Best summer reads

University summer has always been a bit of a lost space for me. Don’t get me wrong – no uni work, great weather and holidays are a lot of fun. But with the long months of summer also come long hours of work, and distance from a busy social life. As an English Literature student, and a lover of books, reading is what lifts me from boredom. To share this enthusiasm, I have decided to share my top 5 reads for this summer. Enjoy!

1. There are Rivers in the Sky – Elif Shafak

Shafak is quickly becoming the next big name, and for good reason. There are Rivers in the Sky is my favourite of her engaging, meticulously researched, multi-plot novels. With two entwining stories set in Victorian London and modern Turkey and London, the book follows the journey of a singular raindrop across time, linking families and connections across the globe. Both a work of beauty and a book of intrigue, you will finish this book in days (maybe even hours).

2. Stoner – John Williams

Stoner is my top read of 2026 so far. With an unassuming premise – a lost university student in 20th century Missouri, isolated and often melancholic – this book held an unspeakable power over me. It is gently and thoughtfully written, and by the end, the reader feels as if they are within William Stoner’s inner mind. A fair warning – this is not a cheery read – it is, however, strangely cathartic and comforting.

3. August Blue – Deborah Levy

I randomly picked this book up in Waterstones (admittedly because I liked its cover) and was quickly drawn into the weird and wonderful world of Levy’s prose. Elsa, the novel’s protagonist, is a failed pianist prodigy, now wandering around Athens in Covid times. She keeps encountering her mysterious doppelganger, eventually confronting her at the climax of the book’s action.

4. Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest – Suzanne Simard

This is the only non-fiction work on this list, and I couldn’t recommend this book enough. An autobiography mixed with a scientific account of the discovery of the interconnected nature of forests, this book is both deeply engaging and informative. I finished with a far greater understanding of how living plants and trees are connected in the ground beneath us.

5. Look What You Made Me Do – John Lanchester

Lanchester, author of The Wall and Capital, released Look What You Made Me Do in March 2026. Through his protagonist Kate, Lanchester follows a nightmarish scene of events, with her husband’s death, and a mysterious release of a TV show eerily close in detail to her marriage. What follows is a dark comedy of Shakespearean-esque revenge plots. Whilst the plot is pretty predictable, this book can certainly be considered an entertaining and light read.

This is only five of the many (many) books out there – there’s something for everyone!