What my friends are reading this summer | Reads With Friends
41 summer book recommendations curated by my friends, from new releases to backlist books: prize-winners, romances, thrillers, feminist stories, autobiographies, and more
It’s the start of summer tomorrow, which means a whole new season for reading books!
To kickstart summer, I asked my friends what they’re reading this season, and they have a whopping 41 books on their summer reading list, along with bonus mentions of other books they have read. I’m really excited to share my lovely friends’ summer book recommendations with you, especially after the spring edition of this ‘what my friends are reading this season’ went so well.
My friends come from all over the world, and many are new contributors, whilst others are kindly returning after sharing their spring book reads. Together, there are 41 books, which I hope you enjoy reading about and that will inspire your own summer book reads.
at Bookpeach
Gosh, there are tons of great books on my TBR! I'm so excited to dig in (ideally by the pool, most likely on my metro commute to the office). Much love! XX
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong. I fell in love with Ocean a few years ago, and a new novel from him is my equivalent of the Super Bowl. It’s rare to see an author be so vulnerable in a book's promotion, and listening to him (I recommend this interview he did with the New York Times) fully stopped me in my tracks. While the description of The Emperor of Gladness didn’t grab me right away, I am still excited to read. Honestly, I would read a dishwasher cleaning manual if he wrote it.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. I've had so many people recommend this book to me that I feel almost obligated to include! At first glance—remote island, scientific research—I wasn't particularly intrigued. I usually say environmental novels aren't really my thing. But looking back on what I’ve read this year (Birnam Wood, Greenwood, etc), maybe I’m selling myself short. Long story short: I'm giving it a try. [NOTE FROM ALICIA: Having read The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, I’m also intrigued by this!]
Swimming Home by Deborah Levy. I’ve been working my way through past winners of the International Booker Prize, and this book caught my eye a few months ago. I haven’t read Levy's other works, but I know she has a devoted fan base and a keen eye for detail. I’m excited to pick this up at the library soon.
Exalted by Anna Dorn. I don’t know much about this one, but my dear friend Kate (whom I profiled in Bookpeach) really wants me to read. She said it’s ‘not a typical Alli book’ but promised I will ‘low key be obsessed’. She texted that ‘the characters are literally insane and the worst but it was a wild ride.’ Color me intrigued!
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. This seems like a sweet, fuzzy book in the vein of Meredith, Alone or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I also love fiction told in letter format and am a total sucker for curmudgeonly old people expanding their world view! I will definitely gobble this down in a day or two.
The Slip by Lucas Schaefer. I love a chunky epic and this new novel is firing on all cylinders. Check out this description from Lit Hub: ‘Most authors, let alone most debut authors, wouldn’t attempt a 500-page tragicomic Texan epic that tackles race, class, gender, sexuality, police violence, mental illness, immigration, boxing, and clowning, but Lucas Schaefer is not most authors.’ I'm in!
Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang. And finally, for something fun, I can't wait to read this satirical novel about social media and sisterhood. I picked it up at a bookstore a few weeks ago and loved it so much my friends couldn't find me for twenty minutes. I should have just bought it then and there!
[NOTE FROM ALICIA: Alli interviewed me for Bookpeach, where I shared more about my reading life. I’m excited to feature her on Reads With Alicia this time!]
at The Quiet 20s
I love two very specific genres in the summertime: light, fluffy romances (which I don’t normally gravitate to) and rich mysteries and thrillers. Think stories that throw you back to your youth, when you could only imagine the beauty of being in love, and gritty page-turners that end up covered in sand, sea and sun cream as you can’t spend a moment without them.
A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston
I picked this up during a Kindle 99p deal and have been waiting for the perfect summer scorcher to read it. Ashley Poston’s novel finds main character Eileen actually in the fictional town of her favourite romance series, and the owner of the local bookstore just happens to be grumpy with ‘mint-green eyes’… I think we all know how this is going to go.
There’s something so lovely about predictable, safe romances when you want to unwind in the warm breeze with a selection of picnic snacks to hand. I’ll be reading A Novel Love Story during afternoons in the park, while the local brass band plays in the stand.
Quarter-Love Crisis by Jasmine Burke (published 17 July)
Rivals-to-lovers? Check. Rom-com? Check. Twenties-based crisis? Check. Quarter-Love Crisis sounds like my perfect summer read, oozing with comic relief and that lighthearted romance I love so much this time of year.
This debut novel by my old blogger friend Jas (whom I’m very proud of!) is a workplace romance, so I expect to be swooning to this during my lunch breaks, sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree, or over my morning smoothie—after the bustle of getting ready for the day and before I need to dash to the office.
Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh
And now, on to a murder mystery where a set of twins each blames the other for their father’s murder. Oh yeah, consider me sold.
I couldn’t believe my luck when I found this at the local charity bookstore. I read one of Cavanagh’s Eddie Flynn books last summer, and found it the perfect page-turner (coupled with a third act plot twist). If you’re a fan of Peter James, you’ll probably like Steve Cavanagh’s writing too. Though Fifty Fifty is the fifth book in this series, the cases themselves are all individual to the novels—you might miss some background knowledge on Eddie Flynn but you’ll soon catch up!
Find me reading this during sun- (or rain-) soaked camping trips, shovelling it into my bag for breezy days at the beach before hunkering down in front of a fire at the end of the day, with a roasting marshmallow in my spare hand.
The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
The Twyford Code found its way to me during a completely anonymous Secret Santa with my book club last year. I’d never heard of it nor the author, but not long after I saw
rave about another one of Hallett’s books and was instantly excited.It turns out, The Twyford Code won the Crime & Thriller British Book of the Year in 2023. That’s enough of a selling point for me. I plan on reading this cosy mystery towards the end of the summer, when the first hints of autumn are starting to peek through but I can still enjoy long, lazy evenings in the park watching the leaves slowly shift shades.
Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
The cover of Young Jane Young is enough to make me read it in the summertime. It transports me to a poolside, shaded by palm trees swaying in the warm breeze. I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Zevin a couple of years ago and adored her writing style, so I have high hopes for this.
Young Jane Young is a feminist story that’s also been deemed humorous and moving, about a young woman who relocates from Florida to Maine after a scandal comes to light and she takes the brunt of it. People Magazine wrote that ‘this sly, exhilarating novel takes on slut-shaming […] and manages to be hilarious in the process’.
I’ll be taking this with me on a beach staycation, where I’ll get sand in every crevice of my Kindle, my salt-watered hair will be piled high in a straggly bun, and I can debrief about the novel’s themes over a cold drink in a beer garden at the end of the day.
[NOTE FROM ALICIA: Tomorrow is one of my recent favourite books and I have her debut, which sounds like a brilliant beach read, on my TBR as well.]
Other media I’ll be consuming
The Parent Trap has become my ultimate summer hygge film over the years, so you can find me rewatching it at any given opportunity.
The final season of The Summer I Turned Pretty releases on 16 July. The show is a guilty pleasure of mine, and I can’t wait to finally get some closure about who Belly will choose. While I’m very much a Conrad girly, I hope the answer is ‘herself’.
I know I’ve already given a list of the books I’m hoping to read this summer, but if I get a chance I’d like to sneak in a re-read of Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton. It’s been two years since I first read it, and I think I’ll see it in a whole different light now. [NOTE FROM ALICIA: Everything is one of my all-time favourite books, and I have read it countless times. Now that Soph has mentioned it, I might pick it up again too…]
Zhi Ling
This summer, I’m finally getting around to Meditations by Marcus Aurelius—a book that’s been on my radar for some time and comes up a lot in conversation. I’m really excited for this one.
The second book on my list is Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, recommended by a friend, and this feels especially urgent given today’s economic and social challenges. It offers a stark, unflinching look at how eviction perpetuates cycles of poverty and upheaval. It’s a tough subject, but I think recognising the human cost and resilience is crucial to exploring how we might create change in housing security and provide meaningful support for the vulnerable.
Having just finished Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, I’m convinced a reread is absolutely necessary—there’s so much to unpack here. It’s a story told through the slippery lens of H.H., an unreliable narrator (kind of like Joe in You on Netflix). The writing draws you in completely, but I kept reminding myself that we’re seeing only H.H.'s version of events—crafted for the judgment of a jury which makes it all the more suspect. Nabokov’s prose is absolutely stunning—hauntingly beautiful, deeply unsettling. The storytelling is immaculate. He spent over a decade perfecting this novel and it shows. Highly recommend, but definitely requires more than one read.
at Books Worth Sharing
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier. Probably not the best summer read as it’s a gothic mystery thriller, but I hear the book opens in sunny Italy and the subsequent setting is in a large Cornwall estate. Plus, I really loved Rebecca and want to read more du Maurier. [NOTE FROM ALICIA: I still have not read any books by Daphne, which is a major gap in my literary education. Perhaps this summer will finally be when I read Rebecca!]
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. I finished Part 1 back in February and plan to start Part 2 in July. I loved reading Don Quixote’s misadventures in Part I and summer is always a good idea to read about adventures. Or misadventures.
