Summer is almost upon as, long days, warm nights and most importantly days spent laying out at the pool, beach, lake, rooftop etc. etc. etc. There are never more perfect opportunities to kick back with a good book then those hot summer days, so in my seemingly now annual tradition, I wanted to share my favourite summer reads! I especially love a good multi-book series, being able to spend a few weeks or even months engrossed in a group of characters is my favourite thing. It’s like a long running tv-show when you get to know the characters and they become a part of your life.
I’ve chosen books that are light, easy to read, usually set in summer and most importantly make me think summer (either by being set in the summer or by being something that I would read while laying out).
I’ll be posting updates throughout the summer on what I’m reading each month so you can read along with me if you would like!
Recommendations
Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy
I highly recommend listening to this trilogy as an audiobook. The books are full of local slang and curse words that are best experienced by the narrator reading them as well as the various accents that the characters would have, which the narrator mimics. The books become so much more authentic, because of this both those who are familiar with Singapore and those who have never visited can delve into the nuances of Singapores culture.
The first book Crazy Rich Asians, is probably my hands down all time favourite book of all time. The plot is wonderful with ups and downs, and feel good moments, but it’s the picture of Singapore created that I absolutely love. I kid you not, when the book describes Lao Pa Sat, I can smell the smoke coming from Satay Club and the sticky humidity, and it brings up memories of my mom and her siblings arguing over where to get the best chicken rice. My mouth is watering just thinking about chicken rice.
Summer Trilogy
This fun, light YA trilogy from Jenny Han (author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), is exactly what you want from summer reading. It’s easy, cute and full of summer romance. This trilogoy is definitely firmly YA and reads as such, which is part of the reason why I included it. Coming of age, summertime teen romance novels are such a summer reading staple with their light prose and light hearted vibes.
Girl Stays in Picture
I genuinely loved this book, I believe it was supposed to be part of a duology or a trilogy so it ends on a cliff hanger BUT don’t let that deter you from this book. For anyone having massive wanderlust and had their summer travel cancelled, this book set in St. Tropez is perfect. It’s glamorous and all too human, with a light quick paced chick lit prose that will have you turning the pages in between sips of iced tea.
The Martian
I listened to the Audiobook shortly after watching the movie and it was amazing. The dead panned one-liners that had me giggling, to the struggles Mark Watney faces which keep you listening even if it’s 3am and the human triumph that leaves you feeling good.
Why Not Me
Mindy Khalings’ Autobiography is a great pick for those of you who prefer non-fiction over fiction. She’s witty and endearing, and really speaks to the experience of being a WOC in a predominantly white and predominantly male dominated industry.
Everyone Worth Knowing
If you love New York City and you loved the Devil Wears Prada, you’ll love Everyone Worth Knowing. Written by the same author, Lauren Weisberger, you will get absolutely sucked into this novel. It’s a more realistic version of Gossip Girl where you are constantly left guessing who the mysterious “big brother is”. Toss together a complicated love square, a happy ending and the city that never sleeps and you get a great summer read!
The Importance of Being Earnest
Probably my favourite classic of all time, Oscar Wilde is *chef’s kiss*. I find the Importance of Being Earnest a really fun and fast read, which has you chuckling at some of the more ridiculous things the characters say.
The Great Gatsby
A staple novel from the Lost Generation, this F.Scott Fitzgerald classic is all about summer parties, love lost and found and glitz and glamour of the 1920s.
Pride and Prejudice
Another classic novel that is a must read if you haven’t yet. Jane Austen writes about the summer season in the English countryside in such a way that transports you into the stately country manors and fields full of wild flowers. While other avid readers have dedicated a full summer to solely Jane Austen, I think that Pride and Prejudice and the sequel Sense and Sensibility are good places to start for those who aren’t prepared to commit a full summer to Austenland.
On My List
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
“Overworked and under-appreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City.
Usually grounded and mild mannered, Amy finally lets her hair down in the city that never sleeps. She discovers a life filled with culture, sophistication, and—with a little encouragement from her friends—a few blind dates. When one man in particular makes quick work of Amy’s heart, she risks losing herself completely in the unexpected escape, and as the summer comes to an end, Amy realizes too late that she must make an impossible decision: stay in this exciting new chapter of her life, or return to the life she left behind.
But before she can choose, a crisis forces the two worlds together, and Amy must stare down a future where she could lose both sides of herself, and every dream she’s ever nurtured, in the beat of a heart.” (From Goodreads)
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before Trilogy
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed.
But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh.
As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.” (From Goodreads)
Sense and Sensibility
“Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor’s warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.”
Sex and Vanity
“On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can’t stand him. She can’t stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have the view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can’t stand that he knows more about Curzio Malaparte than she does, and she really can’t stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin, Charlotte. “Your mother is Chinese so it’s no surprise you’d be attracted to someone like him,” Charlotte teases. Daughter of an American-born-Chinese mother and blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton where Lucie is weekending with her new fiancé, Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucy is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment, and ultimately herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world–and her heart. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion”
Let me know what you’ll be reading this summer!
xoxo S
