Summer 2020 Reading Guide
Whatever your summertime plans may be, we hope they always include a great book! From family drama, to life transitions, to the world of social media, whether historical or futuristic, this list is sure to get you thinking and hopefully take you on some alluring adventures.
1. All Adults Here by Emma Straub
Life is filled with transitions and uncertainty, but on the other side of struggle, there’s also beauty in growing up. New York Times bestselling author Emma Straub explains one family’s life cycle and realizations in this perceptive story. After witnessing an accident, Astrid Strick questions her own parenting years earlier. Her three (now adult) children are dealing with challenges of their own, but it’s tough to discern what decisions and apologies might have been most important looking back. Perhaps it’s the most unlikely of sources, Astrid’s teen granddaughter, who’ll be the one to teach everyone a little something.
2. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
From the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Mothers, this multi-generational story will captivate you in a provocative yet wise way while navigating family, relationships, history, and race. The Vanishing Half explores the divergent lives and relationships of identical twin sisters from the 1950s to the ‘90s. Together, they grew up in a close-knit, southern black community, but ran away at the age of 16. As adults, their lives are entirely different. One sister returns to the same town they once fled, while the other is far away secretly passing as a white woman, so deep in a web of lies her husband doesn’t even know her story. In this novel, discover why some people feel compelled to live a life so far removed from their origins and why some can’t seem to ever escape.
3. Marriage Game by Sara Desai
Check out one of The Oprah Magazine’s Most Anticipated Romances of 2020. Layla Patel’s life is falling apart and she has no choice but to return home to San Francisco. Her father welcomes her back, desperately wishing for her to find happiness. He decides to start an online dating profile for Layla. While working on her entrepreneurial endeavors in her new office, an unexpected blind date comes knocking. Sam Mehta is CEO of a downsizing company and thrilled about his new office space above Layla’s father’s Indian restaurant. But after some miscommunication, he and Layla have to share the space. His perfectly designed life may implode as their connection grows deeper. But just how will they decide if it’s love?
4. The Second Home by Christina Clancy
There’s nothing to love more than a relaxing getaway on Cape Cod. But for Ann Gordon, a secret discovered after a disastrous summer forever changed her life, separating her from her sister and adopted brother. Following their parents’ deaths 15 years later, Ann and her siblings must come together to decide what to do with the generational family estate. Will they sell the home and walk away? First, old secrets are brought back to the surface to set the record straight about what happened that summer long ago. Despite complicated dynamics, their family and home may ultimately reunite them.
5. Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan
While both contemplating the current paths they’ve taken and those that lie ahead, Elisabeth and Sam are in completely different stages of their lives. Struggling as a new mom, Elisabeth is unsure of herself and the life she’s chosen. When Elisabeth hires Sam, a college student conflicted between the possibilities of life after graduation, as a babysitter, the two forge a unique friendship that becomes complicated by Sam’s adverse new relationship. Friends and Strangers explores the fluidity of life and the great impact a small period of time can have on our lives, while offering an amusing story for readers to enjoy.