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. Exploring an island. Spending time with your grandmother. What screams summer more than that? Every year, this book resurfaces in countless summer book recommendations lists and every year I forget to read it. But this year, I’m hoping to finally read it.
at I Recommend Books
When I contributed to Alicia’s ‘What my friends are reading this spring’ post in April, I didn’t even think about seasonal reading as a concept until she pointed out that the list didn’t have to be particularly seasonal! I did used to read seasonally in the summers. My idea of beach reading was to get through a long and preferably difficult book that I might not be willing to work at during busier times of year. A few summers in a row, I read Ulysses, The Man Without Qualities, Wizard of the Crow, and The Makioka Sisters. Then I had a child, and now nobody leaves me alone at the beach. So my summer list is not particularly seasonal either.
I’m reading for research on the novel I’m working on, which is a Beowulf retelling. I’m almost finished with a short book by Tom Shippey called Beowulf and the North Before the Vikings, which is about episodes from Scandinavian history that are told in the poem. I’m about to start Pride and Prodigies by Andy Orchard, which is about the poem’s monsters. If any of your readers have must-adds to my Beowulf bibliography, I’d love to hear them! I think the one in my TBR stack that looks the most enjoyable for someone who is not obsessed with Beowulf is Heather O’Donoghue’s Beowulf: Poem, Poet and Hero. O’Donoghue is a scholar, but this book is for a general reader. The Times’ Literary Supplement says, ‘There is something refreshing about an experienced scholar's decision to push aside peer-reviewed articles, commentaries and editions in order to speak frankly about what she finds so rewarding in the text’.
I’m on a Stephen Graham Jones kick. He’s a horror writer who had a breakout hit a couple of years ago with The Only Good Indians, about a group of Native guys who have a sort of hunting accident and are now getting stalked and killed by a vengeful creature from beyond the grave. I’ve since read Mapping the Interior and am listening to the audiobook of Night of the Mannequins at the gym. There are some obvious recurring elements in all of these books. Ghosts find ways to take physical form again, and once they are embodied, they wreak havoc. There is always a main character who is a little too quick to put things together (in a way that can strain credibility when you’re reading it), and that character’s psychology really affects what happens after that. I enjoy these books a lot, and I’ve got copies from the library of My Heart is a Chainsaw, which is about a slasher, and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, which is historical horror novel about a vampire who stalks the Blackfeet reservation in 1912.
In the last few years I’ve read a lot of Latin American fiction in translation. Writers like Roberto Bolaño and César Aira have famously fraught relationships with the celebrated Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes—not fraught personal relationships, but fraught relationships with his fame and status. Fuentes was a towering figure, and when you tower, the generation that comes after you wants to knock you down. I’ve never read Fuentes, but I recently found a trove of his books at one of my favorite used bookstores, and chose The Old Gringo and Holy Place based mostly on how much I liked their 70s- and 80s-era covers.
at Japan Uncovered
The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier. I've already started reading this. This author's stories, which combine art and history, always captivate me. I was fortunate to experience the Venice Carnival; her words bring back memories of those dazzling scenes. The beautiful sparkle of glass is also perfect for summer.
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura (translated by Yuki Tejima). This novel of magic realism was published in Japan in 2010, but I recently noticed it was translated into English this spring. Taking this opportunity, I plan to read it. The theme of what one would say upon reuniting with the deceased will captivate many readers. In Japan, our deceased ancestors are believed to return during the summer Obon season, so such events could happen in reality.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley. You might be wondering why I've chosen to read this now, but it's all part of an article I plan to write about Japan. Yes, Malcolm X and Japan! He was born a century ago and assassinated six decades ago. I can't help but wonder what he would have to say about our society today.
Blue Lock by Muneyuki Kaneshiro (story) and Yusuke Nomura (illustration). As a Japanese person, I read manga every day! I've been interested in this work for a long time. The story? The Japan Football Association launches the Blue Lock Project to win the World Cup. Three hundred youth forwards are gathered at a facility, and those who fail the tests are permanently disqualified from the national team. The series has sold over 45 million copies worldwide.
at The Novel Tea Newsletter
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
I found this short novel in the sale rack of my favorite Indie bookstore, McNally Jackson, for just $5—I swept it up and was later thrilled by this purchase when it won the 2024 Booker Prize. Orbital follows a team of astronauts in the International Space Station as they conduct scientific experiments and learn about the nature of life.
When I was younger, I was fascinated by space—and quite honestly, I still am. Outer space still is the ‘final frontier’. I'm less concerned with conquering it, and more interested in what it has to say about us as a human race, and the universe we are just a minuscule part in. I am so excited to dive into this book and discover what Harvey has to say about the human condition.
[NOTE FROM ALICIA: Orbital was my last book of 2024 and whilst I found it too ethereal for everyday reading, that is largely the point—Orbital brings a unique appreciation of our earth to literature.]
