Who Says ‘Beach Reads’ Must Be Mindless Pulp? 24 Summer Reading Books That Are Fun *and* Smart

Thanks for reading The Nonlinear Life, a newsletter about navigating life's ups and downs. Every Monday and Thursday we explore family, health, work, and meaning, with the occasional dad joke and dose of inspiration. If you're new around here, read my introductory post, learn about me, or check out our archives. And if you enjoyed this article, please subscribe or share with a friend.

---

Marcel Proust liked to read during the summer, but he hated reading outdoors. Instead, he preferred reading in the emptiest room in the house. As he wrote in his journal:

In the mornings, after returning from the park, when everyone had gone out for a walk, I would slip into the dining room, where no one would be coming until the distant hour for lunch …, and where I would have for my sole companions, most respectful of reading, the painted plates hanging on the wall, the calendar from which the previous day’s page had been newly torn, the clock and the fire.

I learned this story from the book I’m reading this week, A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel.

Wait, it’s summer, and I’m reading a 359-page book of history?

You bet!

It’s time to reclaim summer reading. Somehow, without anyone really noticing, beach read had come to mean mindless pulp. I’m all for mindless pulp. I’m all for reading of any kind!

What I’m not all for is the idea that these types of books are the only books you can read in public in a bathing suit. When I posted a mild rant about this topic on my Facebook page this week, I got an outpouring of responses. A few people pushed back (“Beach read to me is ‘uplifting novels that leave you feeling all the feels!’”), but more people agreed (“I love this question…and the responses!” “This thread has given me so many suggestions!”).

As one reader wrote, “Beach reading certainly doesn't have to be mindless. Remember that Lin-Manuel Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton on the beach, got an idea, and look what happened!”

Check out the long list of suggestions on that thread. In the meantime, below are eight suggestions from me for Beach Reads that are Fun and Smart. And below, 16 more from readers.

And since I went to the dermatologist last week and the ophthalmologist this week, don’t forget to wear sunscreen and sunglasses!

1. Literary Fiction

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan. Jenny Egan is among the most celebrated writers of our time; the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for A Visit from the Goon Squad; and the former head of PEN. I also know her as a piano mom and fellow parent at my daughters’ school in Brooklyn. Candy House is a "sibling" of Goon Squad and brings Egan back into the present, back into New York City, and back at the intersection of memory, identity, and meaning where all the best novels live.

2. Fun and Games

The Puzzler by A.J. Jacobs. I met A.J. two decades ago when he approached someone wearing my name bag at the Miami Book Fair. Only it wasn’t me; it was my brother. Since then, he’s become something of a brother to me. He’s also developed into one of the funniest and wisest writers of our generation. His latest gem, subtitled One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life, is perfect for the summer, when, in my family gatherings, games are front and center.

3. Romantic Epic

The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani. I spent much of this summer in the Mediterranean (see my post next week, “3 Things I Learned About Life from 3 Weeks in Greece”), and I couldn’t stop thinking about this perfect summer read, which stretches from Italy to the South of France to Scotland to England. This is a beach read that mixes the sands of time with the winds of war, spans three generations, and has delectable treats, from jewels to pastries, on every page. Check out my exclusive interview with Adriana, her first for this book!

4. Futurist

Longpath by Ari Wallach. Both a deep thinker and a mensch, Ari Wallach has written an essential guide to the twenty-second century. Yep, you read that right! With the acumen of a futurist and the soul of a rabbi, Wallach shows us that the only effective antidote to the rampant now-ism of the present is to have an urgent conversation about reshaping the far future. Longpath will make every conversation you have more meaningful." Bonus: When you buy this book (which you should), you’ll find this quote on the back. It was my pleasure to blurb it.

5. Historical Fiction

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. One of the most mentioned books in the response to my Facebook query, Hamnet is the book my wife fell deepest in love with this summer. “Is it going to be sad?” she worried. She doesn’t worry anymore. The winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Hamnet tells the story of a penniless Latin tutor in Stratford-upon-Avon who falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric woman just as the Black Death descends in the 1580s. The fact that Shakespeare infuses the novel would seem to make it doomed to fail by comparison; instead, the book soars because of it.

6. American History

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The book everybody gasps at. Drawing on her life as an Indigenous scientist and as a woman, Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, shows how other living beings―asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass―offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. This book is about listening, learning, and, like the subjects she writes about, growing.

7. Experimental Fiction

Monkey Boy by Francisco Goldman. James Wood of the New Yorker, one of the toughest critics around, called this book “funny, intimate, sarcastic, all-noticing.” Monkey Boy tells the tale of Francisco Goldberg, a middle-aged writer who grapples with the challenges of family and love, legacies of violence and war, and growing up Guatemalan and American, Catholic and Jewish. It was named a best book of 2021 by NPR, Boston Globe, and Kirkus.

8. Debut Memoir

Acceptance by Emi Nietfeld. Just published this week, Acceptance marks the debut of a formidable talent. The New York Times, in a generous review before publication, called it “a remarkable memoir.” The story of a homeless teenager with a hoarder for a mother and a harried past, who wrote college application essays in her Toyota Corolla and was eventually accepted to Harvard, Acceptance feels like this generation’s Prozac Nation. NPR called it a “necessary corrective to the ‘gospel of grit.’”

Here are some the popular mentions from fellow readers. Please feel free to add yours into the comments setion below. And see you on the beach!

The Shallows by Nicholas G. Carr

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

We Have Tired of Violence by Matt Easton

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore

Forgiving What You Can't Forget by Lysa Terkeura

The City We Became by N.K. Jemison

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindberg

Summer Getaway by Susan Mallory

The Road to Sparta by Dean Karnazes

Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well-Lived by Laurence Shames and Peter Barton

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre

Cultish by Amanda Montell

☀

Thank you for reading The Nonlinear Life. Please help us grow the community by subscribing, sharing, and commenting below. Also, you can learn more about me, read my introductory post, watch my latest TED Talk, or scroll through my other posts. And if you'd like to do a storytelling project with a loved one similar to the one I did with my father, click here to learn more.

You might enjoy reading these posts:

The Rise of Sober Dating: Why More People Are Seeking Love Without Liquor

“Both Sides, Now” 3 Life Lessons from Joni Mitchell’s Viral Performance

The End of the Movie Star? 3 Takeaways from the List of Hollywood’s Highest Paid Actors

Or check out my books that inspired this newsletter: Life Is in the Transitions and The Secrets of Happy Families.

Or, you can contact me directly.

---

Cover photo credit YinYang from Getty Images Signature via Canva