Books to Suit Your Summer Reading Mood

Anyone with a serious reading habit can tell you: When it comes to deciding what book to read next, sometimes it’s all about the mood you’re in.
In fact, many of us even have multiple books going at once, just to facilitate this phenomenon. Some days you want to cry. Some days you need to laugh. You may want to revisit old stories, or check out the new book that everyone is talking about. Then there are the days in which you’re in the mood for something totally random. Wolves, say.
With summer reading season upon us, we’re here to help. We’ve gathered here 15 different themed collections, each dedicated to a particular mood, topic, or circumstance that you might want to read about in the coming months. Most of the titles we've included are relatively recent, but we’ve peppered in some older classics where the fit is just too perfect to ignore. As always, hover over the book covers to learn more.
Feel free to add in additional suggestions in the comments section. Also, we’re curious: When it comes to recreational reading, do you tend to concentrate on one book at a time, or do you sometimes have several books going at once? Make your case below, play nice, and add anything interesting you find here to your Want to Read shelf.
Mood reading. It's a bookworm thing.
Literal Beach Reading
Get whisked off to sandy shores
Sad Girl Summer
For sitting in the dark and having a good cry
Oh No, My Suitcase Is Over the Weight Limit!
New paperbacks for light weight (but not lightweight) reading
Too Much FOMO
Gotta catch up on the books everyone's been talking about
Cool for the Summer
Cold-weather books
I Want to Learn Something
Spend your poolside time deep-diving into nonfiction; we (mostly) won't judge
Quick Reads
So you can get back to having fun
Bad Vacations
So you can enjoy yours more
Team Book
You always read the book before watching the TV or movie adaptation
Romantic Getaways
Swoony reads to sweep you away
Strange Visitors
Tales of first contact with alien beings
All Retellings, All the Time
Everyone keeps recommending Circe to you (but you've already read it five times)
I'm Too Serious for Summer Reading
Give me the erudite, prize-winning books
Into the Wild
Nature, red in tooth and claw
For the Podcast Addicts
Chatty essay collections on gripping real-life topics
Comments Showing 1-50 of 58 (58 new)
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Jéssica
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May 15, 2023 05:31AM
Thank you for the post. I love these and I'm always excited when a new season arrives :)
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I am always so exhilarated whenever these posts come out. So many good books, another article that is not a letdown. Thanks ❤️
this compilation was perfect! tnx goodreads team, saving my summer (or winter, for us south america baddies) - as always!
Great post, but the whole “tee hee we’re secretly judging you for liking nonfiction” thing isn’t that cute coming from the book nerd app
Always impressed with the new angles you come up with, to tempt us into reading, though not much tempting needed, a great selection here.
Mark wrote: "I prefer to read horror books while deep in the woods on warm summer nights (back-lit kindle)."EXACTLY! Where are the horror picks?
Props to the makers of this article. I vote for all rec articles to always be categorized like this, very useful!
Justine wrote: "EXACTLY! Where are the horror picks?"I won't say it has the best writing or anything, but Off Season by Jack Ketchum was very good and takes place mostly in a dark forest. Not for the Squeamish. It has a couple sequels I haven't gotten around to yet.
I’ve only read a few of these so far, can’t wait to get my hands on many more! Excellent list Goodreads! I hope we’ll see more lists like this in the future.
Natalie wrote: "Great post, but the whole “tee hee we’re secretly judging you for liking nonfiction” thing isn’t that cute coming from the book nerd app"Yeah, agreed that was an odd comment lol
An interesting selection, but this summer I am excited and really looking forward to read Ready Player One and its two sequels, as well as Snow Crash. This summer is bound to be FUN-tastic stuff!
Nice list. I do wish that Goodreads did posts like these but for say Middle Grade books. Not everyone on good reads is an adult ..
Love the topic and the individual themes. They were so creative and made me smile. Now to read some on the list.
As an avid nonfiction reader, I have to ask: Where are all the **summer** nonfiction topics? Books about beaches, about vacationing, about weather and summer holidays and the like? What about books on summer hobbies or recreation, memoirs from surfers or books on gardening, stuff like that? Suicide, poverty, and mental illness are certainly important topics and might merit their own separate category within this particular list, but I'm surprised by the lack of summer in your Summer Nonfiction.That said, I still really enjoyed reading this post! What fun topics! You put a lot of effort in here, and that shows.
Do you really think I am about use my summer to read a book just about fungi.......you're damn right I am.
Wow! This is a great set of mini-lists! I was not expecting the breadth of summer "types" - and I'm totally into it! A different summer vibe for every reader :)
This summer i'm gonna be stuck reading a bunch of fantasy haha, recently I realized how much I preferred fantasy over other book genres (I was actually a former fantasy hater) so now I can't read anything else- This list might help me find other good books outside of that genre
Great list! :)I normally read 3 books at a time: 1 with poetry, 1 audiobook and 1 e-book or paper book. Sometimes some non-fiction on the side... I need a dose of poetry in the morning :)
Oooh I gotta start that Daisy Jones book, it's been on my radar for months. The Evelyn Hugo book TJR wrote was great!
Both aren't included here, surprisingly enough. But I'm going to read my stack of books mainly by Joan Didion and Eve Babitz 😍🔥
Just added a ton of books to my list! Happy summer reading everyone. I definitely think I will be reading a lot of horror this summer as I went on a indie press horror buying spree this Spring. Sounds like a great time to me!
Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Natalie wrote: "Great post, but the whole “tee hee we’re secretly judging you for liking nonfiction” thing isn’t that cute coming from the book nerd app"Yeah, agreed that was an odd comment lol"
But, if you're both talking about the "we (mostly) won't judge", that was definitely a joke...
Such a great list! I found several books to add to my reading list, most from categories I normally do not read. And I found a new author to follow. Thanks for expanding my reading horizons.
I'm looking for some feminist YA to read (actually, we'd listen on audio during our drive to campgrounds) with my 17 year old son. He's totally fine with female protagonists, and we both love adventure stories. Any suggestions?

























