As you sit through the first few days of the school year, you may be longing for the days of sitting out in the sun with good books. While some libraries have special opportunities that encourage you to read more books during the summer, there aren’t so many of those opportunities during the school year. Here are a few categories of books for you to find something new to read. Included in each category is a recommendation to help you get started. If these books don’t interest you, take a look at your library for more inspiration! This bingo list came from the Cambridge, Massachusetts Public Library.
Read for an hour straight
We’ve learned since being kids that you should exercise for an hour every day, so why not read for an hour today, and exercise your brain? As the weather gets cooler and you go back to school, spend an hour reading Icebreaker by Hannah Grace, a light romance about a figure skater and a hockey player.
Read books to learn something new
Books can open up your world to new topics. Perhaps you love sports but you don’t always love everything about sports, like controversial team names or hidden sexual violence. If that interests you, read Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back by Jessica Luther and Kavitha A. Davidson. There are so many books out there for you to find something new!
Read a book with a seaside or oceanside setting
This category is a good one for the summer but can help you mentally stay a little longer in summer mode even when fall hits. Sandwich: A Novel, written by Catherine Newman, is about a family on a week-long beach vacation. It’ll keep you on the beach, even while the leaves start to change color.
Read a book with a one-word title
Your recommendation for this category is James, by Percival Everett, the New York Times bestselling author of books like Erasure, which was adapted into an Oscar-winning movie. James follows Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn — which you may read in high school — from the perspective of Jim, a runaway slave.
Read a book recommended by a friend
If you’re a fan of classic rom-coms, Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter is a good choice for you! It’s a romance with references to rom-com movies littered throughout. My friend recommended it to me and now I, as your friend, am recommending it to you.
Choose a book to read because you like the cover
You may find different, equally beautiful books while perusing your library but you could choose to read The Painter’s Daughters, by Emily Howes. It’s about the sisterhood of two painter’s daughters, set in 18th Century England. And the cover is just absolutely stunning.
Read a book that has been challenged or banned
There is a plethora of books you could read to fulfill this section, and even books in this recommendation list that would fulfill this category. Try Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, chronicling her childhood. The book includes references to sexual orientation, gender identity, suicide, and emotional abuse. You can read about the challenges the book faced here.
Read a book with ties to your family heritage/homeland
This is a deeply personal category to look into, so we can’t tell you what to read for this. However, reading a book that ties to your heritage can be extremely fulfilling.
Read a book that has won an award
Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett, has won multiple awards, including the Southern Book Prize for fiction in 2023. The book explores a mother’s relationship with her daughters during Covid.
Read a book that is a retelling of an old myth or tradition
For this category, you could read Madeline Miller’s Circe, retelling many ancient Greek stories, including stories from the Odyssey.
Read a book about an activist or activism
She Said, written by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, follows their work at the New York Times surrounding Harvey Weinstein and the sexual assault charges lobbied against him. The book includes the stories of many activists, including those of the #MeToo movement.
Read a book recommended by a librarian
Go to your local library and ask your own librarian! This is the best way to get a good recommendation. They’ll be able to help you find a book that you’ve never heard of before and you’ll probably love.
Read a book set in a place you’d like to visit
This is another one that you’ll have to find for yourself. Looking for books set in a place you want to visit is not hard. Look up novels for the place that you want to visit next!
Read a book by a Massachusetts author
Because this bingo came from a Massachusetts library, one of the categories is about Massachusetts. While you could find a book by an author in the place where you live, you could also read Mercy Street, by Bostonian Jennifer Haigh. The story centers on an abortion clinic in Boston in 2015 and the stories of people whose lives revolve around the clinic.
Read a book featuring a hobby or interest of yours
You’ll have to find your own hobby or interest but because this bingo was in the summer, here’s You Should Be So Lucky, by Cat Sebastian, a romance set in the 50s, about America’s past time: Baseball.
Find an author who is “new to you”
Though you can find any “new to you” author, and maybe there are some on this list, here’s Love In The Time of Serial Killers, a romance narrated by someone writing her thesis on serial killer movies. Maybe Alicia Thompson is new to you too!
Read a book with a plant, tree, or flower on the cover
Peruse your own library for books with plants or flowers on the cover or read The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods. It has fantasy, realism, and historical fiction — and beautiful plants on the front cover.
Try a recipe from a new cookbook
Anything’s Pastable, by podcaster Dan Pashman, has 81 new pasta recipes. Borrow the book from your library and try one of the recipes out. If you want more, you can listen to Dan’s podcast, Sporkful, and listen to how he invented his own pasta shape.
Read a book by a debut author
While Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus was released a few years ago, this was her debut novel. The book, set in the 60s, follows a female chemist and her mission to fulfill her dream of working in a lab as a scientist when not many other women were doing the same. There’s also an Apple TV+ adapted series you could watch after reading the book.
Read a book in a genre or format that you don’t usually read
Maybe you don’t usually read fantasy books. Take this chance to read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It’s a fantastical book about living life to the fullest.
Re-read a book from your childhood
While you can look over your shelves at home, here’s a good book that you may have loved as a kid: Eleven Kids, One Summer, by Ann M. Martin. Though it’s the second book in the series, this book follows a family with eleven kids on their summer beach vacation.
Read outdoors
Though fall is creeping in soon, there’s still more time to sit outside for a bit to read. Maybe read Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding while you’re at it.
Though you may be sad about summer coming to an end, that doesn’t mean that summer reading has to end. This is your opportunity to keep your excitement for reading, even while you go back to school.
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