Who doesn’t love a page-turner? Whether you’re headed to the beach or the pool or simply need to ratchet up the pile on your bedside table, the following list, curated by resident expert Christina Phillips-Mattson, Ph.D, will be your new best resource!
We are thrilled to share the following post, which was guest-written by literary expert Christina Phillips-Mattson (see below for her full bio). The links also include podcasts and enable readers to purchase most of the books from Bookshop.org, an organization that donates proceeds to financially support independent bookstores. So, without further ado, here’s Christina!
Hello bookish FAK readers! When Ann and Emily asked me to write this list I had two immediate thoughts:
1) Yay! Recommending books is my favorite thing to do (besides reading them myself)!
2) I need to figure out what exactly constitutes a summer read for non-recovering academics because
my last “beach read” was (embarrassingly for my family) Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, which might feel like both a punishment and a crime against human decency. A twofer, if you will. Rest assured, after some googling, I figured it out and Crime and Punishment will NOT be on this list due to the fact that 1) it is not a particularly pleasant read for people trying to relax and enjoy themselves and 2) frozen Siberia figures largely.
Being a rather eclectic reader myself due in part to my background in comparative literature and my
Hermione-ish impulse to read as much as I can about as many things as I can, I read with the same
reckless abandon that a toddler would demonstrate if set free in a candy emporium: I will try (almost) anything and everything. So I decided to make a list based on the people I envision reading these amazing books. If you have multiple bookish personalities like I do, so much the better and can we please be friends?
FOR THE BEACH READER
(who just wants something fun because the world is crazy right now)
Romance: The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Am I normally a fan of this category? No (see Dostoevsky confessions above). Did Alison Espach
win me over? Yes. This story follows a woman named Phoebe Stone whose life has hit rock bottom in every way and who accidentally becomes the only non-wedding guest staying at a beautiful New England resort, much to the bride’s dismay. While both women try to carry on with their intended plans for the weekend, they find themselves drawn together as each other’s only safe confidante.
As Phoebe grows closer to the bride and the handsome, charismatic groom, she realizes that her life
might be upended once again. The Wedding People is a romance novel that surprised me by grappling with very heavy themes like infertility, suicide, infidelity, and loss, and yet it was refreshingly hilarious and hopeful at the same time.
Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang (a thriller)
Julie Chan’s life is going nowhere, so when the depressed supermarket cashier discovers the dead
body of her estranged famous influencer twin sister, she seizes the chance to adopt her sister’s persona and the successful, luxurious life she’s always wanted. But as she struggles to keep up the charade, Julie is haunted by the feeling that all was not well in her sister’s picture-perfect life.
As things start to unravel at an influencer retreat, Julie discovers that she might be the next target of the
sinister forces behind her twin’s demise. Both fun and unsettling, this darkly comedic thriller also delivers a timely and thoughtful critique of social media and influencer culture.
The Sirens by Emilia Hart (a fantasy)
Having read this author’s debut novel, Weyward (2023), I’m excited for this new release. Emilia Hart once again employs multiple narrators and timelines to weave together a story about four women bound together by the natural world, this time by the mysterious and enthralling power of the sea. In 2019, Lucy awakens to find herself attempting to strangle an ex-lover and flees to her sister’s home on the Australian coast, only to find Jess missing and the town haunted by rumors of other disappearances.
Searching for clues, Lucy begins to read Jess’s diary from 1999, in which Jess describes her life as a lonely, artistic teenager who was diagnosed with a rare allergy to water. In 1800, twin girls forced onto a convict ship bound for Australia grapple with their mother’s death by drowning and discover unnerving changes in their bodies and an inexplicable longing for the sea as they get farther away from home. If you like your fantasy books with a side of historical fiction, this is the summer read for you!
FOR THE FOODIE
(who likes to know about the chef behind the meal)
What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci
Is there anything better than Stanley Tucci describing the delights of an exquisite meal? In this delicious (forgive me) memoir, Tucci records twelve months of meals and, by so doing, marks time by celebrating the way food—sharing it, cooking it, thinking about it, talking about it, enjoying it alone or with loved ones—shapes his life. Through his food diary, the reader also gets a window into his world as an accomplished actor and it is so interesting and fun to see who’s coming for dinner—and of course, what they are eating!
