The Books & Bookstores We Loved This Summer

I'm not like a summer mom; I'm a book mom

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Summer break is officially over, and I must admit, I’m not great at being a summer mom. I rarely plan big vacations or take my kids hiking, camping, etc. My version of a fun summer activity is going to the bookstore, followed by ice cream. When summer camps dried up, all I could think to do was take them on a tour of Northern California bookstores. So, I guess I’m more of a book mom. 

You have to be smart about spending when you visit bookstores as much as we do. We save the bulk of our book budget for special new releases and buy a handful yearly. Mostly, we shop at used bookstores. We’re lucky Recycle Bookstore carries many of the books on our TBR lists for a low price, and when we’re done with the books we’ve bought, we sell them back to the store to buy more books—such a win-win!

This was the summer of the graphic novel for my family. People often assume that my kids are voracious readers, and they are, but only when it’s on their terms. Forcing my kids to read certain books usually backfires. Neither of them is very interested in chapter books yet, which sometimes bums me out, but after almost 10 years of parenting, I’ve learned to follow their lead with most things. Just because they don’t love thick chapter books now doesn’t mean they never will. And with so many fantastic graphic novels available, who can blame them?

A lot of incredible Bay Area bookstores aren’t on this list, but that’s because we didn’t make it to them. Maybe one day I’ll make an official list of our favorite local bookstores. But for now, here are some of the books and bookstores we enjoyed this summer.