What was the best book you read this summer?

I hope you had a great summer of reading. I did! Lots of 5-star reads for me. In June, I published The Ultimate Summer Reading Guide. I’m including an annotated version below that includes the books I read and ratings for each. Then, below the annotated version, I share my summer reading stats and a newly currated list of ten TO BE READ titles that will keep me reading well into winter! It’s fun to see my own reading patterns and I encourage you to seek out yours, too!

As I review the guide, here’s what I notice about my summer reading:

• I think of the list as a menu of suggestions—not assigned reading. If a book strikes my fancy and it’s not on the list, I’m going to read it.

• It’s fine if my summer reading list bleeds into fall and winter. Covenant of Water is on my summer list, but it feels like a book I want to read the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve because it’s long and literary. I want to savor it with a cup of tea while snuggled under a blanket.

• I read a lot less middle grade than adult books. From the middle grade list, I read two out of eighteen books. From the adult list, I read seven out of nineteen books.

• I read at least six books that were not on the list and three of those are 5-star reads for me:

  • Go As a River by Shelley Read - 5 stars

  • Lasagna Means I Love You (middle grade) by Katie O’Shaughnessy - 5 stars

  • Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer - 5 stars

  • PLUS two audio books—Katie Couric and Mel Brook’s memoirs.

• My favorite book of summer is Go As a River. This is my kind of book. Great characters. Family saga and the landscape is a significant part of the book. Satisfying ending. Beautiful writing.

• The book I’ve been talking about the most is Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma. This book deals with the moral question of appreciating art that was created by humans who have done or said bad things in their lives. Do we throw out the artistic creation because its maker is bad?

• The book I gave 5 stars, but didn’t always enjoy, is Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. The main character is deplorable, but it’s satire and I’m not supposed to feel like she’s my best friend. Super well-written and a deep dive into the modern publishing world. It also has a bit of a thriller edge to it. I definitely kept turning the pages to see how it would end.

• The book with a structure that was interesting and new to me is Girls and Their Horses. This is a murder mystery without a detective being the main character. We know someone is dead, but who? I like how the structure is flipped with this book. It was a fun summer read, but still not a 5-star read for me. I like that a book can still be notable without being 5 stars.

To Be Read Top Ten List: Fall and Winter 2023

My last summer reading task is to review my current To Be Read List that spans the last several years. I make a newly currated list of ten priority reading titles. They are:

1. The Probability of Everything (middle grade) by Sarah Everett

2. Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

3. All That is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay

4. Art and Faith: A Theology of Making by Makoto Fujimura

5. The Wild Braid by Stanley Kunitz

6. Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King

7. Covenent of Water by Abraham Verghese

8. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

9. Babel By R. F. Kuang

10. The Rook by Daneil O’Malley

Have you read any of these books? What’s on your current TO BE READ list?

I can’t wait to hear about the books that are making you happy during this season of reading.

Happy reading!