FOR THE MOVIE LOVER
(who wants to read the book first)
There are a lot of highly anticipated movies based on books that are coming out this year. Because I love doing homework for my hobbies and think some of you might, too, following are two books that I’m looking forward to seeing on the big screen.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
If you, too, are wondering what the future of AI could look like, this novel by Nobel Prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro offers the reader a future reality where humans exist in a two-tier society, the top comprised of those who have been genetically modified and “enhanced.” The story is told from the perspective of Klara, a solar-powered Artificial Friend with a near-religious belief in the healing power of the sun, whose job it is to care for a teenaged girl named Josie who is very ill, perhaps terminally so.
Klara’s keen perception of this uncertain, dystopian world and the motivations of the people in it as well as her compassion for Josie and the lengths she goes to try and heal her compels the reader to ask the question: what does it really mean to be human?
Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire
My fellow Ozians: if you can’t get enough of Gregory Maguire’s The Wicked Years series (Wicked, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, Out of Oz) and you also can’t wait until “Wicked: For Good (Part 2)” comes out this fall to re-immerse yourself in Oz, this is the book that will help you…through…(IYKYK).
This prequel, focusing on Elphie’s childhood, gives us a window into the people (her parents, siblings, and first friends) and experiences (her first encounters with injustice and the mistreatment of animals) that shaped the young Elphaba into the lonely, prickly student we encounter at Shiz University and later the cunning and unyielding witch who would take on the Wizard of Oz himself.
FOR THE SPORTS-CURIOUS
(who may not be a “sports person” herself, but is weirdly interested in people who are)
The Racket: On Tour With Tennis’s Golden Generation—and the other 99% by Conor Niland
Have you ever wondered about what happens to the not- Federer professional tennis players of the world? Did you see the movie Challengers last year and think: why is that guy living in his car when he has the same level of talent as the other guy?
This underdog memoir, written by former Irish professional tennis player Conor Niland, casts light on what it’s like to be a player who never quite reached the very top, giving readers a glimpse into the hidden world of social dynamics and economic inequality that exists behind the courts. If you are excitedly awaiting Wimbledon this summer, this book is for you!
Crossing the Line: A Fearless Team of Brothers and the Sport That Changed Their Lives Forever
by Kareem Rosser
Hold on to your horses (again, forgive me) because this incredibly moving and inspiring memoir by Kareem Rosser will take you on an unexpected emotional journey. Growing up in a West Philadelphia neighborhood characterized for its devastating poverty and violence, Kareem and his brothers believe that their future is as inescapable as it is bleak, until they accidentally discover a barn full of horses while riding their bicycles through Fairmount Park.
This chance encounter leads the brothers to jobs and riding lessons through Lezlie Hiner’s Work to Ride program, which in turn inspires a passion for polo that, through incredible perseverance and dedication, takes Kareem to the first all-Black national interscholastic polo championship team, all while struggling to keep his family together.
FOR THE GROWN ADULT PERSON
(who still unapologetically loves young adult dystopian novels)
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
In this long-awaited prequel to The Hunger Games series, Suzanne Collins finally gives her devoted fans the story of Haymitch Abernathy. Long before he became Katniss Everdeen’s mentor, the teenaged Haymitch had to face the arena himself as one of four tributes from District 12 in the second Quarter Quell.
Full of easter eggs and character cameos that will delight longtime Hunger Games fans, this book is also full of new insights into the politics and people of Panem that flesh out Collins’s dystopian world. I have to say that, because Haymitch is such a familiar character and his fate is already known, I was skeptical that Collins could give us a prequel story that was as viscerally compelling and as full of unexpected twists and turns as in the original trilogy. Reader, I was wrong.
FOR THE HISTORY BUFF
(who likes her history with a side of feminism)
Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World by Edward Dolnick
I think we all take for granted the fact that we now know dinosaurs roamed the earth millions of years ago, but imagine for a second that you were not aware that gigantic reptiles were anything but a myth told to scare/delight children and while exploring the cliffs by your house you suddenly stumbled across a femur the size of your cottage.
