Favorite and Recommended “Summer Reads”
I’m developing a list of favorite and recommended summer reads. These books do not have to be in the public domain, in fact, none are, so far. My criteria are that the book has to be enjoyable, not too long, not too challenging, not too scary, and more likely to be the subject of a miniseries than a literature class. Still, good writing is valued. I’m still looking for criteria and titles. Here’s my list so far, looking forward to your suggestions. ADDENDUM. Well, I got some suggestions, and they were generally more serious than my criteria, but I added them anyway. Why? People like to read different things in the summer. Who am I to say what you should read in the summer? Enjoy! But, please, send me more titles about sand. (BTW, I’ve read over 100 books this year and only five made this list, which isn’t really fair since I enjoyed many of them. I’m thinking of adding an honorable mentions category.) Books read by me are starred*.
The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger
This is a late summer addition in homage to hurricane season.
The Displacements is a novel about Hurricane Luna, the first category 6 hurricane. That’s right, category 6. It is a novel. As Hannah Gold writes in her July 5, 2022, New York Times review, “In Bruce Holsinger’s fourth novel, The Displacements, the space between our past and speculative future has finally collapsed. Luna, the world’s first Category 6 hurricane, decimates Houston and transforms Miami into a collection of islands.” This is a pretty good summary of the book, less the personal stories of several families affected by the storm. At the center of these stories is that of the Miami Larsen-Halls family who lose everything and end up in an Oklahoma FEMA camp. Holsinger, a UVA professor, is also the author of The Gifted School.
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson*
Recommended by Evee Jonas
I read Pineapple Street so quickly that I can barely remember the fates of Poppy and Georgiana. I may have to read the book again this summer. Now that’s a summer read! Still in print at Penguin Random House, you can order the book HERE or go to your public library, where there are plenty of available copies; I’ve checked. I do remember thinking on just about every page, “Why can’t I write like that?” And then I found out that Pineapple Street was Jenny Jackson’s first book. Talk about envy. Oh well, she works for Alfred A. Knopf, which means that she didn’t have to look too far to get published. (Penguin Random House is the parent company of Knopf.) William’s path to writing Pineapple Street is described in a Williams’ College magazine interview. If Jackson is writing something new, she is keeping it a secret.
Sandwich by Catherine Newman*
Catherine Newman’s 2024 book, Sandwich, could not be more of a summer read. It is, after all, set on Cape Cod in the summer. A settled married couple and their (almost) adult children (Jamie and Willia) and Jamie’s plus one, take the annual Cape Cod vacation together where life happens and yet another generation visits. The long-married couple are the protagonists, sandwiched between their kids and elderly parents. As happens on these vacations, food is constantly being prepared, in this case, sandwiches. Get it? It’s mainly neurotic good family summer fun with some generational angst. The writing is superb, a mix of Anne Tyler and literary Irma Bombeck. How can you resist? You can’t. I’m just discovering Catherine Newman. Explore her website with me. BTW, Julie Klamm of the New York Times highly recommends Newman’s 2022 We All Want Impossible Things, a tender, heartbreaking novel about friendship and dying in hospice which I also recommend.
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle*
Recommended by Lena Vandevander
This 2023 novel, published by Simon and Schuster, is described by Lena, as a “lightweight summer read” which “makes me want to go to Positano.” It’s a “short read and easy to stop and start again.” This New York Times bestseller by the author of In Five Years, has become a travel favorite. This book was inspired by a trip that Serle took with her mother prior to the pandemic. The trip got Serle thinking about who her mother was before she was a wife and mother. Serle’s books are characterized by mid-plot twists with a magical dimension. In One Italian Summer, the lead character meets a younger version of her late mother. For In Five Years, she temporarily wakes up five years in the future with a surprising vision of how her life may turn out. In The Dinner List, five dinner companions join Sabrina for her thirtieth birthday. Among them, Audrey Hepburn. In her latest, Expiration Dates, the lead, Daphne Bell, always receives a slip of paper telling her exactly how long she will date her current love interest, until one arrives without an expiration date. See Rebecca Serle’s publisher website. (For an excellent haircut, see Lena at Salon VanDe.)
