Hopefully, you're having a quiet summer, or you just want to reignite/continue your passion for reading. Below are 5 of my recommendations for slightly outside the box books to read this summer. No "50 Shades of Grey" or "13 Reasons Why" (or anything with a number in the title)! Many of these books are bestsellers, but the topics are a little unique and fun.
1. "Beauty Queens"
(by Libba Bray) This book is hilarious. Take a load off this summer from school or work or life and read this hysterical book about a bunch of beauty queens who crash on an island. The book is a scream and follows ridiculous characters surviving and kicking butt after a plane crash. Feminism, social commentary, and satire make this book amazing. A silly scenario turned into a great novel.
2. "The Psychopath Whisperer"
(by Kent Kiehl) This is a bit of weird one, but I loved it. I'm a psychology major, but I think a lot of people find psychopaths interesting. This book looks at why psychopaths behave the way they do. There's a focus on science and brain imaging, but I think non-science people could still enjoy the book a lot.
3. "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel"
(by Michael Scott) These books may be more on the teenage/high school side, but they're amazing. Each character except the two protagonists comes from a different mythology or history line. Historical figures like Joan of Arc, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Dr. John Dee join mythical figures such as the Greek goddess Hekate, the Scottish figure Scathach, and the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl. It's quite an epic book series that I thoroughly enjoyed.
4. "The Photographer's Playbook"
(edited by Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern) I've had this book for a few years and I love it. There's 307 assignments and ideas in this book to inspire your photography. If you're a new photographer with no idea where to start or a seasoned photographer who's run out of ideas, pick up this book. It's got a ton of suggestions from abstract stories to a direct list of things to photograph. Each assignment comes from a different photographer, so there's a range of ideas.
5. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"
(by Rebecca Skloot) I never thought I would find myself enjoying a book I had to read for class, much less recommending it to others! This book is so interesting, it combines science, history, and morality to tell an incredible real story. If you've ever worked in a biology lab, you've likely worked with HeLa cells. They're a strain of cells that replicate rapidly, forever. They come from a woman named Henrietta who died of cancer in the 50s. While companies have made billions off of her cells, her family didn't even know they existed for decades and have never received a dollar from them. The book criticizes the shady morals of early medicine and science. It combines a true personal story with the medicine behind HeLa cells in a simplistic enough way for non-scientists to easily understand.
Branch out of your comfort zone this summer. Don't just reread your favorites or pick up a classic, explore sections of the bookstore you don't normally venture in to. My favorite section at my local bookstore is the psychology section, which I didn't even know existed for years!