Concentrating on three of the first paleontologists (the poor and uneducated Mary Anning who found the majority of the first fossils but whose glorY was usurped by men, the eccentric geologist William Buckland with a voracious and bizarre appetite, and the controversial Richard Owen, hated by his peers for his malice and dishonesty) Edward Dolnick describes the confusion, excitement, and spiritual turmoil that characterized this era of discovery. If you have ever been obsessed with dinosaurs or you want to impress your children with your knowledge of their favorite prehistoric beasts, this book will delight you.
FOR THE CLASSICS DEVOTEE
(who feels like Jane Austen is one of her bffs and would have really understood her love of Zillow)
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend by Rebecca Romney (nonfiction)
I don’t know about you, but when I discover a favorite author, not only do I want to read everything they’ve ever written, but I also want to know what THEY have been reading in order to see what books have made an impact on their style, characters, and even their plots. Rebecca Romney, rare book dealer and guest star of the show Pawn Stars, searches for clues in the novels and letters of her favorite author, Jane Austen, in order to find the books that populated Austen’s own bookshelf and, in turn, profoundly influenced her work.
As she uncovers Austen’s literary heroes and finds their connections to Austen’s own works, Romney discovers that many were women writers whose books have been all but erased from the canon of Western literature. Her investigation of how and why these women writers were forgotten will make you question the motives behind your college syllabus and induce you to read beyond it.
James by Percival Everett (fiction)
Every so often you read a new release and think: YES, this book is already on its way to becoming a classic. One such book is James, by Percival Everett. Many if not all readers who attended school in the
United States have either read or have some way encountered Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn.
In this new retelling from the perspective of Huck’s companion on the Mississippi river, the enslaved man James (known as Jim in Twain’s novel), Everett reworks, expands, and, in my opinion, improves the story in a truly masterful way. If you, too, were frustrated by the flatness of Jim’s character as Huck’s unwitting sidekick in Huck Finn and you wished for a more comprehensive portrayal of the antebellum South, you will love this book.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (a classic)
Because I can’t resist recommending just one classic book, I’ll try to suggest one that might have flown under your college syllabus radar: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (aka the lesser known Brontë sister).
This novel is so ahead of its time in so many ways. As I read this story about the boundaries a woman faced when trying to leave her abusive, alcoholic husband in order to protect her son, I was continually struck by the way Anne Brontë challenged the established social conventions and legal structures of her time, rejecting the notion that to be a woman was essentially to be without volition, power, or identity. It’s a love story, a political treatise, and a feminist manifesto all in one—who could ask for anything more?
FOR THE PEOPLE WHO MISSED THE BOAT THE FIRST TIME AROUND
(but still want to read the books that are becoming the literary classics of our time)
Trust by Hernan Diaz
I don’t even know where to begin with recommending this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel other than to say that for me, it is a perfect book. 10/10. 5 stars. No notes. As a reader, you are given four competing narratives: a successful 1937 novel about a couple who amassed an immense fortune on Wall Street; the novel’s alleged, real-life subject’s attempt to undermine it with his own account of the events; the perspective of the ghostwriter who is trying to parse fact from fiction; and a found diary.
This brilliant literary puzzle spans over a century and asks the reader: whose account of “the truth” can you trust? I’ve read this book three times since it came out in 2023 and I’m planning on reading it again this summer—it’s that good.
FOR THE ART LOVER
(who has zero artistic talent but cannot get enough of museums)
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley
In the wake of his beloved brother’s death, Patrick Bringley quits his buzzy job at The New Yorker and seeks solace by working as a guard in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through this memoir, the reader is given an intimate perspective of one of the world’s most famous museums and the beautiful objects held within it.
The museum becomes a quiet haven for Bringley as he endeavors to find meaning and joy again, helped along by his comrades in the blue suits who, he comes to realize, are a like microcosm of New York and America itself. I can see this book appealing to so many people and I think it would make a wonderful gift for someone dear to you.
FOR THE REAL HOUSEWIVES ANTHROPOLOGIST
(who needs to know the origin story of our cultural obsessions)
Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum
You needn’t ever have tried to keep up with the Kardashians or to have rooted for a contestant on the Bachelor to find Emily Nussbaum’s deep dive into the naissance of reality television absolutely fascinating. With shrewd and riveting prose, Nussbaum looks at reality television through the lens of the people who created it and helped it grow into the pop-culture behemoth that it is now.
