Summer is a great time to not move from a chair and read a book. Though fall, winter and spring work just as well.
The Florida heat encourages indoor activities with a fan blowing and condensation dripping down your glass of sweet tea. The notion of a summer read to accompany these “down months” has also been popular.
But not just Floridians read in the summer. Publications like the Chicago Sun-Times and Philadelphia Inquirer recently published their list of top summer reading options. The list included a new work by 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner Percival Everett and a new novel, “The Last Algorithm,” by Andy Weir of “The Martian” and “Project Hail Mary” fame.
The only problem: over half the books recommended by the Sun-Times and Inquirer don’t exist.
Both newspapers used a third-party content vendor who used a freelancer who used artificial intelligence, which used fabricated reviews to suggest nonexistent books. Oops.
The reading list also contained a fake book by Taylor Jenkins Reid, who coincidentally appears on our list. But we recommend a book she actually wrote.
I assure you that no artificial intelligence was used in the compilation of this list. It’s all-natural intelligence from the Mainstreet staff who just like to read and to share what they’ve read. Imagine that.
The Good Earth (1931)
By Pearl S. Buck
Recommended by Reporter Lillian Hamman
The narrative of Pearl S. Buck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning historical fiction novel simultaneously immerses readers into Eastern Asian culture and the moral evils laced throughout the human condition.
Buck, a former missionary in China, illustrates the life of a rags-to-riches farmer named Wang Lung in revolutionary China as he takes “his turn at this earth.” Wang Lung endures famine, purchases wives, fathers children and sows life into the earth that lives for him as he strives to surpass the greatness of a neighboring family.
Readers will ponder themes of faithfulness, wealth and the value and purpose of life as they witness each generation bearing the fruit of seeds sown into it by the one before. Buck will leave readers to wonder if any toil of man or blessing of the earth could ever redeem the generations of the earth, or be at the mercy of a God who can.
Daisy Jones & The Six (2019)
By Taylor Jenkins Reid
Recommended by Member Ambassador Natalie Mitchell
“Daisy Jones & The Six” chronicles the iconic rise and fall of the most famous band of the 1970s. Told through a series of interviews conducted decades later, the story unfolds through the differing perspectives of each band member, showcasing how subjective and conflicting memories can be.
This was a novel I could not put down, and I finished it in a matter of days. It took me on a journey from the band’s formation to their final, unforgettable show. It’s so compelling, it’s hard to believe the band never actually existed.
Taylor Jenkins Reid brings these larger-than-life characters to life through a unique interview-style narrative, never leaving a dull moment. Drawing inspiration from Fleetwood Mac—particularly the dynamic between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham—Reid captures the glamour and chaos of the 1970s music scene in a truly unique way.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness (2024)
By Jonathan Haidt
Recommended by Publisher J.C. Derrick
This book is ostensibly about parenting, but every American should read it. Haidt ably traces how the safetyism of the ‘80s and ‘90s created a perfect storm in combination with the rise of the internet, social media and smartphones.
The result: An explosion of mental health problems among adolescents and teens.
Haidt offers some potential solutions, but he is quick to acknowledge he does not have it all figured out. The book is more aimed at highlighting a huge societal trend and the likely reasons for it—which are worth the time and thoughtful consideration of us all.
The Quickening (2023)
By Elizabeth Rush
The Many Lives of Mama Love (2023)
By Lara Love Hardin
Recommended by Correspondent Ronnie Lovler
I read two books recently that I truly enjoyed – “The Quickening” by Elizabeth Rush and “The Many Lives of Mama Love” by Lara Love Hardin.
Rush’s book details her 2019 journey on the icebreaker Nathanial B. Palmer, when she accompanied 57 scientists and crew to Antarctica and the never-before-visited Thwaites Glacier. She conducted more than 200 interviews with the people on the ship, talking not just about the science but what brought them there. The book also tells a parallel tale of her journey to motherhood, detailing how she and her husband, Felipe, decided to start a family once the Antarctica journey was behind her.
Rush was my faculty at the Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference in Brevard, North Carolina, which I attended in May, so I sought out her book.
I stumbled upon Lara Love Hardin’s memoir, and I’m glad I did. Her story was the tale of a soccer mom who became a heroin addict and stole her neighbors’ credit cards to fund her habit.
