It feels like summer in New York. I’m not particularly relishing the thought of three months of sweltering days and subway stations that make me feel like I’m swimming in the air, but what can I do?
The thing I am looking forward to though? Summer reading. I don’t know if it’s the fact that my entertainment options are severely limited now that the traditional television season is over, or if it’s the fact that I want to be outside in the sunshine most of the time.
Well except when it’s outside my comfort window in terms of temperature. Because pretty much if it’s above 85 degrees, I’m sitting in front of an air conditioner and whining about how hot it is.
But on a nice, warm day? I want to be out, in the grass, under a tree, heavily treated with allergy meds, reading a book. Summer isn’t really the time for me to dive into new books unless they are something truly special that I’ve been anticipating.
Yes, I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the night it was released. Yes, I read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest the minute I got my hands on it. But those were special cases. I was marking off days on my calendar in anticipation of their releases.
For the most part, I stick to tried and true favorites for my summer reading. These are the books that actually smell like summer to me when I pick them up. And I don’t own any of them digitally – just really old, really beat up paperback copies of them that fit well in my beach bag, have sand drop out of them when I splay them open too far, and probably show signs of water damage since I like to read in the tub.
I’m sharing this list with you to give you a diving off place to get your summer reading on. I hope you enjoy them and share some titles of your own to recommend in the comments!
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Claire Marvel by John Burnham Schwartz
The Blue Sword and The Hero & the Crown by Robin McKinley
The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Heatwave by Penelope Lively
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
I don’t read all of these every summer by any stretch of the imagination. But these are the books I take on vacation with me, the books I return to time and time again. I hope you find something you love in this list!
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Oh, this is perfect! I read all of Fitzgerald’s books for a research project this year- you should try This Side of Paradise and Tender Is The Night. Also, Tortall is what got me through middle school. And there are so many other books on there that I’ve loved. If not water stains, then they have horribly bent spines, dog ears, and passages I love that I’ve circled.
Harry Potter are my summer books. Just started the first one for the umpteenth time… I always have a Harry Potter going and then read some new books, too. I also think Steinbeck is great summer reading.
Oh well all of those are on my list now
Just finished ”Love in the time of Cholera” should be on every romantics list!! This is great 
“Dandelion Wine” by Ray Bradbury, this book is about childhood during the summer when the lead first realizes he is alive. It’s amazing.
Some of those sound pretty good. I’ll have to give them a go. I personally recommend ‘Nights at the Circus’ by Angela Carter. It’s such an enveloping book I could spend an entire summer reading and re-reading it.
It’s on my list!
I’ve been a summer reader for nearly 7 years now. Every year I make a summer playlist of all the best songs I can find and make piles of lists. I keep a list on me at all times! And during the summer I curl up on my porch and read and listen for days straight.
I agree that Summer Sisters (was one of my very first summer reads), Cather in the Rye, and The Great Gatsby. I actually read all of those last summer. You hit all of this spot on
Thanks!
I adore Tamora Pierce’s book series set in Tortall – they are always at the top of my summer reading list!
I love them too! I’ve only read the first one to completion but I keep meaning to read all her other ones.
ha! Summer Sisters is next up on my summer reading list, too! Cheers to great books!
Ah! It’s one of my FAVORITE summer reads!
straight after reading this i went to amazon and ordered 3 of these books. I’m terrible at just going into a bookshop and picking up a book, I like someone to recommend something to me because the best way to find a gem of a book is when somebody else hands you their well-loved copy and you get to see for yourself why they love it so much!
Yay! I hope you enjoy!