Life has been crazy over here, but one thing that never changes? My enthusiasm for a great book to read on a hot summer afternoon. My reading life isn’t as robust as it used to be since I now run my own full-time business, but when I do get a chance to sit down with a book, I absolutely savor every minute.
I unintentionally skipped making a summer reading list last year in 2025, so I have a LOT of great books on my radar that I want to get around to! I try to make my summer reading lists an equal blend of serious and light, nonfiction and fiction, self-growth and just-for-fun. Unlike many summer reading list round-ups, my summer lists are comprised of the books I myself am planning to read this summer and am particularly enthused about, rather than a list of books I’ve already read that I’m recommending to you.
Really excited about this year’s line-up, and I’d love to hear what you’re planning on reading this summer in the comments!
Past Summer Reading Lists: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019
Note: There are Amazon affiliate links below if you click on the titles, which means I may get a small commission on any purchases made.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
I know, I know–I’m a little late to the party on this one. But I have been seeing this novel composed entirely of letters EVERYWHERE, and I finally must know for myself why the Unofficial Book Club of America has been buzzing over this title for over a year. Sybil Van Antwerp has written letters all her life, to everyone from her favorite authors to the president of the local university who won’t let her audit a class. But there is one person to whom she writes often but never sends the letters, and finally, when letters from her past resurface, she realizes it’s maybe time to send them at last. I’m super excited for this one!
What Do You Say? by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson
I have an unofficial “Top 10 Best Books of My Whole Life” list, and one of the unquestionable frontrunner books on that list is The Self-Driven Child, written by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson. When I discovered that they’d written another book together, this one all about effective communication between parents and children specifically geared towards helping kids build the skills they talk about in their first book (self-motivation, stress tolerance, etc.), I immediately clicked “Buy Now.” I find their practical, highly applicable, science-based, and warm style of writing easy to follow and very encouraging, and I love that unlike so many parenting books, this one doesn’t rely on fear, guilt, or shame to try and force you into parenting a certain way. All they do is share the science, strategies, and experiences from their plethora of years as therapists to help aid you as a parent, and if it’s anything like their other book, I anticipate that this one will help me a lot in managing and parenting MYSELF.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
This one has absolutely exploded in popularity since being released not too long ago (helped along of course by Anne Hathaway purchasing the film rights to it), and I’ve gotta admit, it’s got me curious enough to read it now. The basic premise is that an enormously popular influencer in the “tradwife” movement who espouses the virtues of old-fashioned homemaking and homesteading skills is not actually living the life she shows — her highlight reel never shows the nannies, the producers, the modern equipment hidden behind cupboards, the wealth and power. But one day, she wakes up to find that something is off — the picture-perfect homestead life she’s been building has shifted, and she seems to have gone back in time to a true farming homestead. I’ve heard this is weirdly psychological and a bit part-thriller, since you don’t know exactly what to believe and what’s going to happen next. Not gonna lie, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this one. (One thing I have heard from multiple people? Go into it knowing that no one in the book is likable.)
The Way of Excellence by Brad Stulberg
I’ve followed Brad Stulberg for years on Instagram and have always appreciated his insights into what excellence really is and how to achieve it. He’s not afraid to call out popular concepts that are really just fluff, and he draws from a wide net of examples (several from sports and business) to make his points. If you like books like Atomic Habits or Essentialism or Deep Work, you’ll probably like this one, too–it’s right up there in the same vein and has already made it onto several bestseller lists.
Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser
Every summer, I try to put a few books on my list outside of my normal wheelhouse. Sometimes they’re books of essays or short stories, sometimes they’re thrillers or sci-fi, but this one is a fairytale retelling, which definitely counts as outside of my normal reading spread. This one is a deep dive into the “real” story of Cinderella’s wicked stepmother — the Lady Tremaine. Is she really as bad as she’s been made out to be, or did life deal her a cruel hand, and she’s forced to make tough decisions in the wake of it all? This has been getting some early buzz on Goodreads, and I found it an intriguing premise from the get-go as soon as I saw it crop up on my Book of the Month selection list (which, BTW, Book of the Month is still totally my favorite way to treat myself. If you love books, it will be right up your alley. You can get your first hardcover for just $5 by going through my link!).
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
If you follow our farm on Instagram, you’ll know that this spring has been brutal for farmers in the west, specifically in Utah. Insane temperature swings killed off most of our spring crops, and we’ve had to scramble to try and figure out what to do and how to stay operational. I was in the market for a book for entrepreneurs that talked about what to do when the going gets tough, and this was the top book that was recommended. It’s definitely geared more towards people doing tech start-ups or more traditional companies (aka, office-centered, not agricultural), but I’m hoping to still get some good reminders on grit and making the tough calls during this particular season in our journey.
