My Summer Reading List! (Part One)

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:03]Hi everyone. I'm Celeste. Well, you know, summer is fast approaching and it's been a lovely day today. One thing that I do love is planning summer reading lists and today is no different.

[00:00:16]I'm going to be bringing you some of my summer reading list. Now, I have so many titles that I decided to split my video in two. So, today I'll be giving you part one and um I got kind of a head start on my reading for the summer. So, the books that I'm going to be sharing with you today are ones I have already read, ones that I've already gotten to.

[00:00:40]And then in part two, I'll bring you the rest of the books that I hope to read this summer.

[00:00:47]Now, the first book that I read that was on my summer reading list is this lovely vintage copy of Black Narcissus. It's a 1939 novel by Rumer Godden and you know I love my Rumer Godden vintage novels.

[00:01:04]This is just a beautiful edition. It's probably going to be shining in the reflection from my windshield here, but I will try to show you the beautiful, beautiful painting on the front of the Himalayan mountains. And um I just treasure this volume. Black Narcissus is the story of a group of Anglican nuns who have been sent to establish a convent school and clinic high in the Himalayas in a place called Mopu. And the site of the convent was formerly a general's harem. It's kind of a questionable location.

[00:01:44]Um and as the nuns attempt to set up the convent, they begin to struggle with the isolation and the mountain environment and the small group dynamics that of course develop because it's just a small group of nuns and the plot involves the head nun who is sister Clodagh and I think I'm pronouncing that correctly and sister Clodagh is actually quite young and some of the other older nuns kind of question the fact that she was given this mission and she leads a group of maybe five or six other nuns up into the Himalayas to this former harem in Mopu. It delves into the conflicts between the nuns vows and their human emotions. They are sort of at odds with each other and it [gasps] doesn't help that there is a man thrown into the mix. He is there as kind of an agent. He's supposed to be assisting the sisters as they set up their clinic and convent and school but just his very presence seems to bother some of the other nuns in various ways and he's very funny, very earthy, very worldly. He's lived. He's been around unlike some of the nuns. There's also a clash between the nuns religious sensibilities and the local culture because they're not familiar with the local culture and sometimes they're trying to sort of colonize or impose their views on the local people without really getting to know them or what matters to them. Um so I enjoyed reading this. I thought the writing was quite good. It's a very very slow burn. I don't know. It It was a beautiful yet very bizarre story.

[00:03:46]Um I can't give it a full five stars because I felt like the climax of the novel you can even call it that, was a bit predictable. Like I knew it was going to happen. Um but it is an interesting character study and this is one of those novels where atmosphere and place are definitely a character itself, themself, itself. Um and so I am so glad I read it. Some of the prose is just absolutely stunning. It wasn't a five-star read for me, but it was quite good and I'm glad I read it. Um there are some passages of quiet beauty, some gorgeous prose in here. And I'm really looking forward to watching the Criterion Collection um film, Black Narcissus, now as well.

[00:04:42]And the just the way the mountains are portrayed in this uh just as a backdrop to everything going on is just stunning and kind of a symbol of the human spirit, I would say. So yeah. So that is Black Narcissus and that was the first book that I wanted to read on my summer reading list.

[00:05:04]The second book that I had on my summer reading list that I've already had a chance to read is The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson. I love Eva Ibbotson. She has fast become one of my favorite authors. I read The Morning Gift prior to this as well as some of her children's books and um I love her books for adults, her romances, her her fairy tale romances, I would say. So The Secret Countess um is a novel that was published in 1981. It was originally called A Countess Below Stairs. It is about a Russian Countess named Anna and it's the aftermath of World War I and Anna and members of her royal family live in Russia and they have to flee due to the Russian Revolution. And so they flee to England and unfortunately lose their family fortune along the way. And in England Anna wants to work. She wants to be industrious and help out where she can to help support the family. And so she hides her identity and takes a job as a servant in a nearby noble household. And so while she's navigating her new life as a servant, she meets the Earl of Westerholm. His name is Rupert.

[00:06:42]He's one of the sons and he was wounded in the war. Um and he comes back after his convalescence to the manor house.

[00:06:52]And um he is engaged to his beautiful fiance. And so the story goes on from there and follows Anna's struggles to adapt to both the manual labor of her role as a servant and getting the people downstairs to accept her as well as to trying to keep her aristocratic past a secret. course there's going to be romance in this. It's also quite a humorous novel. I love the quirky characters that Eva Ibbotson creates.

[00:07:30]This one um was a little bit different in the sense that it has a subject in it which is is very serious subject and one which is very important to me. And that is the odd preoccupation in the early 20th century with the subject of eugenics.

[00:07:52]And that is kind of a race system and basing people's worth on their race and how pure they are. It was a part of Nazism, of course, and also a part of race in the United States as well. And there's also disability. And there are some disabled characters in this book. Overall, I think Eva Ibbotson, for the time this was written, the early '80s, I think she handled it fairly well. She handled the disability with respect. I would say as the parent of a disabled child, I felt like there were a few strained moments in the story where most people would just laugh and find it funny. I had to strain to find the humor a little bit.

