All Booked Up...

Summer generally means having more free time, and what better way to fill that free time than to read. Nothing beats reading by the pool or on the beach, getting lost in a book is such an experience. I've put together a list of the books that are on my personal reading list, I haven't read any of these books myself but I will report back once I've read them.

I've included a brief description* of the plot of each book (*description I found Amazon/ Eason/ WHSmith). And I know that you should NEVER judge a book by it's cover but it makes them easier to spot in bookshops ;)

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Have seen the amazing trailer for Everything, Everything starring Amandla Stenberg and the absolute BABE Nick Robinson??

Well now it’s time to read the incredible #1 New York Times bestselling story before you see the movie, in cinemas soon, besides the book are always so much better than the movies ( Think Twilight Saga) So the story behind this book is Maddy is allergic to the world; stepping outside the sterile sanctuary of her home could kill her. But then Olly moves in next door. And just like that, Maddy realizes there's more to life than just being alive. You only get one chance at first love. And Maddy is ready to risk everything, everything to see where it leads.

Almost Adulting by Arden Rose

Almost Adulting, the perfect book for budding adults, failing adults, and eaters of microwave mug brownies

This book teaches you how to survive your future adulthood.

Topics include:

Making internet friends who are cool and not murderers
Flirting with someone in a way to make them think you are cool and not a murderer
Being in an actual relationship where you talk about your feelings in a healthy manner??? To the other person???????
Eating enough protein
Assembling a somewhat acceptable adult wardrobe when you have zero dollars
Going on adventures without starting to smell
How sex is supposed to feel, but, like, actually though

Hopefully by reading this book you'll have learned not only how to dress yourself, how to travel alone, how to talk to strangers online, and how to date strangers (in PERSON!), but also how to pass as a real, functioning, appropriately socialized adult.

#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso

If you haven’t heard of Sophia Amoruso or Nasty Gal you clearly have been living under a rock because this gal has gone from high-school dropout to founder and Executive Chairman of Nasty Gal, one of the fastest-growing retailers in the world.

Sophia's never been a typical executive, or a typical anything, and she's written #GIRLBOSS for other girls like her: outsiders (and insiders) seeking a unique path to success.Filled with brazen wake-up calls, cunning and frank observations, and behind-the-scenes stories from Nasty Gal's meteoric rise, #GIRLBOSS covers a lot of ground. It proves that success doesn't come from where you went to college or how popular you were in school. Success is about trusting your instincts and following your gut, knowing which rules to follow and which to break.Inspiring, motivating and empowering, #GIRLBOSS will give you the kick up the ass you need to reach your potential.

¨ Side Note: How AMAZING is the Girl Boss Netflix Series, I watched the whole season in two days!!

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler, comedienne and star of Parks and Recreation and now author. In her highly anticipated first book,Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much). Powered by Amy's charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by.

Not That Kinda Girl by Lena Dunham

Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned" is a 2014 memoir written by Lena Dunham. The book is a collection of autobiographical essays, lists, and emails.

This hilarious, poignant, and extremely frank collection of personal essays confirms Lena Dunham – the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO’s ‘Girls’ – as one of the brightest and most original writers working today.

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

In the old days, most people would find a decent person who lived in their village or neighbourhood, and after deciding they weren't a murderer, get married and have kids - all by the age of 22. ( AGH!!! I ONLY HAVE THREE YEARS TO FIND THE LOML!!)

Now we spend years of our lives searching for our perfect soul mate and, thanks to dating apps, mobile phones and social media (like Tinder), we have more romantic options than ever before in human history. Yet we also have to confront strange new dilemmas, such as what to think when someone is too busy to reply to a text but has time to post a photo of their breakfast on Instagram. ( I can relate to this) And if we have so many more options, why aren't people any less frustrated?

For years, American comedian Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at dating and relationships, and in Modern Romance, he teams up with award-winning sociologist Eric Klinenberg to investigate love in the age of technology. They enlisted some of the world's leading social scientists, conducted hundreds of interviews, analyzed the behavioural data, and researched dating cultures from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to New York City. The result is an unforgettable picture of modern love, combining Ansari's irreverent humour with cutting-edge social science.

All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg

Andrea is a single, childless 39-year-old woman who tries to navigate family, sexuality, friendships and a career she never wanted, but battles with thoughts and desires that few people would want to face up to. Told in gut-wrenchingly honest language that shimmers with rage and intimacy, All Grown Up poses such questions as: What if I don't want to hold your baby? Can I date you without ever hearing about your divorce?What can I demand of my mother now that I am an adult? Is therapy pointless? At what point does drinking a lot become a drinking problem? Why does everyone keep asking me why I am not married?

Talking As Fast As I Can from Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (And Everything In Between) by Lauren Graham

When Gilmore Girls was first released I was too young to hop on the band wagon, but once Netflix re-released every season I became OBSESSED. When I heard of the pending release of Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life I became determined to finished the entire series before its release (which I did). So when Lauren Graham, better known as Lorelai released a book I knew I had to read it.

In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, "Did you, um, make it?" She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge on Project Runway In "What It Was Like, Part One," Graham sits down for an epic Gilmore Girls marathon and reflects on being cast as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore. The essay "What It Was Like, Part Two" reveals how it felt to pick up the role again nine years later, and what doing so has meant to herThis book is like a cozy night in, catching up with your best friend, laughing and swapping stories, and-of course-talking as fast as you can.

The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy

Ariel Levy picks you up and hurls you through the story of how she lived believing that conventional rules no longer applied - that marriage doesn't have to mean monogamy, that aging doesn't have to mean infertility, that she could be 'the kind of woman who is free to do whatever she chooses'. But all of her assumptions about what she can control are undone after a string of overwhelming losses.This book focuses on Levy' own story of resilience becomes an unforgettable portrait of the shifting forces in our culture, of what has changed - and what never can.

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

Selin, a tall, highly strung Turkish-American from New Jersey turns up at Harvard and finds herself dangerously overwhelmed by the challenges and possibilities of adulthood. She studies linguistics and literature, teaches ESL and spends a lot of time thinking about what language – and languages – can and cannot do. Along the way she befriends Svetlana, a cosmopolitan Serb, and obsesses over Ivan, a mathematician from Hungary. The two conduct a hilarious relationship that culminates with Selin spending the summer teaching English in a Hungarian village and enduring a series of surprising excursions. Throughout her journeys, Selin ponders profound questions about how culture and language shape who we are, how difficult it is to be a failed writer, and how baffling love is.

Exit West by Moshin Hamid

So most of the books I’ve included on this list are pretty lightweight and deal with surface issues. However, this book has more depth to it than the others and deals with the still relevant issue of the war in Syria. The book follows the story of Nadia and Saeed, wo ordinary young people, attempting to do an extraordinary thing - to fall in love - in a world turned upside down. Theirs will be a love story but also a story about how we live now and how we might live tomorrow, of a world in crisis and two human beings travelling through it.

Civil war has come to the city which Nadia and Saeed call home. Before long they will need to leave their motherland behind - when the streets are no longer useable and the unknown is safer than the known. They will join the great outpouring of people fleeing a collapsing city, hoping against hope, looking for their place in the world.

I'll Tell You In Person by Chloe Caldwell

Flailing in jobs, failing at love, getting addicted and un-addicted to people, food, and drugs--I'll Tell You in Person is a disarmingly frank account of attempts at adulthood and all the less than perfect ways we get there. Caldwell has an unsparing knack for looking within and reporting back what's really there, rather than what she'd like you to see.

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie

What does “feminism” even mean? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now – an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists