10 books that scream summer to me + tbr.
not your typical summer book recommendations🍓
*This post is too long for email, so please read it on the Substack App or your browser.
Summer is here!
As with every change of season, here I am to give you a list of perfect books to read during that particular season.
This time we are talking about Summer and I have selected 10 books that I love and that, for various reasons, I consider perfect to approach in the hot season.
Whether it is for their vibe, the clearly summer setting, or other factors that are relevant to me in determining the perfect book to read on vacation, such as length, for example.
The thicker the better! Yes, the ambiguity of this last sentence is not lost on me, but allow me to say it this way.
You have a lot to read, so without further ado...
Enjoy!
10 books that scream Summer to me🍓
A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch
Human beings are roughly constructed entities full of indeterminacies and vaguenesses and empty spaces. Driven along by their own private needs they latch blindly on to each other, then pull away, then clutch again. Their little sadisms and their little masochisms are surface phenomena. Anyone will do to play the roles. They never really see each other at all. There is no relationship, dear Morgan, which cannot quite easily be broken and there is none the breaking of which is a matter of any genuine seriousness. Human beings are essentially finders of substitutes.
It’s set in Summer, it’s full of witty conversation and drama. So much drama! Julius is ICONIC. If you liked Littlefinger from Game of Thrones, you’ll love him. While he may not operate with the same dark intensity as Littlefinger, his mindset and actions definitely mirror his.
Beautifully written, cinematic almost. It’s like watching a movie or a play performed in a theatre. The dialogues are so smooth and realistic.
I loved it.
The Guest by Emma Cline
That’s what they all wanted, wasn’t it? To see, in the face of another, pure acceptance. Simple, really, but still rare enough that people didn’t get it from their families, didn’t get it from their partners, had to seek it out from someone like Alex.
I read it in August last year. What a great match, since it is set in August and it perfectly captures the weariness you feel when summer’s end is approaching.
I devoured it in three days.
If you love a character-driven story that doesn’t necessarily let the character in question evolve and better themselves in the end, you will love this book.
This still has summer vibes, but it’s a dark story, so it’s perfect for the last stretch of the hot season.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
In the short summer night she learned so much. She would have thought a woman would have died of shame...She felt, now, she had come to the real bedrock of her nature, and was essentially shameless. She was her sensual self, naked an unashamed. She felt a triumph, almost a vainglory. So! That was how it was! That was life! That was how onself really was! There was nothing left to disguise or be ashamed of. She shared her ultimate nakedness with a man, another being.
This book was a surprise to me. I didn't expect to like it, given its reputation, let alone love it! And yet, that's what happened. I won't tell you more now because you'll find the review soon in my June reading wrap-up.
Anyway, it's perfect to read in spring and summer.
When I was creating the list of books to include in this article, I immediately thought of a particular scene from this novel.
So, here it is:
She opened the door and looked at the straight heavy rain, like a steel curtain, and had a sudden desire to rush out into it, to rush away. She got up, and began swiftly pulling off her stockings, then her dress and underclothing, and he held his breath. Her pointed keen animal breasts tipped and stirred as she moved. She was ivory-coloured in the greenish light. She slipped on her rubber shoes again and ran out with a wild little laugh, holding up her breasts to the heavy rain and spreading her arms, and running blurred in the rain with the eurhythmic dance movements she had learned so long ago in Dresden. It was a strange pallid figure lifting and falling, bending so the rain beat and glistened on the full haunches, swaying up again and coming belly-forward through the rain, then stooping again so that only the full loins and buttocks were offered in a kind of homage towards him, repeating a wild obeisance.
He laughed wryly, and threw off his clothes. It was too much. He jumped out, naked and white, with a little shiver, into the hard slanting rain. Flossie sprang before him with a frantic little bark. Connie, her hair all wet and sticking to her head, turned her hot face and saw him. Her blue eyes blazed with excitement as she turned and ran fast, with a strange charging movement, out of the clearing and down the path, the wet boughs whipping her. She ran, and he saw nothing but the round wet head, the wet back leaning forward in flight, the rounded buttocks twinkling: a wonderful cowering female nakedness in flight.
You get to experience the first encounter with passion and physical desire, beautiful descriptions of nature, and a deep sense of yearning. However, this book also explores numerous other interesting themes.
Anyway, it’s a perfect summer read indeed!
The Dead City by Gabriele D’annunzio
It was a strange dream! And it corresponds to a painful sensation that I have at times, when I listen to my life slipping by. In silence and in darkness, at times, I listen to my life hastening by with a roar so terrible.
