Books to Suit Your Summer Reading Mood

Posted by Sharon on May 15, 2023


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
 
 
   



What's your summer reading mood or situation? Let us know which categories you're drawn to in the comments below!
 

Comments Showing 1-50 of 58 (58 new)


message 1: by Jéssica (new)

Jéssica Thank you for the post. I love these and I'm always excited when a new season arrives :)


message 2: by Sami (new)

Sami ❤️❤️❤️ I am always so exhilarated whenever these posts come out. So many good books, another article that is not a letdown. Thanks ❤️


message 3: by Rebekah (new)

Rebekah this is such a fun post!


message 4: by Courtney (new)

Courtney Greenidge Love love love :-)


message 5: by Harshada (new)

Harshada Love this collection!!


message 6: by Ali (new)

Ali Wonder Land Thank you for this amazing post!


eternalsanshine It would be nice to had some summer camp thrillers or similar style


message 8: by Katarina (new)

Katarina Horror books are always my summer go-to. Preferably the ones that takes place during summer.


message 9: by dee (hiatus) (new)

dee (hiatus) The way I skipped that 'I want to learn something' part is concerning.


message 10: by Julia (new)

Julia Lanfranqui this compilation was perfect! tnx goodreads team, saving my summer (or winter, for us south america baddies) - as always!


message 11: by Chelsea (new)

Chelsea P Dee. wrote: "The way I skipped that 'I want to learn something' part is concerning."

I feel that!


message 12: by Natalie (new)

Natalie 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


message 13: by Chanel (new)

Chanel Earl This summer, I want to read books that start with magic and end with declarations of love.


message 14: by Amalia (new)

Amalia Always impressed with the new angles you come up with, to tempt us into reading, though not much tempting needed, a great selection here.


message 15: by Mark (new)

Mark I prefer to read horror books while deep in the woods on warm summer nights (back-lit kindle).


message 16: by Justine (new)

Justine 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?


message 17: by Snonono (new)

Snonono Props to the makers of this article. I vote for all rec articles to always be categorized like this, very useful!


message 18: by Jessica (new)

Jessica Criswell Love this and now my TBR pile just got even longer!!!!!


message 19: by Mark (new)

Mark 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.


message 20: by Katie (new)

Katie 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.


message 21: by Marissa (new)

Marissa Nolly I really enjoyed this post! I added so many new books to my TBR


message 22: by Andrea (new)

Andrea I want to laugh out loud


Maja (majareads)  Milocanovich ☕️ such a good post, found a bunch of great books to add to my list, thank youuu :)


message 24: by ren ༉‧₊˚. (new)

ren ༉‧₊˚. this is a great master list for all different kinds of books for the summer thxxxx:)


message 25: by Hulda (new)

Hulda Karen Okay this is hilarious XD I love it


Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* 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


message 27: by Grace Elaine (new)

Grace Elaine surprisingly good selection of modern and diverse books


message 28: by Sam (new)

Sam 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!


message 29: by ro ★ (new)

ro ★ 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 ..


message 30: by Shiloah (new)

Shiloah Love the topic and the individual themes. They were so creative and made me smile. Now to read some on the list.


message 31: by queso (new)

queso this post was so fun to read!! :D


message 32: by Elizabeth (last edited May 25, 2023 10:50AM) (new)

Elizabeth 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.


message 33: by Gregory (new)

Gregory Pedersen Do you really think I am about use my summer to read a book just about fungi.......you're damn right I am.


message 34: by Jaimie (new)

Jaimie 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 :)


message 35: by Diinah (new)

Diinah 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


message 36: by Ioana (new)

Ioana I actually like a good juicy murder mystery in summer.


message 37: by Hannah (new)

Hannah 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 :)


message 38: by Lulufrances (new)

Lulufrances thanks for this list, I did end up adding quite a few to my wishlist for my next holiday


message 39: by Arbie (new)

Arbie Krae Thank you for the list! I've added a few titles to my TBR.


message 40: by Mark (new)

Mark Oooh I gotta start that Daisy Jones book, it's been on my radar for months. The Evelyn Hugo book TJR wrote was great!


message 41: by maia (new)

maia added some of the books to my to-reads! thank you goodreads <3


message 42: by Jessica (new)

Jessica Both aren't included here, surprisingly enough. But I'm going to read my stack of books mainly by Joan Didion and Eve Babitz 😍🔥


message 43: by T.ScottReviews (new)

T.ScottReviews Needs horror and children's/middle-grade books.


message 44: by Molly (new)

Molly Siskin 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!


message 45: by Claire (new)

Claire Kreutzberger 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...


message 46: by Peggy (new)

Peggy M 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.


message 47: by Nusrat (new)

Nusrat Rahman Perfect recommendations for me. Thanks a ton.


message 48: by Anastasia (new)

Anastasia 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?


message 49: by Anastasia (new)

Anastasia Gregory wrote: "Do you really think I am about use my summer to read a book just about fungi.......you're damn right I am."

haha! Cute comment.


message 50: by Jonathan (new)

Jonathan Dope collection!


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