When my kids were younger, the month of May was crazy busy. Baseball games, graduations, and school calendars crammed with year-end events. Nowadays, I love May’s quiet, longer days. Dinners on the patio with farm stand produce. Ice cream cones and lemonade. And curling up on the porch, lost in a good book, as the sun sets and the lightning bugs appear.

Here’s a list that offers books with information, education, reflection, and entertainment – a little something for every reader.

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, my mom stocked our kitchen cupboards with a variety of wonderful foods – Kool-Aid (yes, red), Tang (the astronaut drink), Twinkies, Ho Hos, Log Cabin maple syrup, and an assortment of breakfast cereals. And I have Marjorie Post to thank for them all!

In Battle Creek, Michigan, Marjorie’s father, ahead of his time with his healthy eating philosophy, introduced Americans to Postum, a grain-based powdered coffee substitute, and Grape Nuts, the first ever breakfast cereal. After his death, 27-year-old Marjorie was not content to bide her time as a luxuriating heiress to the Post cereal fortune.  

Intelligent, rich, and kind, Marjorie expanded the company’s holdings and devoted her life – and her millions – to serving others.

With a book cover as beautiful as the story inside, I loved this historical fiction novel from beginning to end.

In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom

Wow. Just wow.

In this thought-provoking memoir, author and psychotherapist Amy Bloom travels to Zurich with her husband to end his life at Dignitas, the Swiss nonprofit organization offering accompanied suicide.

After his early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Amy’s 65-year-old-ish husband announces, “The long goodbye of Alzheimer’s is not for me.” Of course, Amy struggles with this decision though she must lead the delicate dance of supporting her spouse.

Witty and introspective, Amy flips readers between the couple’s unimaginable week in Switzerland and flashbacks to their former life.

This isn’t a sad or depressing story or one where readers might judge the author for holding her husband’s hand as he drinks sodium pentobarbital. It is factual – here’s the problem, this is how a man chooses to solve the problem, here are the steps he takes.

This beautifully written memoir reminds us Alzheimer’s will, most likely, touch every one of us in some way.

Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott

Mary Laura does it again. This is how I feel, I thought, over and over, as I turned the pages of her most recent book of essays.

If we love our people enough, does our love keep them safe? Of course not. But love is the best we can do. Mary Laura writes she is often worried about what might happen. Like many of us, amid goodness or joy, she waits for the other shoe to drop. Worrying gives us something to do when we can’t do anything. It makes us believe we’re helping.

We all have lives divided into the before and after. Good and bad. Before marriage, after divorce, after cancer, before the accident, after the new house or promotion or move or breakup. Mary Laura’s dividing event occurred in the middle of the night when she awoke to the awful sounds of her teenage son hitting his head against the bathroom floor.

With equal parts humor and relatability, this memoir in essays describes the anxiety that comes with loving someone.

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach

If you’re searching for good dinner party material – or shopping for a Father’s Day gift – look no further than this non-fiction book.

For two years, Mary traveled the globe with wildlife and nature experts to study animal “criminal” behavior. In amusing detail, she highlights burglarizing bears, man-eating cougars, and vandalizing birds. With her humorous anecdotes, relatable style, and curious spirit, Mary guides readers through interesting – and often complicated – subjects in an easy-to-digest fashion.

Like two of my other favorites by this author, Packing for Mars and Grunt, this book entertains and educates in a hilarious way.

Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book and see what all the fuss was about. And, believe me, the buzz is warranted.

Behind drugs and arms, the illicit art market is the third highest grossing criminal trade. And this novel examines the various layers – art stolen by Nazis during the War, corruption in the art world, and families who lost art that had more than financial value.

This novel contains all I love about a book – some history, characters I’m rooting for, and a mystery. A journalist, an art gallerist, and a shoe designer – in France, Germany, and New York – attempt to track down a lost masterpiece. For different reasons.

Sharon Stone will produce and star in the film adaptation.

How many books do you read at the same time? Can you recommend a book to our community? Have you read any of the books in this article?