What to read if you’re actually headed away on vacation or just want to escape emotionally.
Ever get one of those hurried texts from a friend saying, “I’m going away for the weekend. What should I read?”
No? Just me? Well, I get them often, especially as a book podcaster (although my friends have been asking me for recommendations long before the podcast — what can I say? I know my way around a bookstore!)
“Give me two seconds,” I wrote back to my friend who recently requested recommendations.
I quickly scanned my bookshelves for some recent favorites and compiled this list for her. These are the perfect new books to pack whether you’re actually headed away on vacation or just want to escape emotionally from the comfort of your own home. Easy to read, page-turning, meaningful, a sense of humor, strong characters, and beautifully written, these books are so enthralling, you’ll forget where you are.
Out of Love by Hazel Hayes
While this debut novel is billed as a novel about a breakup in reverse, it’s so much more than that. The main protagonist is someone so immensely likable I found myself begging the author to write a sequel about her. Her experiences include her relationship with her ex Theo, yes, but also funny moments like dealing with a difficult mother-in-law figure, heartbreaking times like her best friend’s miscarriage, a home renovation of sorts, therapy that digs into her own past, and more. I couldn’t put it down and relished every page.
State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny
This dynamic duo has written a captivating, thought-provoking, and downright alarming story that, at the end, Secretary Clinton urges readers to collectively stop from happening in real life. Jet-setting Secretary of State Ellen Adams and her second-in-command, Betsy, fly around the world chasing the source of the latest round of terrorist attacks. From the dark web to a snowstorm in Moscow, from the White House to mountain caves, the scenery alone is breathtaking. Even more meaningful is that Betsy is based on Secretary Clinton’s best friend who recently passed away, someone Louise Penny also knew. Other characters pay homage to those the authors have lost, imbuing this psychological thriller and mystery with a layer of love. If you want to watch me interview both authors live this Wednesday, October 20th at 7 pm, register here!
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
This book reminded me of the movie The Brothers McMullen, which if you haven’t seen, you should. Both center on an Irish Catholic family in a small town and the family dramas that unfold. The Brennans are dealing with the return of the only daughter in the family, Sunday, who had left for L.A. suddenly years earlier. An aging father, a devious brother, a pining ex, and a new family bar take center stage as we all learn why Sunday really left home — and why, after a drunk driving accident, she is finally ready for her older brother to bring her home.
We Need to Hang Out: A Memoir of Making Friends by Billy Baker
If you miss your friends, read this book. If you wish you had more friends, read this book. If you want a laugh, read this book. And then, go call a few of your friends! In our busy lives, it’s easy to get caught up in to-do lists and our work and family life, but friends are the glue that keeps you together. Follow self-deprecating Boston Globe journalist Billy Baker as he goes on a quest to repair friendships, forge new ones, and file his story on time.
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen
Jayne Allen’s main character Tabitha learns about her infertility issues and then gets pulled over by the cops on her way back to her newsroom job, an event that puts this Black woman on high alert on a very bad day. Tabitha shows us through micro-aggressions, job discrimination, and other everyday life examples how and why Black girls, in particular, feel exhausted right now. By having the reader absolutely fall in love with Tabby, her friends, her grandmother, and even her reluctant paramour, we experience life in her shoes and understand, even more, what it’s like being a Black woman in America today. Plus the book is relatively light, definitely funny, and brilliantly written by a Harvard graduate and former music industry exec. Good thing this is only the first in a trilogy. I want more.
Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin
What beautiful prose. No wonder: Joshua Henkin is a professor and chair of an MFA program himself. Henkin’s sentences are just right and draw the reader right in, placing us right inside the apartment of Pru and Spence. (Pru was once Spence’s student.) As Spence ages and slowly starts losing his mind, Pru is left to pick up the pieces, helping him finish his manuscript, dealing with home health care, coping with the grown-ish kids, and even, perhaps, trying to find her own love again. I feel like I know Pru intimately, like I would know her if I passed her on the street. An ode to a long marriage, this novel reminded me of Sue Miller’s Monogamy, another great read.
Signs by Laura Lynne Jackson
Maybe you believe in the universe sending you signs. After you read this book by famous medium Laura Lynne Jackson, you definitely will. From her hundreds of examples showing the power of those who have crossed over to communicate with us, you’ll feel a deep sense of comfort and reunion with your own lost loved ones.
No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler
This is a perfect memoir. Smart. Funny. Powerful. Sad. Oh-so-real. Kate Bowler’s battle with cancer in her 30s as the mother of a toddler leads her to opine on life in general, weaving in some facts and figures as we go along her harrowing journey with her. Bowler’s sense of humor and optimism pervades all. Her close relationship with her father is particularly sweet to read about. This story is about family, life, perseverance, dealing with the cards we’re dealt, and so much more. And it’s just really good.
A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes by Rodrigo García
I listened to this entire book in one sitting during a long drive with the kids and by the time I reached my destination, I was crying. Then I went back and savored all the pages, looking through the family photos and wishing I’d also read it. The superstar son of Gabriel García Márquez draws back the curtain on the final days with his father and, in so doing, allows us all to experience his unique childhood, the rise of his family’s success, his father’s work habits, his own relationship to writing and now, being a father himself. It’s absolutely beautiful.
Zibby Owens is a podcaster, author, publisher, and mother of four.
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