I am a voracious fair-weather reader; meaning I consume almost all of my pleasure reading when the weather is fair – summer! I love to talk about books and hear what books people have loved reading. I have put together some reading lists of my favourite books if you are looking for some ideas for your own summer reading.

SOME OF MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITES

The Time Traveller’s Wife

by Audrey Niffenegger

This is book number one for me. I read it camping for the first time several years ago and I distinctly remember neglecting my family so I could stay with its characters, Henry and Claire, for as long as I possibly could each time I picked it up. It is a love story about how these two must endure a life together as Henry slips in and out of their lives, unable to control himself from travelling through time. I usually don’t read books a second time but this one I did – and I loved it again. I hope you like it too.

The Poisonwood Bible

by Barbara Kingslover

I don’t know that any other book has stayed with me, haunted me, like this one. It tells the story of the Price family who travels to the Congo in 1959 under the helm of the family’s patriarch Nathan Price – a strong-willed evangelical Baptist. Once there, the family endures unbearable hardships. I became obsessed with all of the conveniences in our lives while reading it. I found myself wanting to reuse things like paper towels. It also has moments of great hope and beauty. Such a powerful book. I would love to know what you think about it!

The Good Earth

by Pearl S. Buck

I have to admit – I read this book a very long time ago but it has always remained one of my favourites. Another story of how hard and beautiful life can be. It tells the story of Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-Lan and their life in China during the 1920s. I appreciated learning about Chinese culture through Pearl S. Buck’s amazing story-telling.

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

You will love getting lost in this magical book and its magical characters. What a world Morgenstern’s imagination created and that she was able to so perfectly capture in written form. A circus. Night. Black and white tents. Magicians. Competition. Love. I’m reading it again before her new novel The Starless Sea comes out in November.

The Paris Wife

by Paula McLain

This is the story of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. I became obsessed with reading up on them while reading the novel. We follow them as newlyweds to Paris where they spend their time with the greats – Stein, Poun, Scott and Fitzgeral. Their story and lives are intense, passionate and doomed. I also really enjoyed McLain’s Circling the Sun and Love and Ruin.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

by John Irving

This book, once I finally got through it after starting it several times, made me laugh a lot and reread passages over and over again. It is the story of an 11 year old boy who accidentally kills his best friend’s mother. But he does not believe in accidents because he thinks he is God’s instrument. Still, this is not a book about religion. It is about friendship and faith.

The Nightingale

by Kristin Hannah

Another ignore my family kind of book; I read this camping last summer and had to sit alone for a while after I finished it. This story is set in France in 1939 and it tells the story of two sisters and how the war confronts them and changes them. There is so much desperation in this story I wondered at times how anyone came out of the war alive.  The novel offers just enough hope to remind you how humanity can prevail in such dark times.

Here are more books that I would highly recommend.

Here are some random favourites…

Have you read Margaret Atwood since being out of high school? Brilliant!!! The bottom three books are all set during World War II.

Here are some mysteries and thrillers. Andrew Pyper is from Stratford. He is our very own Stephen King!

A few favourite non-fiction reads…

And here is the first book I plan to read on holiday this year…

What are your favourite books? Let’s get a helpful list going here!

A bit more…here is BuzzFeed’s summer list.