Reading is, without question, my favorite hobby, passion, and survival go-to. I’ve been a voracious reader since I learned how to read. It’s the one area of my life that has been consistent, regardless of time or circumstances. When I nursed my new born babies, they were in one arm and a book was in the other. With all of the travel I do for work, it allows me lots of opportunities to stick my nose in a book and ignore the world. People ask me if I get tired of travel and my answer is no, because I get to indulge in one of my greatest pleasures while traveling. It’s a true win/win.

I thought it would be fun to share my favorite books of this summer and to hear some of your favorites as well. I’m a picky reader, so a good recommendation source is key to my reading enjoyment. My favorite source is my good friend, Lauren Margolin, aka The Good Book Fairy. Lauren is smart, fun, and funny, which makes her recommendations even more enjoyable. My other favorite recommender is my friend and neighbor, Tiffany Simanek. She’s my personal recommender so I’m not sharing her! She has never once steered me wrong on a book recommendation. When she texts me a recommendation, I immediately download it from the library and find a quiet place to dig in. 

What were your favorite summer reads? What book was impossible to put down? #books #reading #summer Click To Tweet

So here are my favorites from this summer. They aren’t all recent books, but they are recent to me so that’s why they are on this list. They are also not in order of my favorites, but rather in order of when I read them.

Fiction with a feminist theme

1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
2. A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
3. Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
4. The Unbreakables by Lisa Barr 
   (Lisa is a local friend, but that’s not why I chose her book. It was a really fun, feminist read.)

Unbelievably Great Fiction (In other words, you MUST read these)

1. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
2. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
3. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
4. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
5. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 

Non-fiction Faves

1. On Being Human by Jennifer Pastiloff
   (I wrote a blog post for Jenn a few years ago, but that is not why I picked her book. It is an excellent and memorable memoir.)
2. Educated by Tara Westover
3. Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

This, by the way, is my short list that only includes my very favorites. I was afraid that I’d bore you with my long list!

So tell me what books would you recommend and why? 

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC