Her.meneutics' Summer Reading List

You know summer has arrived when libraries launch mega reading programs, kids breeze through dozens of books to win Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas, and just about every magazine and news site—including CT’s “Theology in the News” writer, Collin Hansen—compiles a must-read summer reading list. The women’s blog is no exception, though we thought it more interesting to see what our bloggers plan to read this summer, and hear what you plan to read as well. Two books made more than one list: Unsqueezed, Margot Starbuck’s follow-up to last year’s The Girl in the Orange Dress, and sex-and-spirituality writer Donna Freitas’s new young-adult fiction book, This Gorgeous Game. And one of our own bloggers—Amy Julia Becker, for Penelope Ayers: A Memoir—made blogger Ellen Painter Dollar’s list.

What books do you plan to read? Share them in the comments section, and enjoy the wealth of options below.

Amy Julia Becker

Unsqueezed: Springing Free from Skinny Jeans, Nose Jobs, Highlights, and Stilettos, by Margot Starbuck
The Blind Contessa’s New Machine, by Carey Wallace
Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Mental Disability in the United States, by James W. Trent
Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral, by Thomas Long
Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann

Elrena Evans

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer (I keep hearing things about it and I haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet. Plus, it was on the shelf when I was last at the library.)
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and “Women’s Work,” by Kathleen Norris (This has been on my to-read list for a while; perhaps I spend too much time on laundry, liturgy, and “women’s work” to want to read about it when I’m not doing it.)
Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, by Ellen Ruppel Shell (For a look into some of the realities behind “inexpensive” goods and merchandise.)
Mini Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella (The irony is not lost on me. It’s not due out until September, but I can always hope an advanced copy will fall in my lap, right?)
Touch the Art: Brush Mona Lisa’s Hair, by Julie Appel (At least a couple hundred times. It’s my 14-month-old’s current favorite book, and I highly recommend the entire Touch the Art series for anyone with toddlers or preschoolers.)

Laura Leonard

Women, Food, and God, by Geneen Roth
This Gorgeous Game, by Donna Freitas
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma, by Trenton Lee Stewart (The next installment in my annual beach reading through this fantastic children’s series.)
The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World, by David Kirkpatrick
The Complete Julian of Norwich, by Julian of Norwich

Ellen Painter Dollar

Every Last One, by Anna Quindlen
The Cradle, by Patrick Somerville
Beautiful Boy:A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction, by David Sheff
Why Faith Matters:God and the New Atheism, by David J. Wolpe
Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, by our own Amy Julia Becker (My book group selected this for our summer reading since AJB will be moving about 45 minutes away from me this summer; we’ve always wanted to have an author come to our meeting!)

Katelyn Beaty

This Gorgeous Game, by Donna Freitas (Almost done with this young-adult novel about a teenage girl’s unwanted attention from a Catholic priest; look for a forthcoming review on Her.meneutics.)
The Confessions, by Augustine of Hippo (A long-overdue must-read given its status as the most foundational spiritual autobiography in the West.)
Enlightened Sexism, by Susan J. Douglas (Tipped off by Lauren Winner’s short review at
Books & Culture
‘s redesigned website.)
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, by Lesslie Newbigin (Another classic, left over from last year’s summer reading list.)
Breaking Free, by Beth Moore (Since so many friends highly recommend it.)