Summer Books For Every Mood + Moment
If I gave you $110 to spend in your local book store, what would you buy?
The catch?
You have to spend it on yourself and you alone.
No early Christmas presents for Great Aunt Sally or snagging a couple of school books for the kids. This $110 is all for you. So what do you do?
If you're anything like me, you'd stand there for an hour, torn between snagging your I've got to read this books; the ones you've had on your to-read list since Christmas, and buying those should-reads; the ones you've been feeling guilty about not reading since you saw everyone else reading them on social media and your BFF raved about.
Am I right?
The average American spends about $110 on books each year which means over half of us spend WAY more than that. The question is, do we spend it one what we long to read or what we should read?
When I looked at my TRL (to read list) and couldn't see anything that made me excited I realized I was shoulding on myself when it comes to my reading list.
At best I felt bored by my own list and at worst, I felt guilty. Guilty for not reading the books I thought I should.
So this summer I've decided to not "should" on myself and I'm thinking we could all do with doing the same thing.
After the last couple of years the last thing we need is added guilt and shame to our weary souls.
So here's my list of summer reads for every mood and moment.
I've either read, listened to or really want to read every one of these.
As you can see, I don't stick to one genre. There's historical fiction, murder mysteries, straight novels, YA fiction, non fiction, and Christian devotions. No matter my mood or the moment, there's something I WANT to read in this list.
"Often, in our make-it-happen culture of self improvement, we let the guilt of getting and doing better override our desire to be immersed in a good story. One taking us to place we could never dream of visiting in real life."
Pick what you like and see how it goes.
Don't like it? No worries. Ditch it. Don't should on yourself and finish a book you're not enjoying. Life's too short for that!
Historical Fiction:
- The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
- The Master Craftsman by Kelli Stuart
- The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
Fiction:
- The Inspector Gamache Series by Louise Penny
- The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
- The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
- The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth
- Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
- Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Young Adult Fiction:
- The Lion of Mars by Jennifer. L. holm
Non Fiction:
- The Lazy Genius by Kendra Adachi
- Strength to Strength by Arthur Brooks
- Building a Second Brain by Taigo Forte
- Unclutter Your Soul by Trina McNeilly
- The Last Ordinary Hour by Kathy Izard
- What If It's Wonderful by Nicole Zasawski
- The Best of You by Dr Alison Cook
Devotions:
- Prayers of REST with Asheritah Ciuciu
- Today is Going to Be a Good Day with Michelle Bengtson
- One Minute Prayers for Women with Cancer * by me, Niki Hardy!
Free yourself from the guilt trip that reading can be.
Yes, sometimes we need to read to build up our faith, mindset, or help us through something. Yet often, in our make-it-happen culture of self improvement, we let the guilt of getting and doing better override our desire to be immersed in a good story. One taking us to place we could never dream of visiting in real life.
If you ditched the should what could you read for the sheer delight of reading?
Let me know in the comments or hop over to Facebook or Instagram and connect with me there.
PS
* I snuck this one in even though it doesn't hit the shelves until August 2nd. You can pre-order for yourself or someone who's been diagnosed and needs some love, encouragement and a down to earth friend to pray with.
** The links in this post are affiliate link which means if you purchase through them there'll be no extra charge to you but I'll get a couple of cents on the dollar to keep me in tea and cake. Thank you!