How rich, how gorgeous this tragic play is!
I love how beautifully D’annunzio writes. It’s a pleasure for the senses. He makes even the most ordinary and everyday things lavish and exquisite.
I don't know how to render it justice, so I’ll just share some bits.
Does my wish astonish you? Would you not like to have a basket of fruit in your lap? Ah, with what greed I would eat! At Syracuse we used to walk through the orange groves, looking through the boughs at the glittering sea; the trees bore upon their branches the ripe fruit and the new blossoms, the petals fell upon our heads like a fragrant snow; and we bit into the juicy pulp as one bites bread.
Not to mention how he describes emotions and feelings...ah! Dreamy, hot, almost obscene because he manages to make it all so rich and unforgettable. It makes me think of summer.
How long have I awaited you! With what faith have I awaited you! I do not ask what you have done in the years during which we remained strangers to each other, hidden from each other, invisible to each other, though at times together, though at times breathing under the same sky. I know it, I know it! You have immersed your soul in Mystery and Beauty, you have drunk Poetry at the most remote fountains, you have dreamed your dreams in the glory of the loftiest destinies ever accomplished.
How he lingers on, indulges in describing a feeling, a thing. A pleasure to savor. And what screams summer more than indulging in what brings you pleasure?
*you can read it for free on archive.org
The Beautiful Summer by Cesare Pavese
She found distraction in the thought that the summer she had hoped for would now never come, because she was alone and would never speak to anyone again.
I love Pavese’s writing style, which is very synthetic and simple, full of dialogue.
It’s a novella, so it’s a short read, but one that has a lasting impact.
It perfectly encapsulates the essence of summer days, strenuously scorching and seemingly never-ending, yet lightning-fast; you don't want them to end. Summer is the perfect season to tell the story of the loss of innocence, the end of youthful illusions, the painful embrace of first love.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The accumulation of beautiful objects is a life goal. Whoever dies with the most stuff wins.
Wins what? is what I’d like to know.
This is THE summer novel. It is the perfect blend of romance, family drama, and suspense. A psychological thriller involving the Sinclair family, the embodiment of perfection, wealth, and stunning beauty, which makes them seemingly divine.
Through Cadence’s perspective, one of the Sinclair daughters, we gradually witness the castle's downfall; this golden cage is both a luxurious shield and a glamorous prison.
The TV series just came out on Prime Video, and I'm watching it. So far, so good, I recommend it. It's a good adaptation of the novel.
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
Very early in my life it was too late. It was already too late when I was eighteen. Between eighteen and twenty-five my face took off in a new direction. I grew old at eighteen. I don't know if it's the same for everyone, I've never asked. But I believe I've heard of the way time can suddenly accelerate on people when they're going through even the most youthful and highly esteemed stages of life. My ageing was very sudden. I saw it spread over my features one by one, changing the relationship between them, making the eyes larger, the expression sadder, the mouth more final, leaving great creases in the forehead. But instead of being dismayed I watched this process with the same sort of interest I might have taken in the reading of a book.
This novel, too, although in a totally different way from Pavese's, perfectly describes the loss of innocence and the experience of first love. In this case, it’s a forbidden love, which leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. A love that’s both a dream and a nightmare, delicate and murky, all-consuming and inexplicable. It leaves you exhausted, but longing for more. A love that would be better to forget, probably, but unforgettable, nonetheless.
This story is not for everyone, I have to say.
But…I found it exquisite.
The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
She looked at nobody, but just before she went out, she raised her eyes and took a speedy glance at me. There was something in that looks that startled me - though it was difficult to describe why. There was malice in it, and a curious intimate knowledge. I felt that, without effort, and almost without curiosity, she had known exactly what thoughts were in my mind.
This is not your usual Agatha Christie. It’s a dark, suspenseful mystery that follows a sinister conspiracy involving murder, superstition, and an ominous group linked to the occult, as an amateur sleuth tries to unravel the secrets behind a series of unexplained deaths.
It’s oddly perfect both for spooky season and for hot summer days. Don’t ask me why, it just is. It’s set in Summer, so that’s a given. But, there’s nothing better than a thriller or a horror read while submerged in intense light and scorching heat. As you know, opposites attract!
Blood & Beauty: The Borgias & In the Name of the Family by Sarah Dunant
How do ugly men make their way through life? He thinks of Michelotto. When he walks down the street men take half a step back from him. But he, Cesare, wields a different power. His face has always been his first weapon. Look at me, it says. I am what you see: easy on the eye, strong to the taste, a man with substance, someone to admire, for how can beauty this natural lie?
