Beach & A Book: What I'm Currently Reading

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My perfect summer day: Lying on the beach with the Chicago skyline behind me and Lake Michigan a few feet from my towel, nose-deep in a new novel and ready for an all-day tanning marathon. Luckily for my Irish roots (read: pale skin!) I got a head start on my summer tan on my trip to the south the other week! Of course, I also devoured quite a few books between happy hour cocktails and evening walks in the surf. Here are some of my recommendations for stellar summer reads.

What is currently on your bookshelf? Any titles I should check-out this summer?

Me Before You. JoJo Moyes.
Bookshelves: Realistic Fiction. Romance. Brit Lit. Sob Fest. 
Good To Read: Really late at night when you're ready to succumb to very intense and heart wrenching emotions. Not a day read-unless you brought a box of tissues and have no one to see for the next five hours with your extremely swollen eyes.
The Short: The type of book that keeps you up until 4am, and then dissolves you into a sobbing, blubbering mess. AND, the screenwriting dream team from The Fault in Our Stars is taking on the adaptation. So. Excited.

French Milk. Lucy Knisley.
Bookshelves: Memoir. Comic/Graphic. Makes me want to backpack Europe. Again.
Good to Read: Ideally on a plane over the Atlantic on your way to Paris…or, just when you need a little escape from reality and want to feel like the Seine is right out your window.
The Short: Whimsical and tongue-in-cheek guide to living in Paris for a month. The illustrations add the perfect touch of grounding and young adult savoir-faire. 

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns). Mindy Kaling.
Bookshelves: Memoir. Comedy/I literally couldn't stop laughing out loud. Mindy=my spirit animal.
Good to Read: On the beach, on a Saturday. You will feel productive for finishing it in one day, and very wise from all of Mindy's life advice.
The Short: You need to watch The Mindy Project. Then you need to read this book. That is all. (Yes, I realize this advice is like 2 years behind the curve, whatever.)

The Dud Avocado. Elaine Dundy
Bookshelves: Memoir. Wanderlust. Paris Je T'aime i.e. everyone who has ever lived in France or been to Paris needs to read this book right now.
Good to Read: When you need to hark back to your study abroad days…oh, the freedom of being young, naïve and reckless.
The Short: Everything romantic, cynical, hilarious and shocking about a young American's awakening in the City of Lights. Addicting.