The Margot Affair by Sanaë Lemoine
Exposing the seams between private lives and public faces, The Margot Affair is a novel of deceit, desire, and transgression—and the exhilarating knife-edge upon which the danger of telling the truth outweighs the cost of keeping secrets.
(Hogarth (Penguin Random House))
This novel follows Margot Louve, the child of a longstanding affair between a French politician and a stage actress, who lives a hidden life in the Left Bank of Paris. When, in the summer of her 17th year she makes an impulsive decision, her family is suddenly threatened by ruin.
I am visiting Paris this June, and I always love reading books set in the country (or, ideally, city) I'm traveling to when on vacation. This book seems like it perfectly straddles the line between soapy and literary, and I think it'll be perfect for long train rides through the French countryside.
Among Friends by Hal Ebbott
I love books that dive deep into relationships; the messier, the better. This debut novel (published 24 June) takes place at a country house in New York where two families are gathered to celebrate the host's fifty-second birthday. But everything changes when accusations and past secrets are revealed, threatening the bonds between the two families.
I don't typically keep up with new releases—I am much more likely to read backlist books all year—but every so often a new book comes by that seems like it would be the perfect read for me. I can imagine relaxing on a hammock, or on the beach somewhere, and devouring this relationship-driven novel.
at Al-Bayt al-Hikmah
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I’ve been meaning to reread this classic for a long time, actually. I remember reading it as a young teenager when I was just getting used to reading books and it had an immense impact on me. I am going to try and read this again after so many years to see if it still hits the same! Also, the vibes in this book are perfect for summer as it does take place in summer, if I remember correctly!
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. This one is actually a buddy read with the wonderful
so I figured I should add this here. I am very intimated by this tome but also excited! You could say that this book has been my… white whale? I’ll see myself out, thank you very much.The Princess Bride by William Goldman. Yup, this is a big one. I love the film and it’s a masterpiece, so I figured why not read the book too? I had it sitting on my shelf for so long! Plus, this is another book that gives me major summer vibes.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Is it even a good summer without some Jane Austen? I don’t even need to explain myself with this one, honestly. I will say however, that I have read quite a bit of this one before. I unfortunately had to abandon it because… I got distracted. Don’t judge me! I am making up for it this summer.
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune. I recently came across this book in audiobook format and the title, the cover (more painting covers, please!) and the summary had me wanting more. Plus the title obviously makes it a necessary addition to summer reads. In case you’re wondering what the book is about, it’s about a photographer who develops a crush on a dude after visiting some area she was in as a teen and rediscovering her childhood crush. I feel like it will have a lot of good summer vibes with some heart and nostalgia and I am always up for that! [NOTE FROM ALICIA: Arbaaz wrote a wonderful essay on why book covers are so important.]
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. I have been meaning to read Emily Henry for quite a while now and i thought there is no better time than the summer. For me, summer is somehow indicative of romance. I don’t know why but to me, it feels like the best time to read romance novels.
The Virginian by Owen Wister. So… There is a genre that almost always seems to escape me. And this summer, I feel like I should really immerse myself in that genre since so much of it feels like summer to me. That genre, of course, is Westerns. I have always been fascinated by Westerns but for some reason, have not really watched or read much of it. I plan to change that by watching and reading as much of the genre as I can. The sweltering heat, the dusty plains, all of it has the hallmarks of the kind of summer I always experience, so why not? This summer is hopefully my Western era. As far as the story goes, I am not really sure. All I know is that it is the first novelized Western (I figured why not start from the beginning?) and I will be reading a lot more, unless my mood changes. It often does that.
I have a much bigger and more expansive list of summer reads I wanna do that keeps on changing by the day. I had to make some sacrifices to only feature these ones here. I will, however, be trying to read everything on that list. Maybe I will make an article on it or a wrap-up of my summer reads when it’s all done, so stay tuned for that on my side!
[NOTE FROM ALICIA: I wrote a guest post for Arbaaz recently on the 12 books that taught me something. Arbaaz will be publishing a guest post book review for Reads With Alicia next week, which I’m excited to share with you.]
Let’s chat in the comments—my friends and I would love to hear from you!
Have you read any of these books, or are they on your TBR?
What are you reading this summer?
Do you read seasonally? What does this mean to you?
Thanks so much to my lovely Substack and irl friends who contributed! I’m so excited about all their wonderful summer reads. To join the next autumn edition of Reads With Friends, comment or DM me!
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I loved the shoutout here! Moby-Dick is still intimidating me a little, but slow progress is being made 😂
Some amazing recommendations here!! Thank you for including me in this incredible list <3