Zibby’s Ultimate Summer Reading List
Welcome, readers!!! There are a LOT of new books out there. Here's my list - sorted by fun categories - so you can find the book for YOU. (I also included a few books coming out this fall that you can pre-order.)
So browse! Travel. Escape. Laugh. Cry. Think. Feel. Relax.
And Remember: stories are best when shared! Enjoy.
If you do read a book off the list, please tag the author and me (@zibbyowens)!
Destination: Italy
My Roman History by Alizah Holstein
Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner
Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
The Heirloom by Jessie Rosen
One Last Shot by Betty Cayouette - Listen to the podcast!
The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis
The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza - Listen to the podcast!
The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier
Destination: Paris
The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman’s Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris by Glynnis MacNicol
The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time by Jane Bertch - Listen to the podcast!
Swimming in Paris by Colombe Schneck
Destination: Castles and Compounds
Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes
Lovers and Liars by Amanda Eyre Ward
Alternate Endings by Ali Rosen
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Locals & Coastals
Wait by Gabriella Burnham
Women and Children First by Alina Grabowski
Bear by Julia Phillips
Seven Summers by Paige Toon
The Winner by Teddy Wayne
My Favorite Terrible Thing by Madeleine Henry
Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding
All the Summers in Between by Brooke Lea Foster
Yikes Moments
Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis
One Last Word by Suzanne Park - Listen to the podcast!
Numbers
Seven Summer Weekends by Jane L. Rosen
Seven Summers by Paige Toon
888 Love and The Divine Burden of Numbers by Abraham Chang
Death Itself
Nothing to Fear by Julie McFadden, RN
Getting to Know Death by Gail Godwin
The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
For the History Buff
The Year of Living Constitutionally by A.J. Jacobs
The Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore
Taking London by Martin Dugard
John Quincy Adams by Randall Woods
Wedding Season
Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson
Wedding Issues by Elle Evans
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
The Stranger at the Wedding by A.E. Gauntlett
The World After Alice by Lauren Aliza Green
Lovers & Liars by Amanda Eyre Ward
A Wedding in Lake Como by Jennifer Probst
The Unwedding by Ally Condie
People Will Talk by Kieran Scott
Back to School
The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu
Plays Well With Others by Sophie Brickman
It’s Elementary by Elise Bryant
Family Drama
How the Light Gets In by Joyce Maynard
Within Arm’s Reach by Ann Napolitano
Same As it Ever Was by Claire Lombardo
Last House by Jessica Shattuck
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
And So I Roar by Abi Daré
Grown Women by Sarai Johnson
Long Island by Colm Tóibín
Swift River by Essie Chambers
Lucky by Jane Smiley
Tiananmen Square by Lai Wen
Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe by Lori Jakiela
Honey by Victor Lodato
Pearce Oysters by Joselyn Takacs
A Little Touch of Magic
The Enchanted Hacienda by J.C. Cervantes
My Mother Cursed My Name by Anamely Salgado Reyes
A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle - Listen to the podcast!
The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan
Magic Enuff by Tara M. Stringfellow
The Limits by Nell Freudenberger
Life and Love After Divorce
Liars by Sarah Manguso
Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes
All They Need to Know by Eileen Goudge
The Divorcées by Rowan Beaird
Bad Tourists by Caro Carver
Back on the Market: A Realtor’s Guide to Love and Life by Holly Parker with Laura Morton
Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb
Divorce Towers by Ellen Meister
Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
Alternate Endings by Ali Rosen
Boss Lady by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans
Kissing Girls on Shabbat: A Memoir by Dr. Sara Glass
This Used to Be Us by Renée Carlino
Leaving by Roxana Robinson - Listen to the podcast!
The Divorce by Moa Herngren
The Marriage Sabbatical by Lian Dolan
Hollywood Glitz and Glamour
Most Hated by Kara Alloway
Director’s Cut by Carlyn Greenwald
The Hollywood Assistant by May Cobb
The Goddess of Warsaw by Lisa Barr
The Princess of Las Vegas by Chris Bohjalian
She Moves in Mysterious Ways
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd
Safe and Sound by Laura McHugh
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean
Days of Wonder by Caroline Leavitt - Listen to the podcast!
Guide Me Home by Attica Locke
The Disappeared by Rebecca Sanford
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Novels for New Moms (or Maybe Not)
I’ll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
Novels with a Political Bent
Wide Awake Now by David Levithan
Behind Every Good Man by Sara Goodman Confino
Parenting Stuff
Rattled: How to Calm New Mom Anxiety with the Power of the Postpartum Brain by Nicole Amoyal Pensak, Ph.D.
Tiny Humans, Big Emotions: How to Navigate Tantrums, Meltdowns, and Defiance to Raise Emotionally Intelligent Children by Alyssa Blask Campbell, M.Ed., and Lauren Stauble, M.S.
Wanted: Toddler’s Personal Assistant: How Nannying for the 1% Taught Me About the Myths of Equality, Motherhood and Upward Mobility in America by Stephanie Kiser
Yes, Your Kid: What Parents Need to Know About Today’s Teens and Sex by Debby Herbenick, Ph.D.
