Stuck on what to read this summer? Don’t worry! As someone who reads 25/8, I’ve got you. Chances are you’re probably already doing other stuff this summer, so here’s my personal recommendation for what you should read during your down time this summer based on the other things you’ve got going on.
P.S. I've actually read all of these books, so everything I'm about to recommend is 100% trustworthy!
Binge-watching Netflix
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
Yup that’s right, OITNB is actually based on a true story, and the author of the real Orange is the New Black is actually an executive producer on the Netflix series and is an activist for prison reform. Now don’t get your hopes up, the book doesn’t have the lesbian sex or revolts or Laverne Cox like the show does, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the similarities between the book and series (yes, Alex Vause and Red have real-life counterparts). Not to mention you can totally breeze through this book in a week.
Being as close to the ocean as possible
Honey Girl by Lisa Freeman
Honey Girl is about 15-year-old Nani, who moves from Hawaii to Santa Monica after her father’s death in 1972. She is forced to cope with the loss of her father, being the new kid in town, and a lot of the identity-crisis B.S. that comes with being a teenager, but she never loses her lust for the surf and sand. A light and feel-good read for sure, you can blow through this in two days.
Dieting and working out
Hunger by Roxane Gay
From the genius behind Bad Feminist, Gay’s honest memoir of her life as an overweight woman in our society will certainly make you feel for her struggles with self-image and self-love. However, the reason why this book is on here is because this book made me believe that everyone deserves to love themselves over anything else and is beautiful the way they are.
Working at a restaurant
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
Sweetbitter is the story of a recent college grad who migrates to New York City and lands a job as a backwaiter in a fine restaurant. The novel chronicles the subsequent year she spends working in the restaurant, and naturally, she finds a whole lot of drama along the way, as well as parties, guys, and drugs. Hopefully excluding the drug part, this book is totally relatable for anyone working their first restaurant job in hopes of making a sustainable cash flow. The language will make you salivate and probably make you want to drop everything and move to New York ASAP.
Road-tripping with your family
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Hate being stuck in the car for hours on end with your parents and siblings? Jeannette Walls’ memoir will absolutely make you feel better about your family, given how dysfunctional hers was. The lack of structure, money, and parental guidance Walls grew up with is appalling, and even more so because everything in the book actually happened. A little heavy, but definitely worth the read.
Following our world's political mess
1984 by George Orwell
If you’re one of those people who has been closely following the disparities between our government and the media lately, you have to read 1984 this summer. Even if you’ve already read it, it’s kind of insane how much of an overlap there is between the Ministry of Truth and the fake news of today. Definitely a read that is a little long-winded, but will totally open your mind.
Interning your life away
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Ok, let’s be real. This is my favorite book of all time, so obviously it had to land a spot on this list. But also, this allegory for Plath’s life is super gripping. After abandoning life in New York City while interning for a fashion magazine in the late 1950s, Esther Greenwood spirals into a mental-health disaster, ultimately ending up in a sanitarium. Anybody with mental illness will certainly be able to relate even a little bit to this novel, but I seriously can’t say enough good things about this book.
Just reading in general
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
This. Book. Is. UH-MAZING. Structured in diary entries authored by a teenager whose name you’d presume to be Alice, Go Ask Alice narrates her short adolescence that is corrupted by drug abuse. Terribly saddening-but-also-addicting, you’ll have no issue digging your feet into the sand and spending the entire day engulfed in this book. It’s on my summer reading list again just because I want to re-read it so badly.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Another one of my all-time favorite books in existence. Maybe you’ve seen the movie starring Kirsten Dunst (and if you haven’t, wyd?!), but this is another seriously addicting book. It tells the story of the five Lisbon sisters who are metaphorically suffocated by their super-strict parents, and ultimately commit suicide, one-by-one. The novel is from the perspective of a group of neighboring boys who are completely enraptured by the sisters, but also know so little about the mental prisons they are confined to. Read the book, then watch the movie, then admit to yourself how much you agree with me.
