It was one of the first really hot days of the year in New York, and I found myself on a mission. With photographer Yael Malka, I boarded the ferry all the way out to the Rockaways in search of the city’s hottest (outdoor) club: Jacob Riis Park. The beach, already in full summer mode, was packed. Music ranging from EDM beats to disco tunes to J.Lo hits could be heard across the expanse of hot sand and beautiful bodies. Near the shore, someone set up a table labeled “Free Date” in an effort to encourage a hopeful romantic to sit down and wait until another beachgoer joined them. Some people were dancing, some were drinking, many were swimming or sleeping — and several had their noses buried in a book.
On the ferry and at the beach, I spied the book that inspired Killing Eve (Luke Jennings’s Codename Villanelle), a classic Tolkien trilogy (Lord of the Rings, anyone?), BookTok sensation Sarah J. Maas’s Queen of Shadows, a law textbook, A.S. Byatt’s The Little Black Book of Stories, and, of course, the book of the summer: All Fours, by Miranda July. The recommendations we gathered didn’t remotely resemble any summer reading list I’ve seen. Which is exactly why together, they form the Ultimate Summer Reading List, with representation from a range of genres, authors, and even decades. The lesson? Read whatever you want this summer, and don’t worry about having the hottest titles on your shelf. I know I won’t.
Omar, 33, administrative aide in a philosophy department, reading Estravagario, by Pablo Neruda (bilingual edition)
“It’s a gift I recently received from a friend,” says Omar. “He said, ‘This will fit you. You’re dark.’ Such a love letter to receive a book. I read Neruda in Arabic, but it was a very bad translation. So now rereading it again, to hear the poet, changes everything. I love him, but he’s a bit mean sometimes. I’m reading very harsh poems, but it is such a beautiful day, so I’m also enjoying this. I understand I’m sitting here in my safety, and at the same time thinking that he was in political exile. I came from political exile; I came from Syria, so I connect with him.”
Leda, 18, reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, by Stieg Larsson
“I like the author. The way he writes is very interesting — it’s more of an investigation done from several frames,” says Leda. “It’s my third time reading it. It has some more serious topics, so there’s viewer discretion and advisory involved, but I really like it. It definitely keeps you on the edge. And then there’s a twist at the end.”
Hope, 20, researcher for movies, reading Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, by Robert McKee
“I am an aspiring screenwriter. This is the widely accepted textbook of screenwriting. He’s very curmudgeonly, but definitely an expert of his craft,” Hope says. “I usually read it right before bed. It’s pretty boring, so it puts me right to sleep. It’s funny that I’m reading it in the daylight. I keep going to nap and then waking up again. The foundations of the book are the essential foundations of the theory of story, which is Aristotle, and the act structures, and building and releasing tension. It’s cool.”
Clay, 26, special-education teacher, reading There There, by Tommy Orange
“It’s cool so far. I just started today. Every chapter is a perspective from a different character, so I’m still very much getting to know the people,” says Clay. “It was on our bookshelf at home. My roommates have read it. The common thread is that they’re all Indigenous people living in Oakland. It seems emotional but interesting. I love an emotional read. It feels very personal, sort of like a diary. It’s not been hard to focus while also listening to the music and noise in the background.”
“They’re really, really beautiful. Some sonnets are of heartbreak, some are of love, and some are empowerment. She’s a great author,” says Katherine. “Each poem is different, so I take a picture of my favorite ones. I definitely recommend page 12. They’re not titled. I read it on the train sometimes. For the moment, for what I’m going through in my personal life, I need it now. I dealt with a little heartbreak recently, so it gives you a little love too, and a little hope that everything’s gonna be okay.”
“My dad actually gave it to me. He read it in Spanish,” says Kevin. “Because it’s in English and Andrés only speaks Spanish, I was translating it as I was reading it to tell him a little bit about what it’s about. It’s good. We only got two pages in because it got too hard. Andrés says that the book sounds really interesting so far. It’s about ways to live a better life, a more peaceful life. You’re at the beach, you’re relaxing; it’s a good way to connect.”
