By Rachel Hoeing

Who’s ready to dive into a great book this summer? We’ve asked local moms for their top picks for summer reads and have come up with a terrific list for 2014. Feel free to share this list and also add some of your own recommendations in the comment section.

For each book that was suggested, I asked the mom if she would classify it as a deep read (think intellectual, emotional, or difficult to digest), a light read (think lighter subject matter, quick reading etc.) or somewhere in the middle. Classifying these books can be very subjective, and I even had one book that was recommended for three different categories by three different people!  Therefore, don’t take it too “literally,” just think of it as somewhat of a guideline, depending on what type of book you might be in the mood to read.

Dive right in …

Deep Reads

~ What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
~ The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
~ Me Before You by JoJo Moyes
~ The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
~ Still Alice by Lisa Genova
~ Sugar by Bernice McFadden
~ Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
~ The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
~ The Lost Husband by Katherine Center
~ A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash
~ The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance by Catherine Ryan Hyde
~ The Dry Grass Of August by Anna Jean Mayhew
~ 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
~ Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt
~ Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
~ The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
~ The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
~ House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
~ The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
~ The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

Light Reads

~ Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
~ The House on Tradd Street,  The Girl on Legare Street,  The Strangers on Montagu Street, and Return to Tradd Street – all by Karen White
~ The House at Riverton, The Shifting Fog, The Forgotten Garden, The Distant Hours and The Secret Keeper – all by Kate Morton
~ Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews
~ Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews
~ Bossypants by Tina Fey
~ The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
~ Any of the books by Janet Evanovich
~ Any of the books by Harlan Coben

Reads That Are Somewhere In The Middle

~ Carry On Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed by Glennon Doyle Melton
~ Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts On Faith by Anne Lamott
~ Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan
~ A Dog’s Purpose and A Dog’s Journey by W. Bruce Cameron (for dog lovers!)
~ I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections By Nora Ephron
~ The Passage by Justin Cronin
~ Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
~ The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
~ The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth
~ Serena by Ron Rash
~ Defending Jacob by William Landay
~ Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
~ Wild by Cheryl Strayed
~ The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Related Archived Blogs:
Lose Yourself in These Triad Reads
What Are You Reading This Summer? (2013)
2012 Summer Read Recommendations
Favorite Reads for the Moms of Many Moods (2011)
Favorite Reads for Summer 2010