Health Tips Line

As adults, we don’t get enough surprises in our lives. The good kind, anyway—not the “weird noises suddenly coming from your car” or the “midday call from the school nurse” kind. No, we deserve to feel that sheer, unadulterated joy that a 5-year-old gets when someone hands them a gift. They’re grinning from ear to ear and practically vibrating with excitement as they tear into the wrapping to see what it is. It could be anything , after all! Well, we think you deserve a little bit of that fun in your life. Below, you’ll find 10 brand-new summer reads that are absolutely perfect for you, just waiting to be unwrapped. There’s something here for everyone, from sweet romances to thrilling page-turners to high-concept historical fiction you won’t be able to stop thinking about. Your clues to finding your new favorite book are right on the unassuming, brown-paper-wrapped cover—the heart of the story and what makes it so wonder...

Every reader has a shelf that feels like home. Mine has always been fantasy . My childhood library checkouts were filled with Magic Tree House , Edward Eager’s Half Magic series, Percy Jackson and Eragon . These days, I’ve traded them for sprawling adult fantasy epics, but the feeling hasn’t changed. As a health editor, that made me wonder: Why are some of us drawn to fantasy while others devour thrillers, memoirs or beach reads ? And what, exactly, happens inside our brains when we become completely absorbed in a story? Is it different for my fantasy-obsessed brain than one that goes crazy for Stephen King or Elin Hilderbrand? To get inside our heads, I spoke with two researchers who study the power of imagined experiences: Raymond A. Mar, PhD, a psychology professor at York University, and Melanie C. Green, PhD, a SUNY distinguished professor and the chair of communication at the University at Buffalo. Read on to find out what your favorite reads do to your brain...