Hello my friends!
I’m back atcha with another reading list! I always have a book in my big purse these days in an effort to spend less time on my phone when I find myself with a few minutes. It totally works. If you’ve got a good read, it trumps Instagram by a mile.
This spring reading list holds a few books I’ve read, a handful I’m looking forward to hauling around and reading, a few that you resoundingly suggested, and some old classics for good measure. We’re in between beach-read and bathtub-read season so some of these books are thrillers (I love a scary book at the beach!), and some are lady memoirs (perfect inspiration for a nighttime bath).
I hope you find a page turner on the list below. After each title there is a link to buy the book on amazon or one of my favorite independent bookstores across the country.
• I’m really loving these thoughtful and honest essays in I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott (Amazon or Parnassus)
• There is always time to have our very bones shifted by Toni Morrison. The Source of Self-Regard by Toni Morrison (Amazon or Garden District Bookstore)
• The long and epic classic that I’m on my fourth read with: East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It’s so deeply beautiful. (Amazon or Book People)
• A moving high school read that I picked up in a Little Free Library a few weeks ago and read in almost one sitting in an increasingly chilly bath: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (Amazon or City Stacks)
• Your resounding internet recommendation is Where The Crawdad’s Sing by Delia Owens. At least 14 of you shouted this book into my DMs and thank you! (Amazon or Pages Bookshop)
• I can’t wait to read Florida by Lauren Groff because I loved Fates and Furies so so much. (Amazon or Elliott Bay Bookstore)
• No question, we all have to read Educated: a memoir by Tara Westover (Amazon or Book People)
• In the genre of famous lady memoirs we have:
I Might Regret This by Abbi Jacobson (Amazon or Unabridged Bookstore)
This Will Only Hurt A Little by Busy Phillips (Amazon or City Stacks)
• I heard Ruth read from her new memoir at Cherry Bombe Jubilee and it sounds like such a treat, but every piece of writing from Ruth is. Save Me The Plums by Ruth Reichl (Amazon or Greenlight Bookstore)
• A twisty suspense. I love to read thrillers at the beach especially. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell (Amazon or Powell’s)
• Need an intense book based on real events? Women Talking by Miriam Towes (Amazon or Parnassus)
• Set in 1974 Alaska, this family saga feels important: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (Amazon or Greenlight Bookstore)
• A guilty pleasure I in no way feel guilty about: all Nora Roberts books. Let’s go ahead and read them all starting with Angels Fall. (Amazon or Powell’s)
My love to you and happy reading!
xo Joy
Christy
Joy,
Thanks for the reading list..I haven’t read (but have queued up) Educated and How to walk away by Katherine Center. I have read The Great Alone, and in my humble opinion, didn’t live up to the hype…but that’s my opinion…Also, Nora Roberts..nuff said! Have a great day!
Regards,
Christy
Sara
I just started Sourdough by Robin Sloan last night and I’m already 30% done! It’s wonderful. :)
Jillian
Thank you for this! I finally realized how crucial reading is to my self-care, and how terribly I’ve missed it in the 18 months I’ve been a mom. Hoping to carve out a solo hour each weekend to read, and very grateful for these recommendations! I’m return, I highly recommend Random Family by Adrien Nicole LeBlanc. I’ve read it countless times and it never fails to challenge, educate, and transport me into the story it tells.
Elin
I also try to keep a book in my purse instead of looking at my phone, it’s a great thing. Thank you for sharing this list!
Elin / bakingandbeautybyelin.com
Frankie
I haven’t read Women Talking yet (it’s on my nightstand) but I hear it’s upsetting and excellent. Miriam is a fantastic Canadian writer with a catalogue of novels that are all moving (All My Puny Sorrows) and often hilarious (The Flying Troutmans). Read her. She’s a treasure!
Jessica
I read The Things They Carried many years ago in college and remember it being so incredibly good. I’m thinking I should pull it off my bookshelf and re-read. Thanks for sharing your list with us!
Graham Campbell
Nice to find your column today. Reminder to read more.
Thanks Joy
Katie
Going off of your shelfie, I just had to comment on the fact that you have both “As Always, Julia” and “Sourdough” on your shelf. They are vastly different, and yet so good :)
cathy
I have found that i am reading less and surfing the web more. I have started a series by Karen White. But my favorite author who does not write fast enough is Kate Morton.
