Give Your Brain a Vacation With These 12 Summer Reads

When planning what to read on vacation, it’s only natural you’d pick a book based on where you’re going. Sometimes, a dreamy French romance, riotous Vegas escapade, or lake house family drama is just the thing. But another idea for your summer reading stack is this: Think about what kind of vacation you want. And I don’t mean beach vs. resort. I’m talking about the emotional and conceptual groove you’d like to be in — the vibe! Are you craving self-care? A swashbuckling journey? Gorgeous new environments? Whatever your mood, we’ve got you covered.

Ahead, we’ve tailored some selections for a kaleidoscope of summer moods. Read on for book suggestions — no matter where you’re going this summer.

If You Really, Really Need to Switch Off: Real Self-Care by Pooja Lakshmin

To Shop: Amazon, $24

Come summertime, you might notice that you’re burnt out and totally ready for a break. Warning: This book will not fix all your problems. But that’s what makes it so special. In her practical guide to self-care, psychiatrist Pooja Lakshmin points out that so many elements of life are out of our control — which makes her arguments so much more realistic and trustworthy. Regular massages and manicures are incredible, but if you’re wondering why you still feel so stressed and rushed despite indulging in soothing activities, Lakshmin has the answer.

If You’re Seeking an Adrenaline Rush: The Guest by Emma Cline

To Shop: Barnes and Noble, $25

Emma Cline, who wrote the 2016 blockbuster The Girls, will do your heart rate no favors with her new novel. The Guest centers on a young woman, Alex, stranded in the treacherous luxury of Long Island after her wealthy older lover dismisses her. She calculates that she’ll be able to get back into his good graces in a few days — thus beginning an increasingly alarming sequence of grifts to lengthen her stay in The Hamptons. Clouded by a haze of pilfered drugs, Alex plies her beauty, charm, and well-honed lies in order to make it through the hectic social gauntlet of New York’s 1%. This thriller features bad decisions instead of blood and gore but is just as knuckle-biting.

If You Want to Be Inspired: Young and Restless by Mattie Kahn 

To Shop: Amazon, $25

History buffs and feminists will relish Young and Restless for its tales of teenage girls who have changed the world. Mattie Kahn, a former editor at Glamour, delves into the stories of teens like Claudette Colvin, who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus (“History had me glued to the seat,” she said) and Alice De Rivera, who sued the New York State Board of Education after being rejected from Stuyvesant High School because of her gender. “The process of writing this book has filled me with hope and admiration,” Kahn writes, and it will do the same for any reader.

If You’re in the Mood to Swoon: Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess

To Shop: Bookshop, $28

If enemies-to-lovers romance is your thing, Cecilia Rabess’s debut novel will fit the bill. Everything’s Fine details the will-they-won’t-they tension between Jess, a Black woman uneasy about her place in corporate America, and Josh, a conservative white guy who is as caring and steady as he is dogmatic. Rabess doesn’t pull punches about the friction that arises between two people whose principles are totally at odds. But, her unflinching clarity around why people are drawn together magnetically despite themselves makes for an engrossing read.

If You Need Some Family Time: Oh My Mother! By Connie Wang

To Shop: Target, $25

You might have seen Connie Wang’s recent viral story about being named after Connie Chung, along with many other Asian-Americans born in the 1908s (it’s great!). In this memoir, she applies the same thoughtful, almost forensic, attention to her mother, Qing, and their shared history. Wang riffs on their relationship against the backdrop of various American settings — small-town Minnesota, Disney World, the Magic Mike Live show in Las Vegas — and abroad. Family ties can vary in complexity and strength, and thinking about them deeply can yield special knowledge about both your relatives and yourself. “I came to understand that my mother was indeed one of a kind, just like she’s always insisted,” Wang concludes.

If You Love to Laugh: Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

To Shop: Barnes and Noble, $15

The cover of Samantha Irby’s latest collection of spikily humorous essays features a hissing skunk. The message: This book is repulsive, furious … and so, so lovable. Irby has plenty of devoted readers after a long history of writing memorable paeans to her various obsessions (while her recaps of Judge Mathis are an acquired taste, earlier essay collections like We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, are a pure delight). 

