2025 Minimalist Summer Reading Guide

What Kind of Paradise

by Janelle Brown

This thrilling family tale wrestles with questions of identity, loyalty, and our complicated relationship with technology. Jane grew up in rural Montana with only her father for company. She loves him unquestioningly, and eagerly absorbs everything he teaches her about self-reliance (good) and technology (bad). But one day when she’s seventeen, he surprises Jane by bringing home a computer that she stealthily uses to connect to the outside world. What she learns—about the world and her own existence in it—shakes her faith in the father she loves. Jane longs to break free, but even as she takes big steps to build her own life, she can’t turn her back on him. This central tension had me racing though the pages, as did the complex family dynamics and irresistible 90s nostalgia.

The River Is Waiting

by Wally Lamb

Lamb’s gut-wrenching new novel, his first in nine years, begins with a shocking tragedy involving a father under the influence. This act of a moment tears Corby’s family apart and strips him of his freedom. In prison, Corby’s guilt and grief consume him; his misery is compounded by a terribly unjust penal system. And yet there are moments of soaring human connection, as Corby finds small mercies in the form of kindness from the prison librarian, an escape into his art, and friendship. Lamb’s novels are not without elements of redemption but I can’t overstate how terribly sad this is—and also how deeply human. An extraordinary and unforgettable reading experience.

The Other Side of Now

by Paige Harbison

Cross The Holiday with Sliding Doors and you’ll get a sense of Harbison’s adult debut. After a disastrous thirtieth birthday party, Meg books a getaway to the quaint Irish village where she had once dreamed of moving. That’s when things get weird: everyone seems to know her already. She has an apartment and friends and a hot ex who’s none too pleased to see her. Most shocking of all: in this version of her life, her best friend, who died in a car accident just before college, is alive and well. So why isn’t Meg happy? Harbison asks important questions about choice, contentment, and what makes for a meaningful life. I found it utterly unputdownable.

These Heathens

by Mia McKenzie

Small-town teenager Doris was Mrs. Lucas’s star student before family demands compelled her to drop out. When she finds herself in the family way, she persuades Mrs. Lucas to take her to Atlanta for an abortion, where the two mingle with celebrities she’s seen in Ebony, civil rights leaders like Coretta Scott King, and Mrs. Lucas’s queer Black friends. Their behavior is shocking—her mama certainly wouldn’t approve—except they treat Doris with marked kindness and seem to have good hearts and common sense. Cheering Doris on through her life-changing weekend was one of my favorite reading experiences this year. I ate up the voice, the style, the story.

The Phoenix Pencil Company

by Allison King

King’s exceptional debut was inspired by her grandparents and the pencil company they once ran in Shanghai. The magical pencils in this book retain the memory of what they’ve written, and those who know how to “reforge” them can bring the memories they contain back to life. This power can be used to expose family secrets, betray a nation, or communicate loving words that were never uttered aloud. This is a real genre-bender, blending WWII-era historical fiction, grounded fantasy, family drama, and queer romance, all with compelling characters and an original and propulsive plot. Readers will also enjoy the sweet grandmother/granddaughter relationship, close look at Chinese history, and thoughtful exploration of questions concerning data, privacy, and who owns our stories.

Run for the Hills

by Kevin Wilson

Wilson deftly combines the heavy and the light in this found family story of four scattered half-siblings who meet for the first time and pile into an old PT Cruiser to go find the father who abandoned them long ago. Wilson’s stories often feel larger than life, yet the emotional heart feels real and relatable. Quirky, warm, and bighearted, with a multigenerational cast and road trip hijinks galore. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s no spoiler to say I found this coast-to-coast adventure to be an utter delight.