10 Books to Read This Summer

One of the perks of spending this week at the beach is the dent I've gotten to make in my reading list! I finally finished Donna Tart's The Goldfinch and today I will be finishing Jen Lancaster's Bitter is the New Black. All this reading got me looking at new books to read for the rest of the summer. I know some people find reading to be a chore, but I find it to be the perfect way to relax after a long day. Plus, it is good to get your eyes away from the phone for a while before you go to bed! Here are some books that others have recommended or that I love. As always, if you want to follow along with me on GoodReads, just add me as a friend. They have great recommendations based on other books you've read and it results in my "to-read" shelf growing at an exponential rate!

The One and Only by Emily Griffin 

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Banks

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Looking For Alaska by John Green

The White Album by Joan Didion

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

What books are on your summer reading list? I would love other suggestions!

xx,

Erin

Digital Magazines

There is nothing better than having a good start to your day. A good breakfast or a lazy morning in bed is just what the doctor orders on a Sunday to unwind before the crazy week ahead. Recently, I decided to subscribe to a couple of magazines via Amazon because I was tired of spending $4.00 an issue at the grocery store when I wanted to read it. When I purchased Vogue and Glamour, I also got the iPad digital version of the magazine. I was hesitant to do this because there is just something that I really love about reading print editions of magazines and books, even though I do have some on my iPad. However, I am so glad that I elected to download the digital version of this magazine, too!

{via Instagram}

Digital magazines are becoming really popular, in fact Carly Heitlinger of The College Prepster helped to start Sweet Lemon Magazine a couple years ago, an exclusively digital magazine, and Net-A-Porter recently launched a digital magazine as well. Though I thought this was a cool concept, I didn't realize how many benefits there would be for magazines that I already read in print. The digital version of these magazine has offered more interaction and insight to the issue than ever before. There are great iPad exclusives including behind-the-scenes videos and more photos than are in the print edition, the magazine really comes to life on my iPad. Plus, you can instantly read what you want by just tapping on the various links on different pages.

Personally, I still like to flip through the whole thing because I love looking at ads for designer items that I can only afford in my dreams. Nothing can ever trump flipping through a magazine and hanging up the pictures on my wall. Did anyone else do this when they were younger? Like I had both sides of my closet doors covered in different fashion shots and ads from magazines that I would carefully tear out whenever I was done reading it.

And you know what, I can still do that because I get the print edition too. Although, now that I am older and there is really nowhere in my room that I want to hang up a bunch of magazine pages, I am thinking of making an inspiration folder to put these pages in.

What are your favorite magazines? Does anyone else get magazines delivered to their iPad, too?

xoxo,

SSP