We’re not quite sure why January is pegged as the time for new beginnings. While the first month of the Gregorian calendar signifies the start of a brand-new year, New Year’s Resolution apologists seem to get off on the concept of imminent failure.
Whether an attempted juice cleanse that lasts half a day or that new joiner’s membership at the local gym that is inevitably cancelled before the monthly fee gets charged to your credit card, most of us find it gut-wrenchingly difficult to sustain any kind of new hobby motivation when the weather remains cold, gloomy and unbearably dark.
That’s why we’re focusing on summer as the time to re-engage in all of those self-betterment principles and actions that we diligently listed in our bullet journals at the start of 2024. Make the bed every morning? Check. Drink two litres of water every day? Easy when it’s warmer outside. Read at least one book every month? Don’t mind if we do.
Indeed, how else are we supposed to impress our peers with information about the newest literary darlings to grace the windows of Daunt Books in Marylebone? There’s a deluge of new launches to expect in the coming months, some which have just been released in hardback, others which have finally been published in paperback, and a series of much anticipated novels which haven’t yet been released.
When the weather is miserable, there’s nothing more appealing than curling up in bed and staring at the ceiling while an attempted rewatch of Suits plays aimlessly in the background. On the other hand, the city comes alive in the summertime and so do our brain cells, giving our minds the feeling of having finally awoken from a 100-year sleep.
We’ve curated a selection of the best books to read this year for all your summertime betterment needs. Sunshine cometh, and we’re all deeply looking forward to imminent reading sessions in our local parks. Keep scrolling for literature which is aching to be yellowed by Ambre Solaire and spilled Pimm’s. As John Mayer puts it, a little bit of summer is what the whole year’s about.
Shop now
Until August by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A lost novel by the seminal author of One Hundred Years of Solitude has finally been released over a decade after his death. Marquez uncovers the mysteries of love through our sultry yet introspective protagonist Ana Magdalena Bach who seeks a new lover each night. Until August is a story with desire at its core and an essential summer read.
Buy now £14.29, Amazon
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
The Morisaki bookshop has been in 25-year-old Takako’s family for generations. Tucked away in a quiet street corner in Jimbocho, Tokyo, the book lover’s paradise seems to appeal to everyone but the heir apparent to the hidden second-hand institution. That is, until Takako learns of her boyfriend’s desire to marry someone else. Heartbroken and with nowhere else to turn, she begrudgingly accepts her Uncle Satoru’s invitation to live rent-free in the room above his beloved bookshop. A treatise on the healing power of literature, enjoy the rather meta-fictional journey of Takako as she attempts to mend a broken heart.
Buy now £9.49, Waterstones
Dune by Frank Herbert
There’s no better time to cross-off those fiction big hitters than the summer. Whether you’ve been thinking about reading Herbert’s ground-breaking dystopian series since it was first published in 1965 or since the release of the star-studded motion picture in 2021, it’s safe to say that 2024 is the year to dive in. Widely considered to be one of the most important works of science fiction in the last century, Herbet’s novel centres around the battle for control over the desert planet Arrakis and its priceless resource known as ‘spice’.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradely
You’ve heard of the Ministry of Magic and even the Ministry of Sound, but Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time is set to take you on a seismic literary journey spanning past, present and future.
A jaded civil servant is offered a lucrative role within a strange new government ministry. The titular institution oversees the bringing-in of ‘expats’ from the furthest corners of history to test the rather novel notion of time travel. Our unnamed protagonist is set to serve as the ‘bridge’ for one expat who has some trouble adjusting. Commander Graham Gore supposedly died on Sir John Franklin’s expedition to the Arctic, yet has found himself very much alive in contemporary England. Think: 2024’s answer to Outlander.
Buy now £14.99, Waterstones
Captain Corellii’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
We’re not sure if the concept of a veritable summertime read existed before de Bernières’ beloved, panoramic novel was published back in 1995. The gripping multi-narrative is broadly set on the island of Cephalonia during the Second World War yet seems to span the course of eternity.
From the idyllic sun-bleached mountains and ancient olive trees of Cephalonia to the destruction the various Grecian island nations suffered during the war, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is a gut-wrenching love story which draws on the mythologies of land, sea and identity to reveal the life-affirming power of storytelling.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
From the author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein comes this highly anticipated story of four intrinsically interwoven yet radically different sisters who reunite at their childhood home in New York following an unexpected bereavement. Think Little Women but adapted for the contemporary female experience.
Buy now £14.99, Amazon
I Used to Be Charming by Eve Babitz
There’s certainly no shortage of raucous, semi-fictionalised memoirs by Eve Babitz to choose from. However, I Used to Be Charming offers us a rollicking cross-section of her best work. Sumptuous, seductive and filled to the brim with razor-sharp wit, editor Sara Kramer compiles nearly 50 pieces written by Babitz between 1975 and 1997, including her literary deep dive into the ground-breaking world of Fiorucci and the story of a near-fatal accident in 1996.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
Weyward by Emilia Hart
An interwoven narrative which follows the journeys of three intrepid young women over five centuries, Emilia Hart’s best-selling Weyward is a spell-binding tale of power and survival in the face of deadly patriarchal structures. Who says that spellbinding tales of witchcraft are limited to cosy winter evenings? We’re taking this thrilling novel straight to the English countryside this summer, where we can read of protagonist Kate’s fleeing to her inherited Cumbrian cottage in peace.
