May 24, 2019
(CNN) — School is almost over, summer vacations are booked, and it's time to break out the bathing suits.
It's also time to start looking for those summer beach reads.
Before you think it's time to take a break from the world and all of its hardships, hear me out. Disengaging from the world can make the world worse. Huddling in our separate bunkers keeps us separate, and living in bunkers, as "Educated" author Tara Westhoverknows well, isn't a good way to live.
Read to learn, to expand, to understand, to empathize.
To that end, it's also a good time to read more women (half the population), more people of color (a majority of the world's population), more people from a social class not your own, living in bodies that don't look like yours.
Your pile can include best sellers, new works (see our gallery of Goodreads' picks for your summer), books that have been popular for years or books that need your attention to get noticed. However you choose -- through this story, talking to a bookstore or your local librarian -- books will open up a world beyond your street.
To read more, click here.