All it took was Year 2 of a global pandemic, combined with a great deal on Amazon Prime Day, for me to finally break down and purchase a Kindle e-reader. (I may have been the last person in Seattle without one.) The ability to borrow library books digitally is hugely useful for my nomadic lifestyle, but I still prefer print media — even though my husband rolls his eyes alarming back into his head at my teetering piles of magazines, newspapers, hardcovers and paperbacks. Taking up precious luggage space, no less!
In my defense, however, I often meet interesting people on our travels through the ice-breaker of comparing what we’re physically reading — something you can’t very well do when you’re staring at glowing screens — and my load gets lighter as I bequeath my dead tree materials to my new friends or leave them behind the next crop of hotel guests to enjoy.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I’ve gravitated towards historical fiction and memoirs, especially with descriptive language about the food and scenery. When considering a selection of summer reading recs for or about trailing spouses, here’s a diverse list with something for everyone, with links to their Goodreads descriptions: