Warm sunshine, cool breezes, gentle rains, sunrises, lazy mornings, beach afternoons, and late nights are all perfect times to read.

Reading more (like drinking water or increasing activity!) is a powerful lifestyle change almost everyone aspires to make. Small changes in daily habits can greatly improve our well-being and enjoyment of life. I can’t help with a water habit, but I know books.

Friends of all ages often ask where to start and what to read. We are all impossibly busy, so if you think you don’t have time, you don’t. But if you want to change that, below are some ways to create space in your life for books:

First, create a cozy reading area. Set yourself up for success by deciding on the physical space that inspires you as you start your new reading life. String up a hammock in the garden or put a comfy sofa on your porch. Designate an area for reading in an unused corner in your house, add a new chair, ambient lighting, and a few throw pillows in case a nap ensues.

Set a goal. Read two books this summer or five books this year, or whatever goal speaks to you. Make a daily reading plan. For example, commit to a few minutes of reading at lunch and another few minutes before bed. That is you, reading every day! Replace social media scrolling with tangible book reading. Listen to your book on Audible – audiobooks are books, and listening counts as reading. Whatever your goal is, make it achievable, and follow through.

Now that you have your space and goals, what titles will you choose? It helps to ask a friend you know is a big reader. They will likely have a nice, juicy list ready to share. Then head to the library or your local independent bookstore and look around. It will be impossible to leave empty-handed!

Reading is a grounding force, and emotional knowledge is a superpower.

You do not need to join a book club or reading group, but they are so much fun. It feels good to belong, think, and discuss with friends in an intimate group setting. One of my book groups is new to me this spring, and off to a great start! In the other, we have been meeting and reading monthly together for 16 years. We are deeply bonded over literature, and our friendships have evolved into a treasured sisterhood.

Last winter, Tony and I spent a weekend in NYC and stayed at the Algonquin Hotel, famous for its literary “Round Table.” From 1919 until about 1929, a group of creative writers, critics, and actors met daily for lunch. It was a revolving group dedicated to the love of literature in all its forms. I would have loved to have been a part of something like that – a creative precursor to the modern-day book club!

I read various genres, but especially love historical fiction, classical fiction, and poetry. Below is a running list of my favorite books, each of which was a page-turner for me.

All the titles in my Giant Favorite Books List are suitable for high school reading through adults of every age. Choose anything off this mega-roll, and get started! 👇

History of Love by Nicole Krauss; East of Eden by John Steinbeck; Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy; Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen; Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes; Circling the Sun by Paula McLain; West With the Night by Beryl Markham; The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker; The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles; A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles; Rules of Civility by Amor Towles; The Known World by Edward P. Jones; Song yet Sung by James McBride; The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery; City of Thieves by David Benioff; Born a Crime by Trevor Noah; The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah;  A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza; Middlemarch by George Elliot;  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith;  Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng; Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell; The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell; Four Winds by Kristin Hannah; The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah; Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders; Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery; West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge; Provenance by Laney Salisbury; 

Wait til Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin; Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese; Don Quixote by Cervantes;  Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes; The Feather Thief by Kirk W. Johnson; All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr;  The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd; Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover; A Separate Peace by John Knowles; Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; Lord of the Flies by William Golding; The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate; Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys; Into the Magic Shop by James R. Doty, MD; Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield; Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens; Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov;  The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne; The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne; Painting as a Pastime by Winston S. Churchill; The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls; Helium (poetry) by Rudy Francisco; Felicity (poetry) by Mary Oliver; The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya; A Thousand Mornings (poetry) by Mary Oliver; The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith; 

Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown; Sutton by J.R. Moehringer; The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin; Party of the Century by Deborah Davis; Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote; The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton; The Wright Brothers by David McCullough; The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway;  A Moveable Feast by E. Hemingway;  The Paris Wife by Paula McLain; The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway;  Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson;  The Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland; Brave Companions by David McCullough;  The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal;  Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline;  Strapless by Deborah Davis;  Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire;  Breathe by Kelly Kittel;  Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert; A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra; Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer; Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer; In the Garden of Beasts by Eric Larsen; The Greater Journey by David McCullough; 

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann; Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (play); Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout; Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan; Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy; Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett; Bel Canto by Ann Patchett; Peace Like a River, Leif Enger; The Color of Water, James McBride; The Red Tent, Anita Diamant; Ghost Heart by Cecelia Samartin;  Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver; Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver; Moby Dick by Herman Melville; The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; Kite Runner by Khaled Husseini; The Help by Kathryn Stockett; James by Percival Everett; My Dear Hamilton: a novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie; Still Life by Sarah Winman; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan; Foster by Claire Keegan; The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson; The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde;  Brave Companions by David McCullough; A Thousand Mornings (poetry) by Mary Oliver; 

Make this jewel of a practice a priority for a healthier and enriched lifestyle this summer. Happy reading!

p.s. GLAM sisterhood of the books, crushing it since 2009.