The Summer Archive, part 1

One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by. (Jeannette Walls)

Welcome to The Summer Archive (finally!)
For some reason it always feels like the whole year leads up to this season. The days are longer, the sun shows up almost every day, the possibilities feel endless and the best fruits are in season. Still, the summer blues are real and they find their way to me too sometimes. So, as usual, I’ve put together a list of recommendations for this beautiful and sometimes melancholic time of year: from books to movies, from fragrances to podcasts, and more. Wishing you the loveliest summer ever.
— Ella

---

listening — june music and podcasts

Three beautiful albums, each distinct and perfect for every mood. Whether you’re having a melancholic, country, or nostalgic summer, these are definitely worth a listen. Plus, I’m sharing two podcasts I’ve been loving lately!

1. Wide Open Spaces — The Chicks

2. Preacher’s Daughter — Ethel Cain

3. Feels Like Home — Norah Jones

   ---

This American Life — Summer

---

The Book Review — 12 Summer Books We’re Looking Forward To

---

reading — june books

I hadn’t realized it before but summer is my favorite season for reading. As I put this list together I noticed that so many of the books I love and consider favorites are infused with sunlight and that unmistakable feeling of summer in the air. Hope you’ll find a new favorite.

• Foster written by Claire Keegan.

A small girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm in rural Ireland, without knowing when she will return home. In the strangers' house, she finds a warmth and affection she has not known before and slowly begins to blossom in their care. And then a secret is revealed and suddenly, she realizes how fragile her idyll is.

---

• Winesburg, Ohio written by Sherwood Anderson.

Winesburg, Ohio depicts the strange, secret lives of the inhabitants of a small town. In "Hands," Wing Biddlebaum tries to hide the tale of his banishment from a Pennsylvania town, a tale represented by his hands. In "Adventure," lonely Alice Hindman impulsively walks naked into the night rain. Threaded through the stories is the viewpoint of George Willard, the young newspaper reporter who, like his creator, stands witness to the dark and despairing dealings of a community of isolated people.

---

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn written by Betty Smith.

The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.

---

• Three Summers written by Margarita Liberaki.

Three Summers is the story of three sisters growing up in the countryside near Athens before the Second World War. Living in a big old house surrounded by a beautiful garden are Maria, the oldest sister, as sexually bold as she is eager to settle down and have a family of her own; beautiful but distant Infanta; and dreamy and rebellious Katerina, through whose eyes the story is mostly observed. Over three summers, the girls share and keep secrets, fall in and out of love, try to figure out their parents and other members of the tribe of adults, take note of the weird ways of friends and neighbors, worry about and wonder who they are.

---

• Heidi written by Johanna Spyri.

Little orphan Heidi goes to live high in the Alps with her gruff grandfather and brings happiness to all who know her on the mountain. When Heidi goes to Frankfurt to work in a wealthy household, she dreams of returning to the mountains and meadows, her friend Peter, and her beloved grandfather.

---

visualizing/wearing (and more listening)