She spent a year in prison, where she earned the nickname “Mama Love” and almost lost custody of her son, but regained it as she began putting the pieces of her life back together. It didn’t hurt that she had a Master of Fine Arts degree and found a job as a ghostwriter, meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Oprah. The rest is her history that you can read about in this heartbreaking yet delightful book.
Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood (2020)
By Sarah J. Maas
Recommended by Publication Coordinator Neida Cruz
This is the first fantasy book I’ve read since high school, and it did not disappoint. There’s a reason why any and every Sarah J. Maas book goes viral. “Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood” is a perfect introduction to her book series.
It’s got everything you want (and you so desperately wish you didn’t need) in one book. Suspense, mystery, romance, loss, and VENGEANCE. All of which make a great telenovela, but sadly, it still hasn’t been adapted into one.
It’s an easy read, and if you really want to immerse yourself in it, listen to the dramatized version. You won’t regret it.
In a world where bad news is a constant, read a book like this and immerse yourself in a world worth getting lost in.
Monsters and How to Tame Them (2023)
By Kevin Hart
Recommended by Sports Director Mike Ridaught
Comedian Kevin Hart’s book “Monsters and How to Tame Them” is actually a self-help book, although I recommend the audio version because his storytelling and humor made it more enjoyable.
“Monsters” is a metaphor and represents things such as the need for external validation (“Approval Monster”) or the need to control everyone and everything around you (“Control Monster”).
He cites examples, and he does it in a way that most people can relate to. Hart said an example of the “Not-Me Monster” is texting and driving.
“Texting and driving might be a problem for other people, but not for me,” Hart said.
He says at that exact moment, you’ve met the first monster.
The book is about how to live your best life and how to tune out the monsters that haunt your mind, but also how to use them to your advantage. Hart helps readers identify and manage these “monsters” to live a more fulfilling life.
“Monsters and How to Tame Them” is about self-improvement, but Hart’s humor and mention of personal struggles and lessons learned made this an interesting summer read for me.
The Essays of E.B. White (1977)
By E.B. White
Recommended by Associate Editor Seth Johnson
In the past six months, I’ve interrupted many conversations saying “that reminds me of an essay by E.B. White” before gleefully pushing my glasses further up and diving right in.
So it’s no small surprise White earned the nod as my summer recommendation.
Renowned for “Stuart Little” and “Charlotte’s Web” in children’s literature, White mainly wrote for adults in essays and columns. I’d never read his works for children or adults but had thumbed through White and William Strunk’s “The Elements of Style” in college—a slim instructional on writing.
But I picked up a collection of his essays as a sampler. It proved such a delicious morsel that I kept eating like Templeton at the county fair—I did watch the movie “Charlotte’s Web.”
In short order, I checked out from the library a biography of White by Melissa Sweet called “Some Writer.” Yes, it is technically a children’s book. Yes, I can still check out books from the kids’ section of the library. Yes, I am counting it for my yearly book goal.
Then, I returned to the next Friends of the Library Book Sale (where I got the sampler) and scoured for more Elwyn Brooks White. I found a 685-page collection of his letters for $1.50.
I started reading and got smacked in the head by this line: “Somehow or other I am afraid that I am doomed to be a newspaper reporter all my life—with all the dire connotations.”
His essays, columns and other works are equally relevant to non-doomed newspaper reporters. White touches on everyday life with wit, and his pieces range from caring for a sick pig to lying in bed with Harry Truman to hearing a hurricane approach via radio with increasing impatience. His style alone makes me want to keep reading, no matter the subject.
White is worth returning to (or visiting for the first time) as an adult.
Strawberry Girl (1945)
By Lois Lenski
Recommended by Elizabeth Byrd (Mainstreet Member since 2023)
I have a young readers’ recommendation for lovers of Florida historic fiction. This is the 80th year celebration of the Newbery Award-winning book “Strawberry Girl.” Written by Lois Lenski about a poor farming family, she was inspired to pen this regional novel after she spotted a lovely barefoot child picking berries in a field in Central Florida.
The lessons in humanity ring just as true today as they did 80 years ago. The character, named Birdie, takes us on a journey much like “The Yearling” of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.
Oprah Winfrey also hails “Strawberry Girl” as one of her favorite novels read as a child, leading her to seek out and read many of the books written by Mrs. Lenski about children living in poverty with love and honor.
Need more books on your “to read” list? Unlikely. But you can find more by reading Mainstreet’s recommendations from 2024.