Courtney
Love Karen White’s books! Are you reading the Melanie series? Love them!!
Paula
I love that Nora Roberts is a guilty pleasure for you as well! My favourite series of hers is the Chesapeake Bay one. I get excited every summer when her new book is due.
Have you read anything by Elin Hildebrand? Start with Here’s to Us that is about three women who all married a celebrity chef. She comes out with a new book every summer and I can never want them to be over.
Jen
There are so many books, new and old, that I want to read. But lately I’ve been thinking about re-reading. Why deny yourself the pleasure of re-experiencing something you’ve enjoyed? You wouldn’t do it with food – “Pizza was nice, let’s move on to pasta next”…
At the top of my re-reads are The Care and Managements of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear (not part of her series with psychologist & investigator Maisie Dobbs.) I remember the suffocating fear for her safety one of the characters feels when attending meetings for women’s suffrage and another character writing to her husband who is in the trenches of WWI describing how she is discovering cooking and flavors, thinking about adding lavender to a dish. Or the woman alone on an island off the coast of Washington State rebuilding a house burned down decades ago and how I never looked at wood as a material the same way again after reading Folly by Laurie R. King. And there is the bittersweet romance in the novel Cut to the Heart by Ava Dianne Day between Clara Barton and Colonel John Elwell.. Or should I be brave and re-read one of the greatest reading experiences of my teens, We have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson and hope my older self loves it as much?
Lis
I just finished the wonderful book, “Sometimes Brilliant,” by Dr. Larry Brilliant. The true story of this incredible man’s life is far more engaging and almost unbelievable than any fiction could ever be. And as a yogi, you will be enthralled by how his lineage shaped his life’s work. I hope you check it out.
Michelle
I’m only a few pages in to Educated and am hooked. So glad I have nothing on my schedule this weekend so i can devour it
joythebaker
That’s the best feeling!
Betsy
Miriam Toews is a favorite. Read all of her books!
Lindsay
I just added almost all of these to my library list! Thank you!
Also, never feel guilty about reading! It’s one of the rare, guilt-free pleasures in life! (I mean, do what you want. I’m not the boss of you.)
Nel
I’m reading Kristen Hannah’s The Great Alone right now – about halfway through – and just WOW!! Makes one reconsider everything we take for granted. She is such a fantastic author.
Yvonne
Thank you, Joy! As someone else wrote, an email from you makes me smile. Like getting one from a good friend with lots of great information. Enjoy this day! Happy Jazz Fest season??
joythebaker
Really the sweetest – that means so much to me! Yes Jazz Fest this weekend! xo
Michele
Thanks for the list. I read on the kindle or iPad for when I travel overseas to see family. I can load up on books! Just finished Educated. Oh my gosh- unbelievable!
Melanie Egorin
I just read Love You Hard by Abby Maslin. It is memoir of a young woman who in many ways had a dream life until her husband was mugged and left for dead on his way home one night. It is some of the best and most honest writing I have read in a long time. Abby tells her story of a life (actually lives) transformed and rebuilt on personal strength, community compassion and a kind of love we all should know (but is often found when almost all is lost).
joythebaker
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Rianna
I’ve lost count of how many Nora Roberts books I’ve read, and there are still so many left to go. I particularly love that I don’t have to choose between romance & crime. Might have to read one in the bath tonight ?
Christine
I love these lists! Thank you, Joy.
I just finished “Woman on the Edge of Time” by Marge Piercy. I did not want it to end. I stretched that book out as long as I could. I can’t say why – good writing? Plot? I don’t know – but I highly recommend it.
Julie
Dear Dearest Joy,
I don’t know how I found you, but I know it was meant to be. Yes, as many other friends comment, I could read your blog all day long. It is your impeccable wording, descriptions and your take on life that cause me to smile when I see an email from you in my inbox. Often times you just set me straight. It could be as simple as causing me to think, ahhhhhh yes, aren’t I blessed to have a bike and be able to ride it today in spite of some of life’s bumps and bruises. And to the friend that commented “I am someone’s Nana” regarding the jam rolls, that sounds like a brilliant book title. Just a thought for you fellow Baker and Nana!
Rena
As an avid reader I love your list! Thanks for sharing!
xx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
http://www.dressedwithsoul.com