Here Are The Best Books To Read This Summer

Though it's not officially summer yet, we've got a lot of great summer content this month, from books editor Arianna Rebolini's round-up of 29 exciting summer reads to Anne Helen Petersen's fascinating look at how 14 different millennials bought — yes, bought — their own homes (spoiler alert: with a lot of parental help). We've also got a luscious profile of the writer Elizabeth Gilbert by Kristen Evans and the writer Nicole Denis-Benn tells us what she's reading lately. Happy pride! Tomi Personal Essays Moby, AOL Chat Rooms, And Creepy Older Men     When I was younger, I thought it was a status symbol to be with an older man. Now that I'm the age of some of the men I dated in my teens, I feel very differently. The Jonas Brothers Joke About Their Purity Rings Now. Why Can't I?  At 14, I vowed to "save it" for marriage, just like my favorite boy band. And like them, I took off my ring years ago — but I'm still not ready to laugh about it. Newsletter exclusive: Deputy Culture Editor Rachel Sanders tells us what she's into I must confess that I have, in the past, described myself as "not that into reality TV." There's plenty of evidence to the contrary, based on my lifetime viewing history — the many hours devoted to Survivor's early seasons, the dorm-room binge sessions of Project Runway and America's Next Top Model, the weekly Bachelor/Bachelorette viewing group (now disbanded, finally broken by the endless parade of unworthy bachelors and racist winners). But still, I held onto this snobby idea of myself as a connoisseur of scripted narrative who was too sophisticated to enjoy the real garbage television, especially of the more aimless, clash-of-spray-tanned personalities genre (Jersey Shore, Real Housewives, Vanderpump Rules, etc). It is true that the television I love best tends to offer a certain amount of structure, whether it's provided by a tournament-style competition or a carefully crafted plot. But I've discovered one show — one very special and unabashedly trashy show — that's challenged all of my reality TV biases and turned me into a babbling stan. That show is Love Island. The premise is simple: a bunch of hot British idiots live together for a summer in a big house with a pool (they call it the villa), where they spend all of their time — like, literally 100% of their time — hooking up and squabbling and, if all goes well, falling in love with each other. The "island" of the title is both literal (the show is filmed in Majorca) and completely irrelevant (there is no ocean in sight, and they almost never leave the house). There is technically a competition going on, in which the audience voting from home will eventually elect one couple the winners, but it's a very flimsy premise in which the rules are constantly changing, that mostly serves as a mechanism for the producers to gradually cut contestants and add new ones to keep the drama at a rolling boil. Love Island is a huge sensation in the UK, but I was unaware of it until last summer, when a friend tipped me off to the fact that the full back catalog is available to Americans on Hulu (I'd recommend that you skip the early years and start with Season 3). I find the show both objectively insane — All the contestants have to share beds with each other, in the same room! They air five episodes a week! — and completely addictive. Part of what I love is the anthropological, trans-Atlantic thrill of the hot idiots' Britishness; they have accents from all over the UK and have vastly expanded my slang vocabulary. Part of it is the charming jankiness of the production; the contestants' "dates" usually consist of drinking warm sangria at a table set up in the house's driveway. And a big part of it is that most of the people on the show seem completely sincere in their desire to fall in love and get along with each other; they are very much here to make friends, in a way that resonates with the wholesome joys of Japan's Terrace House (but with more fake boobs and sunscreen). Plenty of the people who appear on Love Island leverage their screentime into influencer careers afterward, but the show doesn't have the sinister, capitalist sheen of the similarly chaotic Bachelor in Paradise, with its collection of jaded franchise regulars. There are villains in the mix, of course, but I generally end up rooting for at least a few of these dum-dums to find love with each other, with all my heart. At least so far, Love Island has proven admirably resistant to messing with its own formula, even as it's become a global sensation (a new season just started on ITV; I'm trying to figure out a convenient way to watch it that doesn't require logging on through a VPN in the middle of my workday). And I strongly urge you to try watching it. I won't lie, it's a bit of a commitment, given that each season runs a cool 40+ episodes. But it's a journey worth embarking on — one that could melt even this reality TV's snob's heart.  