What Are You Reading This Summer?
📚 Show me yours and I'll show you mine. Plus: What's happening in my garden this week!
Hi, it’s me.
If you’re new here, welcome! Let’s be friends. If you found yourself here by accident, maybe due to a sneaky “subscribe to these newsletters too!” box that is checked by default when you signed up for someone else’s newsletter, welcome! I get a lot of people wondering how I ended up in their inbox, so little about me: I write personal stories about fear, flailing, and figuring it out, so if that’s your thing, keep reading!
(We like comments around here, too.)
About book recommendations: I don’t know that I’m the most qualified person for this job since my reading rate has tanked in the last few years. I used to read about two books a month! And now I struggle to focus. I think General Life Drama is having an impact.
When I looked at my meager reading list from 2023 when Bryan went through cancer treatment, I noticed that I only read seven books that year—three of them Before Treatment (B.T.), and four After Treatment (A.T.). I was not well, mentally, and spent all my free time watching action movies (currently drafting an essay about that).
Side note: While Bryan was recovering from cancer related surgery and we didn’t know yet if his situation was a Very Big Deal or No Big Whoop, I willingly read a book about a woman whose best friend WAS DYING OF CANCER.1 Why would I do that to myself? And why did I find it comforting?!
Anyway…
Here are a few books I recommend for summer enjoyment:
Anything by Steven Rowley
Steven Rowley became my new favorite author after I read The Guncle in 2022. After this one, I went back and read his first book, Lily and the Octopus, and last month I read his latest release, The Celebrants. From here on out, I plan to read everything he publishes. Rowley intertwines whimsy and sadness perfectly inside the world of deep love, affection, and grief.
Between The Guncle and Lily and the Octopus, I can’t decide which is my favorite. The Guncle made me laugh out loud and also cry real tears. It’s a wonderful book about loss, grieving, and eventually opening yourself up to the world again. But Lily … oh Lily… I could NOT put this book down. Full of adventure and imagination and sadness, reading this story brought all my feels to the surface. I can see myself coming back to either of these books every summer.
I most recently read The Celebrants, which is about a group of college friends who find a unique way to stay connected in the decades after college. This one felt less emotional than the first two Rowley books I mentioned, but I related to the unique comfort that long-term friendships offer, especially in seasons when I feel upended or when I’m grieving. It’s truly a gift in those dark times to be comforted by someone you’ve known since you were nineteen years old, who knows all the versions of you (maybe even more than your spouse), who can say, Yeah, but this time it’s different. You’re not the same person you used to be. You can do this.
If I ever become best friends with Rowley, I hope we get to sit next to each other by the dessert table at parties, sharing hilarious stories about dead people that we love while interrupting each other to point out how great someone looks in their dress.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
This was a very popular book last year and you’ve probably already read it, but I’m mentioning it anyway because it’s the kind of story you want to get lost in while on vacation or at the beach or perhaps while trying to suppress waves of fear and anxiety after learning that your husband’s Stage 1 cancer was supersized to Stage 3.
Anyway, like Rowley’s The Celebrants, the friendships in T3 cross decades and morph through many changes—some good, some not so good. I guess I like stories about life-long friendships.
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre, by Max Brooks
To enjoy this book, you have to be okay with its distinct storytelling style, which is through interview transcripts and journal entries found at the site of a massacre in a remote community. Bryan and I both enjoyed it, but our son Thomas did not. Well technically he didn’t read Devolution, but he read Brooks’ other book, World War Z, which uses the same storytelling style, and he never bothered to finish it. So, there’s that.
I think the first person journal entry style makes you feel more present in the moment and part of the action. I actually experienced a jump scare while reading! After a slow ramp up to set the stage, the story really takes off, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s not deep or sad or meaningful. It was pure entertainment and perfect for reading in a hammock on long summer days.
An added bonus is that the story is set locally (to me!) in a remote community on Mt Rainier, which I just visited on Sunday with my family!
Currently Reading
The Ted Lasso Relationship Guide, by Alise Chaffins
In her introduction, Alise writes:
The world feels heavy. Sometimes, our lives feel heavy. We want to believe that there is goodness to be found, but at the same time, it can be hard to discover amid so much heartache and pain. It can be large forces at work, things like racism or misogyny or homophobia - systems in place designed to demoralize and break down hope. Sometimes, it will be smaller. A fight with a partner. A hurt from our childhood. An important game loss. A misunderstanding between friends. As much as the big things can cause pain, these smaller, personal disappointments can also.
Ted Lasso showed us that all of these are important and all of them are worth addressing. It showed us the value of a heartfelt apology. It showed us the value of forgiveness. It showed us the value of teamwork. It showed us the value of friends who will let us wallow and therapists who won’t. It showed us the value of kindness.
These are themes I think about all the time and often write about. I loved the Ted Lasso series, and I look forward to finishing Alise’s deep dive into these relationships.
It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover
My daughter asked me to read this one so we could talk about it and watch the movie adaptation that’s coming out later this year. So far it doesn’t feel like a book I would have chosen for myself—I’m generally not into romancy kind of stories—but I am enjoying it and stayed up too late reading last night! Parenting Pro Tip: When your kid wants to do something with you, say YES!
What’s on your book pile this summer?
Let me know what some of your favorite summer reads are in the comments!
Until next time,
Jen
What’s Happening In My Garden This Week
Had my first peanut butter raspberry toast of the season! Our raspberry bush is right outside the front door. This time of year I literally open my door, lean over the porch railing, and plop fresh-picked raspberries onto my toast or into my yogurt. What a dream! The blueberries are starting to come in, too.
The dahlias are just starting to bloom, and the roses have already finished their first flush of the season. I’m also seeing daisies, hydrangeas, honeysuckle, and salvia. All winter long I collect empty jars of salsa and pesto so I can make tiny flower bouquets for everyone who visits.
Not pictured: Been eating home grown lettuce and scallions for weeks, the pole beans are climbing, the basil is basiling, and the tomatoes and peppers are budding. Sadly, a whole patch of onion seedlings withered away for the second year in a row. I don’t know why I can’t seem to grow onions.
We All Want Impossible Things, by Catherine Newman.
Parenting pro tip is right on. I’ve read the Colleen Hoover one. Not yet the Zevin one though I can’t tell you why. Everytime I start it I get derailed. Huzzah to Alise’a book. So exciting!
Thanks for these great recs! I could not get into Colleen Hoover, but I agree, you've got to read with your kid when they ask. Mine are in the middle of the Hunger Games. I'm mostly reading romcoms and parenting books right now