone calls from her own phone number. Tension builds as strange things start happening at his parent’s house. This phycological thriller will have you at the edge of your seat. You won’t be able to put it down.
5. The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
The Light We Lost is a beautiful romantic Novel set in New York City, about a woman explaining to her ex-boyfriend what it was like for her in their relationship, and what her life has been like since they split up. She explains how she felt the day they met, what it was like for her the day they got together, how great their relationship was, how sometimes it wasn’t great, and how the breakup affected her. Then she goes on to tell him in real time about how she started to get over the breakup. How she stops feeling sad. How her career takes off. How she finds love again. And how through it all, how she still thinks of him. It is such a lovely, gorgeous book and it shouldn’t be missed.
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Here are some books that have flown under the radar:
6. The Versions of Us by Lauren Barnet
The Versions of Us is a novel written by Lauren Barnet, which explores the idea of what ifs. Choices not made.
A girl on a bike meets a boy and they go for coffee and fall in love immediately. She breaks up with her boyfriend and she and the boy spend their lives together. We watch how their lives unfold. We explore a different scenario where the girl on the bike meets the same boy, they go for coffee and fall immediately in love, but before she can break up with her boyfriend, she finds out she’s pregnant with her current boyfriend’s child. She marries her current boyfriend but is still in love with the boy.
We explore a third scenario where the girl on the bike never meets the boy. She and her boyfriend have no reason to question their love and they get married. The boy lives his life never knowing what it is like to love the girl.
All three of these stories are told at the same time. Every third chapter shows a vignette of the lives of the people in each version, at similar times. It is a really cool, really lovely book. It is a longer book but worth its weight in story.
7. A Piece of the World by Christina Olsen
A Piece of the World is a work of beautiful work of historical fiction. It paints the life of Christina Olsen, a young woman who was riddled with illness, who has shaped her life in the confines of her family’s farm in coastal Maine. Her early life is told in flashbacks as she becomes the muse for one of Andrew Wyeth’s most famous paintings, and perhaps one of the most famous paintings of the 20th Century, Christina’s World.
A beautiful look at early 1900’s America, and a heart-breaking look at a young woman trapped between the pull of desire and the shackles of illness. Every word was chosen perfectly in this story. It flows like a poem from page to page. I missed the story when I finished reading this book.
8. Depression and Other Magic Tricks by Sabrina Benaim
Depression and Other Magic Tricks by Sabrina Benaim is a book of poetry. Poetry about losing yourself after a bad breakup, feeling depressed, trying to explain your depression, and moving on. It is lovely and full of emotional wit. I highly recommend this for someone who is looking to really dive into their feelings over the summer.
9. Anatomy of Dreams by Chole Benjamin
Another Chole Benjamin novel, her first in fact, and it is a weird and wonderful read. It is part drama, part romance, part thriller, part fever dream. It is about two young scientists and their mentor, studying people with sleep disorders. Not insomnia or snoring, but people with real night terrors, people who harm their partners in their sleep. People who sleepwalk and fulfil their darkest urges under the veil of unconsciousness.
You feel like you are in the room with them as they study their patients. You are also privy to the lives of the two young scientists. You watch as they fall in love, move in together, and live their lives together. There is also a mystery tied into the whole book that I will not ruin for you. This book will have you waiting on bated breath unable to turn the pages fast enough.
10. Norm MacDonald: Based on a True Story by Norm Macdonald
This silly book is an “autobiography” of standup comic and SNL alumni Norm Macdonald. It is a farcical account of his life, told in a serious voice. He accounts tales of his childhood, early life, and career in such a sarcastic voice, we will never know what’s true or what’s just a joke.
The whole story is told in flash backs as he and his assistant Adam Eget try to win big in Las Vegas. The book is meant to make fun of tell-all autobiographies, while keeping its audience laughing hysterically the whole time. Highly recommend this fun read.
11. Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin
Fever Dream is part horror, part thriller, part masterpiece written by Samantha Schweblin. It is about a woman who we know is dying, talking to a man whose relation to the woman is unclear. She is recalling the days before she began dying trying to figure out what’s happened to her.
The story is told by the female narrating as she is having a fever dream, with the male as her guide. This is a short book told in stream of consciousness so there are no chapters and no breaks in the story. It is all punch after punch of page turning intensity. You will want to read it all in one sitting.
Kaitlin Kaiser is a writer who covers astrology, pop culture and relationship topics.