This summer, we’re offering reading recommendations for people to enjoy wherever and whenever they travel. This is the third in a series of posts from our in-house staff and editors. You can also find recommendations from previous years in our full compiled list. Enjoy.

Big Magic (2015)

BY ELIZABETH GILBERT

Much of my free time is consumed by art—painting, block printing, illustrating, and any other artistic whim I have. Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic serves to remind me to follow my gut and inspiration in my creative practices.

In her books, Gilbert generously shares her wisdom on how to live a creative life, free of fear and self-doubt. In Big Magic, inspiration is personified and Gilbert teaches us how to recognize it, welcome it, and give it a voice. 

One day, a book idea came to her. She recognized its presence in her mind, but she didn’t follow through with writing it. She later met with an author friend who was writing a new book. As it turned out, the idea she passed on had found another writer to cling to, one who was willing to take the inspiration and run. The plot of her friend’s new book was almost identical to the one she considered writing herself. 

To me, this has served as a great example of how ideas are alive, they come and they go, but they won’t always wait around for you to choose them. If you are looking for insight into living a creative, fearless life, this book is the one to get you out of your writer’s block and encourage you to create. 

The Red Tent (1997)

BY ANITA DIAMANT

There are many mentions of women in the Old Testament without exploration of their lives. We are left wondering who they were as people—what the complete picture of their stories looked like. The Red Tent reimagines the life, traditions, familial relationships, and turmoils of Dinah through the lens of modern fiction. 

I love this book because it dares to go where we are not often able to when reading about the women of the Bible. While it may be a loose interpretation of her life, The Red Tent is beautifully written from Dinah’s point of view. We witness her mothers—Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah—from her eyes and go behind the sacred walls of the red tent, the only place where women have their own world and authority. 

Due to the time in which they lived, the history of women and their heritage were often lost in the shadows of their fathers and husbands. The Red Tent provides a legacy, reanimating and expanding their biblical stories. There is profound beauty in keeping these women’s stories alive, permitting us to consider the stories of others with empathy and curiosity.