A collection of summer reading inspiration
A curated list of my favorite guides, links, and podcast episodes
Happy Tuesday that is Monday! How was your long Memorial Day weekend? I was solo for half the weekend, and we had the best weather here in Maine (well, minus yesterday...).
After lots of online time last week, with all the prep and excitement around the All Things Summer Reading Guide, I decided to have a full-blown, unplugged movie night on Friday. I waited until the sun went down, turned off all the lights, lit some candles, and prepped a movie night treat (a bowl of popcorn peppered with classic M&Ms and a caffeine-free Diet Coke over ice) and finally watched The Idea of You. I turned my phone off, and it was such a lovely experience. I enjoyed the movie much more than I anticipated!
Saturday, I grabbed a coffee and drove north to the Lilac Festival. I photographed to my heart's content and then met up with a friend for a drink at a new cocktail and soft-serve bar in the early evening. So fun!
Sunday, I picked Dean up from the ferry in New Hampshire after he'd been away on a reporting trip last week. We had a lovely al fresco lunch and bopped around Portsmouth for the afternoon. Then, yesterday, it rained buckets, so we escaped the rain and went to see Challengers. Overall, it was a relaxing weekend and a good kick-off to the summer season.
As mentioned above, I launched my All Things Summer Reading Guide on Friday! So many others have shared summer reading guides these last few weeks. I love perusing these lists, but I know it can also be overwhelming with so many. So today, I’m sharing some of the guides and summer reading resources I love most.
My Favorite Summer Reading Guides
I browsed many this weekend, and these ones stood out to me!
released her Paperback Summer Reading Guide, and it’s chock full of fantastic backlist book recommendations. So, if you want to skip the wait at the library or love book recommendations that you don’t see over and over in your feed, this is a fantastic guide.
If you’re looking for a guide with fewer book recommendations but guidance and inspiration for crafting a season of reading that lights you up, then has one for you! Her Summer Reading Program is so creative and fun. I used her reflection questions over the weekend while thinking about my reading season ahead.
The Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide is another annual favorite of mine! It's full of great book recommendations, and while my reading taste differs slightly from Anne's, I always discover something a little outside my box from her guides. And I adore the theme of the guide this year: summer camp! It's so fun and jam-packed with tons of delightful bookish extras (like a very fun DIY for making friendship bracelet bookmarks).
If you can't get enough new releases, Victoria has the roundup for you. The BiblioLifestyle Summer Reading Guide is full of the best new releases, broken up by category. I love that she's read all of them; they are thoughtful recommendations. She also distills the guide down into a Minimalist Edit, so you know which ones to focus on if you're only picking a few books to read.
When I visited Los Angeles last year, we visited a handful of bookstores, and one of the most delightful ones was Zibby's Bookshop in Santa Monica. It's a small store, but its shelves are organized by mood, so it was such a fun browsing experience. If you love recommendations by mood, then Zibby's Ultimate Summer Reading List is a gem.
This one is new to me this year, but I thoroughly enjoyed scrolling through Sarah's Bookshelves Summer Reading Guide and jotting down a few titles on my own list.
I’m coming back post-publishing to include a list from , which was published a few hours after this post went live. Her Lit List’s Summer Reading Guide is perfect, I love her book recommendations and the way she does deep dives in her reviews. I know our tastes overlap because I see a number of my favorites on her list, so I immediately checked out all the ones I haven’t read.
Some Fun Summer Reading Lists
Here are a few lists that I came across and enjoyed scrolling!
To Help You Get in the Summer Reading Mood
Some inspiration for getting in the summer reading mood
Are there any guides you especially loved? Link ‘em in the comments, I’d love to take a look!
‘Til next time,
THANK YOU FOR THIS! I had a wild past few weeks and feel extremely behind on all the good Substack content— this is saving me a ton of time.
We had the same Friday night, except sub the popcorn and M&Ms (Maltesers are great in this too, except I don't think they're sold in the states?) with freshly baked cookies. Yum.