Summer Reading Stack

Notecards from your personal book concierge

Adam here…

My love of reading was nurtured by my mother in the way young infants are “nurtured” in baby swimming classes. That is, thrown into the water and snapped at until they follow the sound and float, blinking to clear water from their eyes while gasping for air. A staple of my childhood summers were daily (sometimes twice a day) trips to the library. We descended the tight, creaky stairs winding down to the basement – the house of children’s literature – where my mom insisted we check out the maximum allotment of ten books a piece. My twin brother and I could swap books and read up to twenty before returning for another ten each – making forty books a day possible and necessary to keep us at the top of the star chart leaderboards.

This sounds like I hated it. Truth is, I relished these trips. My mom made them special. She encouraged us to follow our interests and suggested topics tangential to our interests. Driving us to and from the library required sacrifice on her part, scheduling her days around ours. On our way out, we would stop under the trees at the front of the building and search for roly polys. I am grateful my mom encouraged reading and understood the doors that learning opens.

I would later spend two summers in the same space as a library helper where I would reinvigorate my love of reading between alphabetizing shelves, sneaking games of solitaire on the dusty Dell, and awaiting the high of checking patrons out with speed.

My alacrity for reading this year is akin to one of the Hungry Hungry Hippos dislocating its jaw to maximize marble intake. Metaphorically, I can’t eat enough books. The best part of any indie bookstore (not up for debate) is the staff recommendations – even better if accompanied by the little note card that gives a sentence or two of the bookseller’s thoughts. Once you get to know the habits and preferences of a particular staff member, you illuminate your book soulmates – a personal concierge to help book your next read.

READING PREFERENCES

I prefer to read books that have a strong sense of place. If I’m at the beach, I want the setting to be at the beach. It cements me in the moment and enriches both the present and the read. I like memoirs and any novel centered on dysfunctional families. The glimpse they offer into someone else’s life (fiction or not) almost matches the high of eavesdropping on the surrounding tables’ dinner conversations. To me, some books are seasonally specific. I can’t read about snow in summer.

Stepping into the role of personal book concierge, consider this my shelf of summer reading recommendations – notecards included.

*Note, I don’t give star ratings. For me, it either makes a mark or it doesn’t. That’s my criteria.

NOVELS

Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash (FICTION)

Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (FICTION)

No One’s Coming by Kevin Hazzard (NONFICTION)

Life Undercover by Amaryllis Fox (NONFICTION)

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (FICTION)

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (FICTION)

Sandwich by Catherine Newman (FICTION)

Among the Bros by Max Marshall (NONFICTION)

These Precious Days by Ann Patchett (NONFICTION)

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (FICTION)

NOVELLAS (A chance to feel superior by finishing a book in one afternoon, just in time for dinner)

*I found all of these via Ruby’s Recs who has served as my own book concierge for much of 2026.

Heating and Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly

The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt

Grayson by Lynne Cox

Ongoingness: The End of a Diary by Sarah Manguso

MY OWN SUMMER TBR PILE

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Hold Still by Sally Mann

A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett

Grab a good book and enjoy the sunshine. More screenshots soon.