EDITOR’S NOTE

Finding the perfect summer read is also a rite of passage. It’s one that Sarah Laing, our associate editor, is now personally and professionally well acquainted with. For “What to Read This Summer” (page 55), she chose 19 books, including The Girl Who Was Saturday Night— the latest novel from ELLE Canada contributor Heather O’Neill. “The bar is higher for a summer read,” Sarah told me when I asked her how she determined which books would make the cut. “They need to be gripping or fun because they’re competing for your attention with good weather, ice cream—and maybe even a real-life summer romance.” I’d add one other book

to Sarah’s list. It’s from another of our favourite ELLE Canada writers, Elizabeth Renzetti. Based on a True Story is an engaging satiric tale about a former soap-opera star, a has-been journalist and the lies—and misadventures—that define their lives. Renzetti also wrote this month’s ELLE First essay (page 66), about the first (and last) time she tried ayahuasca in an Ecuadorean jungle: “Show me a woman who would turn down that adventure and I’ll show you a woman who is only

half alive—or very wise.” (I’d say the former!)