Reading List
Beach Reads and Beyond: 10 Not-Boring Books You’ll Actually Want to Crack Open This Summer
From memoirs to fictional tales, these titles won't disappoint
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Remember a time, not terribly long ago, when you were tasked with gobbling up a list of books by the end of summer? Imagine this reading list as a grown-up version of that — minus any back-to-school jitters. From Pulitzer-winning memoirs to music tell-alls and full-belly laugh essays, these books are sure to match a range of interests and tastes. Below, check out the best reads — released over the last few years and in 2023 — to complete your descent into total summer chill. (Looking for more book recommendations? Here are a few of our favorite music books worth reading this year.)
Siren Song by Seymour Stein
BEST FOR: Impressing During Wedding Season: Wedding season entails talking with a bunch of people you’ll probably never see again while dancing (literally) around hot-button topics. Meet your go-to. The autobiography of late music executive and co-founder of Sire Records, Stein recounts his early years, signing The Ramones, discovering Madonna, and plenty of other music lore that’s foolproof for whipping out between boozy toasts. Plus, there’s unexpected personal anecdotes that humanize the industry lion, too.
Buy Siren Song: My Life in Music $22.99
Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby
BEST FOR: Long Travel Days: The newly dropped and highly anticipated book of personal essays by writer Samantha Irby does not disappoint. If you’re planning a marathon of a travel day, be sure to stow this in your carry-on. In this installment, Irby dishes on writing for the Sex & the City reboot, the pandemic, and the general absurdity of navigating adulthood. Perfect for picking up at random intervals that schlepping your life across borders often requires, you’ll breeze through this by the time your trip is over.
Buy Quietly Hostile: Essays $15.30
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
BEST FOR: Motivating You to Complete (or Start) That Project: Thinking about tackling that half-finished manuscript this summer? Nurturing a side hustle that’s currently more flop than fortune-maker? Rick Rubin’s book about leading life as an artist—no matter who you are—is sure to shed new perspectives on mining creativity. Sidestep any awkward small talk about stalled projects while on grill duty by dropping some of Rubin’s major knowledge nuggets.
Buy The Creative Act: A Way of Being $19.82
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang
BEST FOR: Surviving Family Vacation: This TikTok sensation will transport you far from your coworker’s Slacks or partner’s panic attacks and into a richly appointed dark academia epic. Kuang’s novel tackles big topics from linguistics to colonialism while crafting a story so thrilling, you’ll forgive whoever forgot where they parked the car.
Raving by McKenzie Wark
BEST FOR: Summer Colds: When you succumb to a summer cold, it can be painful to watch your pals party without you. Thanks to New School professor and writer McKenzie Wark’s slip of a book, you’ll be right back in the center of things with her brilliant review of rave culture. Equal parts autofiction and critical theory, Wark stamps your rave passport and waves you into a vibrant community rooted in dance, drugs, and dressing to the nines that carries meaning louder than its thrumming bass.
Don’t Tell Anyone The Secrets I Told You: A Memoir by Lucinda Williams
BEST FOR: Cross-Country Road Trips: Download this one before heading out on your next road trip. Narrated by Williams herself, the Grammy winner and iconic singer-songwriter details her hard-won victories in country music, and the rocky path she traveled to get there. Not a country fan? You’ll still be inspired and transfixed with Williams’ resilience and perseverance. The mile markers will fly by.
Buy Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told… $23.99
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
BEST FOR: Dissociating After a Long Workday: Reporting to the office (WFH or otherwise) is plain cruel during the summer. One of the few balms? Unwinding with a deliciously twisted novel that only the mind of Bret Eason Ellis could hatch. Propulsive and galloping, Ellis plops you in the middle of his high school senior year. It’s everything you could picture: throttling Porsches, a new wave soundtrack, star-studded soirées, teenage angst, and a serial killer. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself covertly reading this one while on the clock.
Buy The Shards: A novel $20.49
Stay True by Hua Hsu
BEST FOR: Summertime Sadness (And Nostalgia): Childhood and early adulthood leave their mark. Here, New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu pens a Pulitzer Prize-winning reflection on his friendship with Ken, a college classmate who died unexpectedly a few years after they met. This memoir will have you sinking into your feelings as Hsu processes grief, growing up, and the role of art in everyday and extraordinary moments.
Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
BEST FOR: Long Weekend Reading: If you’re searching for a book to devour over the course of a long weekend, look no further. A pick for Roxane Gay’s “The Audacious Book Club,” Adjei-Brenyah introduces Loretta Thurwar, an incarcerated person who belongs to Criminal Action Penal Entertainment (CAPE), which pits inmates against one another in fatal WWE-type fighting. The reward? Freedom, by whatever means possible.
Buy Chain Gang All Stars: A Novel $24.30
Don’t Call Me Home: A Memoir by Alexandra Auder
BEST FOR: Lazy Sundays: Not many people can call the Chelsea Hotel their childhood home. Auder can. Born to Warhol superstar, Viva and filmmaker, Mark Auder, Alexandra Auder lifts the veil on bohemian living. While she may have been surrounded by some of the most influential artists and creators of the era — New York City, 1980s, to be exact — it was anything but glamorous. Auder unpacks a childhood surrounded by downtown starlets, predicting her mother’s stormy inner climate, and shouldering responsibilities far too mature for her early years.
Buy Don’t Call Me Home: A Memoir $23.84
Bonus Books
- The One by Julia Argy: A debut that packs almost as much drama as Scandoval.
- Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono: A surprise to no one, Bono is as charismatic on stage as he is in his memoir.
- Lone Women by Victor LaValle: Think 1883 meets The Shining, or something.