Any Time of Year is Good For Reading

Reading is a grand thing any time of the year, but summer reading always has a special place in my heart. Maybe it’s the memory of those childhood summers when I’d spend entire days lost in a book.

Here’s a bit of what I’ve been reading this summer.

Down Salem Way By Someone I Know Well

I’m sure it seems a little self-serving to read my own book, but between friends, that’s one of the most wonderful things for me–when I can read my own book and get lost in the story like any other reader.

That’s how I know a book is finished–when I can read it just to read it, just to enjoy the characters’ journeys without needing to tweak anything.

London: The Biography By Peter Ackroyd

I wanted to visit London this summer, but it didn’t work out so I contented myself with reading about it instead. Peter Ackroyd wrote one of my favorite Dickens biographies, and I loved this insight into my favorite city in the world.

Everything is F*cked By Mark Manson

I loved Mark Manson’s first book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, and this second book also goes a long way in helping readers see what has genuine value in our lives and what doesn’t.

As a culture, we spend far too much time worrying about things that don’t really matter all that much. Like Manson’s first book, I’d call Everything is F*cked an anti-self-help book, which is good because I’ve grown numb to all the self-help books out there.

How To Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don’t By Lane Moore

There were times this summer when I felt as if I didn’t have one person on this planet to help me when I needed it, so I could relate to Lane Moore’s book far more than I care to admit.

This book is for anyone who has ever felt completely alone in the world, for whatever reason, which I’m pretty sure is most of us at one time or another. I think Lane was extremely brave to write this book, and I for one am grateful that she did.