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
I really enjoyed The Help, so when I saw that Stockett had finally come out with her next novel, it was a no-brainer to add it immediately to the list. We once again go back in time in Mississippi for this one, except for instead of going back to the 1960’s, we’re now in the midst of the Great Depression (a period in time that has always FASCINATED me). Once again, multiple women’s viewpoints will develop and then converge in unexpected ways, and I am here for it. Early reviews have overall been positive, though not quite as explosive as The Help. Definitely still willing to give it a shot, though!
Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
I’m always trying to read business books with high ratings whenever I can, and this one sounds both like it might be fun for the stories AND valuable for the insights. When Guidara was in his twenties, he took over a struggling fine dining restaurant in New York called Eleven Madison Park. Eleven years later, the restaurant was named the best restaurant in the world. The book talks about how the transformation came about, as well as the tenets of Guidara’s leadership philosophies, particularly about giving people more than they expect. Really excited to read this one with our flower farm in mind.
Middlemarch by George Eliot
I actually started this one back in the winter, but I really want to finish it this summer, so I’m putting it on here. I took a long break from the classics for the past several years as I just had so much going on and didn’t have much bandwidth to get into meatier reads, but I finally had some time to breathe back in January and February and decided to finally get into this book that I’ve been meaning to read for many, many years now. (Side note: What’s made this one even more fun to get into is that I’ve been using ChatGPT to explain certain cultural and literary references as I go, which makes me feel like I’m in a self-paced literature course, and it has made my reading of it so rich and so fun.) Middlemarch basically asks the question — what happens when a person with an extraordinary dream or vision beyond their time is placed into an environment intent on keeping things exactly as they’ve always been? While I went in expecting something more similar to Jane Austen, this time period is a bit later than that, with all the social and economic reform that was coming along with that. If you go in expecting witty romance and charming small time life, you will not get it here. If you want a fascinating character study on how small towns affect the relationships and ambitions of the people therein, this might be up your alley if you don’t mind some density with your reads.
Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
I loved, loved, loved Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks and had it highlighted left, right, and center. I love books that condense big ideas into powerful sound bytes, and I think this should do just that. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of the big picture, ya know?
The Favorites by Layne Fargo
This is another one that didn’t come on my radar until Book of the Month released it a few months back, but it sounds like a great pick for a summer read — a little romance and lots of page-turning drama set in the elite figure skating world. Unlikely duo Katarina and Heath both come from troubled backgrounds, but the pair lights up the international stage on the ice…until a scandal tears them apart. This book is written documentary-style, and lots of people have compared it to Daisy Jones and the Six, which was definitely a memorable read from a few summers back. Should be an intriguing one, at any rate!
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
I’d never heard of this compilation of quotes until James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) recommended it in his excellent weekly newsletter as a book he recommends to everyone. While I do wish it was more like an actual book instead of just a compilation of posts, tweets, etc. and formatted into different categories, I’ve perused enough of it to know that it’s probably worth a read, even if it’s a bit unconventional in its format. I like when people make me think of finance and entrepreneurship in a new way, and I think this will do just that.
Heart the Lover by Lily King
This is my wild card literary pick of the summer. I’ve read a previous book by the author (Writers and Lovers) and felt like the writing was good but the book as a whole was just so-so. However, I’ve heard pretty good things about this one, and so I’m willing to give King another shot. The vibe of this one reminded me a bit of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow with a dash of The Secret History. Think: love triangles, a little dark academia, lots of witty banter and deep dives into the topic at hand (in this case, 17th century literature)…sounds like it could just be a winner for me if I’m in the right mood for something a little out of left field.
How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty by Simone Stolzoff
This brand new release sounds like the book I’ve probably needed for the past decade as I’ve finally come to realize that so much of my worry and anxiety stems from my tendency towards perfectionism and my love of feeling in control in my life. But as life has continued to show me over and over again, we simply cannot bring everything into our control, and it’s futile to try. So the other alternative is to embrace what we CAN do and learn to accept the parts that we cannot control, influence, or change. Early reviews of this one are decent, and if a self-help book is based in actual research and compellingly written, I’m here for it.
Land by Maggie O’Farrell
The last book on my list is the latest release by Maggie O’Farrell all about the Potato Famine in Ireland, which is a period in history I’ve always wanted to learn more about. I’ve always intended to read more books by O’Farrell too (her writing in the one novel of hers I have read — This Must Be the Place — really impressed me), and this one seems a little less intense than Hamnet, which is also on my TBR. The premise of this one seems a little vague (a father and son are tasked with mapping the whole of Ireland in the mid 1800’s and come across a discovery that will change the entire trajectory of their lives), but early reviews are coming in strong. This title will be released in early June.
I think I’ve got an excellent lineup for this summer, and I cannot WAIT to dive in! What’s on your TBR list this season?