I have finally finished my first year of grad school! In honor of this, I am going to really buckle down and… knock off some books on my ever expanding reading list! Who knew that once you hit your mid-twenties you would look forward to summer reading?

Most of my reads have to do with women in the outdoors. I love this article for more suggestions! However, I also included some dsytopian fiction, social justice pieces, and political work as well. I like to shift the genre around a bit.

While the list only has 8 books, I am sure I will add and expand on this. I want to start out with these titles first and see what happens next!

So here goes:

The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich

This book is a series of essays on a women’s life in Wyoming while experiencing grief and ruralness. I’ve already started reading bits of it and am in love. Ehrlich has this touch of beauty and despair within her writing on the cowboy west in the 1970s. I wanted a read that went deeper on a women’s life in a predominantly male side of the world, and have heard this book has that and more.

Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

I watched the movie and loved it. I’m one of those have to read the book people, usually before the movie. So obviously, need to go back and read this, and then rewatch that movie because oh my gosh, so good. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the movie has everything I love: northern Italy, art, Sufjan Stevens soundtrack, love, and Timothee Chalamet.

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimaging the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney

Environmental justice as well as policy implementation are important to understand and learn from. From what I read about Finney’s book, she takes a deep dive at the effects of policy and racism through history, geography and cultural studies on the access to natural spaces. I think for anyone who is white and loves the outdoors, its incredibly important to learn the history of racism and how it created a lack of access to natural places for those in our country.

 Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter and Trump by Dan Pfeiffer

Love me some Pod Save America. Dan is generally on the pod weekly and I enjoy his wit and snark on politics. I think it will be an interesting read seeing that he worked with Obama and built his own personal political reputation through Twitter.

Girl in the Woods: A Memoir by Aspen Matis

I know Wild is a pretty big read about a women on the PCT. I have read it multiple times. Girl in the Woods is also about a thru hike on the PCT and a women overcoming hurt while in the woods.

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

I was hooked on the TV show and am ready for the book. The Leftovers plays with this event where a small portion of the world’s population disappears and the aftermath this event has on the remaining world. It’s a pretty fascinating, yet terrifying dsytopia to imagine. Though the lack of Justin Theroux might make this read a little dull compared to the show, I want to compare book to show!

The Beast Side: Living and Dying While Black in America by D. Watkins

I have heard about D. Watkins, from his books to the fact that he is from Baltimore and does lectures here. Watkins writes about his life in Baltimore as well as being a black man in America and includes his experience during the uprising in 2015. As someone who is currently attending the School of Social Work in Baltimore, this is a crucial read for me.

The Outrun: A Memoir by Amy Liptrot

A memoir about overcoming addiction as a women returns to her isolated island home sounds like a necessary but intense book to read. I’m interested in the story that Amy writes of using home as a way to recover but also as a way to come to terms with the past.

Anyone read the following? What were your thoughts? What are you reading this summer?