Fun Summer Reading with a Personal Finance Theme

Both of these are books I read a while back but I was recently reminded of them and I thought I would pass them along as books I enjoyed. While neither will change your life, they're both fun, quick reads, and perfect for pool-side.

Since they were strong sellers (meaning many copies are out there) and have been around a while, they also have the benefit of being dirt cheap when you buy them used.

Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back by Karyn Bosnak had me riveted. It's Bosnak's account of moving from Chicago to New York to accept a new job and quickly finding herself in $20,000 of debt. She chronicles the spending that got her into all this debt and the way she dug herself out - in just four months - by starting her own website. The website still exists, by the way, at www.savekaryn.com.) This one has all the stuff that we personal finance bloggers love to read about: debt, spreadsheets, the internet, etc.

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella was the first installment in the very successful Shopaholic series. Set in London, this book is what happens when chick lit meets Bridget Jones. The Shopaholic heroine, Rebecca, is a financial writer with a spending problem. There's no real resolution to speak of, just a bunch of Rebecca's shenanigans. I didn't like it well enough to read the rest of the series but for a quick, summer read it's perfect.