June is wrapping up, which means so is my summer class. IT’S TIME FOR SOME FUN READS.

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Original photo by Justin AikinI love spending my summer just reading fun books. Sure, it’s important to get a good mix of big important books as well as the fun ones. But in the summer, when it’s too hot to even sit comfortably, I really enjoy a fun read. I think it’s because sometimes a really important book with tons of layers of meaning can be irritating to read when you’re dealing with boob sweat.

(We get that I’m using “important” in a weird way, right? Like, I think all books are important, but the industry and society tells us what’s important and what’s not. So, I guess I should state that what I’m talking about here isn’t literature. It’s just a guaranteed good time.)

So, with all this in mind, I give you al ist of books that should bring you some joy over the hottest months of the year. Enjoy them while munching on snow cones or while you’re waiting for the ice cream man to reach your block.

Fun Reads

Heroics for Beginners by John Moore

The cool thing about this book is that it takes a lot of fantasy and adventure tropes and turns them on their head. It’s very tongue-in-cheek, and an all-around good time. My favorite part of the story is where the heroes wind up in the gift shop of the castle they’re storming. It’s great.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson

If you’re a reader of blogs, there’s a good chance that you’ve come across The Bloggess. Jenny Lawson’s blog is real and raw and funny as hell. She’s one of those rare people than can look at the pile of garbage that life has given her, and just laugh at it. She chronicles her mental illness, growing up in small-town Texas, and her goth past. I recommend this to anyone who likes memoirs.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

Sloane Crosley is a literary industry sweetheart with some great essay collections. This was the first book of hers I encountered, and I truly enjoyed it. (If you get the audio book, she narrates it herself.) I’m not sure how I’d categorize this, other than “old millennial humor,” which honestly doesn’t do it justice. It reminds me a lot of Girls, the HBO show, only I never recoiled or raged out when reading this book.

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things… by Allie Brosh

Allie Brosh’s blog is great for people who love comics and silly stories. Allie tells about her life experiences in a relatable and humorous way, and she never loses the depth or importance of the meaning of her life experiences in her funny drawings. If you’re a fan of her blog, you’ll love this book. There is definitely some overlap in the stories contained in both places, but there is some exclusive content in the book.

How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran

If you’re familiar with Caitlin Moran, you’ll be able to see a lot of her own life in this story. This is a fictional account of a young British girl from Wolverhampton who becomes a music journalist. (A lot like Caitlin’s own story.) I really enjoyed reading this one, and champion it as a coming-of-age story for women, because damn. We definitely don’t have enough of those.

The Woods Out Back by R. A. Salvatore

The premise of this story is that a guy falls asleep next to a tree in the woods behind the house he grew up in, and he’s taken to a magical realm. He goes on an adventure, and winds up befriending a leprechaun. (He’s a good leprechaun, not a scary one like in the movies.) The reason I love this book so much is that it tells the story of something I’ve been trying to do for my whole life — take a walk in the woods and wind up in a fantasy realm. It’s the only thing I truly want.

Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno

This book makes the fun reads list because of all the mentions of different bands. If there’s a companion book to Moran’s How to Build a Girl, it’s Hairstyles of the Damned. Joe Meno writes about a kid growing up in Chicago during the early 1990s and discovering punk rock. And while I feel that it doesn’t have the same honest as Moran’s book, I think I feel this way because I’m a woman, and could relate more easily to Moran’s book. If you’re a dude and you read both, let me know how you feel.

What Fun Reads Do You Recommend?

Tell me all the fun reads that you enjoy? What books do you pick up when you just want to have a good time? Leave me your list in the comments.