Inspire Great Reading for Summer 2019

One of the best pleasures and activities for the summer season, in my opinion, is sitting outside with a good book in your hands. You can drink a refreshing glass of lemonade, listen to the sounds of nature, and get lost in another world through the pages in a book.

For many people, summer is the best season to read books. Many occupations [especially in the education field] tend to "slow down" during the summer months. Families also go on summer vacations, which allow you more opportunities to read than other times of the year. Just in case you need some ideas for which books to read this summer, here's my list of five phenomenal reading suggestions for this season. These books challenge readers to think outside the box, tell beautiful and enticing stories, and they're perfect companions. They're fun books to read. Who doesn't love that?

Enjoy my selection of the best books on the market right now. Trust me, they're so worth it.

1. "City of Girls" - Elizabeth Gilbert 

Elizabeth Gilbert's "City of Girls"
(photo/Amazon.com).

The author of the critically-acclaimed memoir Eat, Pray, Love is back with another adventure. Instead of writing about her own life, Elizabeth Gilbert takes readers on a journey to 1940s New York City. In City of Girls, 95-year-old Vivian Morris finally shares her love story from the '40s. She got kicked out of Vassar College, so her parents send her to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns the Lily Playhouse, a rundown theater.

While there, Vivian meets an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, including the attractive male lead, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and a no-nonsense stage manager. They're unlike anyone she's ever met. They turn her new world upside down and it takes her several years to fully understand what happened. A combination of lust, scandal, and fun, City of Girls is a spellbinding novel you won't be able to put down this summer.

2. "I'll Never Tell" - Catherine McKenzie 

Catherine McKenzie's "I'll Never Tell"
(photo/Amazon.com).

If you love murder mysteries, this reading recommendation is for you. The bestselling author of Fractured, Catherine McKenzie brings us another thrilling mystery. In I'll Never Tell, five siblings reunite to decide what to do with their family's summer camp after their parents' sudden deaths. But before they can do this, they have many mysteries to solve.

For example, what happened to Amanda Holmes? Twenty years ago, the camper was found dead in a rowboat at the MacAllister family's Camp Macaw. At the time, no one was charged with a crime. According to a stipulation in their parents' will, the siblings cannot settle the estate until they figure out what happened to Amanda all those years ago. Did one of the siblings murder her? Is one of them keeping a secret about the incident? The siblings will have to work together to discover the truths, but just like any good murder mystery, the answer isn't as easy as you think. I'll Never Tell will keep you on your toes this summer season.

3. "The Bookish Life of Nina Hill" - Abbi Waxman 

Abbi Waxman's "The Bookish Life of Nina Hill"
(photo/Amazon.com).

This reading recommendation is for my fellow bookworms reading this post. In Abbi Waxman's newest novel, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, Nina Hill is just like us: she always has her nose between the pages of a book. An only child of a single mother, she works in a book store. She's an introvert who prefers to play trivia games, read, and plan out her entire week than be spontaneous.

But her life changes when the father she never knew dies and she suddenly learns she has new family members she has never met. Her structured life is turned upside down. If that's not bad enough, her trivia nemesis, Tom, turns out to be cute, funny, and very interested in getting to know Nina. There's one problem: he doesn't like to read.

Waxman, the author of Other People's Houses, delivers another quirky and charming novel many of us will be able to relate to as fellow bookworms. You'll be racing to the end of Nina's story to see how she handles her life changes.

4. "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" - Ocean Vuong 

Ocean Vuong's "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous"
(photo/Amazon.com).

Ocean Vuong is a gifted poet, but now he's emerging as a novelist. His first foray into fiction, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a brilliant, heartbreaking, tender, and original story written as a letter from a son to his illiterate mother. Regarded as one of this year's most anticipated novels, the speaker, Little Dog, unearths a family history that serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known.

Vuong's breathtaking novel is a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. He asks questions central to our American movement, but it's also undergirded by compassion and tenderness. The novel is raw and gorgeously written about the power of a story that needs to be told.

5. "Waiting for Tom Hanks" - Kerry Winfrey 

Kerry Winfrey's "Waiting for Tom Hanks"
(photo/Amazon.com).

When I read the synopsis of this novel, I immediately knew I would love it. Kerry Winfrey's latest "feel-good" romance, Waiting for Tom Hanks, is the perfect novel to take with you to the beach this season. Annie Cassidy is a single woman who loves romantic comedies. She works as a screenwriter and she dreams of falling in love with her own 1990's Tom Hanks, similar to his character in Sleepless in Seattle. But she knows no one is quite like him.

She thinks that until she gets a job on the set of a movie filming in her neighborhood. She meets the lead actor, Drew Danforth, who at first is nothing like Tom Hanks. He's cocky and loves to pull pranks on her. However, like any classic love story, they keep meeting and you know what that means...

Winfrey delivers a fun, cute romantic comedy that will be satisfying to everyone who dreams of finding their own Tom Hanks.

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These are only five reading recommendations for the Summer 2019 season. There are many phenomenal books being released this season from talented writers. I definitely recommend taking every opportunity you can get to read as many books as possible. Reading is a fun activity for the summer season, and luckily, there are more than enough books to choose from. All you have to do is choose the ones that seem the most appealing to you!

Read on.

-KJL-