100 Books Like Summer Half

Newman delicately explores the tumultuous journey of mothers going through the rigors of menopause and how this affects the way they deal with their adult children.

I thought she handled that awful sense of “what is happening to me?” while at the same time her main character needs to be the same woman she’s always been to keep her family together.

This is a beautiful story.

After 608 days, Maggie is single again and almost 30–two things that give cause for concern and reflection. Thankfully, Maggie takes no blame for either thing happening and plows on, determined to find the pearl in the gritty oyster her life has become.

I laughed, but I also found myself filled with sad recognition of how we all too often set goals we’ll never score, only to find that halfway home is where the heart is.

This could be a polarizing book, but if you’ve picked this recommendation list from all the others and have gotten this far, there’s a good chance you’re also into books about young women making questionable choices. The protagonist, Hera, is starting a relationship with her older colleague at her workplace, where she’s an online comment moderator.

The story is written from Hera’s point of view, who has a sense of ironic self-awareness but is also desperate to feel something, which is probably what leads her into a course of action she knows is going to bite her in the arse, eventually.

This book aroused all of my senses. The way the author wove together the rekindling romance of Theo and Kit with such mouthwatering descriptions of food, wine, and the sheer joy of European travel was captivating. I could cut the sexual tension with a knife, and it awoke a hunger inside me. As a gay man, the friendly wager they made—the first to sleep with the Italian tour guide wins—is so relatable...and fun.

The book is written from an immersive first-person perspective, which I found particularly interesting. Getting to delve into their individual thoughts and feelings about their shared history made their reconnection feel so real and earned. It was such a lush and ultimately heartwarming story of finding love again, set against the most gorgeous scenery. I finished it feeling satisfied, but it left me with a serious craving for both a second read and a sexy… show more.

This is the kind of book I like to read in a day, curled up in my favorite chair or stretched out in a backyard hammock. From the moment I opened the cover, I was immersed in this funny, sweet story and captivated by the endearing characters.

I love a romance that has some shadows to balance out the lightness, and this finds that balance.

I love this story for getting kids excited to bake cookies!

I read this book to my kids before heading into the kitchen to bake homemade chocolate chip cookies just like the little mouse in the story. Just be sure to have a cold glass of milk on hand to go with the cookies! The kids love to pretend they're little mice while enjoying the cookies and see who can take the teeniest, tiniest bites of their cookies!

This book is also great for: discussing the idea of a full-circle story arc; introducing the idea of pairings; learning about cause/effect; and practicing memory recall with questions such as what happened first in the story, next, etc.

The story literally begins with a 100-year-old man climbing out of his window and disappearing into the night. But this is no ordinary man. No, this is Allan Karlsson, a Swedish man who has lived a long and incredibly eventful life. With only a suitcase in hand, he heads to the local bus station, where, much like in Tom Sharpe’s Wilt, he inadvertently becomes involved in a series of absurd and unpredictable events with equally absurd and unpredictable characters.

Unlike the darker tones of Palahnuik or Amis, Jonas's humor is gentle and charming, making for a much lighter read. On the surface, the story might sound rather humdrum, but as we learn more about Allan and his past, the book quickly becomes a glorious page-turner. The narrative alternates between present-day escapades and flashbacks to Allan's involvement in major historical events, including encounters with famous leaders at pivotal moments in… show more.

What if elevator inspectors had their own influential guild? Not science fiction, not fantasy, and not even alternative history. Just a riveting, delightful, challenging ‘what if’ that does not fit in a box. In a shaft. In a skyscraper. When I first heard about this book, I thought elevator inspection might be, let’s say, resistant to novel-sized interrogation.

To this, I now say, behold the umbrella that fits in the purse or the king-sized mattress that arrives in a toddler-sized box. This book unfolds and puffs up deliberately and warmly, and eventually, you find yourself curled up, reading about the very nature of thought. In a person. In a society. You don’t want to turn out the light and stop. 

A daring satire on race, politics, and cultural identity in America that somehow manages to be both outrageous and deeply sobering.

Beatty’s voice is like Richard Pryor meets Zora Neale Hurston—sharp, fearless, acerbic, wickedly funny, and incredibly smart.

Notably, although Beatty is an American writer, his book was published in the UK (likely because America prefers to live in denial about race) and went on to win the Booker Prize in 2016.

This notorious 1969 Roth novel is a monologue of a self-loathing and sexually repressed Jewish man to his psychologist.

He recounts in excruciating detail his efforts to escape his parents’ interference in his life and his lifelong obsession with bedding a "shiksa" (non-Jewish woman). Portnoy’s rants are brilliant, vulgar, and entertaining – though the cultural references are dated and female readers might become incensed at the demeaning descriptions of “Monkey” (the shiksa he finally beds).

In a story I wrote, a man facetiously asks his female friend whether Carrie Bradshaw’s neuroticism and sexual dalliances would make her the “female Portnoy.” Both are insightful, emotionally needy, and charming characters. Behind this novel’s sexual humor is a complex portrait of a man trapped by his own obsessions.