Were you one of the kids who looked forward to that summer reading list your teacher distributed, or did you groan in agony? Summer reading meant The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Red Badge of Courage, Pride and Predjudice, and Slaughterhouse Five, just to name a few classics.
Before the days of the Kindle or Ipad, there were those things called books. Paperbacks were always reliable partners for beach reading. How often did you pull a favorite paperback out of your tote bag and fondle the beloved, dog-eared and water stained pages? Those pages held more than literary friends. They held memories of family vacations and the scent of coco butter-sunscreen-days. Yes, it’s paperbacks for me. But, regardless your fiction or non-fiction delivery system of preference, there is nothing better than a good book. Especially if it comes highly recommended by a friend.
To that end, we have developed a summer reading list for Prime Women. Enjoy them on your next adventure, vacation getaway – or really, anytime you want a little escape.
Lilac Girls
New York Times Bestseller. For readers of The Nightingale and Sarah’s Key, inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this remarkable debut novel reveals the power of unsung women to change history in their quest for love, freedom, and second chances.
The Color of our Sky
In the spirit of Khaled Hosseini, Nadia Hashimi and Shilpi Somaya Gowda comes this powerful debut from a talented new voice—a sweeping, emotional journey of two childhood friends in Mumbai, India, whose lives converge only to change forever one fateful night.
Who We Were Before
A weekend in Paris might be Zoe and Edward’s last hope for reconciliation, but mischance sees them separated before they’ve even left Gare du Nord. Lost and alone, they must try to find their way back to each other—and find their way back to the people they were before. But is that even possible?
The Light Between Oceans
The years-long New York Times bestseller and major motion picture from Spielberg’s Dreamworks is “irresistible…seductive…with a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page,” (O, The Oprah Magazine).
Woman of God
The world is watching as historic crowds gather in Rome, waiting for news of a new Pope, one who promises to be unlike any other in the Church’s history. Some followers are ecstatic, but the leading candidate has made a legion of powerful enemies.
Sudden Death
A daring, kaleidoscopic novel about the clash of empires and ideas, told through a tennis match in the sixteenth century between the radical Italian artist Caravaggio and the Spanish poet Francisco de Quevedo, played with a ball made from the hair of the beheaded Anne Boleyn. “Brilliantly original. The best new novel I’ve read this year.”
– Salman Rushdie
The Nightingale
The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, World War II France–a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women.
All the Light We Cannot See
Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).
A few less recent, but excellent additional summer reading list recommendations:
South of Broad
Surviving marriages happy and troubled, unrequited loves and unspoken longings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, as well as Charleston, South Carolina’s dark legacy of racism and class divisions, these friends will endure until a final test forces them to face something none of them are prepared for.
Remarkable Creatures
A voyage of discovery, two remarkable women, and an extraordinary time and place enrich this New York Times bestselling novel by Tracy Chevalier, author of At the Edge of the Orchardand Girl With a Pearl Earring.
Life After Life
What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? “One of the best novels I’ve read this century. Kate Atkinson is a marvel. There aren’t enough breathless adjectives to describe LIFE AFTER LIFE: Dazzling, witty, moving, joyful, mournful, profound.”-Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl
What books are on your summer reading list?
