What makes a “summer read,” a book ideal for consuming across these months when time moves at half-speed, humidity makes paper pages soft, and outdoor e-readers praise the invention of the Kindle Paperwhite?

For some, a July weekend in the city might be the perfect time to crack out a picnic blanket and a rom-com, the frothier the better. For others, nothing says “seaside vacation in Sorrento” like a taut thriller, preferably set in the British suburbs and involving at least one torrid extramarital affair. Your 3 p.m. happy hour on the dock might call for a juicy celebrity memoir. Or you might like to enliven your sweaty subway commute with a fascinating dissection of today’s economics, or a heartbreaking intergenerational saga about mothers and daughters (both guaranteed to have you weeping into a stranger’s armpit).

All that to say: Great summer reads are as varied as their readers—and their authors! That’s why we’ve asked the authors of summer 2022’s most exciting new reads to tell us about their own books, and also share what’s on their own TBR list of summer books to read.

And while we can’t guarantee perfect weather, we can promise you this: Below you’ll find all the elements for a summer of very, very good reading—whatever that means to you.

 

Ava Bellows, author of All I Stole From You

Why should your book be on our reading lists this summer?

“Because it is (I hope) a fun, easy read about the complexities of love, both with other people and with yourself. I feel that is a good thing to think about when vacationing or, if you’re like me, when you’re sitting in your living room in front of a fan, looking for something to distract you from the heat. It’s also got a great leading man in Rob, a dreamy English tattoo artist who will (hopefully) act as one of your literary crushes of the summer.”

What’s a classic you plan to revisit this summer?

“Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, as well as Alain de Botton’s novel On Love. I highly recommend them both, as well as Jenny Slate’s Little Weirds and Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir The Chronology of Water. Those are four of my favourite books, and if I don’t revisit them every few months, I feel homesick for worlds and voices that I’ve come to know and love.”

How about a new book we should check out?

“Sarah Priscus’s debut novel, Groupies, out in July, is fantastic. I was lucky enough to read it early and it has stayed with me ever since.”

 

Louisa Onomé, author of Twice As Perfect

Why should your book be on our reading lists this summer?

Twice As Perfect is a perfect summer read because it’s fun, funny and relatable. It also includes one of the most exuberant and exciting celebrations of life: a wedding. And not just any wedding, but the wedding of an Afrobeats megastar. Definitely not to be missed.”

What’s a classic you plan to revisit this summer?

“Definitely Jane Igharo’s Ties That Tether. It’s a romance that’s all about following your heart, and I can’t think of anything sweeter to read during the warmest months of the year.”

How about a new book we should check out?

On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi! It’s fun, real and incredibly relatable, especially as a fellow child of immigrants. Shirlene is also amazingly talented: an illustrator-writer-doctor hybrid.”

 

Catherine McKenzie, author of Please Join Us

Why should your book be on our reading lists this summer?

“Who doesn’t want a page-turning, edge-of-your-seat thriller in their beach bag?! Please Join Us will keep you turning the pages and guessing what’s truly going on until the end.”

What’s a classic you plan to revisit this summer?

“I’m re-reading the entire Anne of Green Gables series because why not, Canada? Why not?”

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How about a new book we should check out?

The Most Likely Club by Elyssa Friedland, a fun and funny exploration of what happens when you’re confronted with your high school ambitions.”

 

Sophie Jai, author of Wild Fires

Why should your book be on our reading lists this summer?

“Don’t let the cool breeze, golden sun and white sands fool you: There’s more to an island than the eye can see. Here on the island of Trinidad, five sisters are bound by the grief of their parents. They move to the brisk winters of Toronto where another death shakes them decades later. Here, their daughters find themselves navigating tricky territory between myth and truth to understand their own shortcomings. A story of resilient women, sisterhood, daughterhood and unrequited love, Wild Fires is a glance of human universality behind the paradise island’s glossiness.”

What’s a classic you plan to revisit this summer?

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. The story is simple (the best ones usually are): A friendship blooms between a woman and her 6-year-old granddaughter on a Finnish island. The island is suspended in a place and time of summer wonderings. They let the island guide them through the weeks, see through its hot and slumberous days, and become an organic part of the island itself. It’s a quiet, gorgeous book about the simple joys of discovering one’s self and another.”

How about a new book we should check out?

