The books everyone will be reading this summer

The sunshine brings with it many things: barbecues, pub gardens, freckles on your skin. It also brings a hefty reading list, one full of books to chuck into a suitcase on a long-haul flight or fling into a beach bag with a packet of crisps and a towel. Truly, there is no better time to read than when the mercury is high and the days are long.

And between the mesmerising memoirs, riveting historical fiction, and delightful debuts this summer, we’re spoilt for choice. Below, we help you whittle down your overflowing reading pile to 20 unmissable titles. open image in galleryElizabeth Strout: ‘The Things We Never Say’ (Penguin)The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth StroutOh, Elizabeth Strout, why do you do it to us!?

It seems to be obligatory that the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist makes us cry at least three times per book, but although her latest is sometimes desperately sad, it’s also a dazzlingly moving read. This time, she’s left her adored protagonists, Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton, to bring us the story of Artie Dam, a 57-year-old history teacher living in Massachusetts, who feels bereft about the direction of his country and increasingly disconnected from his wife. It’s a state-of-the-nation novel told through the intimate lens of one man’s life, and it’s Strout’s best novel in years.

Jessie Thompsonopen image in galleryLyse Doucet: ‘The Finest Hotel in Kabul’ (Women's Prize)The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse DoucetI’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with non-fiction. Mostly, I read to escape into other worlds, to get lost in larger-than-life characters and situations. But Lyse Doucet’s The Finest Hotel in Kabul offers all the richness and narrative pull of fiction – and then some.

A sweeping social history revolving around the Inter-Continental in Kabul, Afghanistan’s first luxury hotel, established in 1969, Doucet’s book tells the story of the city through the eyes of the staff who worked there, who lived through a Soviet evacuation, a devastating civil war, the US invasion, and the rise and fall and rise again of the Taliban. Reading it, I’m reminded of something Doucet said on stage when accepting the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction: aren’t all the best stories true? Annabel Nugentopen image in galleryAsako Yuzuki: ‘Hooked’ (Fourth Estate)Hooked by Asako YuzukiA few years back, you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing a copy of Asako Yuzuki’s chunky crime saga Butter, with its distinctive sunshine yellow cover.

Now Hooked, a 2015 novel from Yuzuki’s back catalogue, is available in English, also translated by Polly Barton. It’s far more sunlounger-friendly than Butter, with a writing style that is breezier and less dense, but the subject matter is still pleasingly twisted. The novel tells the story of Eriko, a successful woman in her early thirties who has never been able to form proper friendships – and ends up overcompensating with a parasocial fixation on a lifestyle blogger.

Yuzuki has a real knack for creating unsettling but horribly real characters, the sort you can’t look away from despite yourself. Katie Rosseinskyopen image in gallery‘Natural Disaster’ by Lisa Owens (Virago)Natural Disaster by Lisa OwensIf you are going on holiday with small children, you might find Lisa Owen’s novel particularly cathartic. Set across one day, its nameless protagonist – only ever referred to as “mum” – is returning to work tomorrow and wants to have the perfect day with her children before her maternity leave ends.

Of course, that does not happen; the first sign of impending disaster is that said day begins at 5am. Owen perfectly captures the banalities of solo parenting and the internalised sense of judgement that mums often feel – especially the fear of being shamed for using your phone at Rhyme Time. JTopen image in gallery‘Rejection’ by Tony Tulathimutte (HarperCollins)Rejection by Tony TulathimutteWhen this short story collection was published way back in 2024, it spawned plaudits and think-pieces galore.

The only problem for me was that it was hardback-only and thus impossible to fit into an already overstuffed suitcase. Now, finally, it arrives in paperback. Written by the Thai-American Tony Tulathimutte, Rejection deals with those dejected members of society – unpopular, alienated and seeking connection online.

One man, a self-professed feminist, is “dragging his virginity like a body bag into his mid-twenties” and wondering why, for all his good politics about women, he keeps getting friend-zoned. Things turn dark from there. Rejection is a hard read, and maybe not the first thing you think to pick up when on a beach in Europe, but it’s propulsive and completely compelling.

Tulathimutte is nothing if not a wry guide to the darkest corners of the internet. ANopen image in gallery‘Brawler’ by Lauren Groff (Penguin Random House)Brawler by Lauren Groff I can’t remember the last time I recommended a book with such absolute fervour. These nine stories are so elegantly written, so pulsing with emoti