Summers are great for cookouts, family fun, pool visits, and READING!  This summer reading list has books for the home, parenting, just for fun, and more. 

We spent the afternoon at one of our favorite parks yesterday. We packed a picnic, and brought along books and bikes and baby gear (a pacifier and diapers). I enjoyed a few hours in the cool shade while my big kids treated summer as it should be– with lots of imagination and a fair amount of dirt and mischief.

Since discovering last week that the park with four kids wasn’t so bad, I am planning to make these long visits a weekly occurrence. Baby Josiah will simply nurse and nap on my chest (I want that to go on as long as possible), the big kids will play, and I will read (and snack constantly, because, breastfeeding).

Reading isn’t something that I have done a lot of this past year. Blame it on laziness or busyness or a mix of both, I have started several books but finished few. I felt the effects of letting my reading muscle go this afternoon. My attention span is struggling, but I plan to work on it this summer.

I’m sharing my reading list for the summer as a pledge to finish them. Summer is a great time to read because of all the leisure time we spend out of doors– unplugged and (mostly) undistracted. Books at the park, books in the yard, books at the pool, and books while I nurse my baby.

I selected books to help me grow and learn in the areas where most of my time is spent. Maybe at the end of the summer I will do a recap of each. More incentive to finish.

{If you struggle to find time to read, check out this list of 15 tips for making the time to read}

:: Summer Reading List ::

>>Spiritual Life :: Pursuit of Holiness, Jerry Bridges

We are reading this book in our women’s Bible study at church, so I’m including it in my list, though we will not finish the book this summer. If you have never read anything by Jerry Bridges before, his book The Discipline of Grace is another GREAT book to read.

>>Home Life :: Life Giving Home, Sally Clarkson

My best friend gifted me with this book a couple of months ago. I told myself I would not purchase Sally’s new book until I finished her last new book (see, I told you I wasn’t good at finishing books last year). I still have yet to finished Own Your Life, but I’m cheating and reading Life Giving Home because I’m just really excited about it.

>>Parenting :: Instructing A Child’s Heart, Tedd & Margy Tripp

When we first became parents six years ago, I read the Tripp’s book Shepherding A Child’s Heart. Even though my only child was still a baby at the time, the book was incredible. It’s still in my top five parenting books because of how transformational it was for my husband and me to think of our children’s struggles (and our own) in terms of the heart. Instructing A Child’s Heart is the next step– giving our children the framework and truth they will need to live joyful, happy lives in God.

>>Homeschool :: Teaching from Rest, Sarah Mackenzie

I have heard SO many great things about this book. Reading it just as we finish our first year of homeschooling, and before entering into our second, will be refreshing and inspiring. If you haven’t heard of Sarah, definitely check out her blog and her podcast. Hint: they are not just for homeschoolers.

>>Just for Fun :: Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling

I have read these books before, but I started the series again shortly after Josiah was born because they would be easy and engaging books to read when my mind felt exhausted. I’ve finished the third book and am now waiting a few weeks to start the fourth so I can spend some time reading the others on my list. (Because fiction…it’s addicting).

What is on your reading list this summer? 

When do you make time to read? 

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