Write Yourself In by Eric Tipler
The Unexpected: Navigating Pregnancy During and After Complications by Emily Oster
Underestimated: The Wisdom and Power of Teenage Girls by Chelsey Goodan - Listen to the podcast!
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
The Danish Secret to Happy Kids by Helen Russell
The Five Principles of Parenting by Aliza Pressman, Ph.D.
ADHD & Autism
ADHD is Awesome by Penn and Kim Holderness
I’ll Just Be Five More Minutes (And Other Tales from my ADHD Brain) by Emily Farris - Listen to the podcast!
But Everyone Feels This Way by Paige Layle - Listen to the podcast!
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan - Listen to the podcast!
Self-Improvement
New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got it Wrong by Stephanie Harrison
Magic Pill by Johann Hari
Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Noa Tishby and Emmanuel Acho
All in Her Head by Elizabeth Comen, M.D.
The Astrology Advantage by Ophira and Tali Edut (the Astrotwins)
Books That Make You Laugh
Welcome Home, Caroline Kline by Courtney Preiss - Listen to the podcast!
I’ve Tried Being Nice by Ann Leary
Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking): A Never-Coming-of-Age Story by Jess H. Gutierrez
Funny Story by Emily Henry
Books That Make You Tremble
House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
The Stranger at the Wedding by A. E. Gauntlett
The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight
One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole
One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave
She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica
Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker
The Vacation Rental by Katie Sise
Till Death Do Us Part by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
Since She’s Been Gone by Sagit Schwartz - Listen to the podcast!
The Last Time She Saw Him by Kate White
A Lie for a Lie by Jane Buckingham
Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson
The Last Thing She Saw by Nina Laurin
Sleeping Giants by Rene Denfeld
Anna Bright is Hiding Something by Susie Orman Schnall
Middletide by Sarah Crouch
On Her Own by Lihi Lapid
And So I Roar by Abi Daré
I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell
Celebrities
Joyful Recollections of Trauma by Paul Scheer
A Kid from Marlboro Road by Ed Burns
The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne
Time to Thank by Steve Guttenberg
I Curse You With Joy by Tiffany Haddish - Listen to the podcast!
Summer on Highland Beach by Sunny Hostin
Watch Where They Hide by Tamron Hall - Listen to the podcast!
Mostly What God Does by Savannah Guthrie - Listen to the podcast!
Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness by Renée Fleming
Closer Together by Sophie Gregoire Trudeau - Listen to the podcast!
The Reservoir by David Duchovny - Listen to the podcast!
Middle Grade Novels
The Islanders: Shipwrecked by Mary Alice Monroe with Angela May
OceanX Adventures: Mystery at the Aquarium by Kate B. Jerome
True Colors by Abby Cooper
Drawing Deena by Hena Khan
When We Flew Away by Alice Hoffman
The One and Only Family by Katherine Applegate
Best Wishes: Time After Time by Sarah Mlynowski and Christina Soontornvat
For the Wannabe Camper
Until Next Summer by Ali Brady
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Dad Camp by Evan S. Porter
Bummer Camp by Ann Garvin
Powerful Women
Maria: A Novel of Maria Von Trapp by Michelle Moran
Jackie: A Novel by Dawn Tripp
Finding Margaret Fuller: A Novel by Allison Pataki - Listen to the podcast!
The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald - Listen to the podcast!
Scandalous Women: A Novel of Jackie Collins & Jacqueline Susann by Gill Paul
When Women Ran Fifth Avenue by Julie Satow
Room Service, Please
Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews
Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave
One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day
Loss and Grief: You Too?
Living with Our Dead: On Loss and Consolation by Delphine Horvilleur
Conscious Grieving: A Transformative Approach to Healing from Loss by Claire Bidwell Smith - Listen to the podcast!
Grief is a Sneaky Bitch: An Uncensored Guide to Navigating Loss by Lisa Keefauver
The Goodbye Process: Stories by Mary Jones
Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End by Alua Arthur
End of the Hour by Meghan Riordan Jarvis - Listen to the podcast!
Here After by Amy Lin - Listen to the podcast!
Moving on Doesn’t Mean Letting Go by Gina Moffa - Listen to the podcast!
Nearly Departed by Gila Pfeffer
Us, After: A Memoir of Love and Suicide by Rachel Zimmerman
Did I Ever Tell You? A Memoir by Genevieve Kingston
I Promise It Won’t Always Hurt Like This by Clare Mackintosh
Think You’ll Be Happy: Moving Through Grief with Grit, Grace, and Gratitude by Nicole Avant
Loose of Earth by Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn
The Manicurist’s Daughter by Susan Lieu - Listen to the podcast!
See: Loss. See Also: Love by Yukiko Tominaga
Breath Taking by Jessica Fein
Nephew by MK Asante
Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley
Make New Friends But Keep the Old…
The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin
We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
Stockholm by Noa Yedlin
Friends in Napa by Sheila Yasmin Marikar - Listen to the podcast!