Buy now £4.99, Amazon
Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly
An interwoven, interconnected tale of messy love triangles and friendship trapezes, the eccentric MÄori-Russian-Catalonian Vladisavljevic family’s titular children navigate love and queerness in present-day New Zealand.
Buy now £12.99, Amazon
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
American poet, essayist and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib grew up in the golden age of basketball. Hailing from Columbus, Ohio with a teenhood spanning the 1990s, Abdurraqib forges a captivating work of non-fiction detailing the stories of players who made it to the big leagues, and those who didn’t, by putting his captivating emotional connection to the sport at the forefront of the narrative.
Buy now £15.99, Amazon
The House on Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone
Longlisted for the International Booker Prize as of March 2024, Starnone’s novel has only just been translated into English despite having been published in Italian over two decades ago.
Federì resides in a modest, hodgepodge apartment on Via Gemito within which he paints and ponders the life he may have led if he didn’t have a family to feed. The railway clerk is entirely convinced that had things turned out slightly differently, he would’ve been a world-famous artist. Set against the backdrop of post-World War II Naples, this contemporary masterpiece was certainly worth the wait.
Buy now £15.99, Waterstones
Valentino and Sagittarius by Natalia Ginzburg
Two of Ginzburg’s most celebrated novellas for the price of one? Don’t mind if we do. Both stories contain the author’s characteristic themes of psychology and moral realism through her signature sharp wit. Valentino is the story of a boy who is told by his doting parents that he is going to be a man of great consequence despite never having achieved anything to grant such a prophecy. Sagittarius is the tale of a young, ambitious widow who moves to the suburbs with a seemingly misplaced confidence – as narrated by her jaded daughter.
Buy now £12.99, Amazon
Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto
The Hitchcockian 1950s Japanese detective story is now widely available in English. Seicho Matsumoto has been described as Japan’s Agatha Christie for a reason. A murder-mystery whodunnit which carries the weight and power of high literature, Tokyo Express follows detective Torigai Jutaro and a young man from Tokyo named Kiichi Mihara. Following the discovery of an apparent double suicide by cyanide, the two men are convinced that there’s more than meets the eye to the Romeo and Juliet-esque crime scene.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
Green Dot by Madeline Gray
A stomach-clenching wild ride with moments of deep introspection and narrative intimacy, we follow twenty-something Hera as she embarks on an illicit office romance. This is a must-read for fellow twenty-somethings navigating a 21st-century existence.
Buy now £15.49, Amazon
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
Written when Sagan was just 18 years old, Bonjour Tristesse is a coming-of-age story that takes place over a long, hot and sticky summer in the South of France in the early 1950s. A masterful exploration of womanhood which doesn’t shy away from tragedy and pure, introspective emotion, you’d be remiss not to delve into protagonist Cécile’s story.
Buy now £9.05, Amazon
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
A story of unwavering female friendship, Elena and Lila grow up together in a poor, violent suburb on the outskirts of Naples in the 1950s. Their seemingly juxtaposing personalities come to a head when it is discovered that the rebellious Lila turns out to be a veritable childhood prodigy. As they grow older, their paths diverge when Elena’s father is able to pay for her further education – while Lila is left behind. Ferrante creates a beautiful portrait of two incredible women, posed against the backdrop of a tumultuous, ever-changing city.
Buy now £6.99, Amazon
Ernesto by Umberto Saba
Written in 1953, Umberto Saba’s confessional novel wasn’t published until 1975 – just as E.M. Forster’s Maurice was written between 1913 and 1914 and published in 1971. The bildungsroman follows 16-year-old Ernesto as his sexual curiosity leads him into an affair with an older man.
Buy now £10.00, Waterstones
Augustus by John Williams
If you’re a fan of John William’s Stoner, bear in mind that Augustus serves as a departure from the hallowed halls and anguished spirit of William Stoner. The best-selling author took on the Romans when he decided to write the 1972 piece of historical fiction Augustus. His third novel explores the life of the founder of the Roman Empire and its narrative is, surprisingly, epistolary. Following the gruesome murder of his great-uncle Julius Ceaser, 19-year-old Octavian finds himself heir to the Roman Empire.
Buy now £3.84, Abe Books
Destination Fabulous by Anna Murphy
Summer is the time for self-betterment, and Anna Murphy’s non-fiction treatise on the joys of ageing is bound to help us achieve just that. Far from encouraging readers to run a marathon, or to wholeheartedly deny the concept of ageing in its entirety, The Times Fashion Director steers us in the direction of embracing balance.
Buy now £10.11, Amazon
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Set within a world where select humans are capable of skills which vary from the ability to manipulate matter, control the desires of others, and communicate telepathically, The Atlas Six is the story of six of these magic-wielding beings who are invited to compete for membership in the highly secretive Alexandrian Society.
Led by the enigmatic Atlas Blakely, the Alexandrian Society are magic-wielding custodians of lost knowledge from ancient civilisations. Over the course of a year, our six protagonists must practice and innovate their supernatural abilities from within the hallowed halls of the society’s London-based headquarters. The winner is invited into the mystical fold of the supernatural society, while the losers may not survive at all.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
