Readers, this past May I released the eighth annual Summer Reading Guide. I released the first back in 2012, back before summer reading guides were commonplace, and had so much fun doing it that it’s become a much-anticipated tradition around here.
As we’ve built more history around the guide, I’ve started hearing a question with increasing frequency: After all these years of summer reading guides, which books do you still love and recommend? Which have stood the test of time?
Today I’m answering that question. I’ve combed through every selection in all the years of Summer Reading Guides, and forced myself to choose my top twenty favorite titles.
The good news: this was hard. The vast majority of Summer Reading Guide selections—I’d say a solid 90%—are books I would still wholeheartedly recommend to readers today. And another 7% are ones I’d still recommend with caveats. (The remaining sliver contains books that just haven’t aged well, even if we’re only talking about 8 years.)
Want to check out all the past Summer Reading Guides yourself? Click here to do just that.
20 greatest hits from 8 years of the Summer Reading Guide
The Confusion of Languages
Americanah
Astonish Me
The Light of the World: A Memoir
The One-in-a-Million Boy
Happiness for Beginners
I Let You Go
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
Everyone Brave is Forgiven
Eve in Hollywood
Before We Visit the Goddess
A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century
Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person
Everything I Never Told You
The Dry
First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen
Cinder
The Almost Sisters
Hum If You Don’t Know the Words
I feel like the 2018 Summer Reading Guide just happened, so it’s not fair to identify those still-fresh releases as “greatest hits.” But I would like to highlight 5 outstanding selections from last year. In no particular order:
- I’ll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos
- The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
- What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan
- The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
- A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
I hope you enjoyed this round-up today. And remember, you can still get the 2019 Summer Reading Guide right here.
Happy reading!
Anne
P.S. Very soon I’ll be sharing which books have been most popular in this year’s Summer Reading Guide. If you haven’t taken our survey yet, click here to do so.
46 comments
I think I might challenge myself to read all the books on this list over the next year. Think I can do it?
That is a great idea!
Can’t find Eve in Hollywood on Amazon. Any other ideas? Read Rules of Civility when it first came out, I’m now listening to it and love it even more this time around. Would love to read the follow-up!
Amory Towles told me that he had Eve in Hollywood pulled because he plans to develop it into a full novel. Looking forward to when he completes this!
*Amor
Thanks! Great news! I saw him when he spoke in New Orleans earlier this year. He’s a great storyteller.
I heard him in Pinehurst, NC and thought him to be brilliant scholar of Russian history and an excellent speaker.
JCasto, go to amortowles.com, and under Rules of Civility, go to Q and A, and he tells how to get it from Shakespeare and Co. in NYC. $16.
I feel bad…and maybe my counting is off…but there are only 19 books listed. It’s ok. 19 recommendations is truly a delight.
Hi Susan, I counted 19 too. These are all brilliant books though 😁
I just realized this and now need to figure out which one I omitted! There are twenty on my handwritten list. 🙂
What a fun post! I think I’ve only been following the Summer Reading Guides for 3 or 4 years now, so this provided lots of “fresh” titles for me! I’ve read 4 on the list (and liked them all!), so I’ll have to dive into some of these others, especially some of those memoirs, since I seem to be able to burn through those faster than anything 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to put together all these Summer Reading Guides for us—they truly are a delight!
Love memoirs!
Fantastic list, Anne! And best part is a lot of these are likely to be available at the library! 🙌🏻
Thanks so much for the list! A couple are already on my shelves waiting to be read. I would love to read Amor Towles’ Eve in Hollywood, but also can’t find it on Amazon.
How do I get to read Eve In Hollywood? I loved Rules of Civility.
Is there a way to read Eve in Hollywood? It feels cruel to dangle such an enticing read out there for us and not have it available!
Anne, tell everyone to go to amortowles.com, under Rules of Civility and Q and A, for instructions on how to get Eve in Hollywood! Shakespeare and Co. in NYC has it for $16!
Thank you so much for this post! I happened to be in NYC (visiting for a few days on vacation and leaving tomorrow to return home to Minnesota) when I saw your post. I dragged my family to Shakespeare & Co before they closed tonight to get the book! What a fun memory made possible by this group!
Glad I’m not the only one who couldn’t find Eve in Hollywood anywhere. Looking forward to the re-release!
I’ve only read two on your list of 19 (I only discovered you about a year ago); One in a Million Boy was SUPER, The Almost Sisters was disappointing, probably because of the cover, the hype, and my own expectations of what I thought it would be. From 2018, Widows of Malabar Hill just didn’t do it for me, but I have read Marisa de los Santos and LOVED her, so am looking forward to I’ll Be Your Blue Sky.
