Tell Me What To Read: Summer 2017 Reading Picks
You guys seriously never fail.
And I think the recommendations on Monday’s post were the best they’ve ever been in all the years I’ve been doing this series (since 2009!). There were so many good suggestions, plus mini descriptions of them that made them all sound so appealing.
I requested at least twenty or thirty titles from my library and now I need to start doing some arm workouts so I’m strong enough to carry my library haul next week.
Anyway! Here’s what I’ve picked for this round: a non-fiction title I’d never heard of, a young adult historical fiction/romance, and a middle grade fantasy that everyone is raving about.
I’d love it if you read along too.
P.S. Some of the suggestions were for books I’ve already read (and I’ve reviewed some of them too, if you want to see what I thought!):
- When Breath Becomes Air (review here) by Paul Kalanithi
- Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool
- The Wednesday Wars (review here) by Gary D. Schmidt
- The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell (reading this right now!)
- Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (review here) by J.D. Vance
- Daughter of Smoke and Bone (review here) by Laini Taylor
- The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
- The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
- Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonds Rhimes
- The War that Saved My Life (review here) by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
- The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- The Nightingale (review here) by Kristin Hannah
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio
- The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas
And if you’d like a printable copy of this list that you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!
So I obviously wasn’t quick enough to suggest something for you when you asked, but I still feel the need to throw in a couple of great books I’ve read this year: This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel (the topic itself sort of turned me off when I read a synopsis somewhere, but I forgot about it by the time I read it and ended up loving it), The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel, and The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak.
Ooh you should definitely listen to Echo! The narration is superb and there is music (and not just harmonica music) throughout the whole book to fit with the story. I recently reread it in paper form and it felt like something was missing.
Echo is SO good on audio!
I loved Echo! You should definitely listen to the audiobook!
I will definitely put the June and July picks on hold!
I loved the premise of Loving My Actual Life, but I personally thought it was nowhere near as well done as Gretchen Rubin’s books. Interested to see what you think though!
I’d love to know what you thought of The Year of Living Danishly, as I picked it for our book group meeting, and it wasn’t that well received. I really enjoyed it, though, and also enjoyed Leap Year, which came out a few months ago.
My Lady Jane is awesome! Hope you love it! 🙂
I love Echo! It’s long, but such a beautiful story. And I had seen your June pick ages ago and forgot all about it. I’m in!
I read ‘Loving My Actual Life Last Year’ – and I’m still thinking about it. It is a lot like Gretchen Rubin’s ‘The Happiness Project’ (which changed my life) – but with a biblical foundation, which I loved.
Your other two picks are on my to-read list, so I’m going to try to read along with you in June and July!
My Lady Jane is so great and the audio is amazing! If you have access to it, I highly recommend the audio!!
Wow…. I hope you get to this one with all the comments that made it in before me! Looks like someone might have tried to spam your comment section… That’s the worst!
Anyway, I would HIGHLY recommend listening to the Audiobook of Echo. I’m a huge reader, and I love a good audiobook. Echo is the best audiobook that I’ve ever listened to! Not to give anything away, but the story has a lot of music mentioned in it, and the audiobook version incorporates the music that the characters are talking about into the story and its absolutely beautiful! I got it from my library with no issues (didn’t even have a hold line on OverDrive), so hopefully the same is true for you!
Did you ever get around to reading Loving My Actual Life? Just curious what you though about it. The older I get the more I realize that I don’t have time for bad (or even meh) books. Your reading tastes closely parallel my own (even more so than MMD) so I was just curious what your thoughts were on this one. I don’t see a review on your blog or a rating on Goodreads. Thanks!
I haven’t read it yet, but I just downloaded the audio version so I’m planning on it ASAP!