By nature, all seasons are notoriously short, but this somehow feels especially true when it comes to summer. Cloudless days and balmy nights never stay with us for long, often fading into hazy fragments of sun-kissed memory.
The magic of words, then, lies in how they can eternalise these fleeting moments – all you need to outwit time is ink on paper. Here we present to you a selection of our favourite novels, poems and short stories, that will enable you to relive the pleasures of summer on demand.
Short Stories
Self discovery, and blooming anew with the summer to see the shifting world around us with fresh eyes…
“Viewfinder”, Raymond Carver – What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
If you’re a fan of minimalism, the name Raymond Carver will undoubtedly be present on your bookshelf. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is one of his best-known short story collections, and “Viewfinder”, like many of the other stories in the collection, is centred around how we interact with each other in our everyday lives, and our failed attempts at connection that lead to states of self-alienation. Deceptively easy to read and impossibly concise, Carver’s short stories are ones that you will be re-reading again and again, with fresh eyes every time.
He would stand on the sidewalk in front of a house, locate the house in the view finder, depress the lever with one of his hooks, and out popped the picture in a minute or so. I'd been watching from the window.
“The Paper Menagerie”, Ken Liu – The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
Ken Liu’s painfully moving tale will resonate with anyone who has struggled with embracing their own racial identity in an otherwise hostile environment. A poignant story on belonging, language, family, and race, this is an essential read about reconciling with and learning to appreciate the culture that one had, in a desperate bid to “fit in”, bitterly rejected as a child.
Mom looked at him. ‘If I say “love,” I feel here.’ She pointed to her lips. ‘If I say “ai,” I feel here.’ She put her hand over her heart.
“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, Ursula K Le Guin – The Wind’s Twelve Quarters
The name “Omelas” may sound familiar to any BTS ARMYs out there, as it features in the group’s music video for “Spring Day”, with Ursula K Le Guin’s short story having inspired part of the storyline. The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas provides a witty but honestly philosophical contemplation on human morality and what it means to be happy. Is ignorance bliss, and can one go on to be blissful when their state of ignorance has been shattered?
The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting.
“Premonition”, Huma Qureshi – Things We Don’t Tell the People We Love
“Premonition” is the first story that appears in Huma Qureshi’s Things We Don’t Tell the People We Love, and is the short story that is immediately reflective of Qureshi’s incredible writing. The collection has been lauded by critics for its insightful depictions of one’s inability to communicate transparently with those around them – as the title says, the things that we fail to tell the people we love. In “Premonition”, Qureshi paints an incisive, remarkably convincing picture of what it feels like to be a growing girl, unfamiliar with male attention and her first interactions with the men around her.
I began to feel you like some kind of premonition. Somehow you appeared at the same time I did across landings and in hallways and dining rooms, as though you were waiting for me, as though you knew I'd be there.
Page-Turning Beach Reads
There are only two requisites for a perfect beach day: sunscreen and a good novel.
Still Life by Sarah Winman
The story begins with a serendipitous encounter between two strangers, young soldier Ulysses Temper and art historian Evelyn Skinner. Set in Tuscany amid the clamour of World War II, this work of historical fiction recounts the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community in the mid-20th century. Despite the desolation brought about by war, Winman presents an eclectic mix of characters who are able to unify through the medium of art, love, and the ghost of E.M. Forster. You are bound to shed some tears when reading this one, but the beautiful prose totally makes up for them!
No single act of generosity remains in isolation. The ripples are many.
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
Young Esme lives unseen and unheard among a team of lexicographers, all arduously working on the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. One day, she stumbles upon the abandoned word ‘bondmaid’. She is thus inspired to compile her very own ‘Dictionary of Lost Words’, surreptitiously. Eloquent, lyrical yet vastly informative, this novel, set at the height of the suffragette movement, explores the inadequacy of the English Language in its conveyance of female experiences, all while celebrating the invincibility of language when pushed to reach its full potential.
