This summer promises to be a challenging one as efforts to reopen most states have resulted in rising COVID-19 rates. Though many people have bucked the odds and taken vacations, most of us will have to settle for a staycation this year. We have a few recommendations for your staycation reading list and a few of them aren’t novels.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson – Six-year-old Sophia is spending the summer with her grandmother on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. As they explore the island together, they build boats from bark, create a miniature Venice, and keep a journal recounting the exploits of local bugs. Their conversations are sometimes playful, but often they discuss things that matter. Each has her own perspective on love, life, death, and the nature of God which is influenced by her age. For those of us who are grandparents it’s a poignant illustration of the joys and sorrows we share with our loved ones and the legacy we will leave behind.

The Last Book Party by Karen Dukess – When twenty-five -year-old aspiring writer Eve Rosen finagles an invitation to an exclusive summer’s end party in Cape Cod for the literary elite, she hopes it will help launch her career. Instead she is thrown into the Gatsbyesque lifestyle of her hosts, famed New Yorker writer Henry Grey and his poet wife Tillie. Can Eve negotiate the differences between the traditional Jewish family values she was raised with and this glittering world? Eve soon discovers the hidden costs of success.

A Grand Old Time by Judy Leigh - Evie Gallagher regrets the hasty move into a care home she made after her husband’s death. She may be seventy-five, but that’s no reason to give up on life …or love, so, one morning, Evie walks out of Sheldon Lodge and sets off on a Great Adventure across Europe.  Her son Brendan and his wife Maura are mortified and want to stop this inappropriate adventure at once. They follow a trail of puzzling text messages to find her and bring her home, but when they finally catch up with her, will she be willing to give up her new life? What will Brendan and Maura learn from Evie’s adventures about the trajectory of their lives? Funny and often bittersweet – this book will make you rethink aging gracefully.

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner – A few years ago, I read every book my local library had by Jennifer Weiner and this book reminds me why… Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life and asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer. Drue seems like the same super successful and confident beauty of six years ago, but Daphne isn’t the same insecure push over she was back in the day. When it comes to her relationship with Drue… Daphne soon realizes old habits die hard. At least Drue made the first move, so what could possibly go wrong?

Max and the Multiverse (Book One) by Zachry Wheeler - Max is stuck at home all by himself. During spring break and he’s loving it. He’s playing video games, eating junk food, and suddenly wondering why his cat can talk. Thanks to a bizarre mishap, Max is also shifting between parallel universes whenever he falls asleep. Waking up to a strange new reality and struggling to make sense of his surroundings gets old quickly.
One day he awakes in a hyper-advanced version of Earth. Humans have colonized space. To fulfill a lifelong dream, Max and his cyborg cat venture into space and find themselves in the middle of an intergalactic conflict. This book is Science fiction satire written for Young Adults 13-18 and adults who love this genre.
The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History by William K. Klingaman and Nicholas P. Klingaman – It was the year with no summer. In 1816, a volcanic eruption in Indonesia disrupted weather patterns worldwide for months causing excessive rain, frost, and snowfall through much of the Northeastern U.S. and Europe during the summer months. In the U.S., the weather produced food shortages, religious revivals, and extensive migration from New England to the Midwest. In Europe, the cold and wet summer caused famine, food riots, broken communities of wandering beggars, and one of the worst typhus epidemics in history. These events are linked to global climate change and provide much for us to consider during the current pandemic.

Outside the Lines of Gilded Age Baseball: Gambling, Umpires, and Racism in 1880s Baseball by Rob Bauer - Gambling on games was a serious problem in baseball during the 1880s. America’s National Game also had to contend with the abuse of umpires. Verbal and physical altercations between players, fans, and umpires were one of the most important issues in the game in this decade. Many umpires narrowly escaped with their lives. Twice, enraged fans were killed in self-defense during altercations with umpires. The 1880s was the decade baseball drew its color line, banning African Americans from the game. Racism permeated the game in more subtle ways including the treatment of team mascots. This is the second book in a series about the history of baseball. It puts the history of the game into the larger context of American society. 
How to Grill Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Flame-Cooked Food by Mark Bittman -  Simple directions on how to grill everything from the perfect steak to cedar-plank salmon to pizza. Featuring 1,000 recipes and variations, and Bittman’s advice on all the grilling basics. Recipes cover every part of the meal, from appetizers, seafood, meat, and poultry, to vegetables, bread, and even desserts.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman – Perelman believes there are no bad cooks only bad recipes. She is not a professional chef, but she loves to cook. Her blog addresses the need for recipes with simple ingredients and no complicated or time-consuming instructions. She’s taken the best of her recipes and put them in a book for the everyday cook who wants to make delicious family meals and entertain without all the fuss.

Brain Games – Summer Fun Puzzles by Brian Games – Sometimes the best way to relax is to occupy your mind with something, not on social media, or splashed across the front page of your newspaper. Try this breezy summer-themed collection of visual, logic, and memory puzzles, word searches, crosswords, dot-to-dot, mazes, anagrams, cryptograms, word ladders, sudoku, Futoshiki (a Japanese logic puzzle played on a square grid) and more!  Complete with an answer key in the back of the book 

Dreams Come True: An Adult Coloring Book by Jade Summer – Enjoy this coloring book that combines inspirational quotes with adorable Kawaii designs. Each coloring page features easy-to-color designs to help you relax and positive quotes to improve self-esteem.