Join us every Friday in July and August and learn about the Decoda staff’s summer reading picks. Today Avni Kapoor, Decoda’s Office Administrator, is sharing her summer reading picks.

My summer reading plans are to read lots but to have no structure to it whatsoever. I have a list, but I refuse to add any pattern to it, which is something I often burden myself with. In the past I’ve always had to have a theme to my reading. I am on a quest to break that pattern starting: now! However, since I spent the semester reading a lot of dystopian fiction, the one thing I might seek out are hopeful endings.

Some books on my list are: A Man called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I picked this book up a couple years ago and just could not get myself into it because it just felt so sad. However, I tried giving it another shot earlier this week and am hooked! Maybe my EQ has gone up a few points. It revolves around themes about youth, aging and immigration, all of which I happen to be thinking lots of about lately. In line right after will be Anxious People by him. For anyone who prefers shows instead, the book adaptation is on Netflix!

Also on my list is rereading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, with everything that’s going on and the year(s) we’ve had, I need a book that ends with placing faith in humanity and this book presents an excellent argument for that. I have read it twice before and learned lots each time! Once I succeed in re-reading it; I am hoping to follow it with the next one in the series – Homo Deus if, I am feeling aspirational. I hope you achieve your summer reading goals and have fun while you are at it!