[00:08:40]quite as funny to me. Especially there's a scene toward the end.

[00:08:45]So, I think that's what I bring to this is reading it as a parent of someone with a disability.

[00:08:53]But overall, I think it was well handled. I did appreciate the humor overall. She has so many marvelous references to the arts, to music, to dance, to ballet, and so much more. I would say that if you appreciate old-fashioned romance and if you like a good post-war story, and you're a fan of both fairy tales and Downton Abbey, then this is the book for you. I think you would really enjoy it. Yeah. So, The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson.

[00:09:30]So, the third book on my summer reading list that I've already had a chance to finish is Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart. Nine Coaches Waiting is a 1958 romantic suspense novel as are most of Mary Stewart's works and it's about an English governess named Linda Martin who takes a job at a place called Chateau Valmy in the French Alps where I have been by the way.

[00:10:01]Um and her charge, the little boy that she's supposed to look after as a governess, um he is a young orphaned count and his name is Philippe. And uh Linda discovers a sinister plot while she is at Chateau de Valmy. Um a plot against little Philippe's life and the intrigue goes on from there and we become embroiled in this plot and you're not really sure who you can trust and who you can't trust uh in the household and among the friends that Linda makes while she's there.

[00:10:38]And so it's definitely romantic suspense.

[00:10:42]Um I'm reading all of Mary Stewart's books in order and this was the next one that I was due to read.

[00:10:49]Um hands down it's my favorite so far. I do love all of them dearly uh but this one is really really good and the story actually begins in March um and runs through Easter so I would say spring into summer is a perfect time to read it. There are the lush descriptions of scenery and weather uh and clothing and history and art and all of that that you would expect in a Mary Stewart novel.

[00:11:22]Um her descriptions of weather and nature are just stupendous. The story does definitely draw a lot of inspiration from Jane Eyre with characters who you can see like you can you can tell that it's inspired by classic literary roles. The governess comes to the house of secrets and has to solve what's going on there. Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart.

[00:11:51]The next book that was on my summer reading list that I've already had a chance to read is a new book that was just published in 2025 and that is The Blossoming Summer by Anna Rose Johnson. Anna Rose Johnson is a um indigenous author and she is the author of several books that I also want to read. The Star That Always Stays is one of them. And this is the story of Rosemary. Rosemary is living through World War II. She is from the United States, but she's grown up in England and her life in England is all she has really ever known. London is experiencing the Blitz and it's being devastated. So, she and her estranged brothers who have all been sent to different households to live. The family's all been separated. Her mother, her father, her brothers and her are all living in disparate places. They all come back together and uh go back to the States to live on the family farm and in the house where her father grew up.

[00:13:08]Grandmother's house in northern Wisconsin.

[00:13:12]And um so, it's very awkward at first because the brothers and Rosemary and her mom and dad it's very sort of stilted conversation and awkward because they really haven't spent much time together in a long time and they've all grown up in different circumstances, so they're almost like strangers to each other.

[00:13:33]Her grandmother's house is a lovely farm with gardens on Lake Superior. And um she immediately loves it and just falls right into gardening and exploring.

[00:13:48]And she likes her grandmother, but her grandmother and her father seem to have an estranged relationship.

[00:13:55]And I don't think I'm giving anything away here. I think this is explained pretty much in the beginning and in the advertising for this book.

[00:14:04]Rosemary discovers that her family is sort of passing as white and that they are actually Anishinaabe.

[00:14:14]And um so she immediately sort of embraces that and wants to learn the language, Anishinaabemowin, and um learn about the culture and about some of the lore, um and her own family history. So the story does go on from there.

[00:14:36]Um I thought it was good. I thought it was sweet. It was very well written.

[00:14:41]It's kind of a coming of age story. It's definitely for younger readers. I love love love the cover. That's what originally drew me to this book. It's definitely got the look of a girl's coming of age story, a girl's story. And it's just a beautiful, beautiful cover illustration that goes around to the back there. All throughout the book we have um this interest in the Anishinaabe and learning the Anishinaabemowin, the language and the culture, the traditions, the beliefs, and embracing all of that. And suddenly, within, I would say, the last 20 to 30 pages of the book, the tone kind of changes and suddenly it becomes very Christian.

[00:15:34]And there is a lot of thanking God and being blessed. Um and, you know, that's great, but it was just surprising to me that shift in tone, uh that went from learning about the Anishinaabe culture and learning about nature. It's very much a book about nature and of coming home to your own traditions. And then it's like it suddenly just pivoted and became very Christian.

[00:16:08]Um and the framing was just different and I just felt a little discombobulated by that. I wasn't prepared for it. It's interesting, you know, cuz I was expecting more of an Ojibwe POV and um it just felt a bit sudden and unexplained and without precedent. It wasn't as much of a indigenous spiritual experience at that point, which was what I was hoping for.

