Readers, I told you this was my favorite time of the year for reading. Last week I shared the 2019 Summer Reading Guide with subscribers and on Monday I highlighted my Minimalist Summer Reading Guide. Today I have a different sort of list for you.
The Summer Reading Guide is my personal guide to the season’s best books: the ones I love, and think you will, too. I limit myself to recommending only books I’ve read cover to cover. And since it’s a summer reading guide, I try to not recommend too many books that aren’t coming out till later this season, because I want you to be able to get your hands on them! (This year I did stretch those bounds some, as you can read in the Letter from the Editor I included in the guide.)
Today’s list of hot summer books includes some titles I enjoyed but didn’t find right for the guide, some much-buzzed books I haven’t read yet, and some that come out too late in the season to include in the guide. I can’t vouch for these titles the same way I can for those in the guide. With these, I’m just a girl, standing in front of a bookshelf, hoping to find some fantastic summer books.
So grab your TBR, enjoy today’s list, and let me know in the comments section what YOU want to read this summer. I can’t wait to hear all about it.
20 hot books for summer:
The Favorite Daughter
The Last House Guest
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
The Two Lila Bennetts
The Paris Diversion
The Chelsea Girls: A Novel
The Farm: A Novel
Things You Save in a Fire
The Friends We Keep
City of Girls
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel
If You Want to Make God Laugh
Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune
Lady in the Lake: A Novel
Summer of ’69
The Nickel Boys
Big Sky (Jackson Brodie)
What new summer titles are you most looking forward to?
52 comments
I just finished reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. It was incredible! Strongly recommend this book to anyone who loves a story you can’t put down!
This one keeps popping up on various recommended reading guides for me, so I think it definitely has to go on my summer reading list! It sounds like a fascinating story.
I agree. Well written, interesting topic, well developed characters.
We just read this book for our book club in January. A favorite of everyone.
I enjoyed this a lot!
Kate Atkinson and Laura Lippmann are already pre-ordered; now I have a new Coleson Whitehead to read? Oooh–my 80+ bookish neighbor and I will dig that one together. Ways to Make God Laugh also looks really good. I read an excerpt of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous–it is great writing, but not a book for me. Fiona Davis? Yes! (Drat! Summer Reading List is a virtual tower on my bedside table!)
I’m looking forward to Alexandra Fuller’s latest memoir, “Travel Light, Move Fast.” I think it comes out in August. I will never get tired of reading about Fuller’s amazing family!
I met her at a book talk last year. She’s an interesting person! Didn’t know that she had a new book coming out.
Oh my, I love Fuller’s books too and didn’t know she had a new one! So excited!
I didn’t know she had a new one on the way! Thanks for sharing.
I am currently reading The Dearly Beloved and am wondering if you’ve read it. It may be the best ARC I’ve read in a long time- though since I’m not quite finished, I’ll save that thought. It feels so much like Stegner’s Crossing to Safety that I can’t help but think you’d love it.
No, this is a new title for me. Thanks for highlighting it here.
The Beholder by Anna Bright!! Releases June 4th!
Just added The Book Woman from Troublesome Creek to my library holds list. Thanks! I hope you’re well.
I’m looking forward to Friends we Keep by Jane Green and Elin Hilderbrand Summer of 69—sound like perfect beach books!
The Heart of Barkness, the next installment of Spencer Quinn’s Chet & Bernie series, is due out July 2. I have it pre-ordered & will drop everything and read it as soon as it arrives!
I already have the Fenton/Steinke novel on my TBR list and also the new Megan Miranda book – I loved ALL THE MISSING GIRLS and how she told the story in reverse.
I just started reading an ARC of Clare Mackintosh’s AFTER THE END (comes out in June) – it’s amazing and heartbreaking, and I’m only about 25 pages in!
What a great list! My summer is going to be packed full of great books. For anyone looking for The Book Woman from Troublesome Creek at your online library, try their Hoopla app. Mine didn’t have it on Overdrive/Libby but it is available on Hoopla. Sometimes I forget to check there since I prefer reading on my kindle over my iPad.
Wow! What a great list after that wonderful summer reading guide! My holds list at the library is absolutely nuts – in a very good way, of course!
