Great Summer Reading Picks from Authors

Summer Reading is sponsored by Audible.
To kick off the season of summer reading, we asked thousands of Goodreads Authors (across every genre) to answer the same simple question: What books are on your summer reading list?

Here are some of our favorite responses from writers that include a popular mystery writer, a librarian with an upcoming debut, and writer of a vampire young adult series:

B.A. Paris

"I get asked to read a lot of pyschological thrillers at the moment so there will definitely be some of those on my reading list. But I'm also looking forward to reading The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien, The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman and Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak," wrote B. A. Paris, mystery author of Behind Closed Doors and the June release The Breakdown.

Annie Spence

"In the summer, I want books I can sweat with. To me, that means sexy stuff and classic literature, give your brain and your libido a workout. This year, I want to try the new Claire Dederer memoir, Love and Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning (smart and sexy: double points) and the novel Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman.

For classics, I've got Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio and William Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust on my list. And I always like a few graphic novels as well: Sunburning by Keiler Roberts and Boundless by Jillian Tamaki look good (Tamaki's This One Summer was great).

If I hadn't already read it, I would cruise in the car and listen to the audio version of Bruce Springsteen's memoir, Born to Run. But I've already read it (it was excellent) so now I'll drive around with Prove It All Night on repeat all summer," wrote Annie Spence, a librarian and author of the upcoming Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks.

Tracy Chevalier

"I have just been sent a proof copy (ARC) of a big fat book called The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas, about a young writer, that is meant to be fabulous. Also, I just read a great review of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman that says it is wonderful and FUNNY. How often do you hear that these days about novels? So I've just ordered it and plan to drop everything to read it. Also on my summer stack is The Siege by Helen Dunmore, about the siege of Leningrad during WWII. I've always meant to read it and have heard only good things.

Finally, I like to read at least one classic over the summer. This time it's a little obscure. Many readers know George Gissing for his novel about Victorian journalists and writers called New Grub Street. Lesser known is The Odd Women, about—yes—odd women who don't marry when Victorian society expects them to. This feeds in a little to what I'm researching and writing for next book. That's all I'll say on that for the moment!," wrote Tracy Chevalier, the author of The Girl with the Pearl Earring and the At the Edge of the Orchard.

P.C. Cast

"Finishing Three Dark Crowns, and reading Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh, and catching up on my Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole," wrote P.C. Cast, the author of House of Night series.

Ian Doescher

"My family and I are road tripping to Colorado and New Mexico this summer, so I'm planning to read a few novels that take place in those states: Death Comes for the Archbishop (Willa Cather), Angle of Repose (Wallace Stegner), Bless Me, Ultima (Rudolfo Anaya), and Plainsong (Kent Haruf). I plan to read the complete poems of Phyllis Wheatley, I'm working my way through Isaac Asimov's Foundation books, and I'm about to start Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Finally, I'm consuming as much Brian Doyle as possible—he's an amazing Oregon author who is currently struggling with a brain tumor (oh, the euphemisms we use). In any case, it promises to be a wonderful, rich summer of reading," wrote Ian Doescher, author of the William Shakespeare's Star Wars series.

Be sure to check out more of our summer reading coverage here.

Check out more recent blogs:
23 Hottest Books of Summer
32 Audiobooks for your Summer Vacation
Bustle & PopSugar Editors Pick Beach Reads

post a comment »

Add a reference: