Mid Year Reading Check In

I’ve read 48 books at this point in the year. I feel good about my progress towards hitting my goal of 100 books.

I’ve re-read childhood favorites. I’ve read the classics. I’ve read the books that everyone is posting about. I can see that I have a delicious summer ahead of reading. But for now, in case you are looking for a summer book, I’m going to share my top 7 of the 48 I’ve read. I know 7 feels like a random number, but it was impossible to keep it to 5 with this selection.

My top 7 are as follows:

1. Heart the Lover by Lily King

2. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

3. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

4. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

5. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue

6. Strangers by Belle Burden

7. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

It may seem like just the names of some of the most popular reads of the year, but if it’s not broke, don’t fix it!

All kidding aside, my goal for the second half of the year is to read less of the current popular circulation. I think there is a lot of fun in reading what everyone else is currently reading. Who doesn’t love being able to talk about books with friends?! But also, I am planning on going to the library and picking up what looks good to me, with no outside influence. I need a cleanser from the NYT Best Seller list and the Bookstagrammer recommendations.

Summer is a really heavy reading season for me for a few reasons:

1. I work as an admin at a school, so my schedule is much more flexible in the summer and I have more free time

2. I live at the beach and spend many days reading in the sun by the ocean, jumping in when I get too hot, and then back to the sun

3. I seem to be able to wake up and get time reading in before work, which for some reason feels harder in other points of the year

I feel really lucky that I live as close to my public library as I do. Yesterday, I finished work, walked over (yes, walked!) returned my book and picked up another before walking home. The entire interaction took me 10 minutes. As a reminder, your public library is your best friend. I wish for all the people I know who want to get back into reading that they would get a library card.

I hope everyone has a summer of good reading, a series of really delightful books. I hope you read with your morning coffee, on your back porch, by the beach, under the covers at night. I hope you read wherever it makes you happy.

XO

Emma