What to read this summer

Building the book stack

Sicily looking sexy

Here’s what I’ve read or am planning to read this summer -

Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian

Lust and infidelity in academia (as recommended by Esther Walker below). Loved it.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

A mother’s observations about love and regret over the course of her daughter’s wedding weekend. Spare and elegant.

Dream State by Eric Pulchner

Another wedding saga with a more expansive, Great American Novel feel to it. I loved the first two thirds before it sagged at the end but I reckon it’s still worth your time.

Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkosky

Endorsed enthusiastically by two friends who know about these things. A woman risks everything for a second chance at the one who got away. My next read.

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

Stylish meditation on hipster millennial culture through the lives of digital creatives, Anna and Tom, living the dream in Berlin. Clever/interesting as opposed to deeply enjoyable/engrossing. The irony is that Anna and Tom would definitely own a copy of Perfection.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

I was always grimly fascinated by the tragic story around John Kennedy Toole’s failure to get this novel published in his lifetime, his sad demise and suicide at 31 and his posthumous success. My husband read it last summer and basically live blogged the experience to me to such a degree that I decided I didn’t need to read it but I’ve changed my mind. This summer, I will.

Cover Story by Mhairi McFarlane

Very easy to read enemies-to-lovers rom com set in my home town of Manchester.

Empire of the Elite by Michael M. Grynbaum

A dishy history of Condé Nast and its influence on the culture.

Could you have landed a job at Vogue in the ‘90s?

P.s I didn’t work at Vogue but I did have a brief Condé interlude early in my career. In my interview at Vogue House, the only question I remember them asking was what my father did for a living. I got a job at Glamour which was great but then I ended up at ELLE for 10 happy years - a much better fit for a pharmacist’s daughter.

I asked for some more recommendations from a few of the most tasteful readers I know:

This summer, I’m temporarily veering off my usual path of low-brow romantic fiction to read Keith McNally’s memoir, I Regret Almost Everything. He's best known as the eccentric NYC restaurateur behind iconic hotspots like Balthazar, who has lived a messy but fascinating life, which he (apparently) recounts with a dry sense of humour and a gift for self-deprecation. It’s part diary, part confession, part cultural artefact – and I’m genuinely excited to spend time with something so wildly outside my regular reading fare.

- Lisa

I just read The Last Days of Summer by Sarra Manning. As you know I am a frustrated romance reader in that I gear myself up for a lovely genre treat but so often the book is so lame it destroys the fun. But this is genuinely funny and moving with proper characters and felt both grounded and romantic.

- Alice

When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter. I've always been obsessed with magazines, particularly salacious gossip from behind the scenes of putting them together. As a teenager in the 1990s, all I wanted was to work in one of those hallowed offices. Getting my first job at Marie Claire aged 21, and then working on the launch of Grazia at 24, I felt so lucky - and looking back, it's mad how much we spent on taxis, lunches and Konditor cakes in the years before the internet decimated the industry. But Graydon Carter's tenure at Vanity Fair was - clearly - another level. I've been saving this one for my sunlounger.

- Rosamund Dean, Well Well Well

Well okay then Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian but if that’s already taken then The Book of George by Kate Greathead. But also How to Lose your Mother by Erica Jong Fast.

- Esther Walker, The Spike

By the way, Esther’s very good debut novel, Well, This Is Awkward will be published on 11th September by Bedford Square. Pre-order it here, immediately if not sooner

Some more of my reading lists:

My books of the year (2024)

10 great rom coms to read now (2023)

Summer Reading List 1 (2022)

Summer Reading List 2 (2022)

Summer Reading List 3 (2022)

P.s After the abject disappointment of Too Much, my friend Lisa recommended Mix Tape on iPlayer which was really sweet and has a great soundtrack. I also re-watched all of the excellent Hacks before the most recent fourth series aired. The set up for the fifth season felt a little tenuous but I’ll forgive it because I love the show and characters so much.

Well, could you have landed a job at Vogue in the ‘90s? What have you read / are you reading this summer? Did you hate Too Much? Please share in the comments.

See you next time,

Hannah