Features Peter Gamlen for BuzzFeed News 14 Millennials Got Honest About How They Afforded Homeownership     "I don't know anyone in their twenties who has the savings for a down payment without family help." Olivia Wilde's Directorial Debut Is Changing The Game For Queer Teen Movies "We wanted to tell a story that moved beyond what we typically see when it comes to queer characters, when it's all about the coming out," Wilde told BuzzFeed News about Booksmart. (Warning: SPOILERS.) How The Story Of R. Kelly's "Sex Cult" Finally Went Public — And Quickly Exploded  I spent almost 20 years reporting on R. Kelly, and nine months trying to find an outlet to publish the story of the "sex cult" that would — finally — get the world's attention. (An excerpt from Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly.) Books 29 Summer Books To Get Excited About  A love triangle involving a student, her professor, and her mother; a poetic meditation on the Chicago race riots of 1919; a fable of a girl born with a torso twisted into a knot — and much more. Elizabeth Gilbert Doesn't Care If You Think Her Book Is Chick Lit  The Eat, Pray, Love author talks about her new novel City of Girls, women's desire, and life after loss. Alexander Chee On The Groundbreaking 1937 Novel That "Changed Something" In Him There is a seismic line to draw in Asian American fiction that begins with Younghill Kang and extends, in a series of autobiographical novels by Asian American writers, into the present. Lara Prior-Palmer's Rough Magic Is BuzzFeed Book Club's June Pick. Here's A Sneak Peek.  At 19 years old, Lara Prior-Palmer signed up for "the world's longest, toughest horse race" with no qualifications or formal training — and then became the first woman to win. What Does An African "Game Of Thrones" Look Like?  Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard has influenced many contemporary fantasy writers, including Marlon James and Nnedi Okorafor. Cultural Criticism  Glenn Harvey for BuzzFeed News   How Marvel Delivered The Grand Finale That "Game Of Thrones" Couldn't    As the two biggest pop culture franchises of the decade unveiled their highly anticipated conclusions, they exposed the joys and hazards of fan service and grand spectacle. Warning: SPOILERS. Let Drake Be An Asshole (Please)  Don't you think we Canadians know Drake is the most annoying Raptors fan? Of course he is! But why do only Americans get to be annoying?   Keanu Reeves May Be Pure, But He's Not Oblivious     America's most memeable actor is back in John Wick: Chapter 3, a movie that's in on the joke of our obsession with Keanu. He might be too. Kate Hudson Was Destined For Hollywood Greatness. Then She Pivoted To Leggings.     When Kate Hudson's film career plateaued, she did what more and more Hollywood women have done: cashed out her image with an incredibly successful lifestyle brand. Elton John's Real Life Is Still More Interesting Than Rocketman   Rocketman, though it at least acknowledges the queer nuances of Elton John's life, shows how limited Hollywood's approach to gay celebrity stories still is.  Booksmart Has A Blind Spot When It Comes To Class   Olivia Wilde's girl-centric Gen Z comedy is gloriously frank when it comes to sexuality and substances, but it's less interested in its own class tensions. Season 2 Of "Killing Eve" Killed The Queer Subtext, And All The Fun Along With It   Straight women are sublimating their rage against men by expressing their desire for starlets to strangle them or run them over with a car — but they don't necessarily have the guts to scream, "Fist me, Sandra Oh." Carly Rae Jepsen And The Rise Of The Micro Pop Star   As hip-hop and streaming change the power dynamics of musical celebrity, Jepsen and other artists making traditional pop have embraced a new kind of boutique stardom. Let's Talk About That Confessional Scene In Fleabag  Fleabag's second season wrestles beautifully — and sexily — with gender, power, and desire. (Warning: hot priest spoilers.) A newsletter exclusive: an interview with a writer we love! This month: Nicole Dennis-Been, whose new novel, Patsy, is out now.     What are you reading... Nicole Dennis-Benn?   Ozzier Mohammed   "I've been quieting my mind a bit with memoirs and poetry. I love to people watch and eavesdrop. Memoirs have been giving me that rare opportunity to slide into someone else's life for moments at a time and relish in their experiences, thoughts, bad decisions, and intimate moments. On a recent trip to Puerto Rico I read — or in some cases, re-read! — a handful of books, indulging in their rich language and powerful experiences: Esmé Wang's The Collected Schizophrenias, about a young woman's experience living with schizophrenia and navigating a culture that knows so little about the condition; Kiese Laymon's Heavy, which depicts his coming of age in Mississippi and becoming aware of his place as a black man in the US; and Sarah L. Broom's The Yellow House, which captures her family history and the true essence of her community in New Orleans. Each one of these books reads like confessions from the soul, told with lucid honesty and unapologetic depictions of life outside of preconceived notions about people and place. Poetry has been my trusty nightcap. Warsan Shire's beautiful and haunting Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth has been resonating with me, taking me on a lyrical journey about belonging and womanhood. I'm about to start Jericho Brown's new poetry collection, The Tradition, and Rion Amilcar Scott's story collection, The World Does Not Require You I've read some of their poems and stories and can't wait to read the rest!" We've updated our privacy notice and cookie policy. Learn more about cookies, including how to disable them, and find out how we collect your personal data and what we use it for. Show privacy notice and cookie policy. BuzzFeed, Inc. 111 E. 18th St. New York, NY 10003 Unsubscribe