First Love: Essays on Friendship by Lilly Dancyger
Exposure by Ava Dellaira
The Undercurrent by Sarah Sawyer
American Sycamore by Charles Kenney
Other People’s Words by Lissa Soep
The Wives by Simone Gorrindo
Combat Love by Alisyn Camerota
Honey by Victor Lodato
How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
The Other Side of Nothing by Anastasia Zadeik
‘Cause You Gotta Have Faith
Wishful Thinking: How I Lost My Faith and Why I Want to Find It by Donna Freitas
Mostly What God Does by Savannah Guthrie - Listen to the podcast!
Goyhood: A Novel by Reuven Fenton
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tishby - Listen to the podcast!
Novels About Writers (So Meta)
My Favorite Terrible Thing by Madeleine Henry
One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin
The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis
Between Friends & Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi
The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Just Some Stupid Love Story by Katelyn Doyle
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez - Listen to the podcast!
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
Every time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
Blank by Zibby Owens
Summer Books on My TBR for the Beach
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
Mistakes We Never Made by Hannah Brown
Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
What’s in a Kiss by Lauren Kate
Serendipity by Becky Chalsen
Wish I Were….Out of Office
Very Bad Company: A Novel by Emma Rosenblum
Boss Lady: A Novel by Asha Youmans and Alli Frank
What Do You Need? by Lauren Wesley Wilson
Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
Red Helicopter: Lead Change with Kindness (Plus a Little Math) by James Rhee
The Setback Cycle: How Defining Moments Can Move Us Forward by Amy Shoenthal
Micro Skills: Small Actions, Big Impact by Adaira Landry, MD, and Resa E. Lewiss, MD
15 Lies Women Are Told at Work… and the Truth We Need to Succeed by Bonnie Hammer
The Retention Revolution by Erica Keswin
I Hope You Fail by Pinky Cole
Ambition Monster: A Memoir by Jennifer Romolini
How to Get on Podcasts by Michelle Glogovac
One Last Word by Suzanne Park
For the Dog Lover
Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show by Tommy Tomlinson - Listen to the podcast!
Pets and the City by Dr. Amy Attas
A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Puppy Brain by Kerry Nichols
Hot Flashes
The Menopause Brain by Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D.
The New Menopause by Mary Claire Haver
Summertime
Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland
A Novel Summer by Jamie Brenner
Just For the Summer by Abby Jimenez
The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin
All the Summers in Between by Brooke Lea Foster
Seven Summer Weekends by Jane L. Rosen
This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
Summer at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey
The Memo by Lauren Mechling and Rachel Dodes
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
Seven Summers by Paige Toon
In a Not So Perfect World by Neely Tubati-Alexander
LGBTQ+
The ABCs of Queer History by Dr. Seema Yasmin
Out in the World: An LGBTQIA+ (And Friends!) Travel Guide to More Than 120 Destinations Around the World by Amy B. Scher and Mark Jason Williams
The Bump by Sidney Karger
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
Making It by Laura Kay
I Want You More by Swan Huntley
One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be A Beautiful Woman by Abi Maxwell
Road Home by Rex Ogle
Not-So-New-Releases, But So What?!
The Last Love Note by Emma Grey
Louder Than Hunger by John Schu
Blank by Zibby Owens
The Better Half by Hazel Hayes
Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead by Jenny Hollander
More by Molly Roden Winter
Family Family by Laurie Frankel
Love, Me by Jessica Saunders
Drunk-ish by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor
Ilium by Lea Carpenter
The Good Part by Sophie Cousens
I Wasn’t Supposed to Be Here by Jonathan Conyers
Guy’s Girl by Emma Noyes
Olivia Strauss is Running Out of Time by Angela Brown
The Young of Other Animals by Chris Cander
The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary
Welcome Home, Stranger by Kate Christensen
Glimmer by Kimberly Shannon Murphy
Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly
What You Do to Me by Rochelle Weinstein
Class by Stephanie Land
Foolish by Sarah Cooper
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
After Annie by Anna Quindlen
The Manicurist’s Daughter by Susan Lieu
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel by Douglas Brunt
American Girl by Wendy Walker
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
The Zibby Books Titles
My What If Year by Alisha Fernandez Miranda
Women Are The Fiercest Creatures by Andrea Dunlop
Burst by Mary Otis
Super Bloom by Megan Tady
Hedge by Jane Delury
Wednesdays at One by Sandra A. Miller
Wine People by Michelle Wildgen
End Credits by Patty Lin
Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways by Brittany Means
End of the Hour: A Therapist’s Memoir by Meghan Riordan Jarvis
The Last Love Note by Emma Grey
Everyone But Myself by Julie Chavez
The House of Plain Truth by Donna Hemans
Here After by Amy Lin
Wedding Issues by Elle Evans
I Want You More by Swan Huntley
Pearce Oysters by Joselyn Takacs
The Goodbye Process: Stories by Mary Jones
