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books on brown wooden shelf
books on brown wooden shelf
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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Ottawa chapter.

Summer is the perfect time to get your read on and actually find time to go through that ever-growing stack of books that you’ve slowly been adding to all year, but never got the chance to actually sit down and read ‘em, #StudentStruggles!

Even if you’ve been adding to that list, here are a few others that you should definitely include. They’re the perfect feel-good summer-reads to add to your stack of books and go through whilst lounging in the hot summer sun <3

1. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

I absolutely LOVE this woman! She’s smart, beautiful, successful, and speaks the truth in this loving book where she invites us on her journey to “contentment and excitement in her adult life”. In other words, she gives us tips and tricks to looking fabulous in Hollywood, all the way to giving us details about her hectic (but still exciting love life).

2. Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson

Furiously happy is described as “a hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety”. Although this idea sounds a bit daunting, it’s meant to show us that “taking moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are”. This is definitely a goofy, happy-go-lucky, feel-good book for sure!

3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Soon to hit the big screen, The Girl on the Train, follows the mystery behind “Three women, three men, connected through marriage or infidelity. Each is to blame for something. But only one is a killer in this nail-biting, stealthy psychological thriller about human frailty and obsession.” Now doesn’t that sound like fun? I think it sounds pretty great! *adding to list of things to read*

4. Modern Romance: An Investigation by Aziz Ansari

This is a wonderful and insightful look into “the pleasures and perils of modern romance”. Ansari teamed up with NYU sociologist, Eric Klinenberg, and analyzes love and romance, bringing us on a tour of our new romantic world.

5. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

This wonderful tale tells the story of a young 16-year old girl in Tokyo who seeks solace from being a victim to bullying, and documents the life of her century-old great-grandmother. Across the Pacific, Ruth picks up a hello-kitty lunchbox filled with the 16-year old girl’s artefacts, pulling Ruth into the past, into the young girls life and ultimately into Ruth’s own future.

6. The Martian by Andy Weir

Now a major motion picture, The Martian, is an exciting and thrilling story that follows the journals of an astronaut stuck on mars, trying to survive. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate, thinking him dead, the astronaut wakes up to find himself stranded and alone on mars with no way to get home and with limited amount of supplies to keep him alive.

7. To be or not to be by Ryan North & William Shakespeare

This book is for all of my English Majors out there (and my Shakespeare fans)! What if you could choose the fate of Hamlet or Ophelia? What if you were able to determine where their paths lead! Extremely entertaining and filled with fun fill colour and full-page illustratons!

8. Brooklyn by Colm TĂłibĂ­n

A wonderfully romantic story about an Irish woman and an Italian New Yorker who fall in love and go through life’s ups and downs. Tóibín brings us on Eilis’s journey to finding happiness after leaving her life in Ireland in order to find work in the States. This is a perfect read for those who love getting sweeped off their feet with a happy (and at times, sad) love story.

Let us know what some of your top summer reads are by tweeting us!

 

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Hey my name is Madison, and I'm a fourth year English & Communications major at the University of Ottawa. I love fashion, beauty, and anything health related! I'm a frequent blogger (yay for tumblr), painter, writer, vinyl collector, traveler, shopaholic, and a hopeless romantic.