Summer, for me, is the perfect season to read thick books, so I open the doors to sagas, trilogies, duologies, anything goes. I usually read more historical fiction than fantasy, but both are great for the “I finally have so much time on my hands that I can carry this brick around with me and hope to finish it in just two weeks!” kinda vibe.
This is one of my favorite historical fictions. I love everything about the Borgias, especially Cesare and Lucrezia. So, when I found this duology years ago, I went crazy!
It's beautifully written, the depiction of the characters is *chef's kiss*, and their dynamics are very realistic. She described them and made them act as I imagine the real Cesare, Lucrezia, and Pope Borgia would have acted.
It's historically accurate where needed, and even when it takes liberties, it doesn't make you turn up your nose, which is essential for me when reading historical fiction.
I love it!
Also, while you’re reading it, it’s like watching a movie or a TV series. It’s very cinematic.
And since we're talking about the Borgias, I can't help but mention two popular TV series about them: Showtime’s “The Borgias” (2011-2013) and Canal+'s “Borgia” (2011-2014). To my surprise, I have to recommend the latter. I loved it more. (But I have to compliment Jeremy Irons because he played an excellent Pope Borgia in the Showtime one.)
However, in the Canal+ one, I loved every character and especially Cesare, played magnificently by Mark Ryder, who made him more "human", highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of the character. He seems like his reincarnation! In my mind, whenever I’ve thought about Cesare Borgia, I have always imagined him as the actor who played him in this series, both physically and in how he would have thought and acted.
And the same thing happened while reading this duology!
In addition, the Showtime one was cancelled, so it is not finished, while the Canal+ one is finished.
In short, hurry up and read the duology, and then take a look at the series with Mark Ryder, you will not regret it!
The Complete Canzoniere by Francesco Petrarca
. . . The senses reign, and reason now is dead;
from one pleasing desire comes another.
Virtue, honor, beauty, gracious bearing,
sweet words have caught me in her lovely branches
in which my heart is tenderly entangled.
In thirteen twenty-seven, and precisely
at the first hour of the sixth of April
I entered the labyrinth, and I see no way out.
Oh, I studied this classic in college, analyzed it, paraphrased it, and so on. But I have never loved it as much as when I decided to read it by myself, for my own curiosity and pleasure. Then, I appreciated its musicality, its emotional charge, and the beauty of the metaphors it evokes, without the pressure of having to prove something on an exam.
These poems mainly express Petrarch's idealized love for Laura, who may be a fictional character he first encountered in 1327 at the Church of Sainte Claire in Avignon.
Why do I recommend it as a summer read?
Well, simply because this poem is a journey, a bit like Dante's Divine Comedy, and therefore it lends itself well to reading when you have time to immerse yourself in it. It explores love in all its stages and is gorgeously written, a pleasure to read.
I read it in Italian, obviously, but I managed to take a peek at Mark Musa’s translation, and it’s so good. He did justice to the original version.
Summer tbr🍓
Paperbacks:
White Nights, Fëdor Dostoevskij
Daisy Miller, Henry James
Mr Salary, Sally Rooney
Autobiography of Red, Anne Carson
Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence
Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe
Sappho of Lesbos, Alexander Trocchi
Lady, Thomas Tryon
The Lady of the Camellias, Alexander Dumas (fils)
Senility, Italo Svevo
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (well, this will be a challenge, ‘cause it’s THICK!)
eBooks:
A Little Larger than the Entire Universe, Fernando Pessoa
The Honey Suckle, Gabriele D'Annunzio
A Lover's Discourse, Roland Barthes (paused, need to continue this!)
Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems, Sara Teasdale
The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine de Pizan
It's an ambitious list, so we shall see how many of them I manage to read by September.
But I'm up for the challenge!
Let me know if you read any of my tbr picks and what I should prioritize in the comments!
Wishing you a great rest of the week,
Nicole.
In case you missed it:
quotes about summer by women writers.
love that you have James on your reading list for the summer!
I loved The Lover (found it through someone else recommending books here on Substack, which is where I find all my new reads) and We Were Liars (as well as the prequel, Family of Liars). Huge fan of Wide Sargasso Sea - HUGE. Thanks for more books to add to my own tbr.
I can’t decide if Il Canzoniere as a summer read is brilliant or completely diabolical