Words define us, they explain us, and, on occasion, they serve to control or isolate us.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Buckle up, because Emily Henry is back with yet another instant bestseller! Sundrenched, spicy but nonetheless devastating, this rom-com centres upon two ex-lovers: Harriet and Wyn, who, as a repercussion of concealing their rupture from the limelight for six long months (and successfully!), are forced into a predicament where they have to share a bedroom at the Maine Cottage during their long-established annual coastal getaway. Beneath the 400 pages of plastered smiles and resurfacing memories lie unmistakable tensions, giving rise to an irresistible renewal of buried chemistry.
You are in all of my happiest places. You are where my mind goes when it needs to be soothed.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
It all starts off with a seemingly ordinary Korean couple: Yeong-hye, a yielding wife and Mr. Cheong, her detached husband. One night, an inordinately gory nightmare brings about a reset in Yeong-hye’s life: she becomes a vegetarian. This infuriates her husband, who then recruits her family to join himself in coercing her back into meat-consumption. Thematically rich yet eccentric (to say the least), this translated novel probes into prevalent matters such as a woman’s ownership of her body in a patriarchal society, body image, and dysfunctional eating habits.
I was convinced that there was more going on here than a simple case of vegetarianism.
The Beach by Alex Garland
In search of a solitary beach paradise, British backpacker Richard sets off to Thailand. At first, he finds himself underwhelmed by the same lack of thrill that had originally put him off his home country. Yet not long after, a whirlwind of events takes place to leave him in possession of an intricate map of the titular beach – breathtaking and otherworldly. Believe me, the story is just getting started! From here the plot quickly unravels, so mesmerising and utterly suspenseful that you won’t even realise the remaining pages dwindling down.
The first I heard of the beach was in Bangkok, on the Ko Sanh Road.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Sally Rooney has a way of writing about people that makes them feel real. More than just “convincing”, her portrayals of human interactions feel so extraordinarily regular and grounded in reality. If you are a fan of the television miniseries, get to know Marianne and Connell all over again this summer by reading the novel. Normal People is an effortlessly enjoyable read, all whilst being an honest, heartfelt study on the roles that we play in each others’ lives, consciously or subconsciously, and how we all have the ability to alter the people around us for better or for worse.
He brought her goodness like a gift and now it belongs to her. Meanwhile his life opens out before him in all directions at once. They’ve done a lot of good for each other. Really, she thinks, really. People can really change one another.
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
No doubt you will have heard of the iconic film adaptation of the same name, starring Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. If you are looking for a fun, light read to really sink into your hot-girl summer vibes, Bridget Jones’ Diary is the perfect choice. Hilarious and concerningly relatable at points, this book is the book to propel you back into reading after a slump, and is sure to have you giggling to yourself the whole time.
I will not get upset over men, but instead be poised and cool ice-queen.
South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
Most people will have read at least one Murakami, but if you tend not to be the biggest fan of magical realism, South of the Border, West of the Sun is the one for you. This novel is full of well-done clichés, with its poetic, scenic language, complete with motifs like cigarette smoke and drizzling rain. Abstract emotions are described in a way that makes them feel tangible when they would otherwise be difficult to articulate, and this a pleasant read that will make you re-evaluate what it means to be lost and find yourself again.
No matter where I go, I still end up me. What's missing never changes. The scenery may change, but I'm still the same incomplete person. The same missing elements torture me with a hunger that I can never satisfy. I think that lack itself is as close as I'll come to defining myself.
Timecode of a Face by Ruth Ozeki
Japanese American novelist Ruth Ozeki does something truly quite special with this book. Timecode of a Face is Ozeki’s record of a three-hour observation of her own face in the mirror, and the result that emerges is a meditative reflection on race, family, death and self-discovery. Ozeki paints an authentic portrait of herself, interacting with her own reflection, and peels back all her fifty-nine years of life in a beautiful free form of emotionally rich personal stories.
My face is and isn't me. It's a nice face. It has lots of people in it. My parents, my grandparents, and their grandparents, all the way back through time and countless generations to my earliest ancestors—all those iterations are here in my face, along with all the people who've ever looked at me.
