Summer Reading Recommendations for Adults

“Did You Ever Have a Family?” by Bill Clegg

“Night at the Museum,”  “One Good Turn” and  “A God in Ruins” (sequel to Life After Life) by Kate Atkinson

“My Name is Lucy Barton” and “Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout

“Telling the Bees” by Peggy Hesketh

“The Nest” by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

“The Impossible Knife of Memory” by Laurie Halse Anderson (young adult)

“All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr

“The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins

“Labor Day” by Joyce Maynard

“We Should All be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“Bad Feminist” by Roxane Gay

“What Now?” by Ann Patchett (commencement address)

“Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader” by Anne Fadiman

“Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“21st Century Skills” by Bernie Trilling & Charles Fadel

“Mindset” by Carol Dweck

“Originals” by Adam Grant

“Missoula” by Jon Krakauer – non-fiction

“Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania” by Erik Larson – nonfiction

“West of Eden: An American Place” by Jean Stein

“Itself” by Rae Armantrout (LJCDS Visiting Author)

“Sabriel” by Garth Nix: This was a YA book that I could not put down. If 'swords and sorcery' are [every once and awhile] your thing, this book is great, with a strong female lead, and some great world-building.

“The Martian” – Andy Weir: Again, a page-turner; I would find myself reading past bedtime just to make it another chapter (or two). Haven't seen the movie yet.

Anything by Mary Roach: “Stiff,” “Gulp,” etc., although “Packing For Mars” is my fave. Funny, driven, non-fiction science-writing. These are the definition of beach books.

“Nine Stories” by J.D. Salinger: Quick enough to remember why he's such an amazing writer without devoting your entire Summer. And if you decide to, there's only three other books!

“Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky: If you haven't read this since college, and haven't read the new[ish] Pevear and Volokhonsky translation, or just haven't read it... give it a try! Just make up shorter names for the characters so you can keep them straight. ;)

“84 Charing Cross Road” by Helene Hanff: 20 years of correspondence built into one of the most heartwarming relationships ever. Read it in an afternoon, or pace yourself and make it last all summer. Slight tear jerker alert, though.

“Ten Years in the Tub” by Nick Hornby: Hornby's collected column from magazine, “The Believer” documenting the books he's bought, and the books he's read, on a month-to-month basis. Overall, an insightful look at what makes people (not just bibliophiles) tick.

“Lucky Peach 101 Easy Asian Recipes” by Peter Meehan: My traditionalist friends scoff at this book, but it has gotten me out of my comfort zone and made a lot of intimidating dishes accessible. My policy has always been that if there is at least one recipe in a cookbook that is great, then it's worth every penny. I made five from this book within the first week.

“The Family Meal” by Ferran Adria: The chef of El Bulli describes the meals he'd make for staff. Eccentric, but accessible, this book is great for planning entire three-course meals for 2 to 60 people, with a unique visual approach I've never seen that makes the recipes even easier to comprehend.

“Stuart Little” by E.B. White: This is my favorite book in the world; maybe you haven't looked at it since childhood, or perhaps you're lucky enough to get to read it for the first time. You're in for a treat: it's funny, and grown-up, and Stuart's foibles and problems are a little too familiar sometimes.

“After Alice” by Gregory Maguire

“102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers” by Jim Dwyer

“What is Life Worth?: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Fund and its Effort to Compensate the Victims of September 11th” by Kenneth Feinberg

“Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania” by Erik Larson

“Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale” by Marina Warner

“The Celtic Twilight: Faerie and Folklore” by W. B. Yeats

“Where Ever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life” by Jon Kabat-Zinn

“The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life” by Janice Kaplan

“The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” by Marie Kondo

“M Train” by Patti Smith

“A Field Guide to Getting Lost” by Rebecca Solnit

“When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice” by Terry Tempest Williams

“I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” by Malala Yousafzsai

“The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowher”e by Pico Iyer

The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba by Julia Cooke

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire

The Old Man in the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner

“The War the Saved My Life” by Kimberley Bradley

“End of the Line by Sharon McKay

“The Marvels by Brian Selznick

“Revolution by Deborah Wiles

“The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Kha

“All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr

“Nightingale” by Kristin Hannan

“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman

“Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights” by Salman Rushdie

“The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt

“The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker

“99 Poems: New and Selected” by Dana Gioia

“A Wreath for Emmett Till” by Marilyn Nelson