Pick up a new summer read while the sun shines …
Between summer holidays, beach days and long weekends, summer is often the time when we get most of our reading done for the year. If you’re like us, you probably have mountains of books on your to-be-read pile, waiting for you to reach for them. But if you’re looking for something new, one of those books everyone’s talking about, the unputdownable reads that have you hooked from start to finish, then you’ve come to the right place. We asked you, our Glossy readers, for your best books of the summer and the answers came through thick and fast via Instagram. We’ve gathered ten of the top recommendations which might help to whittle down the shortlist for your next read – or alternatively could add to the towering stack beside your bed. Either way, keep scrolling for the best books of summer 2022, according to readers of The Gloss …
Trespasses by Irish author Louise Kennedy is a debut novel that was also recommended by Books Editor Orna Mulcahy in a previous issue who says there’s a brilliant scene in which “Cushla, a young Belfast teacher and part-time bar worker, meets her married lover in a Dublin hotel that’s swarming with nuns and priests (has to be Wynn’s). When they’ve wined, dined and made love, she buys some religious souvenirs to take home with her. But little good can come from the relationship given their religious and political differences and someone is going to get badly hurt.” A love story fraught with struggle, this is definitely one of summer’s top reads.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is one you’ve probably seen all over your Instagram feed with its eye-catching cover. Set in the 1960s it tells the story of scientist turned TV cooking star Elizabeth Zott who is on a path to empower women. This one is currently being adapted as a series for Apple TV so be sure to read it before it’s released.
Colleen Hoover’s books have gathered a cult following on #BookTok, where TikTok users share their favourite reads. Many of you recommended It Ends With Us, which is exactly the type of book lots of us love to read while on holiday. An easy page-turner, follow the twists and turns of this multi-pronged – and at times devastating – love story that is somewhat inspired by Hoover’s own personal story.
It’s not summer without a great new Marian Keyes book, and Again, Rachel was unsurprisingly recommended by many of you. We’re still following Rachel Walsh, this time as she returns to rehab – but not for the reasons you might think. Guaranteed laughs, some tears, if we can offer one piece of advice, it’s to try and not finish it on the plane!
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller was a hit last year. Released in July 2021, Reese Witherspoon picked it as one of her book club reads and it quickly made its way to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. A year later and it’s one of 2022’s best summer reads. Unfolding over 24 hours, the plot weaves back and forth through time, telling the story of Elle from childhood to 50 years old, and exploring the factors that will lead her to make the ultimate life-changing decision to choose between a longed-for life with her married childhood love, Jonas, and a stable family life with her husband, Peter, and children. Set in Cape Cod it explores issues of childhood trauma, family relationships, secrets, lies and the process of grieving and dealing with guilt.
Another Reese’s Book Club pick (we are beginning to sense a theme here!) Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAlister sees a mother battle against time to try and stop her son from committing a murder. We’re intrigued by this one, a mystery thriller which is told in reverse from the time of the murder, and imagine the suspense-filled novel would be perfect for a day by the pool.
A somewhat otherworldly novel, The Stranding by Kate Sawyer’s jacket description will undoubtedly grab your attention: “When Ruth arrives, the news cycle she has been ignoring for so long is now the new reality. Far from home and with no real hope of survival, she finds herself climbing into the mouth of a beached whale alongside a stranger. When she emerges, it is to a landscape that bears no relation to the world they knew before…”. We’ll take your word for it, Glossy readers, and dive right in!
Set at Christmas time in a small Irish town, this is not what you would immediately consider a perfect beach read, but trust us when we say Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is one of the most moving novellas you could read this year. A father, Bill Furlong, struggling to cope with the demands of his busy coal business learns of the terrible conditions young girls and women are living in in a Magdalane laundry at the edge of town when he makes a delivery one morning. Furlong battles with the idea of helping one of the young girls he comes across, coming to a decision that is ultimately based on the upbringing he himself received. You’ll read it in a couple of hours and want to start it all over again.
Two non-fiction books made the cut in your recommendations, Love In A Time of War and The Palace Papers (not to be confused with The Paper Palace!). The Palace Papers by former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown explores royal gossip of the last 25 years with heavy emphasis on Megxit and Prince Andrew. Love in a Time of War by journalist and writer Lara Marlowe tells of her marriage to famous war correspondent Robert Fisk who died in 2020. The book is a poignant love story set against a background of war, revolution and invasion as the two meet and ultimately fall in love while reporting on some of the most horrific atrocities of the 1980s and 1990s in the Middle East.
