You can plop down on your beach towel with a new book, spice up your morning commute with an audiobook or curl up in bed with some air conditioning and a novel. There are endless ways to consume new books, but you may have run into a big problem: what books should you read?

If you’re in the mood for the books that will entertain you in the summer months to come, you’re in the right spot.

 

A Fighting Chance

Call me geeky, but memoirs are one of my favorite things to read. If I’m looking for inspiration or a little drive, reading a firsthand account of a woman who made it really makes me feel optimistic about my future. Some people think memoirs are dry (like, who would ever want to read about someone else? Suh-noozer), but I think that most are written with a touch of humor that makes you feel infinitely better as you read it. That’s why I recommend Senator Elizabeth Warren’s A Fighting Chance, which is the story of one of Congress’s now most prolific senators. Perfect read, considering the upcoming presidential elections.

 

Sweetbitter

Stuck in traffic? Fear not, that’s what a good audiobook is for. There are a lot of people who get through long drives (think driving cross-country, or waiting through the morning freeway crawl) using a good car speaker system and the latest audiobook picks. You might get lucky and pick a book with Morgan Freeman as your voice, but if you’re looking for great content, consider Stephanie Danler’s Sweetbitter, which might give you some helpful insight into what it means to be an independent woman.

The Weekenders

If you’re just evolving out of your young adult literature phase, and have taken a shine to creepy-crawly shows like “Pretty Little Liars,” why not do the same with books? Author Mary Kay Andrews recently published The Weekenders, which comes with a fun, breezy-looking cover, but talks about murder and sketchy financial dealings. It might make you a little skeevy of your upcoming summer, but these are often the best novels to invest yourself in. Considering it’s already climbing up The New York Times’ bestsellers list, you should get in on this first.

 

My Name is Lucy Barton

Some folks have eschewed traditional paper and ink for a sleek tablet, be it Kindle, Amazon Fire or anything in between. Most print books are also available in e-Book format, not long after they’ve come out in print. My Name is Lucy Barton just came out in January, and it’s probably got the staying power to stick around for Januarys to come. If you’re looking to read something about familial relationships and maintaining that personal connection, reviewers suggest that this might be the one for you.

With so many books to choose from, why wait? Do you have anything on your summer reading list that you recommend?

Image courtesy of Getty Images.

By Gwendolyn Wu on June 21, 2016
Gwen, a San Fernando Valley native, will be a second year in the fall at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she plans to double major in history and sociology. When not reporting on student government, being a student activist, or advising incoming first-years, she enjoys food, watching Community and Mad Men, and traveling. Someday, she hopes to cover a political or education beat for the Los Angeles Times.