Lie With Me by Phillipe Besson
A poignant, bittersweet tale following two boys from rural France in the 1980s falling in love, Lie With Me is a French novella translated by Molly Ringwald into English. If the numerous accolades under its belt are not enough to convince you, the passion and tenderness of this heart-wrenching story will. Gorgeous in its language and movingly bittersweet, this story is one that is sure to stay with any reader for a long time, exploring the depths of love, lust, shame, youth, and self-discovery.
This feeling of love, it transports me, it makes me happy. But it also consumes me and makes me miserable, the way all impossible loves are miserable.
Timeless Summer Classics
At a loss for what to read next? Here are the best summer classics to return to year after year.
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
To escape their own anxieties, four hitherto unacquainted women rent an Italian medieval castle together for the month of April. Each arrives with a heart burning with anguish, and an overwhelming desire to possess “a room of one’s own”, which thus induces a comically hostile ambience. Eventually learning to embrace each other’s boundaries, the beauty of female friendships thus shines through. The plot takes an unexpected romantic turn towards its bittersweet ending. Here’s a heads-up: you will never look at wistaria in the same way ever again!
Beauty made you love, and love made you beautiful.
Summer by Edith Wharton
Four words to encapsulate this novel: summer fling gone wrong. Young and naive, protagonist Charity Royall falls madly in love with the wealthy Lucius Harney. Starting off as an ethereal fairytale romance, its plot quickly unravels, descending into a gut-wrenching tragedy which exposes the reality of class divisions and the worst of human betrayals. Set in a remote and insular town in New England, the small-town girl is constantly stifled by limitations – just one of the many challenges faced by unemancipated young women of the early 20th century.
What did it matter where she came from, or whose child she was, when love was dancing in her veins?
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Esther Greenwood, a scholarship student blessed with both beauty and brains, has just embarked on a summer internship at a prestigious New York fashion magazine. Isn’t she living the picture-perfect life? Well, at least on the surface! As we progress through the novel, we witness the rapid degeneration of her mental state, which is not least catalysed by the dinning tumult of her internal conflicts. Upon acknowledging the shocking disparity between reality and expectation after taking a first brave step into the adult world, her sense of disappointment and disbelonging conquers the best of her.
I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
I bet you didn’t know that this novel was the muse behind Taylor Swift’s “No body, no crime” and “tolerate it” from her 2020 album “Evermore”! Most iconic for its enigmatic opening, the feminist bildungsroman delves into the love life of an unnamed female protagonist – an incarcerated woman both literally, within the confines of Manderley, and figuratively. The gothic masterpiece sheds light on the palpable impact which the dead can produce on the living. Before you know it, its eerie yet dreamlike depiction of both mansions and nature alike will be etched in your mind.
If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.
The Outsider by Albert Camus
Approved by both BTS’ RM and supermodel Gigi Hadid, this translated novella fleshes out the fundamentals of existentialist philosophy through a remarkably mundane account of, most ironically, a life-changing summer in the life of Meursault. Perceiving no intrinsic meaning to life, he lives by no rules. Despite its uncomplicated language, the story ultimately leaves us with unanswered questions such as our protagonist’s place on the moral spectrum.
Disclaimer: This book is singularly unhelpful in providing a viable solution to existential crises.
I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world.
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
A pioneering queer feminist novel, Rubyfruit Jungle is a coming-of-age tale of a young girl finding her own identity in 1940-60s America. Our protagonist is loud where you would expect her to be quiet, bold where you would expect her to be timid, domineering where you would expect submission, and she is an absolute delight. Funny and unabashed both in its humour and in the ideas that it presents, Rubyfruit Jungle is a breath of fresh air and a must-read, serving as a shot of courage to every queer woman.
Leroy bet me I couldn’t find a pot of gold at the end, and I told him that was a stupid bet because the rainbow was enough.
Summer In Verse
Like all earthly phenomena, summer takes place in phases. This line-up of poems precisely captures the trajectory of summer. From blossoming young love and the muted frustrations of a butterfly, all the way to the final traces of summer that linger in the city.
Summer (a love poem) by Frank Lima
The Butterfly’s Dream by Hannah F. Gould
The Orange by Wendy Cope
Blueberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney
Late Summer by Jennifer Grotz