“It’s all about a woman who’s coming out of a traumatic relationship experience and figuring out how to date again. Seems like it’s gonna be an emotional roller coaster,” says Jess. “The writing is really beautiful. It feels very real. I feel like I know these characters in real life. It’s got a lot of the energy of summer, where you’re running around the city and getting into trouble with your friends. It’s New York’s Brooklyn dating scene wrapped up concisely, but also in a real way.”
“They’re really, really beautiful. Some sonnets are of heartbreak, some are of love, and some are empowerment. She’s a great author,” says Katherine. “Each poem is different, so I take a picture of my favorite ones. I definitely recommend page 12. They’re not titled. I read it on the train sometimes. For the moment, for what I’m going through in my personal life, I need it now. I dealt with a little heartbreak recently, so it gives you a little love too, and a little hope that everything’s gonna be okay.”
“My dad actually gave it to me. He read it in Spanish,” says Kevin. “Because it’s in English and Andrés only speaks Spanish, I was translating it as I was reading it to tell him a little bit about what it’s about. It’s good. We only got two pages in because it got too hard. Andrés says that the book sounds really interesting so far. It’s about ways to live a better life, a more peaceful life. You’re at the beach, you’re relaxing; it’s a good way to connect.”
“It’s all about a woman who’s coming out of a traumatic relationship experience and figuring out how to date again. Seems like it’s gonna be an emotional roller coaster,” says Jess. “The writing is really beautiful. It feels very real. I feel like I know these characters in real life. It’s got a lot of the energy of summer, where you’re running around the city and getting into trouble with your friends. It’s New York’s Brooklyn dating scene wrapped up concisely, but also in a real way.”
Alex, caseworker at a senior center, reading Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, by Sunil Yapa
“I’m about halfway done. It’s about the protests against the World Trade Organization in, I think, 2000. It’s fictional,” says Alex. “It’s lots of different people’s stories who are drawn into the protests, converging together. It’s a coming-of-age story. It’s very fast-paced and an easy, interesting, at times emotional read. I would recommend it. It’s a little intense, but it’s good.”
Genevieve, 25, events and public programs at a nonprofit, reading All Fours, by Miranda July
“It’s been a really compelling beach read. I have, like, 50 pages left, which is exciting. It’s a fun book for summer, and I love Miranda. She’s always writing fascinating stories,” says Genevieve. “It’s been engrossing. I bought it two days after it came out. It reminds me a little bit of some books that I’ve read by Elena Ferrante, and those are often set on the beach, in the summer, but it’s a woman sort of going through it, or going through a crisis in those books, and I really like reading those books in the summer. It’s been strange and delightful.”
Amy Buchanan, 37, strategy director at Ogilvy, reading Lucky Red, by Claudia Cravens
“It is a lesbian Western. My job is relatively new, and I’m putting myself out there and participating in things. There’s a thriving queer community at my workplace, and it’s all hyperfemme, which is really fun. This is our book club book,” says Claudia. “I’m from Oklahoma, and my dad is a beef-cattle geneticist, so I grew up around horses and cows and livestock. All his students were literal cowboys and cowgirls. Country-western things make me homesick in a good way. Even just a few pages in, I feel very nostalgic. I’m early on, but I think it’s going to be smutty. Summer reads are great when they’re a little smutty. When I was growing up, anyone with a femme presence was such a throwaway character, and it is very wonderful to read, even in the very start of this book, something where the femme presence is the most complicated and interesting character. It makes me reframe my childhood and what I was able to expect of myself in the stories that I was told.”
“This is actually a reread for me. This book is fantastic. It’s a fantasy — really a romantasy. It follows a female main character named Oraya,” says Michelle. “She’s going through this world of vampires that are fighting each other, and she’s the human in the middle of it all. She ends up meeting someone, a rival, and there’s a lot of tension. Also, the whole empire is kind of falling apart. I’ve been eating the book up really fast.”
