My 2014 Summer Reading Guide

I've had several people ask me recently for book recommendations. Whenever more than about three people ask me a question, I immediately turn my response into a post. It's like blogger law, y'all.

There seems to be two approaches to summer reading guides. First, many share what they plan to read over the summer. I suppose that's fine but what if what you want to read turns out to be truly awful. No, I prefer the second approach, which is the approach my friend Anne takes on her blog The Modern Mrs. Darcy.

Side note: Anne basically writes the best summer reading guide EVER because she is a prolific reader and smart as a whip. I am an amateur at this. She is the real deal. So, after you finish with reading my guide, run on over and get her's. Seriously.

I read on average 2-3 books a month. Not exactly prolific, but nothing to slouch about either. This year I stumbled across some serious gems that I think you should add to your reading list!

All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenting by Jennifer Senior

If you have had a conversation with me in the past month, you have heard me obsessively praise this book. It is the smartest and most insightful thing I have ever read about parenting and I WRITE ABOUT PARENTING. This is not a parenting book, which no one wants to curl up with on the beach. This is a book about why parenting today is so. damn. hard. It is fantastic and BONUS I've basically stalked the author online, made her my friend, and we're going to do a google chat with all of you in mid-July! 

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)

Full disclosure: I am not exactly what one would call unbiased when it comes to J.K. Rowling. If she announced she had copied the phone book, I would run out and buy it. HOWEVER, I also don't particularly like crime novels and was skeptical that I would enjoy one - even if it was written by my favorite author. The book follows down-on-his-luck private investigator Cormoran Strike as he investigates the suicide of supermodel Lula Landry. Surprise, there's perhaps a bit more going on. The book sucks you in from the first page and won't let you go. Escapism at its best!

Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life by Emily Freeman

I am a good girl. I know. Shocking, right? I try very, very hard and sometimes all that effort becomes exhausting. Freeman uses a particularly religious lens to examine the life of a good girl but, honestly, I think what she has to say has impact no matter how spiritual you are or aren't. I read this book over a year ago and I still find myself thinking often about Freeman's thoughts on grace, the tyranny of emotions, and worthiness. 

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

I wrote about this book when I finished it earlier this year. Another book from one of my favorite authors that I wasn't sure I would like. Well, I did like it. I loved it and was completely swept away by the times and triumphs of 19th century botanist Alma Whittaker.

Tell me what good books you've read this year and we can crowdsource this whole summer reading guide thing!

This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for supporting bluegrass redhead with your purchases!

Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things

I fell in love with Elizabeth Gilbert in 2007 along with half of the female population. I read her blockbuster memoir Eat, Pray, Love and was swept away by her incredible personal struggles, wanderlust, and ultimate victory over heartbreak and self-doubt. I also loved her follow-up memoir on marriage Committed: A Love Story. When it was announced her next book would be a novel, I worried I wouldn't love Elizabeth's fiction as much as her reflections. 

How wrong I was.

I fell in love with Alma Whittaker, a 19th century botanist and the protagonist of The Signature of All Things, as quickly as I did with Elizabeth. Raised by an adventurous pharmaceutical magnate and his intellectual Dutch wife in post-Revolutionary Philadelphia, I had an obvious affinity to an only daughter allowed to dream and learn and grow as she choses.

However, Alma's intellectualism is as limiting personally as one can imagine it would be for a woman in the 1800s. As she develops a lifelong love affair with moss, her actual love life never quite begins. The central plot point of the novel is the introduction of Ambrose Pike, Alma's one true love who isn't quite what he seems.

I wasn't completely onboard with the introduction on Mr. Pike. I found his character frustrating and difficult to understand. However, his quick exit opens up a life of travel and discovery for Alma that I found enthralling. I loved how Elizabeth used Alma's personal crisis to crack open Alma's long held beliefs about those around her. 

I find it one of the hardest lessons of adulthood that our perceptions and emotions almost never represent reality and I ached for Alma as she had to learn this hard lesson over and over again. It is Elizabeth's true gift - whether in memoir or fiction - to make you sympathize with someone learning such a hard lesson in selfishness. 

Of course, better for Alma to learn the hard way then not learn at all. We all know people who continue to believe into old age that the universe revolves around them and their emotions. These people are not to be envied in fiction or real life.

I highly recommend this sweeping novel. I hope you love Alma as much as I did. 

Have you read The Signature of All Things? Share your thoughts in the comments!

---