Books to Enjoy During Cancer Season
It’s Cancer season, which is the season that reminds us to rest, take care of our emotional health, create stability through routines, and make our homes as cozy as possible! Those with an abundance of Cancer on their Natal Chart are the people who are sensitive and nurturing, enjoy learning about their heritage and carrying on traditions, would rather stay home than go out, and are strikingly intuitive. Cancer is a water sign that rules emotional temperament, intuition, comfort, security, self-care, and maternal energy.
Cancer season reminds us to turn inward and to create cozy, safe spaces that we can find sanctuary in! The energy this month may bring up a lot of emotions (practice leaning into this by journaling about anything that comes up), so it’s a great time to do things that feel really comforting to you. Perhaps that’s by spending time making homemade meals, taking long luxurious bubble baths, or snuggling up with a loved one and watching your favorite show (pets are absolutely included - bonus points in fact, as Cancer rules animals!). Another cozy pastime you can do this Cancer season is to get comfy in bed or haul a giant blanket outside and read a good book. Luckily, I have a list of Cancer season book recommendations ready for you below!
Put these books on hold at your local library, search for them on Libby, or add them to your shopping cart!
Any Other Family by Eleanor Brown
“Though they look like any other family, they aren’t one—not quite. They are three sets of parents who find themselves intertwined after adopting four biological siblings, having committed to keeping the children as connected as possible. At the heart of the family, the adoptive mothers grapple to define themselves and their new roles. Tabitha, who adopted the twins, crowns herself planner of the group, responsible for endless playdates and holidays, determined to create a perfect happy family. Quiet and steady Ginger, single mother to the eldest daughter, is wary of the way these complicated not-fully-family relationships test her long held boundaries. And Elizabeth, still reeling from rounds of failed IVF, is terrified that her unhappiness after adopting a newborn means she was not meant to be a mother at all.
As they set out on their first family vacation, all three are pushed into uncomfortably close quarters. And when they receive a call from their children’s birth mother announcing she is pregnant again, the delicate bonds the women are struggling to form threaten to collapse as they each must consider how a family is found and formed.”
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
“They say you cannot go home again, and that is as true as a knife . . .
A man returns to the site of his childhood home where, years before, he knew a girl named Lettie Hempstock who showed him the most marvelous, dangerous, and outrageous things, but when he gets there he learns that nothing is as he remembered.”
Made for Living by Amber Lewis
“Designing a room with all the vibes comes down to how you layer your décor. The more you can mix the elements of your room—your pillows, objects, patterns, and lighting—the more finished it’ll feel: not too new, not too old, but just right.
Known for her eclectic approach that stems from her California cool, Amber Lewis trains your eye in Made for Living, offering friendly advice on everything from nailing that perfect shade of paint to mismatching patterns with wild abandon to choosing a stone finish for new countertops. These pages will help you design a home that's made to be lived in.”
Root & Ritual by Becca Piastrelli
“Despite our best efforts, our modern world leaves so many of us feeling isolated, unworthy, and alone. We’re unrooted from the land, untethered from our lineages, disconnected from our communities, and separated from our deepest sense of self.
In Root and Ritual, Becca Piastrelli offers a pathway back to connection and wholeness through rituals, recipes, and ancestral wisdom. Though we live in a radically different-looking world, the needs of our bodies and spirits are the same as the ancestors we came from.”
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
“It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth.
As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.”
Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark
“Celebrated children’s book author Agnes Lee is determined to secure her legacy—to complete what she knows will be the final volume of her pseudonymously written Franklin Square novels; and even more consuming, to permanently protect the peninsula of majestic coast in Maine known as Fellowship Point. To donate the land to a trust, Agnes must convince shareholders to dissolve a generations-old partnership. And one of those shareholders is her best friend, Polly.
Polly Wister has led a different kind of life than Agnes: that of a well-off married woman with children, defined by her devotion to her husband, a philosophy professor with an inflated sense of stature. She strives to create beauty and harmony in her home, in her friendships, and in her family. Polly soon finds her loyalties torn between the wishes of her best friend and the wishes of her three sons—but what is it that Polly wants herself? Agnes’s designs are further muddied when an enterprising young book editor named Maud Silver sets out to convince Agnes to write her memoirs. Agnes’s resistance cannot prevent long-buried memories and secrets from coming to light with far-reaching repercussions for all.”
Want more? Check out the July Forecast and my Cancer Season Podcast Recommendations.