Three Book Recommendations for Your Summer Reading

Need some recommendations for your library? Here are three books I am glad crossed my path. Feel free to click on the links and order your book through our website. It’s convenient and helps to support Family Footnote. 

Reading Pleasures

There is nothing like a good book, and I’ve recently found many great ones. Three of my favorites are Where the Crawdads Sing, Daisy Jones and The Six, and Becoming. It was a long winter, and these books helped me through it. 

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I am absolutely hooked on Reese Witherspoon’s book club called Hello Sunshine. I find she and I have similar tastes in literature, and I have purchased some of the books she told me to. Where the Crawdads Sing and Daisy Jones and The Six are two of them. 

Where the Crawdads Sing centers around the life of Kya, or Marsh Girl, according to the town folk. At first, readers know Kya as a victim of extreme poverty who is eventually abandoned by her family left to fend for herself in a shack on the marsh. Being too young to leave the marsh on her own, she stays and finds a way to live off of the land. Kya meets two different boys throughout her life, and learns a lot from both. This book is gorgeously written, highlighting the beauty of nature and the incredible way we learn from it. Add in a murder mystery, and Where the Crawdads Sing is the perfect book. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I did use Instagram to reach out to Owens letting her know she is, in fact, one of my spirit authors. I’m happy to say she responded to me. I am fangirling hard and am super excited that she took the time to respond to my message. Although my kids don’t seem to think this is a big deal, my fellow English teachers gave me the congrats I needed. She’s the coolest. 

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I am completely aware that you should not judge a book by its cover, but this cover captivated me. Daisy Jones is a young woman in LA in the seventies, trying to make it big. 

Everything about Daisy Jones is big: her earrings, her hair, her personality, her fame, and her addictions, but her vulnerability around music is what draws people to her. Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, Daisy Jones and The Six is an oral history of a band’s rise and fall in the seventies. I loved the way Reid told this story from multiple perspectives. The interview style of writing was new to me, and I fell in love with the characters, their faults, and their successes.

Reid discusses her inspiration for the book on Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine book club website. When she was young, she caught Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in a sweet moment on stage. “Lindsey stopped strumming for a moment and Stevie let it fly as he watched from the sideline. And for one split second—truly, a slice of a moment—Lindsey put his fist under his chin and looked at Stevie as if she was a miracle…Life is rarely as clean as the art we make from it. But still, I keep wondering.”

Reid’s writing is as gorgeous as this story. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoyed the magic around the music of the sixties and seventies.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

A few blog posts ago, Kelly mentioned audio books for working out and cleaning. I am now hooked on non-fiction listening. Becoming by Michelle Obama is less about politics and more about maintaining normalcy as a mother and professional woman, while also being the first lady. 

Michelle Obama is a beautiful writer, and I found myself really enjoying this book as I ran, completed yard work, or cleaned my floors. Her life’s journey from Chicago to Washington D.C. was so interesting to listen to, and her story of raising her children in the spotlight (as many presidential families have to) was compelling. As a working mother myself, I found myself nodding along to many of the choices she made regarding her daughters and their well-being. Becoming was an investment of time (it took 17 hours to listen to it in its entirety), but it’s an investment I’m glad I made.

Which books are captivating you this summer? We would love to hear about them. Stay tuned later this week for my summer streaming recommendations.