I’ve turned into a glutton for saucy Singaporean rom-com. I love the witty dialogue between girlfriends, relatable Asianisms (like prying aunties), the decidedly independent protagonist who struggles with traditional family values and her wild heart.
I am also into any teen romance, period drama, or one set in a posh NYC. These are a mix of all of those. And if you need a great escape from society as we know it, I've also included some savory Ice Age fiction.
These books are refreshing like a juicy popsicle, and very easy to fly though.
Sometimes you don’t want to pick up a book on, say, a thing you must fix about yourself. Reading a prehistoric love story can be a refreshing vacation from the intellectualizing of everything, as it was with me.
So if you’re in the mood to read for pleasure, here’s my list - curated from many loungey days of reading from the last few years. Here’s what I chose that I wish I could read for the first time this summer—at the beach, on a layover, before a nap. Google if you like, and see if it’s your vibe.
And just a tiny note: if anyone feels some type of way about my heteronormative literature, I refer to Roxanne Gay, author of Bad Feminist:
"I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I'm trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself: a woman who likes pink and likes to get freaky and sometimes dances her ass off to music she knows, she knows, is terrible for women and who sometimes plays dumb with repairmen because it's just easier to let them feel macho than it is to stand on the moral high ground. I am a bad feminist because I never want to be placed on the Feminist Pedestal. People who are placed on pedestals are expected to pose, perfectly. Then they get knocked off when they fuck it up. I regularly fuck it up."
A summer spent reading with friends on the San Juan islands, where I finished The Clan of the Cave Bear.
Saucy Books for Summer
1.
Last Tang Standing
by Lauren Ho
2.
Sex and Vanity
by Kevin Kwan
3.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
by Jenny Han
4.
Free Food for Millionaires
by Min Jin Lee
5.
The Piano Teacher
by Janice K. Lee
6.
The Clan of the Cave Bear
by Jean M. Auel
