Give Your Brain a Fun and Easy Workout This Summer
If the human brain is a muscle then we must exercise it just like any other muscle. But during the summer we want to do anything except engage in activity that involves giving our brain a workout. Well, what if we told you that one highly beneficial workout, involving very little stress, is reading?
A little reading each day can help keep your mind young, active, even relaxed. So why not do some light, fun, maybe even educational reading. You may already read the daily news or select magazines, or perhaps you prefer to catch up with your favorite blogs or tabloids. But, have you thought about dedicating more time to long-stories? They don’t have to be heavy, think of the classics you love or never got a chance to read. Century old literature doesn’t suit your fancy? Maybe you prefer the current bestsellers. Regardless of your interests we have put together our own reading list to help motivate you into this summer’s “workout.”
The Great Classics:
- A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
- The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
- The Complete Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
- Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
- Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
- Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
- Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
- Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin
- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
- Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
- The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
For a more complete selection check out this list.
Current Bestsellers:
- The Associate, by John Grisham
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, by Stieg Larsson
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
- The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
- Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, by Mark Levin
- The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
- Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell
- Shit My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern
- Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School At a Time, by Greg Mortenson
- The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
Other Popular Picks:
- Cross Country, by James Patterson
- Dear John, by Nicolas Sparks
- Eat Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert
- I, Alex Cross, by James Patterson
- I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, by Tucker Max
- The Twilight Saga, by Stephenie Meyer
Want to ramp-up your reading “workout”? Create your own discussion group with friends and delve more deeply into the plot, characters, symbolism and hidden meanings. Many of these books include recommended book club discussion questions. Search for these online or in the back of the book.