Female to male authors 17/3
I’m happy to amplify voices that have not received as much support from readers or publishers, and sadly that includes female voices.
This list is wonderful! I can’t get my hands on many of the titles fast enough!
I just finished The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek last night. I read it in a day, it was that good!
That is high praise!
Such a great list! I hadn’t realized that Chris Pavone had a new one coming out.
I’m new to your blog and all of these books look amazing. I just wanted to thank you for including authors of color on your reading lists. Not everyone does and as a person of color I appreciate the different experiences these authors shed light on.
This is one of the reasons we do what we do!
I’ve heard Where The Crawdads Sing is wonderful & on my tbr pile
I’m curious why “Pride, Prejudice, and other Flavors” didn’t make the Janeite category of the SRG? Other than that, I’m interested in the Katherine Center book since I really enjoyed “Happiness for Beginners.” But with 15 titles from the SRG on my TBR, I’m not sure I’ll get to it anytime this summer!
Because 30 titles was already plenty for the guide! (And I felt this list was a better place for it, based on the selection criteria I’ve laid out.)
Looks great; I see a couple I have to read. One on my list, which is due out in August, is Mary Doris Russell’s book, The Women of the Copper Country. It will go to the top of my TBR stack.
Thanks for the heads up on a new Mary Doria Russell book! Woo hoo!
Most looking forward to The Nickel Boys. But I had no idea Laura Lippman had a new book coming out, so definitely adding that to the list!
I’m loving all your book suggestions—thank you! I’m currently reading The Paris Diversion and it’s not my favorite. It has moments that keep me reading, but it’s not as good as I’d hoped. I’ve invested too much time to quit now, but it’s rather disappointing.
Great list. I absolutely loved Home for Erring an Outcast Girls as well as The Last House Guest. Appreciated receiving these ARCs. I also enjoyed Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald (June 11). Looking forward to reading Beatriz Williams’ The Golden Hour (June 19) and All the Flowers in Paris by Sarah Jio (August 13).
I did not know Sara Jio had a new book out! So many books to look forward to this summer😊
I’m most looking forward to the new Louise Penny book, The Better Man, which comes out Aug. 24. My summer isn’t complete until I see what Inspector Gamache and the Three Pines crew are up to.
I’m obsessed with Pride And Prejudice retellings at the moment, so I was OVERJOYED to see a bunch of them in your summer reading guide, and another one here! I’d not even heard about Pride And Prejudice And Other Flavors, so really appreciate the heads up 😉👍
I am so excited about Home for Erring and Outcast Girls. Julie Kibler’s first book, Calling Me Home, is one of my all-time favorites and its been a long wait (6 years) for this sophomore novel.
I am loving The Guest Book right now, but I cannot wait for The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger and The Last Book Party by Karen Dukess.
You included one of them, Katherine Center’s new book but I am also excited about Katherine Reay’s new novel, The Printed Letter Bookshop. I have loved each of her books and I’m sure this one will be lovely too!
I talk about that in the podcast episode with Annie Downs!
Hi Everyone!
I just saw that you can pre-order the Kindle version of
The Two Lila Bennetts for 3.99 on Amazon. I don’t know how long the sale will last though.
I love these lists so much! As a teacher out for the summer, reading is top priority around here!
Just a small note on The Nickel Boys: the true-life reform school that it’s based on, the Dozier School for Boys, wasn’t in Tallahassee. It was in Marianna, Florida, which is about 1 1/2 hours to the west of Tallahassee, two counties over. If you’re interested in some companion reading, there have been several articles on Dozier, including Smithsonian Magazine and NPR. Sadly, the reality was worse than the fiction.
Having loved his Dark Matter, I was excited to see the new novel: Recursion by Blake Crouch come out. In a matter of three days, I am nearly finished with the well-done audio version and what a wild, mind-bending ride it is.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I’m recommending “Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” for our book club. Didn’t know that medical condition existed or pack horse librarians during the ’30s.
Also read “Home for Erring and Outcast Girls”. Think I am really into historical fiction!
So fun! I just found out I get to be in conversation with Kim Michele here in Louisville next month. I’m looking forward to hearing about these book women in person!
Fascinating, historical, compelling story that I highly recommend.
Meant for the Book woman!