120 Book Recommendations for Every Summer Reading Mood
Believe it or not, summer is almost here — at least, if you’re in the northern hemisphere. That means celebrating the only way readers know how: by building an ambitious summer reading TBR. But what exactly is a “summer read”? That’s a topic hotly (get it?) debated on the bookish internet. See also: beach reads, vacation reads, etc. For some people, summer reading means fluffy romances. Others pick up blood-soaked thrillers to keep them glued to the page. And for those who get more time off in the summer, it can be the perfect time to dive into some difficult and meaty nonfiction.
With such a wide range of summer readers, how can you put together a summer reading recommendation list? Goodreads has a strategy: recommending books based on the kind of summer reader you are. They’ve put together a list of 120 book recommendations based on categories from “The Jet-Setting Reader” to “The Deep-Focus Reader” to “The Lifelong Learner Reader” and more. Here are just a few of their recommendations by category.
The Very Literal Summer Reader:
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris
28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe
That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey
Summer by Ali Smith
The Jet-Setting Reader:
The Trackers by Charles Frazier
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
The Deep-Focus Reader:
Ours by Phillip B. Williams
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Babel by R.F. Kuang
The Book of Love by Kelly Link
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
The Summer Lovin’ Reader:
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall
How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
Only For The Week by Natasha Bishop
Check out all 120 summer reading recommendations in 15 summer reader categories at Goodreads.
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