If you are curious of my taste level or what kind of books I enjoy, here are the books I read last summer. Keep in mind, I don’t finish every book I pick up. All the books on this list I read front to back and loved (and for some, I at least a few times questioned) the journey.

1. Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton
2. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
4. Not That Kind Of Girl by Lena Dunham
5. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
6. Drown by Junot Diaz
7. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
8. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
9. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
10. What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
11. Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them by Wendy MacNaughton and Isaac Fitzgerald
12. I Suck At Girls by Justin Halpern
13. Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein
14. Girls and Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein
15. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
16. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
17. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
18. On Writing by Stephen King
19. Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
20. Disgruntled by Asali Solomon

Ranking Code: Loved, Liked, Not Sure How I Finished It

By the time summer comes, people have free time and want to catch up on some books. Are you one of those people? A wannabe avid summer reader but you don’t know what to read? Well each month, I will be posting a combination of 5-10 non-fiction and fiction books to read with a brief review and a hopefully spoiler free synopsis. My first round of recommendations will be out June 1st.

Why is the list called “Lovely Hearts”? Books open doors into new perspectives and walks of life we may have never been exposed to otherwise. Books are an affordable adventure, especially if you take them out of the library, that can make your soul feel full or realize there is a void in your heart that a character temporarily fulfilled. Whether you find a book traumatizing, humorous, gut-wrenching, enlightening, or insightful your heart will thank you. As I choose books to add to the list, I will be thinking “What did this book do to my heart? My perspective of life? Of people? Society?”

This summer has to be extremely productive for me. Here are some articles, reviews, and dramatic works I hope to complete this summer:

• American Apparel (short film screenplay)
• Tippy Toes (feature film screenplay)
• Temporal Lullaby (short film screenplay)
• Pink (full-length play)
• American Tourist (full-length play)
• A film review of Gook
• A film review of The Transfiguration
• A film review of Beach Rats

Stay tuned!