[00:16:35]Uh it became sudden, unexpected Christian denouement and framing, which again is fine. It was just sudden. And and what's interesting is I felt the same way about the book Heidi. Um I felt like it was two books put together and that the first was this lovely treatise on nature and the general sense of God. And then in the second half of the book, it became a bit proselytizing.

[00:17:08]It just suddenly switched tone and I was not prepared for that. So, I felt the same way about Heidi as I feel about this book. But again, the writing is beautiful, the cover is beautiful. I love historical fiction that's set in World War II. The descriptions of the gardens and of Lake Superior are beautiful and it's just a really sweet coming-of-age book. So, I think if you like a coming-of-age story, if you like children's historical middle grade fiction, definitely give this one a try.

[00:17:43]And it's it's really a lot of fun to learn some Anishinaabemowin words. There's like a little glossary in the back here where she teaches you some of the words.

[00:17:54]So, I really appreciate that from the author Anna Rose Johnson. So, yeah, The Blossoming Summer.

[00:18:02]The next book that was on my summer reading list that I've already had a chance to finish is Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith. This is the second book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series featuring Mma Ramotswe. And this was delightful.

[00:18:23]I love these books so much because they're not solving a police procedural.

[00:18:31]There are some gritty and dark elements and there are crimes committed. Um but they're still cozy in the sense that we also learn about Botswanan culture and we learn about their everyday lives and there is usually one or two major mysteries intertwined with some small mysteries of everyday life and some small dilemmas that need to be solved and it was no different with this one.

[00:19:04]Um it was touching, it was tender.

[00:19:07]One of the main stories is about a mother whose son came to Africa to work on a kind of farm and he disappeared and now it's years later and his mother would just like closure. So she returns to the area and asks Mma Ramotswe if she would help her. So to to find out what happened to her son and then one of the other stories that's going on at the same time is J.L.B.

[00:19:42]Matekoni and Mma Ramotswe are planning their wedding and where they're going to live and they're having a slight problem with J.L.B.'s dubious housekeeper, let's put it that way.

[00:19:56]There are a couple stories that are intertwined and braided together and as usual it's charming, it's touching, it's heartwarming.

[00:20:07]I loved it. So I can't wait to start number three in The Number One Ladies Detective Agency series.

[00:20:16]Okay, so the next book is Jojo Moyes' The Giver of Stars. I learned about this book from Heather of Water Bear Reads.

[00:20:26]It was really, really good and it is a contemporary novel. I've been going down a very, very enjoyable rabbit hole lately with my own little sort of study unit on the Roosevelt family. I love studying about Teddy Roosevelt and I love studying about FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt as well and also the 1930s Great Depression and the Works Progress Administration.

[00:20:55]So to this end I just finished The Giver of Stars and this is about the Pack Horse Librarians of rural Kentucky in the Depression and Eleanor Roosevelt had a lot to do with starting this project, which was to deliver books to the people who lived in very rural out-of-the-ways areas in Kentucky. I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's a beautiful cover, too. Um so this is about a young English woman named Alice who marries a very well-to-do Kentucky boy. They move to a rural area under the mountains and she is absolutely miserable. She joins a team of women who have set out under the Works Progress Administration to deliver books to patrons in the area by packhorse that are not accessible by major roads. Um they live in isolated communities up in the hills and make moonshine and have stills and many are not educated and so they have to go off the beaten path to bring them these library books. And so Alice joins this team of women um who deliver books by horseback and doing this apparently for the this community challenges social norms. Women aren't supposed to work. A woman's place is in the home.

[00:22:29]These books are teaching women highfalutin ideas. They don't need to know how to read. They just need to know how to cook and raise kids. Um so the book explores themes of friendship, female friendships, loyalty, and also the power of literature. I love how all throughout this book it's peppered with quotes from famous novels.

[00:22:54]I love the setting of Depression-era Kentucky focusing on the remote Appalachian Mountains.

[00:23:01]Uh it's just described so beautifully and where the title The Giver of Stars comes from, you'll find that out when you read this as well. Um so yeah, I really, really, really enjoyed this a lot. And then to go along with this, I also read a book which I believe was published by Purple House Press. I got it from the library and it was called Down Cutchin Creek, The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky. This is a very slim, slim book. It's a delightful kind of junior non-fiction picture book. And in the span of just a few short pages, you will have a lovely beginner's overview of the Pack Horse Librarians.

[00:23:51]It's full of black and white photographs from the era. It was a lovely supplementary read to The Giver of Stars. So I highly recommend it. Well, that's everything I have for today. I hope you enjoyed it. As mentioned, I will be bringing you a part two to this video where I discuss all of the books on my summer reading list that I have not read yet and I'm hoping to read in the months of June and July and into August. Please let me know down in the comments below what you've been reading and what you plan to read over the summer as well. I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day, that you have a great week ahead. We'll see you again real soon.

[00:24:35]Bye-bye.