8 Summer Reads for Social Marketers

By: Social Shake-Up Editorial Team

May 23, 2019

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, and with it comes a rush of Kindle downloads, Goodreads adds and bookshop visits. If you’re looking for beach reads, uplifting memoirs or #lifegoals fulfillment, The Social Shake-Up editorial team has got you covered: We’ve curated a list of summer reads for all of those voracious readers working in social.

Whether you’re off the grid or intermittently monitoring Twitter feeds (hopefully from a lounge chair, a barbecue or the beach), here are eight books worth adding to your summer reading list.

1. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens. This one’s perfect for the beach or travel: A coming-of-age story set in coastal North Carolina, a must for Barbara Kingsolver fans. Reese Witherspoon (heiress of Oprah’s book recommendation legacy) gave the novel a glowing review. The New York Times called it “painfully beautiful,” so skip the mascara and find a quiet place for the waterworks to flow.
2. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts, Brené Brown. New York Times bestseller Brown has been inspiring professionals in every industry to lead with empathy and courage for years. A great way to set leadership goals for the fall. 
3. Between You & Me, Confessions of a Comma Queen, Mary Norris. Norris, a former copy editor at The New Yorker, offers humorous and practical editing advice for anyone who works with the written word. A great way to get closer to a zero percent typo rate for your tweets, posts and emails.
4. So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson. If your brand has ever been the subject of a tweetstorm, get some schadenfreude by reading this “where are they now?” investigation of those who have been ostracized for an inflammatory social media post or public comment. Ronson comically and insightfully chronicles a world in which we are “using shame as a form of social control.”
5. From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home, Tembi Locke. Another Reese Witherspoon pick, this memoir chronicle’s Locke’s cross-cultural love story in Sicily. Devastated by a cancer diagnosis, Locke gracefully navigates life’s challenges through the healing powers of food, family, travel and memory.
6. The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle. Looking to spark your joy this summer? Learn to slow down and get out of your head with Tolle’s approach to staying in the present.
7. Moderan, David R. Bunch. For the social media marketer who feels AI is taking us down a “Black Mirror” road. This chilling collection of sci-fi short stories from the ’60s and ’70s will keep you cool without A.C.
8. Don’t Stop Believin‘, Olivia Newton-John. The starlet-turned cancer survivor and wellness advocate’s zest for life shines through despite multiple struggles with her personal health.