My Summer Reading List

Summer is the perfect time to tackle that stack of books you’ve been meaning to get to; or maybe you need some ideas?  This summer reading list is made up of my 3 favorite reads so far this summer. 

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Summer has this reputation for being the time of year when you get to relax and really catch up on your reading list for the year. In reality, my summers always seems to fly by in a blur, and unless I’m lucky enough to be laying on a beach somewhere (insert eye roll), it’s actually the slowest time of the year for me in the reading department.

All this to say that getting through three books this early in the summer is a feat I’m excited to celebrate by sharing some reviews with you! I love reviews in general, but book reviews always suck me in. I spend way more time reading Amazon and book blog reviews than I’d like to admit, but I’ve discovered some of my favorite books through those reviews, so can you really blame me?

So in the tradition of recommending (in my opinion) good books, here are my favorites from this summer; books that made me laugh, intrigued me, or made me think about something differently.

Reading People by Anne Bogel

I first found Anne years ago through her blog, Modern Mrs. Darcy, which, if I’m being totally honest, I was probably initially drawn to because of the name. I mean, could there be a more perfect name for a blog?! As a fellow Jane Austen lover I was drawn in by her love of books and unique outlook and social commentary on life.

Reading People,  in a nutshell, is about what makes you uniquely you. There are so many ways to try and find yourself and determine how you fit into the world; personality tests are one of the big ones. I’ve always been fascinated by personality tests and what they can tell you about yourself, but sometimes all of that information can get overwhelming and, thus, hard to apply in my own life.

I found Reading People to be so interesting because it takes all of the popular personality test, (i.e. Myers-Briggs, StregthsFinders, etc.) explains them in simple terms, and gives insight into what you can gain from each of them. I appreciate this so much because I’m a firm believer that there is no “one size fits all” approach when it comes to self-reflection. This book does such a good job of illustrating that and could, quite possibly, give you insight into what makes the people around you tick as well.

Wait For Me!: Memoirs by Deborah Mitford

In keeping with my lifelong obsession with all things British, I love a good aristocratic memoir. There’s just something about getting to read someone’s life experiences in their own words that makes it feel like you’re there with them. There’s also the almost surreal way that the English upper class lived in times past that I think fascinates us all (Downton Abbey, anyone?)

In Wait For Me!, the author, Deborah Mitford, the Duchess of Devonshire, grew up in the first part of the twentieth century as one of six girls in an aristocratic English family. Her life experiences are so far removed from anything that we experience here in current day America, which only makes her memoir that much more entertaining. It’s well written, witty (in that self-deprecatingly British way), and full of  stories that paint a picture of not just a privileged life, but a life well lived.

Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier

Frenchman’s Creek  is one of those books that I read purely because of the author. So many of my favorite modern author’s credit Daphne du Mauier as being one of their inspirations, so I wanted to see what the hype was all about. I’ve now read a couple of her novels, and from a literary standpoint I can see why they are classics. The prose is beautiful, the stories are unique, and the characters are three dimensional and complex.

Sometimes it’s good to try something out of your comfort zone, and as far as books go, Frenchman’s Creek  was that for me. It’s about a bored society matron who, tired of the shallow life she is leading in London, takes her children to stay at an old, uninhabited estate owned by her husband’s family. Without giving too much away, the rest of the story entails pirates, adventure, and a jealous love triangle.

While this wasn’t the type of book I normally gravitate towards, I now understand why so many authors look up to du Mauier, her writing style alone is reason enough to read at least one of her books.

Whew! Are you still with me? Then you must be a book lover too 😉 I would love to hear from you, do you have any recommendations for a good book?

 

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