If you're anything like me, summer is your favorite season simply because there's so much time to read. The list of books left to read seems to be never-ending and that's just fine with me. Reading brings me to another place. I get to be anything that I want for the few hours that it takes to travel from cover to cover. In those hours, I am transported to any world that I want to be in. Summer is the perfect time for avid readers and it's also the perfect time to get all of those books in that have been eluding you all school year. This summer, I've been planning to tackle a couple different types of reading. I've made a reading bucket list of sorts. So, if you're a bookworm like me, here are 15 types of books to add to your summer list.

1. A book set in your hometown

You've grown up here, but did you ever really take the time to appreciate it? Show some hometown pride in your summer reading.

2. A non-fiction book about a culture that you'd like to know more about

If you've always wanted to travel, but don't have the time or the money, a book is a pretty solid second option. This summer, try out something like "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo for a taste of what life is like across the world.

3. A historical fiction book

Princesses don't have to be limited to your childhood, go back in time this summer with a book full of royal court drama and intriguing affairs.

4. A YA series that you've never read

We all know that young adult series are irresistible, so go ahead and enjoy yourself.

5. A book in the adult fiction section of the library

So, maybe you've never left the Teen Section of your local library. That's OK, but this summer it's time to put on your big kid pants and try an adult book out for size. You might even like it.

6. A book that has a movie coming out soon

Read that romantic comedy before you bawl your eyes out in the theater with your friends or make sure that you're the only one in the theater who's going to know if so and so really dies at the end of the movie.

7. A book that you were supposed to read in high school

There's at least one book that you never read in class that you were supposed to. Maybe it's time to revisit "Huckleberry Finn" or "The Crucible" and see if your English teacher was right when they said that it was worth reading.

8. A mystery novel

Get your "Sherlock Holmes" on and figure out whodunnit.

9. A classic novel

We've all heard of the great classic novels. If they've been famous for this long, surely they've got to have some sort of value to them? Try one out this summer.

10. A book with a hero/heroine not of the same gender as you

Too many times I catch myself and others putting down a book because "I'd rather read a girl narrator. I want to relate." Try out the opposite gender for a change. Maybe it'll finally show you the inside of the mind of a gender that you've been trying to figure out since middle school. (Do boys really think like that?)

11. A book that you like the cover of

Never judge a book by its cover, unless that cover is ridiculously beautiful and you have to have it on your shelf.

12. A book of a genre that you wouldn't normally read

Now is the time to pluck up your courage and finally pick up a book from your most dreaded genre. Give it a chance!

13. A Jane Austen book

It has romance, propriety, and grand balls. What more could you want?

14. A book that you loved as a child

It's time to revisit that childhood favorite, preferably while outside and enjoying a nice lemonade.

15. An auto-biography


We learn a lot from the lives of others. Read something by your favorite actor/comedian/author/etc. You're going to be blown away by their humanity.

So, this summer, when you're itching for a book to read, keep in mind some of these suggestions. Here's to a summer of plot twists, love triangles, and the crisp sound of a page being turned.