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins*
Recommended by Dr. Andrea Simpson and me
Keeping with the theme of serious summer reads, retiring University of Richmond Political Science professor Dr. Andrea Simpson recommends American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Andrea says the book “Turned my head around on the immigration problem.” The book is controversial, mainly because it’s a book about a brown immigrant written by a white author. The book was an Oprah book club selection, but when Cummins was criticized for writing a story that was “not her own,” Oprah backed off somewhat and hosted “conversations” on “both sides” of the issue. So, who is allowed to tell these stories? One reviewer wrote “This book is not simply the great American novel; it’s the great novel of las Americas. It’s the great world novel! This is the international story of our times. Masterful.” That reviewer? Mexican American author Sandra Cisneros, who has been criticized for her support of American Dirt. Having read American Dirt, I heartily recommend it. I don’t think anyone reading this will think of border issues the same way again. I know that I won’t. Regarding the controversy, if ever the phrase “Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good” applied, this would be it. That said, this book is nearly perfect, though the author herself acknowledges on page 382 in her author’s note, “I wished someone slightly browner than me would write it.”
Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Maloy*
High on this list of summer reads is one where children are left on a summer beach and disappear. Still in print at Penguin Random House, you’ll also be able to find this thriller at your local library. Because it was published in 2017, you won’t have to wait months for it. The headline to Dwight Garner’s June 6, 2017 New York Times‘ review sums up his article and the book, “Soft Children Confront a Hard World in Maile Meloy’s New Novel,” proving the worth of a good headline writer. This book received mixed reviews, but I couldn’t put it down. Meloy’s first novel, Liars and Saints, is available from Simon and Schuster. Meloy also wrote the 2006 novel, A Family Daughter. Meloy is acclaimed, if not renowned, for her short story collection, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, reviewed HERE by Curtis Sittenfeld.
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles*
2012’s Rules of Civility was Amor Towles ‘breakout novel. The title was based on the 1595 book (Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior, which is in the public domain) compiled by French Jesuits and used by George Washington to hone his social skills. Towles’ novel is in print from Penguin Random House. Kris Amundsen recommends Towles’ 2024 sequel of short fictions, Table for Two, which follows a character from Rules of Civility, Eve Ross, last seen schlepping back home to Indiana and her parents. Instead of crashing with her parents, however, she extends her train tickets and heads to Los Angeles for a new life, where she helps Olivia de Havilland (Livvie to Eve) and other young starlets out of a bind that seems more “me two” than golden age. But maybe things were always thus.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus*
One of the best new books I’ve read in the past ten years. Lessons in Chemistry has been made into a series on Apple television starring Brie Larson (fall of 2023). Larson is excellent in this television series. However, sometimes I wondered if the screenwriters read the book, as there is a substantial subplot that is not in the book. A good article on the differences between the book and the television show was written by Emma Fraser for Elle. Fraser applauds many of the changes. As I thought the book was perfect, I differ. But I come to praise the book, not make light of the Apple television show. This 2022 book is an easy get at your local library, as they ordered lots of copies and many people have already read it. Garmus is writing a sequel to Lessons in Chemistry that is expected to be published in 2025. Lessons in Chemistry was Barnes and Noble’s 2022 book of the year.
Husbands and Lovers by Beatriz Williams
The cover of Husbands and Lovers certainly looks like a beach read, but it’s closer to literary fiction, not that I want to put you off of this excellent, enjoyable book. This is my first Beatriz Williams’ book, so I’m not sure how to characterize her, but this was an excellent read. The book is reviewed in the New York Times by Michelle Ruiz, suggesting it’s literary fiction, but the review states that ““Husbands & Lovers, Beatriz Williams’s new work of historical fiction wrapped in a beach read, begins with a series of significant tragedies: a mushroom poisoning, a cobra bite, a slip-and-fall death from the terraces of Machu Picchu.” Are all Beatriz Williams’ books this much fun? The New York Times must think so. In his 2023 review of The Beach at Summerly, Leigh Haber writes “There are few more skilled practitioners of the craft of summer fiction than Beatriz Williams.”
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld*
Recommended by Evee Jonas
Eligible is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice (available for download for free on this website; just click on the title to the left). Eligible is in print at Penguin Random House, while Pride and Prejudice is in the public domain and is downloaded 66,000 times a month for free on Project Gutenberg. The original Pride and Prejudice is #2 on Project Gutenberg only to Frankenstein, which currently has 85 thousand downloads a month. This modern version of the Bennet family is every bit as charming (and unmarried) as the one Austen conceived, and the plot is as convoluted. For an excellent summary, read Sarah Lyall’s New York Times’ 2016 book review. Sittenfeld’s 2023 book, Romantic Comedy, is pretty good, but not in Eligible’s class. For fun: Can You Tell Which Story ChatGPT (or Curtis) Wrote?
