My Summer Reading List Is Out
I'm so excited to delve in. I've tiptoed out of my comfort zone a little too—so let's clink our Margaritas to swimming in new literary waters 🍸📚
Happy Summer Solstice! To celebrate the start of my favourite season, I’ve curated my summer reading list. This year, I think I’ve put together the perfect mix of breezy, thrilling and literary with just a touch of gravity. I’ve included some new releases as well as few tried and true.
The Perfect Summer Read:
Notes on Infinity by Austin Taylor
How do I know it’s the perfect summer read? I just finished reading it. It’s about two Harvard students—Jack, a boy with unruly hair and a tragic past, and Zoe, the daughter of a MIT professor—who first meet in organic chemistry class and end up discovering what promises to be the scientific solution to immortality.
It’s the perfect mix of tragic love story, campus drama, and the high stakes and glamorous world of startups. It kept me hooked to the last page. If you loved Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, chances are you’ll love Notes on Infinity.
The Compound by Aisling Rawle.
I listened to an interview with the author on this podcast and was fascinated by how the book came about. She was 25 years old when she wrote it in six weeks (!) then searched up the literary agent of one of her favourite writers and sent out a query. Yes, she got signed by that literary agent. The book is supposed to be unputdownable and is described as Lord of the Flies meets Love Island, about a contestant on a popular TV reality show that takes place in a Compound in the desert.
For the days I need something quick, fun and spicy:
Ali Hazelwood’s new romance: Problematic Summer Romance,
it’s the #2 in Ali’s Not In Love series and set in a Sicilian villa—perfect for summer. It’s pitched as a brother’s-best-friend-and-the-girl-he-never-knew-existed romance about a successful bio-tech guy and struggling grad student. He thinks he’s way too old for her but she knows he’s perfect, so she decides a summer fling is what’s needed.
Can’t Help Falling in Love by Swati Hegde
Which is about a Bollywood heiress who hires a barista to act as her pretend boyfriend for her cousin’s wedding. Looking forward to this Desi romance.
Slipstream by Madge Maril
Because why not learn about racing this summer. In the high-speed world of Formula 1, the documentarian Lilah teams up with racing driver Arthur Bianco for a whirlwind of revenge—and perhaps something more. I’m there for the something more. It’s the summer after all! BTW I’ve got tickets to F1 this Thursday, so I’ll read this as the companion book.
For when I’m feeling a little more contemplative:
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
Time is one of my favourite topics to contemplate, and this one promises some lovely time-travel. It’s about a 40-year-old woman who gets to travel back in time to her sixteenth birthday and experience, not only her self as a sixteen-year-old again, but her ailing father as a vital charming man in his forties.
Because I can’t actually travel to Croatia, Italy or Hungary this summer, but boy, do I miss Europe:
Salt Water by Katy Hays
Why I picked it:
It was recommended by
, and I implicitly trust her recommendations.It takes place on Capri!
It’s a family thriller about juicy generational privilege, and I don’t read enough thrillers.
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Why I picked it:
It was a finalist for the Pulitzer
It takes place in Europe in the summer of 1995. Also coincidentally the second novel I chose on my Summer List where the protagonist is a Harvard student.
Slanting Towards The Sea by Lidija Hilje
Why I picked it:
It’s a literary love story—my favourite kind.
It takes place in Croatia when it was just a new country.
And because every season is the season to remind yourself that life is serious too:
The Art Of Being Broken by Kevin Hines
It’s a memoir on surviving suicide. I know of two people who didn’t survive it in the last couple of months.
What Kind Of Paradise by Janelle Brown
A novel about a teenage girl who breaks free from her father’s world of isolation and discovers that her whole world is a lie.
If, in between jumping into an icy cold river on a scorching hot day, I’m in the mood for something in the 500 page range :
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
Because I love a good long epic family drama, and I recently bought the hardcover from my local library for $2.00 so now, it’s on my bookshelf/pile.
The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb
It’s Oprah’s latest pick. Not sure if I can fit two long books in one summer, but I’m up for the challenge.
And, because I’m low-key obsessed/fascinated with extreme sports and adventures (but only from afar), why not:
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
The harrowing account of the 1996 Mt. Everest summit storm that killed five people.
There you go, that’s my list. Just for fun, I’ll do a ranking at the end of the summer. And because I’m known for derailing from my lists, please do share what’s on your list this summer.
Wishing you a season filled with happy reading,
XO Ingrid
This came at just the right time. I loved the Lombardo (so hope you do too, i'm a sucker for multigenerational family tales) - I'm reading her most recent one at the moment and then will come back to pick one of these!
Love the way you organized this Ingrid. Excited for your book recommendations. The one I read on the list is “ Problematic Summer Romance” - I dug it. Of the many romances I’ve read recently it’s probably the most entertaining even if the main character got on my nerves a lot. So did the dude. 😂 I want to try “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and Emma Staub’s book intrigues me though could be because she comes up on my Insta-feed a lot too!