summer reading

We're halfway through the year and the sun is already scorching hot. There's no better time than summer to dive into good books; and as many as you can.

In summer, my reading ambitions peak. I’ll pack four books for a week-long holiday, plus my e-reader, just in case. Whether I’m at the beach, by the lake, or lounging in our garden or on the balcony, summer is the season for reading. Over the years, I’ve collected a list of books that feel just right for this time of year. It would be too long, so this one is not exhaustive, but here are a few of my favourite summer reads across genres, paired with drinks that fit them perfectly. In no particular order.

Outline trilogy by Rachel Cusk

Cusk’s Outline, Transit, and Kudos are slender enough to fit in any beach bag, but don’t be fooled. These are super dense, sharply observed novels about writing, identity, and human connection. The first book is set in Greece, making it ideal summer reading with a little hard edge.

Enjoy with: peach iced tea.

At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond, various authors

This little book is such a pleasure to read. These essays will take you to Hampstead Heath, the north-east edge to the Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond. Officially opened to the public in 1925, the only wild swimming spot in the UK that is reserved for women. The book is divided into four seasons and while the contributors vary in age, outlook, nationality and even gender, the same themes tend to come up again and again. The importance of nature, the need for courage, the feeling of belonging.

And beware, this book will make you want to pack your things, book a holiday in London and spend your days there, swimming, sunbathing, enjoying life.

Enjoy with: a cooled lemonade and some strawberries.

I’m Just Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol

Glynnis MacNicol takes you all the way from pandemic New York - empty, lifeless, lonely - to Paris. Opening up, coming back to life, while all Parisians are leaving their homes to go on vacation. And she talks you through what it means to be a woman in this world, one that does not adhere to societal expectations and one that has found a home away from home. One that has found family in her circle of friends that are all used to having their lives under control, down to the minuscule details. It's about pleasure, about enjoying yourself and living life the way you want to.
I loved this, from descriptions of Paris to the occasional art reference, but mostly the freedom and the flipping of the narrative of what a life in a woman’s body should look like.

Enjoy with: a Cosmopolitan.

Years by Annie Ernaux

In Years, Ernaux created a literary tapestry, where her personal memories are tightly interwoven with the social, cultural and political happenings in France and the world. She looks back at the years between 1940 and 2006, connecting intimate reflections with the collective experience, her inner life against public events, newspaper headlines, songs, books, radio and television. This memoir is dense and layered: best savoured in small portions, making it an ideal companion for slow reading across the summer months.

Enjoy with: french cider.

The Paris Trilogy: A Life in Three Stories by Colombe Schneck

Schneck wrote a great work of autofiction in conversation with Annie Ernaux. In this trilogy, she explores rather personal and intimate themes. The first story deals with having an abortion and the long emotional aftermath that follows. The second follows the intertwined lives of two bourgeois women. In the third, the older narrator reflects on her expectations and experiences of love. Together, these stories are tied by the exploration what it truly means to live inside a female body. This will make you not want to put it down, but also reflect for a long time after reading it.

Enjoy with: anything with Chartreuse Verte.

Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn

I picked this up three summers ago, right after finishing a semester, and it turned out to be the perfect holiday read. It’s a celebration of love in all its forms. Through curated conversations with writers and public figures, Natasha Lunn explores love through the lenses of change, vulnerability, parenthood, and loss. Like love itself, I think this book will mean something different to everyone who reads it.

Enjoy with: sparkling rosé or a cheeky Bellini.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Set in a lakeside town in Michigan, this feel-good romance is more than just a love story. It’s about friendship, grief, starting over, finding your place in the world and your community and rediscovering joy. It’s one of my favourite Emily Henry novels: thoughtful, funny, and heartwarming. The characters feel real and not flat and the setting was one of my favourites of hers.

Enjoy with: Rhine Riesling and a fruit tart.

Enigma Variations by André Aciman

While Call Me by Your Name gets all the summer-list attention, Enigma Variations is, in my opinion, the stronger book. A collection of interlinked stories, it explores the complexities of love, longing, and memory with Aciman’s signature sensitivity. The characters are full of desire, fighting loss and the passage of time, capturing how our past continually shapes our present.

I can also recommend Room on the Sea, which was published earlier this year and is a little novella about yearning and alternative lives.

Enjoy with: and Old Fashioned.

The Trio by Johanna Hedman

I tend to avoid books about students since this is something I don’t relate to anymore and don’t really need to read about, although contemporary fiction about miscommunication and student life used to be a genre I enjoyed. This book about undergrad academia in Stockholm somehow really works nevertheless, the writing so clean and sharp, the descriptions of various European cities, the thoughts of the female main character.

Enjoy with: a bold IPA. (Or, if you are in Italy like I was when reading, chilled rosé.)

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

This short and powerful novel explores so much in just a few pages. At its heart, it's a love story, but it also zooms into questions of race, masculinity, identity, and mental health. The writing is poetic, raw and moving. It makes you want to slow down and take in each moment, while also reflecting on the world around you and how we navigate it.

Enjoy with: Gin&Tonic.

Chlorine by Jade Song

This one is a dark, intense coming-of-age story about a Chinese American girl navigating the pressures of competitive swimming. It questions the complexities of race, sexuality, family, mental health, and belonging. The narrator is honest, sometimes uncomfortable and unreliable. Chlorine is a prime example of “weird girl fiction” space - naturally, it won’t be for everyone, but it makes a great end-of-summer read.

Enjoy with: cooled Perrier with ice and a slice of lemon.

Hello Beatiful by Ann Napolitano

This book is a multigenerational saga I read quite recently and absolutely devoured and loved. Napolitano wrote amazing, multifaceted and three-dimensional characters connected by natural, engaging dialogue as well as very realistic actions and decisions. The story unfolds with twists and turns that keep you hooked, combining emotional depth with absolutely amazing storytelling.

Enjoy with: a Campari spritz.

Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Carrie Soto is Back and Malibu Rising

These were a real delight to read, especially Carrie Soto Is Back, which I enjoyed as the tennis season was beginning last year. While Malibu Rising is still my favourite, I was very impressed by TJR’s constant: immersive world-building and the seeming authenticity of the characters.
Carrie Soto is quite heavy on tennis terminology, so it might not be for everyone.

Malibu Rising perfectly captures the summer vibe and presents a wide range of characters. It is fun, but it also tackles important themes like family, loss, growing up, and togetherness.

Enjoy with: a Pimm’s cup followed by some popcorn.

Elena Ferrante’s books

There’s nothing like getting lost in a tetralogy, and Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels are perfect for that. But even her stand-alone books are brilliant: rich in atmosphere, with unforgettable characters and immersive Italian settings. I read the Neapolitan Saga years ago, and I keep eyeing it for a reread.

Enjoy with: A Negroni and a side of bruschetta with olive tapenade.

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

This is a rather short book telling a seemingly simple story - two characters meet toward the end of the summer and their studies in the countryside and form a connection, which then has to be transplanted to a less idyllic city life. However, as it is filled with aspects of life in totalitarian Poland, all its details, but also retrospective memories of past long gone, it forms a web of little nooks of narration that lead the reader into different directions of thinking - about politics, about the state’s attitudes to LGBT and minority communities and hopeless prospects of those who decided not to cooperate with the regime and all that it implies.

Enjoy with: elderflower cordial.

What’s on your summer reading list?

~ K.