We also learn about the rise of the “dirty documentary,” tricks of the trade like the Frankenbite, and the dark realities behind The Apprentice. It’s equal parts a substantive, meticulous history of the genre and a ridiculously entertaining celebration of it—you’ll never watch a Real Housewives catfight the same way again!
FOR THE PARENT
(who is trying their very best to raise kind, intelligent, and successful kids despite existing mostly on coffee and relentless optimism)
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
I feel like I am becoming an evangelist for this book, but it’s so important that I want every parent I know to read it. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt presents the troubling facts about how screens and the internet are rewiring our kids’ brains, interfering with their social and neurological development, and causing a mental health crisis in children across the globe. He explains why too much screen time, too early on in life is causing the disastrous consequences of higher rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide in our children, negatively impacting our family lives and our greater society.
However, the book is also a hopeful call to action and Haidt lays out four simple steps that we can take to change course and protect our kids from what is truly a public health emergency. This book has become an excellent resource for me in navigating screens and the internet with my kids (which sometimes feels like the parenting equivalent to the Wild Wild West!) and I hope it can also be of help to you, too.
YOUNG ADULTS 14+
The Legacy of Orisha (series) by Tomi Adeyemi
I am admittedly a bit biased when it comes to this series because Tomi Adeyemi is a dear friend and former student of mine, but that doesn’t mean these books are not absolutely amazing. Set in a West African-inspired fantasy world, Zélie Adebola remembers a time before magic and those who wielded it were mercilessly rooted out of her country. Now, Zélie has a chance to strike against the monarchy and to bring back magic to her people, but her enemies will stop at nothing to destroy her.
The things I love most about this series are its emphasis on relentlessly fighting for justice against all odds and also the way magic is tethered to heritage and ancestry, making it all the more powerful and intrinsic to the characters’ identities. If you and/or your teen are fans of the works of Suzanne Collins, Leah Bardugo, Sabaa Tahir, or J.K. Rowling, you will love this series. And, as an added bonus, it is being adapted for the screen so you can prep for the Children of Blood and Bone movie which will be released in 2027.
BOOKISH PODCASTS FOR THE MULTITASKER
(who eats, sleeps, and breathes books all day, every day)
I have two favorite bookish podcasts that I listen to as I go about my day and which give me great recommendations for my TBR (To Be Read) pile. I hope they can be a fun and helpful resource for you, too!
What Should I Read Next? with Anne Bogel
In this bookish podcast, Anne Bogel (Modern Mrs. Darcy) interviews one guest and asks them to tell her about three books they love, one book they hate, and what they are currently reading and from this list she recommends three books for them to read next. I’ve found so many great reads through this podcast and even if my tastes don’t align with all of the guests’, it’s so fun to hear about what other people are reading and maybe even branch out a bit from my own literary comfort zone.
Books Unbound with Ariel Bissett and Raeleen LeMay
I’ve been a huge fan of this podcast since its inception in 2019. Two best friends who live on opposite sides of Canada discuss the books they love, the books they are currently reading, bookish news, and their lives as reading women. If you are a fan of book hauls, book-forward house renovations, bookish outings and events (Ariel even bought a miniature truck last year that she turned into a mobile bookstore!), and female friendship based on a mutual love and respect for each other’s unique literary taste and style, this is the podcast for you.
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you can find a book from this list that will be perfect for your summer TBR! Happy Reading, Happy Cooking, Happy Everything!
Christina received her Ph.D. from the Department of Comparative Literature at Harvard
University in 2015, specializing in children’s and young adult literature. She has published various
academic books, articles, and essays on fairy tales, children’s literature, and young adult literature as
well as hosted and produced a podcast (Exquisitely Ever After) on children’s books. Though she
continues to write and consult, she left academia to raise her children and now she has three little ones, who are becoming voracious readers in their own right. When she isn’t reading or writing, she
is cooking—although sometimes she throws caution to the wind and does all three!
If Christina looks familiar, she was a guest at the Fountain Avenue Kitchen when she shared her recipe for authentic Chick Gyros, served with Greek-Style Lemon Potatoes, and Shortcut Tzatziki. She also taught us the Greek phrase to say before a meal, Kali Orexi, which means Good Appetite!
Leave a Reply