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen*
I was surprised to see that Water for Elephants was among the 75 books banned by the Hanover County School Board in 2023. Still, anything is possible in Republican districts these days. Even though it was banned, I still don’t think that this book is too heavy to be considered a summer read; that’s just me. Let me know if you disagree. This was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection. (Here’s a full list of the choices of Reese’s Book Club; not your usual “banned in Boston” fare, but I digress.) Reese’s Book Club strongly advocates for women authors. For a perceptive article on this influential club, read “Inside Reese Witherspoon’s Literary Empire” by the NY Times‘ Elisabeth Egan. Another Reese selection that would be a good summer read is The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave, another book that I enjoyed, now a thriller series on Apple TV.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan*
Recommended by Lucretia McCulley.
At only 128 pages, this award-winning book is Keegan’s first novel (she is known for her short stories). While some consider 128 pages a novella, its economy is just right. A film based on Small Things Like These starring Cillian Murphy of Oppenheimer fame is being released in 2024. Though it is “Christmas” book, don’t expect a season-affirming tale. Nonetheless, there is hope and heroism. Lucretia is a retired librarian who knows her books. She also recommends Foster by Claire Keegan.
North Woods by Daniel Mason
Recommended by Barbara Kumpf McManus.
This is literature, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Nonetheless, a summer read if not a beach read. Here’s a link to an NPR interview with the author, just in case you can’t talk to Barbara. Barbara also recommends Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzales, which is a Reese’s Book Club pick. I gave North Woods a try and I may not be smart enough for it. As I said, it’s literature. There were a couple of segments that I found interesting and there were others that were over my head. I can’t star this book (*) because I couldn’t finish it.
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner*
Recommended by Rebecca Stephens Myers and 46,000 on Amazon and 35,000 on Goodreads.
This book has a very strong following, always a good sign for a beach read. I have a weakness for debut novels, and this is a stunner. Published in 2022, it’s readily available in your local libraries and I got my copy after just a week’s wait. Also in print at Harper Collins. CJ (the “well-read tart”) wrote this review that writers dream of “Fellow writers: you know the ‘unicorn author’ that we all hope to be? That writer who’s a diamond in the rough, just waiting to be discovered so she can dazzle the world? That’s Penner. She writes the way we all wish we could. I didn’t even have time to be jealous, though; I was too busy gobbling up her words.” You can’t beat a review like that! I enjoyed it as well.
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
Recommended by Kimberly M. Sarte
Kimberly call this “very entertaining’ and it has been entertaining readers since its publication in 1958. It is so popular that it remains in print as a trade paperback and is still on the shelves at stores such as Barnes and Noble. This is a romantic suspense novel with an interesting structure. The redoubtable Stewart used chapter epigraphs that fit the themes of each scene, including lines from Hamlet, Macbeth, as well as Shakespeare’s Sonnets 88 and 90. Also quotes from Milton, Dickens Keats and others. The first epigraph is from the play The Revenger’s Tragedy by Thomas Middleton.
Oh, think upon the pleasure of the palace:
Securèd ease and state! The stirring meats,
Ready to move out of the dishes, that e’en now
Quicken when they are eaten….
Banquets abroad by torch-light! music! sports!
Nine coaches waiting—hurry, hurry, hurry—
Ay, to the devil….
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Recommended by Kim Jonas Schumadine.
This million-selling non-fiction book tells the story of the (spoiler alert) doomed neurosurgeon via his autobiography. It is still in print in hardcover at Random House. The book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and has a very wide following. Because it is heartbreaking, I was reluctant to include it as a summer reading, but clearly people have differing objectives for their summer reading, as this list shows. Bill Gates (yes, Microsoft’s Bill Gates) wrote on his blog that this book left him in tears. I see a Netflix movie here in the near future.
Jaws by Peter Benchley*
First published in 1974, yes 50 years ago, Jaws is still in print at Penguin Random House. AND, you can still buy it in hardcover as well as paperback. New! Now that is a summer read. I glanced at a copy in the library the other day, and I’m here to tell you that the first few pages are still riveting. Peter Benchley died in 2006 and regretted having made sharks a worldwide subject of fear and hatred. That said, the 1975 blockbuster movie, Jaws, probably did more than the book to make Bruce (the animatronic shark) the global villain. If Jaws, the book, isn’t the classic summer read, Jaws, the movie, is certainly the classic summer movie blockbuster.
James by Percival Everett
Recommended by Walt Smiley
James is just the kind of book that I love to include on You Read It Here. It is a retelling of Huckleberry Finn, which is in the public domain, so you can buy James from Penguin Random House and download its inspiration right HERE for free! Dwight Garner says in his March 11, 2024, New York Times review “Huck Finn Is a Masterpiece. This Retelling Just Might Be, Too.” Garner anticipates those of you thinking, Huck Finn reimagined, Right! “My idea of hell would be to live with a library that contained only reimaginings of famous novels… James is the rarest of exceptions. It should come bundled with Twain’s novel.”
