📚🥵 Can’t talk. We’re reading hot girl books.

It’s Wednesday, Boston.

🤧 Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by this pollen season. Yeah, same. So if you’ve been looking a little bit like this this week, just know you’re not alone. <3 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• A dwindling sidewalk dining scene 

• Your beach season forecast

• A SPAM influencer

Up first…

SUMMER READING

It’s (literally) hot girl reading season

Summertime 🤝 Hot girl reading. Whether you’re at the beach, on a plane, or hanging out in front of the AC, summer is the season to dive into your TBR list. 

Whatever your summer vibe may be, here’s what to read, according to local book experts: 

⛱️ If you’re looking for a beach read … You’ll want something that’s both easy to put down (so you can take a dip or fall asleep without losing your train of thought) but equally easy to pick back up again, said Rachel Dillon, events manager and bookseller at Beacon Hill Books and Cafe. With that, Dillon recommends:

• “Glossy” by Marisa Meltzer dives into the disruptive rise of beauty brand Glossier, and reflects on girlboss culture through the company’s unconventional CEO, Emily Weiss. 

• “You Are Here,” a collection of poems about the natural world by national poet laureate Ada Limon, is perfect for “folks who want to … quickly dive into a moment in someone else's life,” Dillon said.

💭 If you need a mental vacation … Books are a great way to “find some of that exploration” without leaving the city, said Mila Hossain, owner of Davis Square’s new Narrative Bookshop. Here are some reads that’ll feel like a trip:

• “World of Wonders” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil is a collection of essays that’ll both transport you into the natural world, and help you “fall back in love with the world and remember why it's worth fighting for.”

• “Days at the Morisaki Bookshop” by Satoshi Yagisawa feels like a visit to any book lover’s happy place: the coziest bookshop imaginable. 

⏳ If you’ve got time to kill … Consider a book that requires some digesting. Reflecting on a worthy read can improve our "ability to think and dream and understand … more vividly,” said Christina Pascucci Ciampa, the owner and founder of All She Wrote Books. Here are some books that deserve a little breathing room:

• “Housemates” by Emma Copley Eisenberg is an exploration of “very queer relationships … surrounding art and expression” set on a road trip against the political backdrop of 2018.

• “He/She/They” by Schuyler Bailar is a “guide for talking about … the conversations that are needed around language and context of gender and just meeting people where they are,” Pascucci Ciampa said. It “packs a 12 punch.”

✈️ If you need a plane read … Jordan Draves, leader of the Adult Summer Reading Committee at the BPL’s Central Library in Copley Square, recommends picking a book about travel itself (bonus points if it's set in your vacation destination). Draves suggests:

• “This Summer will be Different” by Carley Fortune will take you on a physical and emotional (read: spicy) journey to Prince Edward Island. Plus: You’ll probably be able to find it in an airport.

• “My Life in France,” Julia Child’s memoir about living (and learning to cook) is a beautiful reflection on diving head-first into a new place. 

🤩 Want even more? We have bonus recommendations from each bookseller and added picks by Gia and Emily on our Storygraph profile. Check it out here.

B-SIDE FOODIE’S CHOICE AWARDS SPONSORED BY TOAST

🍷 Fancy yourself a sommelier? What’s the best spot to enjoy a glass (or bottle) in Boston?

Poll nominees have been selected by Toast and B-Side’s branded content team.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🍴 Sidewalk dining has lost some of its sparkle. What was once a saving grace during the worst days of COVID is now starting to fade from the zeitgeist. Boston will only see 135 outdoor dining patios this year, down from 414 in 2021, with the vast majority of them located in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods (compare Back Bay’s 22 with Mattapan or West Roxbury’s zero). Why? Changing regulations, high material and licensing costs, and more traffic have made the practice much less feasible than in 2021, when many spots also didn’t have other choices.

🏨 Are hotel rooms the new dorms? Amid a housing shortage and increasing student population, Northeastern — along with many schools across the country — has turned to hotels to house their students. This year, the university permanently converted 428 (35%) of the Sheraton Boston’s rooms into student housing, which mostly houses students who spent their first semester abroad. And while these unconventional dorms are farther from campus, many students seem to find the arrangement pretty decent, with larger-than-average rooms and AC. *Cries in dorm room box fan.*

☀️ Here’s your beach season forecast. If you’re still having nightmares about last summer’s endless weekend rain, we’ve got some (half) good news for you: Expert predictions for New England’s summer weather just dropped, and while things are looking to be just as hot, if not hotter, than last year, they’re also looking to be a little less wet than last year’s record-breaking rainfall, thanks to forces like the jet stream and La Niña. And if that extra heat has you thinking about planning a beach day, a new report has ranked the water quality of Boston’s beaches, and the news is looking good.

🏈 Tom Brady’s GOAT status is about to be officially official. Today, Brady will become the 35th player inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame at Gillette. In true GOAT fashion, his induction is coming just over a year after his retirement (traditionally, players have to wait four). The event will be completely star-studded, with over 200 of his former teammates in attendance, plus a smattering of his A-lister celeb pals to watch tributes, speeches, and the retirement of Brady’s number. If you want to watch, it’ll be streaming on all Patriots’ social media at 7 p.m.

GIVEAWAY

Together with Levitate

Enter to win a Levitate Your Summer Prize Pack worth $2,500+. We’ve partnered with our friends at Levitate to give you a chance to win a pair of 3-day VIP Tickets to Levitate Music Festival (7/5-7/7) featuring Sublime, Lake Street Dive, Mt. Joy and more. Additionally, the prize package includes a $800 shopping spree for two across Levitate Brand apparel, and tickets to sold-out Levitate Backyard shows this summer! To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on June 14, 2024. If you’ve already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

ONE LAST THING

A local SPAM influencer

A Worcester local just went viral … for SPAM. Getting your bag pulled aside for screening at the airport is an innately embarrassing situation — made all the worse if you’re carrying something a little odd. 

So when Joel Kaimakani Libed was pulled aside at a Minneapolis airport with 15 pounds of SPAM products (from the area’s SPAM museum!) in his carry-on, and documented the situation on TikTok, it got the internet’s attention. 

Now, about 5 million views later, Kaimakani Libed, who’s originally from Hawaii (where SPAM is quite popular) is something of a SPAM celebrity, with interviews at national news chains, and even a potential SPAM partnership coming down the pike. 

Check out him explaining the full story here. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🧳 Thanks for reading! TBH, I’d do worse for a SPAM sponsorship. 

✈️ The results are in: 55% of readers said that they’re spending $1,000+ on a weeklong vacation, with many caveats that it’s nearly impossible to spend any less. One reader said: “I would love to hear how anyone is spending less than $1,000... !!”

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].