No matter where your summer adventures take you, you’ll want to bring a good book along for the ride. That’s why we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite page-turners for your next getaway. Whether you’re looking to laugh, cry, or learn, we’ve got you covered with the titles below. Enjoy!
The Nest—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
This big-hearted book chronicles the lives of a spectacularly dysfunctional family as they battle over a shared inheritance. While the characters are seriously flawed, we couldn’t help but root for them as the story unfolded. As one critic put it, the book is like really good dark chocolate—sharp and bittersweet, but too delicious not to finish in one sitting.
When Breath Becomes Air—Paul Kalanithi
This is one of those books that you stay up all night reading. The author was on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon when he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Kalanithi’s incredibly moving memoir explores how he found meaning in life while facing his own mortality—in doing so, he makes the prospect of death seem a little less scary.
Mother, Can you NOT?—Kate Siegel
Kate Siegel decided to broadcast her conversations with her mother on her Instagram account @CrazyJewishMom. Thousands of followers later, Siegel has compiled a hilarious collection of essays. After reading about how her mother moved across country to be closer to Kate at college and how she once helped Kate turn her dreams into a reality by organizing a casting for a reality TV show, we were kind of wishing we had a mom like hers and also grateful that we don’t.
The Girls—Emma Cline
The buzz around Emma Cline’s first novel, The Girls, is already deafening. Set in Northern California during the 1960s, it’s a portrait of girls, the women they become, and what happens when it all goes horribly wrong. As Lena Dunham raves, “this book will break your heart and blow your mind.” We can’t wait for it to hit the shelves on June 14!
The Longevity Book—Cameron Diaz
It’s refreshing how Cameron Diaz shifts our focus from how we look as we age to what’s going on underneath the skin at the cellular level. Longevity is groundbreaking because it’s changing the conversation about getting older and celebrates aging. Because after all, aging is a privilege!
Why Not Me?—Mindy Kaling
In Mindy Kaling’s second coming-of-age book, she shares her ongoing journey to find joy, whether it’s falling in love at work or striving “to be the first person to lose weight with no behavior modification whatsoever.” She mocks the Hollywood beauty ideal in one essay and dishes on meeting Bradley Cooper in another. As for her Harvard Law School Speech, it’s laugh-out-loud funny. This book is a must read.
Wellth: How I Learned to Build A Life Not A Résumé—Jacob Wachob
This memoir is written by the founder of one of our favorite websites, mindbodygreen.com. We love his insights into what it means to live the “good life”—it’s not about material things, but devoted to mental, physical, and emotional well-being. By mixing personal anecdotes with expert contributors, this book will help you discover what it means to be truly “wellthy.”
The Nightingale—Kristin Hannah
German-occupied, war-torn France serves as the backdrop for this epic read. Nightingale is the story of two sisters and the impossible choices the must make to survive during WWII. Both heartbreaking and beautiful, we love the way it celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the incredible strength of women.
What are you reading this summer? Let us know in the comments below!