I didn’t love Almost Sisters either but I tend to not vibe with “southern” novels. I don’t know why. Loved Americanah and Astonish Me. Off to find a copy of The Confusion of Languages and the Claire Mackintosh books. These guides have been great!
I loved Widows of Malabar Hill and the sequel is out already! It is sort of a lighter read, with a great setting.
This is fantastic. I loved the ones from this list that I’ve read so the rest will go on my TBR list!
Finally a book for my extremely learned husband who is always finding books for me! The Hungarian thief!
Also sent the architect book to a young roofer/fourth year architecture student from Mexico 🇲🇽 City who I just met!!!
For example, my husband discovered « The Dry » for me and my Book Club. Fabulous book! Listened to it twice.
It’s so interesting to see other readers lists of favorites! I didn’t care for a couple of these and some of my favs aren’t on the list. I wish I had more friends who were readers because I love hearing what they love about a book that I thought was “meh” and it’s just as fun to talk about the books I love! Thanks for another great list ❤️
The One in a Million Boy is so amazing; I’d squeal when reading certain parts of it. I’m forever a MMD fan because you brought me this book. 😊
I just read Happiness for Beginners and absolutely loved it!
Thanks so much for putting this together! I’ve read a number of them over the past few years but now I have a new list of books to read. After our zoom bookclub meeting last week, I am anxious to read a few more on this summer’s list too.
I’ve read 8 and will add the rest to my list. A couple were a challenge but I was still better from them. Happy reading!!
I’ve only read three of these from the main list (Cinder; The Dry; The Almost Sisters). The latter is the only of those three that I read directly on your recommendation, Anne. Loved it! Looking to read more books by this author. From the 2018 list, I’ve read only the last, by Mirza. I read it mostly because it was available at the public library, and you had recommended it. At the time, I thought it was rather slow and a bit dull, not really worth the time it took from my usual page-turners. However, over the past year, I’ve thought of it occasionally and in retrospect, really appreciated its themes around family dynamics, identity, parenthood, acceptance and forgiveness. I would recommend it to people looking for a change of pace from their usual fare.
Rather embarrassingly, I own eight of the others on the list, but haven’t read them yet — 11 if you include books from the five on the 2018 list. Bumping them all up on my TBR!
Hey, that doesn’t have to be embarrassing! That can simply mean you have a well-stocked library, ready and waiting for you when you need it. 🙂
For those that may be looking for Eve in Hollywood, there is also a Shakespeare & Co store in Philadelphia that will print it.
Good to know, thank you!
I really, really loved A Clearing in the Distance. I think what made it so good was how surprised I was to love it. I read it on one of my Biltmore trips and that made it all the more better.
I’m really excited you’re going to release the results of that poll!
I’m so happy you loved the Witold book! (Yes, that is totally how we refer to him at my house. 🙂 )
I listened to One in a Million Boy on Audible and loved it. It really stayed with me for a long time. Highly recommend!
I have read 7 of the 24(? I didn’t count to see if there were 20 or 19). I have added a few more to my TBR pile based on this list but some just don’t sound as if they are for me. Thank you for always bringing new books into my life, Anne!
I’m curious which books from your lists you think haven’t aged well in just 8 years
me too!
That is a conversation I’d much prefer to have over coffee and not on the internet. 🙂
A great list! I haven’t read First Impressions by Charlie Lovett yet, but it is near the top of my TBR pile. I purchased a signed copy directly from Lovett 2 weeks ago at a writing workshop he was leading. We were required to read his novel A Bookman’s Tale, for that class. It was a fascinating tale involving old books, a mysterious painting, and the mystery surrounding the actual identity of Shakespeare. Fascinating! Lovett is a fabulous writer and teacher. PSST! He has a new book coming out next Spring, which sounds intriguing. He also gave a sneak peek regarding his current project!
I bought Americanah on Audible and abandoned it due to the accents! Maybe because I’m driving and listening? I find it hard to understand some of the characters. I will probably try to read it in book form but disappointed that it was recommended as an audiobook. Maybe it’s just me? Can anyone tell me if they write the speech out as pronounced?
That’s interesting. I know some readers say they can only do nonfiction on audio, but I do love fiction in that format myself. I know I have to slow the audio way down at the beginning so I can get oriented in the story and understand the initially unfamiliar accents. I sometimes have to pay A LOT of attention in the early chapters—but once those first few chapters are behind me I can relax and enjoy the story. (I’m sharing my experience here but of course that doesn’t mean it will be yours.)
I loved I’ll Be Your Blue Sky! One of my all time favorites! I read it because I enjoyed Love Walked In and Belong To Me which I read due to WSIRN recommendation. I felt like the sequel was much better. Waiting anxiously to see if there will be more books with these characters by this author Marisa De Los Santos. Thanks for this list!