The Island of Forgetting by Jasmine Sealy. (It’s slightly obvious by now that I love reading and writing about islands.) Readers of multigenerational stories will love this book. Partly inspired by Greek mythology, the story centres around one family that runs a beachfront hotel. Each person is haunted by a past they don’t quite know but nevertheless holds power over their future. She weaves together four generations of family with such ease, yet each character is complex and relatable in their own pain and desires.”

 

Sonya Singh, author of Sari, Not Sari

Why should your book be on our reading lists this summer?

“My debut, Sari, Not Sari, is the perfect beach read as all it takes is a weekend to be immersed in all things Indian, from food and fashion to family. You’ll want to cozy up to my rom-com with a cold drink as you warm up to my leading lady, Manny Dogra, and her journey in self-discovery as a strong South Asian female. In between pool dips and sangria sips, you’ll laugh out loud to the ‘Dear Breakup’ letters that are based on my own dating disasters.”

What’s a classic you plan to revisit this summer?

“I’ll actually be writing this summer as I work on my second book, but would love to go back to anything Judy Blume.”

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How about a new book we should check out?

“Emily Giffin has always been a huge supporter of my work, so I am looking forward to reading her new book, Meant to Be.”

 

Anna Maxymiw, author of Minique

Why should your book be on our reading lists this summer?

“Because of its heat: the heat of a Montreal fur fair in August, of a crowded tavern dance with your closest friends and enemies, of learning the topography of another person’s skin for the first time. The heat of the moment, of having to make a life-altering decision with a weapon in hand and your future spooling out in different directions in front of you.”

What’s a classic you plan to revisit this summer?

“It never fails that as soon as the weather gets warmer, I end up rereading Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic. My copy is a battered 1995 paperback with a movie-reissue cover that has a permanent place on my bedside table. This book rocketed me into puberty, taught me to keep rosemary by my garden gate, and explores all versions of desperate, bone-shaking love. It’s literary comfort food.”

How about a new book we should check out?

Red Island House is about a year old, but it should still be on your 2022 summer reading list. Oddly written and entirely bewitching, it seems less like a novel and more like a collection of short stories woven together by a narrator who slyly changes small details to see if we’re paying attention. It’s a scarred yet exquisite love letter to a strange red-floored house in Madagascar, perfect for the deepness of summer nights.”

 

Kate Heartfield, author of The Embroidered Book

Why should your book be on our reading lists this summer?

“One of the things I love about writing historical fantasy is the chance to enter a different world—and come out seeing our own a little differently. I wanted readers of The Embroidered Book to feel immersed in an 18th century Europe where the impossible might happen. It’s a novel with big hair, big feelings, big politics and big magic. And the two sister queens at the heart of the novel—as flawed as they are—feel very real to me now, and I love hearing from readers who feel the same way.”

What’s a classic you plan to revisit this summer?

“Emma Donoghue is a must-buy author for me, and her next novel, Haven, sounds right up my alley, set in seventh-century Ireland. But since it’s not out until mid-August, that gives me time to re-read her older books. One of my favourites is The Sealed Letter, based on a real divorce scandal in 1860s London.”

How about a new book we should check out?

Jade Legacy came out at the end of 2021 and is the final book in Canadian author Fonda Lee’s epic fantasy trilogy. The Green Bone Saga is about a clan-based society where warriors use magical jade to enhance their abilities. The trilogy is beautifully written, with characters who get under your skin, and fascinating politics that span criminal underworlds and high society. The TV version (called Jade City after the first book in the series) is in development, and I can’t wait.”

 

K.L. Armstrong, author of The Life She Had

Why should your book be on our reading lists this summer?

“I’m so much better at recommending other people’s books. But if you’re looking for a twisty thriller with two (possibly unreliable) narrators, The Life She Had might fit the bill for you this summer.”

What’s a classic you plan to revisit this summer?

“For me, the classics are winter reads, when I can snuggle in and indulge. But if you extend the definition to include modern genre classics, I have Beverly Jenkins’s Indigo on my to-be-reread list. It’s historical romance set against the backdrop of the Underground Railroad in Michigan. When it comes to history, Jenkins really knows her stuff, and I appreciate that in a romance.”

How about a new book we should check out?

“My current read—which I’m enjoying very much—is Simone St. James’s newest release, The Book of Cold Cases. It’s a dual-timeline/dual-narrator mystery with just the right touch of the spooky stuff.”

 

 

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