SUMMER READING

School’s out! Time to read for fun! Here is my definitive list of books (not horror!) to get sunscreen all over, to kill mosquitoes with, to drop into a lake, dry out, and keep reading.

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

FOR FANS OF: Otessa Moshfegh, therapy, bees, and bisexuality

I have recommended Big Swiss to my therapist, my mom, and anyone else who is legally required to listen to me. Jen Beagin’s 2023 novel follows Greta, a depressed, bisexual, off-putting woman who lands a job as a transcriber for a sex therapist in Hudson, New York and becomes intimately familiar with the clients’ voices. Every decision Greta made, every time she opened her mouth, I cringed, laughed out loud, and deeply related to her. This is required reading for this summer!! Text me when you’re done and we can make a trip to The Spotty Dog Books and Ale.

Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth

FOR FANS OF: Nightbitch, the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country

After reading and reviewing her previous novel Motherthing, Ainslie Hogarth had me hooked. Normal Women focuses on a woman who moves back to her hometown and becomes fixated on the idea that her (completely healthy) husband will die, leaving herself and her daughter with no income. She is grappling with her lack of independence when she discovers the yoga sex cult that will change her life.

Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

FOR FANS OF: crime and being obsessed with your older sister(s) (not a crime)

The least amusing book on this list, Alexis Schaitkin’s Saint X watches our main character Claire’s older sister being found dead on a Caribbean vacation and then her accidentally reacquainting herself with the prime suspect years later as an adult. This is a gut-wrenching, slow-moving psychological thriller that begs the question: do we ever really know someone, even if they’re family?

Interesting Facts about Space by Emily Austin

FOR FANS OF: true crime, being fearful, lesbian sex

FOR HATERS OF: bald men, setting boundaries

Emily Austin, in both this novel and her earlier work Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead, writes about a specific type of woman: unmoored, anxious, and searching for meaning. She captures the idiosyncrasies of the modern 20-something in a beautiful, lovely, funny, relatable way while shunting her characters into unique situations. Enid, the main character, yearns to be loved without being known. She juggles quite the wide range of problems including but not limited to: getting to know her father’s second family, her paranoia that someone has been breaking into her apartment, her job at the Canadian Space Agency, being deaf in one ear, Tinder hookups with married women, and her depressed mother. Every character in this book is unique, sometimes terrible, and always very, very real.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

FOR FANS OF: living, laughing, and loving

And finally, the silliest, easiest book on this list. I’m sorry, but Emily Henry yanks on my heartstrings and I’m not afraid to admit it. Funny Story is a steamy, sweet summer romance about Henry’s favorite genre: what if girls who love books also got hot boyfriends? and who am I to argue with that?!

HAPPY READING!!!!! HAPPY SUMMER!!!! If you guys read enough I’ll buy you a pizza party!!!!