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Recommended by Evee Jonas
This popular work of historical fiction by Ariel Lawhon focuses on Martha Ballard, a midwife and healer in Hallowell, Maine and her role in a trial and a scandal. Listen HERE to NPR’s Scott Simon as he interviews Ariel Lawhon about her novel, “The Frozen River.” From Lawhon’s website is this summary of the book: “Maine, 1789: The Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice. Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As the local midwife and healer, Martha is good at keeping secrets. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, every murder and debacle that unfolds in the town of Hallowell. In that diary she also documented the details of an alleged rape that occurred four months earlier. Now, one of the men accused of that heinous attack has been found dead in the ice.”
Miss Demeanor by Elinor Lipman*
Recommended by Evee Jonas
One of my favorite contemporary writers, Elinor Lipman delivers humor with this salty novel about a young female attorney who is arrested for consensual al fresco sex with a younger male attorney on the roof of her apartment building in New York City. She gets six months of house arrest and he gets a promotion. You know how these things go. Miss Demeanor is typical Lipman. She is featured in the writers’ section of YRIH. All of her books would make delightful summer reads.
Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena*
Recommended by Evee Jonas
This is a quick, addictive read. Everyone Here is Lying is not for the faint of heart. Don’t pick it up if you have a pressing work assignment; it’s hard to put down. Fortunately, it’s been out for a while, so it’s readily available at most libraries. I’ve read several of Lapena’s books now and enjoyed them all, but this was the best. The Couple Next Door is her most popular book and was made into a STARZ miniseries. Lapena’s newest book, What Have You Done? went on sale July 30, 2024. It’s also a propulsive read, but not quite as good.
The Women by Kristen Hannah
Recommended by Chris Riley
The Women is the story of American women in the Vietnam war. An instant classic of literary fiction, Kristen Hannah crafts a tribute to the women of the Army Nurses Corps in the person of Frances “Frankie” McGrath. Frankie is compelled by the admonition that “Women can be heroes, too” and follows her brother to service in Vietnam. Inspiring and surprising, I’ve talked to three women who love this book. The one criticism that I’ve heard is that because of its almost exclusive focus on Frankie, the book could be titled “The Woman.”
Body Surfing by Anita Shreve*
Once divorced and once widowed. That’s the life that brings Sydney at age 29 to the role of tutor at the Edwards’ beach house. This book by the late Anita Shreve is a literary summer read with several surprising twists. It’s among my favorite Anita Shreve books and is still in print at Hachette. Sadly, Shreve died of cancer in 2018 at the age of 71, having authored 19 novels, two nonfiction books and numerous articles. Her best-known book is The Pilot’s Wife, which was an Oprah Book Club selection later made into a movie starring Christine Lhati and John Heard. Shreve’s 1997 book, The Weight of Water, was made into a film in 2000. I came to Shreve in 2018 after reading her last book, the well-received The Stars Are Fire (2017), a repurposing of the great Maine fire of 1947 which destroyed 200,000 acres. The book tells the story of a young mother rendered homeless who recreates her life in the fire’s aftermath. Two other Shreve favorites of mine are Rescue and Light on Snow.
If you are running out of titles to try, consider The New York Times list of The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. I’m tempted to say this list is too precious, but when I survey the books on this list that I’ve actually read, they’re mostly very good, worthy books. These include The Human Stain by Philip Roth (91), Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroude (74), Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (57), Trust by Hernan Diaz (50), Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (41), Evicted by Mathew Desmond (21), Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (9), and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (2). Of course, there are many omitted books, and I think that a better list is the readers’ list. What you may really enjoy is looking through the interactive writer’s list, which shows you how your favorite writer voted.
Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand
If you look up “summer read” in the dictionary, you’ll probably see Elin Hilderbrand’s name or picture next to the word. Swan Song is purported to be Hilderbrand last Nantucket book. Twenty-five of Hilderbrand’s 30 books are Nantucket based and the author says that she can’t do it anymore. Hilderbrand’s third Nantucket book, “The Perfect Couple,” was made into a hugely popular Netflix series, so it’s not impossible that you’ll be hearing much more about these books.
Short on time? 10 books you can finish quickly.
The Washington Post Book World Staff rounds up some of their favorite books that come in under 200 pages. April 21, 2024.
Among the books cited are one in the public domain, The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells.
Here’s Something Interesting: The most popular books by year of the past 100 years.
