How to Design Your Summer Reading List: A Guest Post by Gretchen Rubin
For many of us, summer means good weather and longer days of sunlight, less structured schedules, and time off from school or work. For me and for many people, summer means more time for reading.
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Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World
Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World
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Paperback $20.00
We’re big fans of Gretchen Rubin’s science-based self-explorations. From The Happiness Project to Life in Five Senses, she has proven to be an engaged and insightful guide in the quest for a better life.
We’re big fans of Gretchen Rubin’s science-based self-explorations. From The Happiness Project to Life in Five Senses, she has proven to be an engaged and insightful guide in the quest for a better life.
Every year on the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast, my sister and I discuss “Designing Your Summer,” inspired by writer Robertson Davies, who observed: “Every man makes his own summer.” Through our reading lists, we can give our summer a particular vibe, to make the season feel distinctive and special.
To make my summer distinctive, I give myself a reading theme. One year it was the “Summer of Proust”; another year, it was the “Summer of Re-reading.” This year, I’m planning my “Summer of Abraham Lincoln,” in his role as storyteller.
But there are many ways to design your summer reading list. You might…
- Explore a single genre—read several mysteries, sci-fi, thrillers
- Go deep into an author or a subject—read Octavia Butler’s novels or books about wine-making
- Read to learn more about a travel destination—the more you know, the more you notice
- Survey your piles of unread books—shop your shelf!
- Listen to podcasts such as Backlisted or What Should I Read Next? to get great suggestions
- Wander the aisles of your local bookstore or library to see what catches your eye
- Tackle the books you’ve always meant to read
- Read books that others are recommending to you—this is a great way to draw closer to other people
- Re-read some favorite books from childhood—when we bring more to our reading, we get more from it; Charlotte’s Web or The Hobbit are very different reading experiences at different ages
- Have a five-senses summer: Read my latest New York Times bestseller Life in Five Senses, follow along with my Five-Senses Journal, and plan some adventures to tap into your senses
One of my top tips for getting more reading done? Read what you want! You’ll be astonished at how much more reading you can get done when you read books you love instead of books you feel like you “should” read. Also, stop reading a book if you lose interest; that way, you’ll have more time to read the books you love.
More tips for getting more reading done this summer:
- If you need it, create accountability—join a book club or have an accountability partner with whom you check in about your reading
- Design your perfect reading environment. Do you need a better reading light? A little table on which to put your coffee cup? A comfortable outdoor chair so you can read in the backyard?
- Track your progress—many people love to note the books they’ve read, and seeing that list grow is very satisfying
- A tip from poet and critic Randall Jarrell: “Read at whim! Read at whim!”
Some recommendations to get you started:
My favorite summertime reads:
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
- The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
- Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
What I’m excited to read this summer:
- The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words by Ronald C. White, Jr.
- Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T. Phillips
- Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
I find that by designing my summer reading, I make my summer feel more distinctive, more set apart from the rest of the year. I enjoy feeling that the summer months have a different flavor from September-May.
Want to learn more about my work, and how to be happier this summer and all year long? Subscribe to my popular Five Things newsletter, where I share my observations and insights from my ongoing study of happiness, and purchase my latest book, Life in Five Senses.