“Now that I’ve finished the Killing Eve TV series, I’m reading the books. So far it’s pretty similar, but I’ve heard that they got pretty different as the books go on,” says Katie. “Which is good, because the TV series was heartbreaking in the end. It’s a little trashy. It’s, like, gay women written by a man, which is always a little suspect. But it’s sexy. It’s fast paced. It’s pretty brainless, so you can pick it up anywhere and be entertained. I usually read the book first, but Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh brought me to the show more than the plot.”
“I found it on an Instagram Reel. It’s by a Palestinian author who is based in Brooklyn. It’s a generational story. The grandparents immigrated to Brooklyn, and the younger-generation girls are figuring out how to live with the cultural differences. I wanted to try to be a little bit more involved in any way I could, and reading was such a good outlet for me. It’s not a fun, ‘let me just ignore all my problems’ book, but it does get you out of your world and your problems, into a totally different world.”
“This is actually a reread for me. This book is fantastic. It’s a fantasy — really a romantasy. It follows a female main character named Oraya,” says Michelle. “She’s going through this world of vampires that are fighting each other, and she’s the human in the middle of it all. She ends up meeting someone, a rival, and there’s a lot of tension. Also, the whole empire is kind of falling apart. I’ve been eating the book up really fast.”
“Now that I’ve finished the Killing Eve TV series, I’m reading the books. So far it’s pretty similar, but I’ve heard that they got pretty different as the books go on,” says Katie. “Which is good, because the TV series was heartbreaking in the end. It’s a little trashy. It’s, like, gay women written by a man, which is always a little suspect. But it’s sexy. It’s fast paced. It’s pretty brainless, so you can pick it up anywhere and be entertained. I usually read the book first, but Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh brought me to the show more than the plot.”
“I found it on an Instagram Reel. It’s by a Palestinian author who is based in Brooklyn. It’s a generational story. The grandparents immigrated to Brooklyn, and the younger-generation girls are figuring out how to live with the cultural differences. I wanted to try to be a little bit more involved in any way I could, and reading was such a good outlet for me. It’s not a fun, ‘let me just ignore all my problems’ book, but it does get you out of your world and your problems, into a totally different world.”
Laurel, 38, photographer, reading Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler
“I just read Kindred and I really enjoyed it, and a friend of mine was like, ‘If you like that, you’ll like this even better.’ So now I’m onto this one,” says Laurel. “The first few pages of Kindred caught me faster, but when hyperempathy got dropped in there, I was like, fascinating. It piqued my interest. Let me pick out some words from the back: anarchy, debilitating sensitivity to others’ emotions, survival. Maybe some tough themes, but I guess tough themes are okay for the beach.”
Grace, 25, diplomat, reading What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, by Helen Oyeyemi
“It’s a collection of short stories; the one that I just started reading began with a baby being abandoned at a monastery and monks raising this baby, and then when the baby turns 30, she starts working as a washerwoman for this woman, Señora Lucy,” says Grace. “Now it’s going into Señora Lucy’s life, and she’s seemingly a con artist who is in a relationship with another con artist. It’s, like, lesbian con artists enjoying conning people, and that’s where I’ve got to in the book. Her girlfriend has just been accused of murdering her employer. So let’s see where it goes from there. It was on my bookshelf, I was looking for a new book to read, and I hadn’t read this one yet. Short stories are perfect for going to the beach. It’s got intrigue, mystery, romance, crime, everything.”
Justin J. Wee, 32, photographer, reading Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist, by Cecilia Gentili, and Tarot for Change, by Jessica Dore
“Cecilia Gentili is an icon of the Brooklyn trans community who passed away earlier this year. She was an amazing mother. This book is this amazing insight into a really young version of herself who was already embodied in her transness. Someone was clocking something in her that she didn’t even know was there, which is such a part of queerness. And then I’m reading Tarot for Change, by Jessica Dore. Whenever I do tarot, I use this book. She interprets it through a modality of behavioral psychology. Tarot is just a portal through which you can receive information from the universe. This is an amazing book that encourages you to view the tarot through a prism of self-love and compassion. These books feel complementary to the context that we’re in. We’re on the beach, surrounded by so many people, so many top-surgery scars. Being here is a powerful vortex.”