Books for the Beach
Summer Reading? Earn that personal pan pizza.
Living, Artfully
“Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons.”
Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller
Follow two buddies on a cross-country road trip as they find “light, God, and beauty on the open road.”
The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron
More workbook than self-help, Cameron coaches practical steps over twelve weeks for developing and maintaining a creative process for whatever craft you work in.
The Actor's Life: A Survival Guide by Jenna Fischer
Need a little business of acting inspiration? Practical and funny, the guide follows Jenna Fischer's Hollywood journey and the decade of work that came before landing her iconic role on The Office.
Classic Literature
“You don't have to dance—just get out there on the floor and shake.”
Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A collection of short stories and novellas to transport you to another era. Comic genius that doesn’t take itself too seriously yet sure to be memorable.
“There are always two deaths, the real one and the one people know about.”
The Wide Saragossa Sea by Jean Rhys
A prequel to Jane Eyre centered on Mr. Rochester's marriage. Told from the perspective of Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress, we get to know the backstory of Rochester’s “madwoman in the attic.” The novel tackles big themes of post-colonialism, race and assimilation, and relationships while focused on a fully realized heroine.
Great Illustrated Classics
Let’s be honest — a lot of classic literature are heavy books and the font is too small. The Great Illustrated Classics tell the same stories but they get to the point. And, they have pictures.
Great for young readers and adults as well. Look for that classic red font at your local library.
Christian/Theology
Summer is a time to get back to basics. Keep that heavy doctrine for the cold months & thank God in simplicity. Know Your Christian Life by Sinclair Ferguson and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis are easy reads that offer an opportunity to re-centre and admire the sweetness of an easy yoke.
“True faith takes its character and quality from its object. Its strength therefore depends on the character of Christ. Even those of us who have weak faith have the same strong Christ as others!”
“God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger - according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way.”
Historical/Non-Fiction
“Radium, he determined, was dangerous.
It was just that nobody told the girls…”
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore is a page-turning non-fiction read about the radium-dial painters who’s fight resulted in groundbreaking labor laws in the US.
You may be familiar with the plays These Shining Lives or Radium Girls — dive deeper into the true story. Well-written and engaging, the book does justice to the women who fought tenaciously for justice — their own and ours.
Plays
Heat is an incredible dramatic catalysis.
If you feel crazy under the hot sun, check out these characters…
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
All My Sons by Arthur Miller
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco
Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
