My Analog Summer Reading List

Reading is my #1 analog pastime (no matter what format I use to read)

When I was a kid we went to the local library every two weeks. During the summer, particularly, I’d come home with 10, 12, even 15 books. Reading was my favorite pastime back then.

I wasn't ‘t sporty. Save for one ill-fated attempt at little league. (Slight detour: The story is that I sprained my ankle in practice the day we were learning how to slide into a steal. I started a slide and decided mid-slide that no, nope, nope-ity-nope, I didn’t want to do this…and trying to stop a slide mid-slide is not a good plan.)

I wasn’t particularly outdoorsy. (And to be clear, not being outdoors as a kid is probably 100% correlated with having parents who were not outdoorsy.)

And it would be a few more years until I got into theatre and doing a summer show was my favorite pastime.

Fast forward to March 2020. When the COVID lockdown happened I thought it would be GREAT for my reading. The pile of books on my nightstand, the pile of magazines on my living room end table…I was going to devour them, right?

Wrong. My brain felt broken. I couldn’t read at all. I had no attention span, across the board. I finished maybe three books, only because my IRL book club (shifted to Zoom) was still meeting.

So as 2020 ended, I decided I really needed to fix this. I couldn’t be someone who doesn’t read. I added a 20-minute daily reading habit into my habit tracker, and I decided to give audiobooks a try for the first time, figuring I could use my morning walks to read in that new-to-me format. I also released myself from the obligation to read only weighty non-fiction and important novels. I started reading cozy mystery, celebrity memoirs of celebrities I actually liked, even romantasy and romcoms. I re-read things I remember liking from my days at the Sunnyvale Public Library.

It worked like gangbusters. I’ve been regularly reading about 100 books a year ever since. So here’s my reading list for this summer:

1. I just started Eat & Flourish by Mary Beth Albright, because it’s our summer book club choice for Optionality. It is refreshing to read a book about how we eat that is squarely interested in its effect on our mental wellbeing, not our physical wellbeing. Science has evolved so much in connecting the dots between how we eat and how that matters to our endocrine system and our neurological responses (and how those systems are connected), not just our gut, circulatory, or cardiovascular system. I own the ebook, but decided to borrow the audiobook format. Somehow listening to big scientific words is more digestible to me than reading them.

2. I had never read The Hunger Games or seen the movies. Until now. I just finished the original Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins yesterday. So I’ve got both prequels on my list, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping. I mean, dystopia seems pretty apropos in this moment. And the tension over how not to become the power you’re fighting once you win the fight. Relatable.

3. In preparation for our August theme of fun, play, rest, and joy, I am reading/re-reading two books by upcoming speakers and contributors to our August content. First, Free to Be: A Six-Week Guide to Reclaiming Your Soul by Shirin Etessam, and then Move. Think. Rest. Redefining Productivity and Our Relationship with Time by Dr. Natalie Nixon. If you are seeking, exploring, launching, improving your optionality-driven life, then knowing why your options should include things like rest and play…and then knowing how to integrate them feels necessary!

(L-R) Shirin Etessam, Natalie Nixon, PhD

4. I enjoy seeing a movie or TV first, then reading the book, since it’s generally true that the book experience can only improve on the visual media experience. Having watched the Murderbot series on AppleTV+, I’m now reading the Murderbot series of novellas my Martha Wells. So good! And the books have something really interesting to say about humanity, neurodiversity, and even capitalism.

5. This may be a deep cut, but I can’t wait until The Gods of New York by Jonathan Mahler comes off hold on Libby. It is specifically about the years 1986-1990 in New York City, which are coincidentally the exact four years I lived there. The description of the book lists every major news story I remember clearly from those days, many of them race-related. But it also encompasses the time of the rise of HIV/AIDS, which, as a theatre person, had a deadly impact on my circle of friends, acquaintances, and idols. When I say Larry Kramer was one of my personal heroes, it was mostly for his actions during these years. There is something about being alive during consequential times (as I think we are now) that is both great and terrible. There is opportunity for greatness in how you respond, and for terrifying helplessness before you figure out how you can respond.

6. No cozy mysteries on this summer list, but We’ll Prescribe you a Cat by You Ishida sounds as cozy as it comes. And perfect for me, since I 100% believe my cats are great for my mental health, even when their crepuscular antics drive me up a wall. (The latest Cat in the Stacks cozy mystery by Miranda James is due out later this summer, but I fear there may be a long waiting list on that!)

No one said analog pursuits can’t be solo pursuits, right?

So, where are my fellow bookworms at? What's on your TBR list this summer?

Join our webinar with author Natalie Nixon in August. (Sign up to get the recording even if you can’t attend live): Most people see productivity as grinding through tasks and checking boxes. But real productivity comes from integrating movement, thought, and rest—fueling creativity, sustainable ROI, and long-term well-being. In the face of burnout, remote work, and nonstop tech, Move. Think. Rest. offers a human-centric, future-ready way to work.