Summer Reads for the Harried Mind

If you’re like me, it’s hard to find time to find time to pick up a good book these days. With work, family obligations, social time and everything else on my plate, good reads tend to be placed next to my bed where they gather dust for months at a time. One of my slow down summer goals is to find more time to sit and really read (meaning, not reading a magazine while watching the E! network). Actually, that was one of my goals last summer as well, and even though I have sort of fallen off the bandwagon, I wanted to share with you some of the best books I have devoured lately, in hopes that it might be a good start for you. Happy reading!

The Night Circus – This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I will admit, it took me a while to get into it. But holy wow, once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. This magical story of two nemeses whose life becomes about destroying each other, even as they fall in love, is spellbinding. The story is unfolded within the context of a otherworldly circus, and the visuals plus the rich backstory will transport you to another world.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened – This book, written by hilarious blogger Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) had me snorting with laughter. Maybe you have to have a particular sense of humor to get this one, but I so, SO do. Lawson tells the story of her life as only she can, with lots of stories (mostly true) with endings that will have you snorting with laughter too! I highly recommend this one, especially if you’re in need of some humor in your life.

Daring Greatly – I came upon the work of Brene Brown when I was at one of my lowest points in 2012. I hated my job, I was unfulfilled, I was dealing with some family trouble and I was just in the dumps. I heard about Brown from her incredible TED Talk (you should go watch it right now) and was so excited when I heard she had a new book coming out. Daring Greatly did not disappoint. The title comes from the quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

If you’re at a place in your life where you need a bit of ooomph or a push in the right direction, this is a great place to start.

The Matched Trilogy – Sick of vampires and you’ve already read all of the books in the Hunger Games series? Well, this is a good one for you. This trilogy follows the lives of teenagers in a time when the world is ruled by committees collectively called “The Society.” They have eliminated many diseases and scourges of human life, but now every move of the people is dictated by the Society. The story starts with a young girl who finds out that she has been matched (how Society dictates who will marry who) with the wrong person, and this leads her and many in her life to discover all of the horrible things Society has done to achieve this life for the people. The most recent volume of the trilogy just came out and I’m in the midst of it right now. I can’t wait to see how the series ends!

How about you? Any great reads I should add to my list?