Reading lists are not mandatory anymore, they’re very much elective. When I was little, I was completely consumed with the novels I read for fun. Some stand-outs in my mind include Bridge to Terabithia, Ella Enchanted, The Giver, and Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. They were more addicting than reality TV.

I have this paranoia about staring at electronic screens for too long. We are the first generation to grow up with so much screen-time, constant phone interaction plus work and homework on the computer. It can’t be good right? I keep thinking that twenty years down the line, it will have some negative side effect. Like our eye color will fade or our skin tone will change. Call me weird but whatever, limiting screen time can’t be a bad thing!

My post-it note with books to read this summer has been growing growing growing over the last few months. Some of these are books that were recommended in magazines, some had good reviews on blogs I follow and some were referenced by my professors. Since I buy books by the dozens when I go home, I’m definitely not opposed to buying used books. I think a major Amazon purchase is in my future!

• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: This book appears on my reading list because of its relevance to a 22-year old college graduate without a concrete life plan mapped out yet. It’s timeless! (Or so I’ve heard.)
• It Was Me All Along by Andie Mitchell: All of my favorite bloggers have been reading and talking about this memoir, a story of a food blogger and her self-acceptance over body image issues.
• How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World by Jordan Christy: Another book I spotted on a blog book review. Apparently this book includes “assignments”, and as someone who would rather be domestic than dramatic, I am intrigued!
• Love and Miss Communication by Elyssa Friedland: Oh if this isn’t appropriate to the introduction paragraph above. A book that encourages us to look up from our mobile devices and have human interaction! One of the greatest disappointments of college was being surrounded by millennials who would rather text than talk. (So the people that need to read books like these won’t, and the people that want others to read it will. Sigh.)
• How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz: A story about three college BFFs and their lives twenty years post-grad. Cosmo-magazine recommended.
• Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne: This book has its own trailer…..a best-seller on five continents about competition and strategy, it must have something I can learn from!
• The Human Brand by Chris Malone & Susan T. Fiske: A man I sat next to on one of my many flights to New York was reading this book. I told him I was a senior marketing student and he highly recommended it. Word of mouth is the best advertising, so I added it to the list!
• Worth the Wait by Jamie Beck: because sometimes you just need a juicy rom-com summer read too.

Any others that you recommend? I love all varieties…biographies, mysteries, romance, thrillers, educational, historical, classics and currents!