Summer Reading List

With the summer fast approaching, here are some of my recommendations for your summer reading list (and an excuse to use this wonderful gif):

The Awakening (Kate Chopin, 1899)

Edna Pontellier is holidaying on the Grand Isle when her awakening, both sexually and emotionally, begins. While The Awakening is hardly as shocking as it was when it was first published, it is still a beautiful novel about women, love, and freedom, and it contains some exquisite descriptions of the sea.

The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath, 1963)

"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York." If The Bell Jar's opening line doesn't make you want to read it this summer, I don't know what will.

The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1922)

Over the course of the summer of 1922 Nick Carraway discovers the eponymous Jay Gatsby, a fascinating, mysterious, and, ultimately, tragic character, drawn to the green light, always out of reach, at the end of the harbour of the woman he loves.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling, 2003)

I find the Harry Potter series perfect for summer reading, but I picked this one above them all because it's one of my favourites of the series, and because it starts on "The hottest day of the summer so far".

The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1937)

Fantasy and adventure are perfect for the summer, as are books which, like The Hobbit, are best read when you have the time on your hands to fully appreciate them.

Instructions for a Heatwave (Maggie O'Farrell, 2013)

It's July, 1976, and the heatwave is the least of Gretta Riordan's problems when her husband, Robert, leaves the house to buy a newspaper and doesn't come back. Gretta's children gather around her but, as cracks begin to show, they will have to reunite to find their father and bring him home.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep (Joanna Cannon, 2015)

Also set during the summer of 1976, the heatwave is being blamed for everything in the cul-de-sac where ten year-old Grace lives. Including the disappearance of Mrs Creasy. When the vicar tells Grace that people disappear because they haven't found God, she and her best friend, Tilly, decide to spend the summer finding God, in order to protect their friends and family.

Ulysses (James Joyce, 1922)

The summer is the perfect time to read this incredible, beautiful, and wonderfully weird book. For me, Ulysses is forever linked to the summer after my A-Levels when I read it. And the best thing about reading it (apart from being able to boast about it)? No-one actually expects you to understand it. Just enjoy it.

On my to-read list:

The Gene: An Intimate History (Siddhartha Mukherjee, 2016)

I like reading at least one door-stopper over the summer, simply because it's the best time to do so, and The Gene: An Intimate History is that book for this summer. I recently treated myself to it for my birthday.

Life of Pi (Yann Martel, 2001)

More fantasy and adventure in this one, and I've recently acquired a copy so it's been bumped up my to-read pile.

The Monogram Murders (Sophie Hannah, 2014)

The summer is, for me, the time to catch up with friends, and I don't see why that can't include fictional friends such as Hercule Poirot.

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez, 1967)

This is one of the favourite books of a close friend of mine. I don't need any more reasons than that.

The People We Hate at the Wedding (Grant Ginder, 2017)

Although the wedding I'm attending over the summer is that of a close friend, I'm not normally a wedding person, so I'm hoping that this book will be the perfect, witty outlet.

Siracusa (Delia Ephron, 2016)

Just look at that cover. Need I really say any more?


To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee, 1960)

I've been desperate to read this one since I read Go Set a Watchman and, once more, I've recently acquired a copy (of this beautiful Vintage Classics edition, no less).