Top Ten Tuesday: Summer Reads


Hello there and welcome to my first official book-ish blog post! Every Tuesday I will endeavor to write a post on the Top Ten Tuesday theme of the week, a weekly series created by The broke and the bookish. This week's theme? Summer Reads Freebie and I have a five (I'm such a rebel) must-read summer books for you to take to the beach or wherever you might find yourself.

I'll admit, I've only been to the beach twice-- I'm proudly from a landlocked state and when I was a child I was obsessed with going to the ocean. It seemed exciting and fun and what everyone else did on their summer breaks. Much to my disappointment, I didn't really see the ocean until I was senior in college, grown out of my childish fancies. The water was shockingly cold, the waves pulling on my legs with such strength that I realized the phrase I like long walks on the beach was a lie people tell others who haven't been to the beach.

Don't get me wrong-- I loved the ocean and getting to splash around in its waters...it just wasn't what I expected *waits for the gasps of horror from the beach lovers*. My second visit to the ocean didn't endear me any more, the rough waves holding me underwater until I realized that I just wasn't a beach type of girl. I'm more of a calm-waters-that-don't-house-sharks-and-death type of a girl.

So, if you're like me, then you'll be taking your summer reads to a less shark-infested-pull-you-into-its-dark-depths type of location. Let's get onto the books!

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by Lauren Graham
review coming soon!
As I imaged myself in the most improbable situation of lounging on the beach, I realized that rather than getting tangled in the intricate plots of a murder mystery, maybe I would want something easier to put down randomly ((when the sharks attack)) and pick up at a later point in time without any confusion. 

Thus, the autobiographies! 

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by Lindsey Stirling and Brooke S. Passey

You see, biographies are easy to put down when your friends want to go grab food or drinks or, you know, be social. These books are fun and engaging but not in a hide-yourself-away-from-society type of way (though if that's your type of vacationing, power to you! Just maybe these won't be your perfect vacation books). 

I love Lindsey Stirling from YouTube and was not disappointed in her autobiography-- it was fun and enlightening to see the crazy curving path that led her to where she is today. It talked about her struggles-- I would hate to be so vulnerable as a writer, but I love it when people talk about their mental struggles and all the setbacks that you don't see when you are watching the end result.

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by Jenny Lawson

I'll go ahead and admit it. 

I didn't finish this book. I know, I know, how could I ever recommend it?? However, the reason I didn't finish this book was not because it wasn't funny. It was hilarious laugh-out-loud-until-people-in-the-airport-think-you're-crazy funny. I have this whole theory about taking a break after finishing a book to allow you to process before jumping into a new book, a theory that I threw out with this book and started it the second I finished another book. It's a thing. I'm complicated. Long story. Point is-- this book is great, a satirical sacrilegious autobiography.  


Okay, when I was taking this imaginary stroll on a beach I realized that while books were great, sometimes the point of being a cool new location was to, you know, see the cool new location. 

But maybe you want to have both! And you safely can have it all with *drumroll* audiobooks. 


 
written and read by Tyler Oakley

Y'all.

Tyler Oakley reading his book  Binge is kind of the best thing ever. He's a YouTube celebrity with a great sense of humor and a knack for telling funny engaging stories. Do yourself a favor and get the audiobook version of this from your local library (or like spend money or whatever) as opposed to just the book. Either works but I loved listening to him read the book. 

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written and read by Hannah Hart

And lastly is an audiobook I can't wait to get my hands on and listen to. I think Hannah Hart is hilarious and I can't wait to listen to her stories-- perfect for the long drive home on my hypothetical summer vacation. 


And that's it! Five books to check out during your summer vacation. Man I miss actually real month-long summer breaks that I had while in school. But oh well! I can't even complain, as a grad student I only have one foot in the real world (as I do have a job researching and teaching) and one foot still in academia (my hours y'all. so good). 

What books did you put in your possibly-real beach bag? Which summer reads do I need to check out? Does anyone unequivocally like beaches? Inquiring minds need to know.

4 comments

  1. Honestly I went to the beach at least once a summer as a kid and normally more than once and I'm not a big beach fan. It's fine but sand gets everywhere and it's essentially nature's glitter so it's impossible to ever get rid of. Plus the water on the coast is really soft so I never feel clean and we're not even going to talk about my hair! This is a great group and I love your logic! I need to try Hannah Hart's book. And if you're looking for another audio the audio of Jenny Lawson's books are amazing. I listened to her 2nd book, Furiously Happy, on audio and it was sooo good!

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    1. Haha that's true-- sand is the glitter of natural world. Everyone always wants 'beachy' waves for their hair and sea salt sprays but my hair never looked great after swimming in the ocean.
      Interesting, I'll put that on my to-read/listen to list! :)

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  2. I'm in a landlocked (and desert) state as well and, as much as I love the water, the beach simply doesn't appeal to me. I'm odd, I guess.

    I loved Let's Pretend This Never Happened, even as heart-wrenching as it was at times. Jenny Lawson is hysterically funny and I hope you go back and finish it one day.

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    1. Well at least you're not the only odd one here ;) I really should get back to it-- I think the problem was it was much more sacrilegious/satirical than the book I had just finished so it was a bit of a tone shock, even if it was hilarious.

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