Irby is so talented at hilarious ire. She unleashes her all-caps, multi-question-mark opinions on literally anything: chain restaurants, bodily functions, and even her own questionable taste in music (Dave Matthews Band, anyone?). If you happen to be traveling by yourself, this book is like a friend who has turned up all of a sudden, right on time. Bonus: Sex and the City fans will relish Irby’s take on the original HBO drama (real heads will know that she wrote for the first season of the reboot, And Just Like That…, and is a supervising producer on the current season).

If You’re On Digital Detox But Miss Your Phone: Swipe Up For More! By Stephanie McNeal

To Shop: Amazon, $25

When I’m on vacation, I love reading about people who are super different from me: for example, the aspirational yet equally mysterious inner world of a highly visible influencer. What does it look like to endlessly document one’s life? How does it feel to have everyone watch your every move — often disapprovingly? And the big one: How much money do they make for sharing their picture-perfect TikToks and Reels with us? Stephanie McNeal spent time with three influencers — Caitlin Covington (yes, she of Christian Girl Autumn fame!), fitness advocate Mirna Valerio, and parenting blogger Shannon Bird — and reveals what life is really like in the internet spotlight. 

If You Can’t Stop Checking Your Calendar: Saving Time by Jenny Odell

To Shop: Target, $21

In 2019, I took Jenny Odell’s bestselling How to Do Nothing with me on a trip to Sweden. Cradled in a hammock, I took her meditative prose to heart, trying to divest (even a tiny bit!) from the internet age’s relentless pull on our attention. Odell is back this summer with an investigation into the nature of time and how it affects both our lived experience and also the broader currents of history. 

As well as being a writer, Odell is an artist who often curates collections of disparate objects, and her bowerbird-like sensibility comes to the fore here too. Bringing together a range of topics, including climate change, clocks, birdwatching, and productivity, Odell makes a dizzying case for thinking differently about our day-to-day.

If Travel Appeals but Leaving Your Couch Doesn’t: Loot by Tania James

To Shop: Bookshop, $26

You don’t need a plane ticket to go on a journey — just grab Tania James’s rich, engrossing fourth novel. Set against political upheaval in 1700s India, England, and France, the story follows Lucien Du Leze, a French clockmaker, who apprentices Abbas Muhammad, a young carver, to assist in making a lifelike tiger for the Tipu Sultan of Mysore. Working to the ruler’s brief timeline, the unlikely pair complete the project as they contemplate their respective futures. Abbas worries he’s been labeled a traitor, while Du Leze’s home country is aflame with revolution. Then the tiger takes Abbas to places he would never have dreamed of. Based on the story of a real historical artifact, Loot is full of mesmerizing detail and warmly rendered relationships. 

If You’re Looking for Adventure: The Wager by David Grann

To Shop: Barnes and Noble, $27

Did you finish watching Yellowjackets and wish for more high-stakes Lord of the Flies conflict? Easy! David Grann has written plenty of high-profile historical nonfiction books about the twisted drama of history. (The forthcoming Killers of the Flower Moon movie is based on his 2017 book about the murders of wealthy Osage Nation people in Oklahoma.) This time, Grann starts with a shipload of sailors who washed up in Brazil in 1742, followed months later by a smaller vessel containing just three men. All survived being stranded on a Patagonian island; each group accused the other of treachery. What really happened? This absorbing account reads like the news is unfolding in real-time, even though centuries have passed.

If You’d Like to Return to Childhood: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

To Shop: Amazon, $10

This is a classic — simple enough to be read by a child but bittersweet enough to evoke a wide spectrum of emotions. Tove Jansson, the Finnish creator of the famous Moomintrolls characters, wrote this book in 1972, but its gentle rhythms are timeless. Six-year-old Sophia has endless enthusiasm for discovery, and her unnamed grandmother has lived through it all. Their summer together, spent on a small Scandinavian island, combines the many delights of nature with the painful love of close family ties. It’s not a linear narrative but rather several beautiful scenes that will take you back to the languid, enchanting world of childhood.

If You Want an Out-of-Body Experience: Open Throat by Henry Hoke

To Shop: Barnes and Noble, $22

P-22, the mountain lion that lived in Los Angeles’s Griffith Park, made headlines several times before dying late last year — this photo of him prowling in front of the Hollywood sign especially caught the national imagination. Henry Hoke’s prose poem imagines what this creature’s life was like. Written in short, conversational verses, Open Throat has an animalistic immediacy; from the very first line, it conveys a strong sense of character and place. “I’ve never eaten a person, but today I might,” it begins — and doesn’t let you out of its claws until the end.