Inspire Great Reading for Summer 2020

Summer is typically the time of year where you have more time to relax. You can sit outside, drink a refreshing glass of lemonade, and read a good book. Listen to the sounds of nature and get lost in the pages of a book. 

For many people, summer is the best season to catch up on their personal reading. However, this year's summer season is very different. We might either have more time to read, or we're busy with work projects to make up for salary cuts due to COVID-19. Book publishers even had to postpone book releases during this season, which is discouraging for every writer (and bookworm) in the field. 

However, several books were still published. We can still buy new books, but we'll just have to wait longer than normal to receive them in the mail (Books are, unfortunately, not considered essential items). But we have books. We will always have books. A pandemic can't take away good literature. 

Just like I always do, I'm offering five new book recommendations for the summer season. These books will lift your spirits and perhaps remind you of a time where you didn't have to practice social distancing. The books are a nice distraction from reality--something we really need right now. 

1. "The Vanishing Half" - Brit Bennett 

Brit Bennett's "The Vanishing Half" (photo/Penguin Random House).

Brit Bennett's novel, The Vanishing Half, is one of the most critically acclaimed and exciting novels of the summer season. Set in the 1960s, the novel follows the Vignes twin sisters, Desiree and Stella, as they move to New Orleans as teenagers. They were close sisters, but something happened between them that forced them apart. 

Years later, they're adults and they lead very different lives. Everything about them is different: their families, their communities, and even their racial identities. Desiree lives as a black woman, while Stella passes as white. The sisters haven't even seen each other in decades. 

Stella's white husband doesn't know anything about his wife's past, but that's about to change. Stella and Desiree must reconnect and dive into their family history--the good and the bad. They have to confront the issues that drew them apart in the first place. What happened to the sisters? Why did they separate? Can they ever find a way back to each other? 

Weaving together their separate stories, Bennett (best known for the 2016 New York Times-bestselling debut novel, The Mothers) delivers a riveting, emotional family story about the exploration of one's family along with American history. Bennett considers the lasting impact of the past and race with one person's decisions, desires, and expectations. The Vanishing Half is an engrossing, thought-provoking page-turner about family and relationships that we need to read now more than ever before. 

2. "Beach Read" - Emily Henry 

Emily Henry's "Beach Henry" (photo/Penguin Random House).

We're recommended to stay away from beaches right now due to COVID-19. But if you love to go to the beach and read, you can bring the beach to your home with Emily Henry's fun romance, Beach Read. 

January Andrews is a bestselling romance novelist who believes her greatest love story will be one she writes, not in her personal life. Augustus Everett, on the other hand, is a literary fiction author who prefers to kill off his characters than have them fall in love. They're complete opposites. 

But they end up renting neighboring beach houses for three months as they try to write their next novel. Augustus rolls his eyes at January's writing, and she doesn't understand why he rejects romance. 

During one evening, they strike a deal to force them out of their writer's blocks. Augustus will write a happy novel, and January will try to pen the next Great American Novel that has plenty of drama and heartache. She will coach him on everything to do with romantic comedies, and he will guide her on how to be an investigative, thought-provoking writer. Hopefully, they'll each finish their books. But along the way, they might find a way into each other's hearts in ways they least expected. Beach Read is a fun, modern twist on a love story that everyone, especially writers, will devour. 

3. "Sorry I Missed You" - Suzy Krause 

Suzy Krause's "Sorry I Missed You" (photo/Amazon.com).

Suzy Krause's novel, Sorry I Missed You, reminds me a bit of the hilarious sitcom, The Golden Girls. The book follows a trio of women (Mackenize, Sunna, and Maude) who live in the same rental house because they have been "ghosted" by someone close to them--Mackenize's sister, Sunna's best friend, and Maude's fiance. They were abandoned and they need support, so the women lean on each other. 

One day, a mysterious letter arrives in their mailbox with an illegible address. The letter hints at long-awaited answers, and every tenant assumes it's meant for her. They try to solve the mystery of who sent the letter and why was it sent to them. All the while, they keep hearing strange noises on their property that might indicate this isn't just ghosts from their past haunting them. Could it be something more? 

Krause's novel is mysterious, suspenseful, quirky, and utterly original. It's a modern twist on the traditional mystery novels. The women are friends, but are they able to find closure about their past? What will they have to suffer along the way? Regardless, Sorry I Missed You is the perfect read for anyone who has been haunted by their past. 

4. "The Pull of the Stars" - Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue's "The Pull of the Stars" (photo/Oprah Magazine).

Emma Donoghue, The New York Times-bestselling author of Room, has returned with a new novel that is perfect for today's current situation. In The Pull of the Stars, Donoghue lets readers spend three days inside a Dublin hospital maternity ward during the 1918 flu pandemic. Readers get to witness the chaos and devastation, as well as how the hospital's staff is pushed to their breaking points to deliver babies from infected mothers. 

The novel focuses on Nurse Julia Power and her interaction with two individuals: Doctor Kathleen Lynn, a rumored Rebel on the run from the police, and Birdie Sweeney, a young volunteer helper. These women change each other's lives while working nonstop in the hospital ward. They lose patients to the pandemic and perform impossible work. Throughout it all, the women stay together. 

The novel is eerily reminiscent of the current global health crisis with COVID-19, which is why it's so important to read right now. It brings readers closer to the health crisis and gives them a new perspective on how health care workers risk everything to keep their patients alive. Look for The Pull of the Stars, available on July 21. 

5. "A Burning" - Megha Majumdar 

Megha Majumdar's "A Burning" (photo/Time Magazine).

Megha Majumdar's debut novel, A Burning, is already being regarded as one of the best books of 2020. The novel tells the story of Jivan, a Muslim girl who is determined to move up in life. She lives in India as an English tutor, but her life is turned upside down when she's accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of one careless comment on Facebook. 

Jivan's only alibi is the outcast Lovely, who is willing to risk everything she has to set Jivan free. Things get complicated when PT Sir, a power-hungry gym teacher, is convinced by a right-wing political party to make sure Jivan takes the fall in the case. Just when Jivan thinks she can have the future she wants, it's yanked from her. 

Riveting from its opening lines, A Burning is regarded as an epic novel so masterfully crafted by Majumdar that people will be talking about it for years to come. Majumdar writes with complex themes that have many different components of a thriller, drama, and emotional rollercoaster: class, fate, corruption, justice, intrigue, and heartache. Readers will learn what it feels like to face profound obstacles that threaten your biggest dreams. It's an extraordinary debut novel that sets an Indian dream on fire. 

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Reading is very important, especially now when there is so much confusion, hatred, violence, heartache, and pain in the world. Reading is a good distraction. As you read, you'll discover new perspectives, imaginations, life lessons, and more. Learn more about pandemics, racial issues, societies, friendship, and love in these five recommendations. We could all use a little inspiration right now, and these books (and others) offer the perfect dose of inspiration. 

Read on. 

-KJL-