Thank you to all who participated in my July 11, 2020 Weekend Poll asking for your summer 2020 reading recommendations.
I’ll be brief
… in this introduction, as you’ll have plenty to read below. That’s because assistants have been generous in recommending authors and titles.
What are you reading?
Half of all respondents said you’re reading both fiction and non-fiction this summer. Twenty-nine percent will focus on fiction, and another 21% will stick with non-fiction. I heard from more than one reader who will be reading textbooks throughout the summer, as they’re working away on higher education credits.
Other readers are also turning to books for professional development, as you’ll see below.
Old school or ebooks?
More than a third of respondents, 36%, are relying on ebooks, while 29% are enjoying hard copy books. The balance are accessing both hard copies and ebooks.
The data
1. Will you read primarily fiction or non-fiction books this summer?
- Fiction: 29% of respondents
- Non-fiction: 21% of respondents
- Both: 50% of respondents
2. Will you read primarily hard copy or ebooks this summer?
- hard copy: 29% of respondents
- ebooks: 36% of respondents
- both: 36% of respondents
3. I asked readers about your preferred genres. Here, in descending order of the percentages of respondents who mentioned them, are the results.
- professional development
- fiction – contemporary
- self development/wellness
- business/career
- autobiography
- non-fiction
- mystery
- fiction – historical
- biography
- romance
- humour (tied with science fiction)
- science fiction
- higher ed textbooks – university or college texts (tied with short stories)
- short stories
- drama
4. Please name some of your favourite authors/writers.
- Albom, Mitch
- Austen, Jane
- Baldacci, David
- Benton, Elizabeth
- Bregman, Peter
- Brown, Brené
- Burg, Joan
- Childs, Lee
- Covey, Stephen
- de Botton, Alain
- Delderfield, R. F.
- Dickens, Charles
- Doyle, Glennon
- Drucker, Peter
- Evanovich, Janet
- Fallada, Hans
- Frankel, Lois P.
- Gayle, Mike
- Grisham, John
- Hadeed, Kristen
- Hall, Kendra
- Haley, Alex
- Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia (pseudonyms: Elizabeth Bennett, Emma Woodhouse)
- Hatmaker, Jen
- Hollis, Dave
- Hollis, Rachel
- Keun, Irmgard
- Kondo, Marie
- Lawrence, D.H.
- Lenz, Siegfried
- Lewis, C.S.
- Marsons, Angela
- McDermid, Val
- Mailer, Norman
- Moyes, Jojo
- Ng, Celeste
- Nightingiale, Earl
- Patterson, James
- Perel, Esther
- Picoult, Jodi
- Plath, Sylvia
- Robb, J. D.
- Roberts, Nora
- Ross, L.J.
- Roth, Philip
- Rowling, J.K.
- Sanborn, Mark
- Sayers, Dorothy
- Shute (Norway), Nevil
- Sinek, Simon
- Smith, Wilbur
- Stack, Laura
- Steinbeck, John
- Stoker, Susan
- Swan, Karen
- Tolkien, J.R.R.
- Wiesel, Eli
5. Please list some titles you’ll read this summer, or that you recommend others read. Note: Some readers kindly recommended multiple books. To keep this list to a reasonable size, I’ve included below up to three books recommended by any given reader.
- A Martyr’s Faith in a Faithless World -Bryan Wolfmueller
- A-Z Pearls of Wisdom for Executive PAs – Lindsay Taylor
- And Take They Our Life: Martin Luther’s Theology of the Martyrdom – Bryan Wolfmueller
- An Angel On My Shoulder – Geoffrey Monument
- Between the a world and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Beyond the Obvious: Killer Questions That Spark Game-Changing Innovation – McKinney, Phil
- Bill Slider series – Cynthia Harrod Eagles
- Blood Orange – Harriet Tyce
- Can’t Hurt Me – David Goggins
- Change Your Schedule, Change your Life – Michelle D. Seaton and Suhas G. Kshirsagar
- Cluttered Mess to Organized Success – Cassandra Aarssen
- Dare To Lead – Brené Brown
- Das kunstseidene Mädchen (The Artificial Silk Girl) – Irmgard Keun
- Der Trinker (The Drinker) – Hans Fallada
- Ditching Imposter Syndrome – Clare Josa
- Deutschstunde (The German Lesson) – Siegfried Lenz
- Every Step She Takes – K.L. Armstrong
- Everything is Figureoutable – Marie Forleo
- Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire – Jen Hatmaker
- Get Out Of Your Own Way – Dave Hollis
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity – David Allen
- Horseman Riding By – R. F. Delderfield
- Jeder stirbt für sich allein (Every Man Dies Alone) – Hans Fallada
- Jamaica Inn – Daphne du Maurier
- Jack Reacher series – Lee Child
- Joan’s Greatest Administrative Secrets Revealed – Joan Burge
- Killing Mind – Angela Marsons
- Leading With Emotional Courage – Peter Bregman
- Managing Oneself – Peter F. Drucker
- Marriages Are Made in Bond Street – Penrose Halson
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Carol Dweck
- Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold – Stephen Fry
- Nice Girls Don’t Stand Up or Speak Out – Lois P. Frankel
- Once Upon A River – Diana Setterfield
- Perimenopower – Katarina Will
- Permission to Screw Up: How I Learned to Lead by Doing (Almost) Everything Wrong – Kristen Hadeed
- Rebecca – Daphe Du Maurier
- Roots – Alex Haley
- Stories That Stick – Kendra Hall
- The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
- The Black Swan of Paris – Karen Robards
- The CEO’s Secret Weapon – Jan Jones
- The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done – Peter Drucker
- The Fifth Discipline – The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization – Peter Senge
- The Founder and Force Multiplier – Adam Hergenrother and Hallie Warner
- The Fred Factor – Mark Sanborn
- The Girl Who Wrote in Silk – Kelli Estes
- The Hate You Give – Angie Thomas
- The Infinite Game – Simon Sinek
- The Leader Assistant – Jeremy Burrows
- The Proactive Professional -Chrissy Scivicque
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
- The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity – Esther Perel
- Thinking Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
- Slade House – David Mitchell
- Strengthsfinder 2.0 – Tom Rath
- Tuesdays With Morrie – Mitch Albom
- Troubled Blood – Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
- Troublesome Young Men – Lynne Olson
- Untamed – Glennon Doyle
- Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
- Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge
- Wild Swan Trilogy/Saga (God is an Englishman, Theirs Was the Kingdom, Give Us This Day) – R. F. Delderfield
- Wire in the Blood books -Val McDermid
