For some moms, nothing says summer like having your toes in the sand, and a book in hand! With kids, it’s not always easy to find the time to read for pleasure, though. So we rounded up the 5 best books of the summer. Whether you have time to read one of them or read all of them, you won’t be disappointed!
1. Best Tear Jerker
If you want a book that spans both decades and continents, and tackles big ideas like love and what it means to be a family, try “And The Mountains Echoed” by Kahled Hosseini. The book opens with a father telling a fable to his young daughter and son. The next day the father makes a heartbreaking decision regarding his daughter and their family, and what follows is an epic story about loss and love. Like Kahled Hosseini’s other books, this one is filled with beautiful prose, rich characters and a setting that’ll whisk you away. You won’t want to put this book down, and the story will stick with you long after you’ve finished it.
2. Best Book for your Book Club
If you want a book you can talk about with your friends, choose “Sisterland” by Curtis Sittenfeld. This is the story of identical twin sisters, Kate and Violet, who have a kind of psychic ability. Their lives have led them in very different directions, but they’re reunited as a terrible event is set to hit their hometown. Sittenfeld is a gifted writer and she’ll draw you in to this story about family and choices, and how childhood really does play a huge part in who we become.
3. Best Summer Blockbuster
If you want a page-turner that reads like an action movie, Dan Brown’s newest novel, “Inferno,” won’t disappoint. It’s fast paced and exciting and it will make you feel like you’re hunting down clues with Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. This time the topic is Dante’s epic poem The Inferno. From Florence to Venice to Istanbul, you won’t need a vacation after this novel—you’ll feel like you’ve been around the world.
4. Best Beach Read
If you want something fun and light, but still witty and entertaining, you’ll love “Revenge Wears Prada” by Lauren Weisberger. The highly anticipated follow up to 2004’s The Devil Wears Prada, our heroine, Andy Sachs, is back and has her life in order—or so she thinks. When a secret from the past threatens to destroy her future, Andy has some choices to make, and they just might lead her right back to the devil herself.
5. Best Innovator
If you like a book with twists and turns, “Life After Life” by Kate Atkinson is the book for you. Atkinson plays with chronology in this novel about an English woman, Ursula Todd, who repeatedly dies and then is born again. Each new life is a version of the last, as Ursula moves through her lives at the beginning of the twentieth century. Think: The Time Traveler’s Wife, only more unconventional.
Honorable Mention
JK Rowling, of Harry Potter fame, is set to release her first fiction book since the end of Harry’s saga. “The Causal Vacancy” isn’t anything like Harry Potter though, and has received mixed reviews from both critics and regular readers. If you’re curious, give it a try, but you’ll have to wait until July 23rd, its official release date!
If you love to read, check out Mommy Bloggers Turned Authors for more great book suggestions.
