Things I Love Lately: summer reading edition

I read some great books this summer!  I’d love to hear what you enjoyed as well.

The Most Fun We Ever Had – Claire Lombardo’s novel was engrossing, entertaining, and un-put-downable.  I loved it.

On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard – I’m lucky enough to have met Jen Pastiloff and to already love her work; her memoir was even more moving, wise, funny, and honest than I expected.  Gorgeous.

City of Girls – I adored Elizabeth Gilbert’s book and devoured it.  I can’t get Vivian’s voice out of my head.

 The Expectations – Alexander Tilney’s book is sharply-observed and familiar.  Entertaining (though I did catch one reference to a girls’ athletic contest against Belmont Hill School, which is a boys’ school!)

Where the Crawdads Sing – I loved the first half of Delia Owens’s book (it reminded me of two books I adore: Island of the Blue Dolphins by O’Dell and My Absolute Darling by Tallent) and the second half a bit less.

 The Guest Book – In an altogether different way, Sarah Blake’s book was about deeply familiar world as well.  It touches on complicated themes and explored the ways that choices in our past echo into our present.  Really good.

The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides.  Page turner.

Normal People – Sally Rooney’s novel came incredibly highly recommended and it lived up to it.  Wry, funny, wise.

The Last Romantics – I really enjoyed Tara Conklin’s novel, with its themes of love, poetry, history, the presence of the past.

Rich and Pretty – Rumaan Alam’s novel is an incisive, keenly-observed examination of female friendship.

Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi’s book, which is Grace’s All School Read this summer, was my first book of the summer and my favorite.

Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss – Margaret Renkl’s book was the last book I read this summer.  I can’t remember who told me I had to read it, and I wish I could because they were absolutely right.  A mix of Annie Dillard ad Mary Oliver.  Beautiful.