The Ultimate Summer Reading Post
What I'm Reading This Summer + Best Books to Read in Summer Just Generally
All of us are trying to balance the shit of the world right now with the demands of our daily lives — a demand that feels less tenable every day. So as I’m putting together this summer reading list, I’m also reading stories of immigrants taken from their workplaces, from community fairs, from public spaces. We feel helpless, but we’re not. This week, let’s direct our desire to do *something* to the Immigrant Defense Project — which has been on the frontlines of immigrant defense for decades and is currently mobilizing to assist the thousands of immigrants and immigrant families affected by recent ICE raids.
I’ll be matching the first $500 in donations. You can donate directly here and forward me your donation email, or if it’s easier, you can Venmo me at annehelen or send money through PayPal. (I’ll post all donation receipts and keep our total updated on Instagram).
IDP also has an extensive library of resources to Know Your Rights in a dozen languages that can be readily printed out and posted in public spaces — find them here. And watch this very short reel for a super straightforward way to help when and if you see someone getting detained by ICE. Finally, if you’re in the Los Angeles or Chicago area, you can sign-up for to volunteer and aid in community assistance via Immigo here.
Earlier this month I was thinking about what I wanted to read on my summer vacation instead of doing all the things on my to-do list. It’s going to be a classic absorption vacation — a small amount of tourism followed by a lot of laying around and reading. Of course, like everyone else here, I have a towering pile of books I need to read — but I wanted summer books. Which, to me, aren’t necessarily frothy or fun (although they can be!) so much as appropriately absorbing. I want books to dive into like a pool I never want to leave — but I also want to remember them, and revel in them. It’s a tall order.
So I asked for some recs on Instagram, and asked some friends’ whose reading taste is similar to my own for some recs, and came up with my own summer reading list — which is ambitious and way too long and incredibly exciting. I’m sharing that today, along with my Hall of Fame summer/absorption vacation reads, and extending the invitation to share some of your own Hall of Famers.
This list doesn’t have to be your canon. Yes they’re all novels because that’s what I like to read on an absorption vacation. You don’t have to agree with every pick. But hopefully it gets us all (even more) excited for summer reading season.
**All links to go Bookshop — and all affiliate proceeds from Bookshop go to Indigipalooza, coming this August to Missoula, Montana.** And yes this is paywalled, it took a lot of work! There are 22 books here plus a whole bunch of backup picks!!!
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