Summer Reading List

Is anyone else reading like crazy these days?

There’s only so much TV one can watch, and a quarantine summer is my chance to read all these books I’ve been stockpiling for months! As I mentioned in a recent post, I got a new kindle paperwhite and am breaking it in well.

I linked my list below to Amazon for ease and availability, but note, there is a new online ordering site, Book Shop, that raises money for independent bookstores. Support small business where you can.

Scar Tissue

Anthony Kiedis and Larry Sloman

This is the autobiography of Anthony Kiedis of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. It shows you every facet of his life—a horrendous drug addiction, living on the streets, all the women he’s been with, inner workings of the band, and why he is the way he is. A true rock-n-roll memoir.

The Vanishing Half

Brit Bennett

Al look at the divergent lives and complicated friendship of twin sisters from a small Southern town at very different stages of life. It touches on family, identity, and what it means to belong, motherhood, power dynamics, and privilege in its many forms.

Love Warrior

Glennon Doyle

Both of these next two memoirs, about an addict’s experience in marriage, love, and recovery are on my list. Love Warrior, by Glennon Doyle Melton, is a memoir describing Melton’s marriage nearly coming to an end due to infidelity and the road she traveled back to happiness. Also, the story of the way human beings relate to one another based on the roles society has assigned to them. 

Untamed

Glennon Doyle

Untamed is both a memoir and a wake-up call of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. P.S., Though Love Warrior provides important context to Untamed, I hear you don’t necessarily have to read it before diving into Untamed.

The Holdout

Graham Moore

Legal drama–meets–murder investigation set in Los Angeles. A jury on a famous murder case gets together ten years later to record a documentary, and one of the jurors is killed the night before filming begins. You’ll try to figure out who killed the juror, why, and whether the original jury was right with their sentence.

Becoming

Michelle Obama

In her memoir, Michelle chronicless the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address with unerring honesty and lively wit.

How to Murder Your Life: A Memoir

Cat Marnell

At the age of 15, as she says, Cat Marnell unknowingly set out to murder her life. The memoir deals with Marnell’s childhood in a wealthy D.C. suburb, her introduction to drugs, her entry into the world of fashion journalism and her continued struggles with addiction which constantly threatened to torpedo her career.

When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead

Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man

Jerry Weintraub

The book is a selective autobiography of Jerry Weintraub’s life, which picks up the most entertaining and pivotal stories and moments. Jerry led an incredible life working with Elvis, Frank Sinatra, producing the Karate Kid and Ocean’s 11 to just name a few successes. It’s an easy and entertaining read with lots of learnings and takeaways.

Tools of Titans

The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers

Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss has interviewed over 200 world-class performers for his podcast, ranging from super celebs (Jamie Foxx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc.) and athletes (icons of powerlifting, gymnastics, surfing, etc.) to legendary Special Operations commanders and black-market biochemists. This book contains the distilled tools, tactics, and inside stories from the interviews to apply to your own life.

The Alice Network

Kate Quinn

In this novel two women, a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947, are brought together in a story of courage and redemption.

American Wine: A Coming-of-Age Story

Tom Acitelli

This book is not a general history of American wine consumption. Rather, it’s a story about the cultural evolution of fine wine in America, and how vital immigrant winemakers were to the development of American fine wine. About my favorite subject, this is easily consumable and refreshing.

A Good Neighborhood

Therese Anne Fowler 

A gripping contemporary novel that examines race, class and the American dream through the lens of two families living side by side in an idyllic neighborhood, over the course of one summer that changes their lives irrevocably.

So You Want to Talk about Race

Ijeoma Oluo 

One for the times. Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects of race, ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of our lives.

Luckiest Girl Alive

Jessica Knoll 

At first glance, 28-year-old Ani appears to have a perfect life. She works as an editor at a glamorous women’s magazine and has a loving fiancé from a good family. Yet Ani also hides a secret—as a teenager she underwent a series of horrifying events that have continued to impact her. As the story progresses Ani begins to question whether she is truly happy with who she has become, and if her current life is the one she wants and needs.

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Great reads, and beautiful feeds, too! For more book inspiration, check out @jordys.book.club, @whatsofieread, @reviewsshewrote, and @mentallybooked.

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Have a great day!
xx—BB