He Can Soar to New Heights by Reading Books

Summer is in full swing and there's nothing like heading to the beach — or the park — sitting past the water, contemplating the view, grabbing a good book and just immersing ourselves in information technology. That's why nosotros're throwing out some ideas for the perfect summer novels.

We are adhering to "beach reads" rules though: virtually of the titles here are either total page-turners or grant some instant gratification — or both. And all of them will transport you to faraway places or the kind of setting y'all'd enjoy spending a vacation at, either because of when they were written or where they are set.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" past Patricia Highsmith (1955)

The oldest volume on this list is the beginning one in a series of 5 psychological thrillers that Patricia Highsmith wrote about her infamous Tom Ripley grapheme. Even if he'due south a sociopath with more murderous tendencies, the reader tin can't avoid being on Ripley's side while reading Highsmith's engrossing novels.

The whole series is set in Europe with the first book taking its protagonist and the reader to San Remo, Rome, Palermo and Venice. Plus, there's a constant longing for a trip to Greece.

This Australian classic is set in 1900 and features a group of boarders from an all-girls schoolhouse in Victoria as they take a day trip to the nearby geological formation Hanging Rock. There are plenty of descriptions of proper picnic attire, the dazzler of the landscape and the relationships that bond this group of teenagers and their teachers.

And while Joan Lindsay'southward writing style and the setting for this novel may have y'all cartoon some parallels with other classic coming-of-historic period novels written by and starring women, the ending of Picnic at Hanging Rock could just accept been written in the 1960s.

"Los mares del Sur" (Southern Seas) by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (1979)

Allow me the hometown reference with this Spanish novel gear up in Barcelona in 1979. Written by the Galician-Catalan author Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Southern Seasis the most famous of his novels starring the private detective Pepe Carvalho. He's a gourmet who'south as obsessed with food, literature and the city of Barcelona.

Besides a methodical clarification of the urban center in the late 1970s, the book besides includes references to a trip to the Southern Seas that never was.

"Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami (1987)

Written by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, this coming-of-age novel follows the story of Toru Watanabe, a college student who is obsessed with American literature. He's trying to effigy out his life in Tokyo in the 1960s and ends up in relationships with two women who couldn't be more different: there's Naoko, the former girlfriend of his all-time friend, and Midori, ane of his classmates.

The story takes the reader from the bustling streets of Tokyo to the peaceful quietness of a rehab center lost in the mountains nearby Kyoto.

"Get Shorty" by Elmore Leonard (1990)

Small-time Miami loan shark Chili Palmer travels to Las Vegas, hoping to get a debt paid, and ends upwardly in Los Angeles, where he learns about the movie-making business organization and how to go a producer. Set up in Hollywood in 1990, this California classic masterfully blends suspense, thrills, humor and even the slightest hint of a Western.

This story is so quintessentially Hollywood that there's a 1995 motion picture accommodation starring John Travolta and a 2022 Tv evidence with Chris O'Dowd, but you should definitely start with the Elmore Leonard novel.

"Death at La Fenice" by Donna Leon (1992)

American novelist Donna Leon has been calling Venice domicile for years. Her get-go volume in the mystery series that stars the Venetian police force detective Guido Brunetti follows the investigation of a music usher's death after he'southward poisoned during the break of a Verdi opera at La Felice.

Leon has been steadily publishing one new Commissario Guido Brunetti installment a twelvemonth for decades. So if you love the Venitian setting, crime stories and the constant descriptions of all the succulent foods (and drinks) that Brunetti ingests on a daily ground, this could definitely be the series for y'all.

"Call Me by Your Name" by André Aciman (2007)

Chances are we'll never go to see Luca Guadagnino's sequel to his Call Me by Your Name movie adaptation. And while André Aciman's follow-up novel, Find Me, may get out hardcore fans of Elio and Oliver a picayune bit underwhelmed, there'southward nothing like going dorsum to the original cloth.

Set against the backdrop of the Italian Riviera, this coming-of-age story follows the precocious Elio as he falls in love with Oliver, a graduate student and Elio's parents' guest for the summer. This iconic summer read perfectly captures the feeling of longing for someone and it features plentiful, engaging conversations, early on morning swims, leisurely wheel rides, a furtive relationship and a passionate trip to Rome.

"Americanah" past Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie sets this story — that deals with immigration, race and the feeling of belonging — in Lagos, London and New Jersey. Her protagonist is Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman who moves to the United States to further her studies.

Americanahmakes for a great read not only equally an engaging and entertaining novel but also as a written report about race in America from the perspective of a non-American Black person. The novel also packs a complex beloved story between Ifemelu and Obinze, who moves to London and has to live at that place as an undocumented immigrant.

"Large Little Lies" past Liane Moriarty (2014)

I don't care if you've already seen the star-packed HBO miniseries and know not only who the killer of this story is but besides the identity of the person who dies and whose investigation propels the whole plot, Liane Moriarty'due south soapy thriller still very much deserves a read.

On the one paw, instead of the rugged declension of Northern California, the novel Big Piffling Lies is ready in the suburban Northern Beaches of Sydney. On the other hand, the volume jams enough humor and sharp banter — especially when information technology comes to the inclusion of dialogue from the police interrogations among the many parents who take their kids to the same school every bit our protagonists — that you'll find enough nuggets of new material to more than justify the read.

"The Vii Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" past Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017)

Taylor Jenkins Reid's historical fiction bestseller is gear up between the publishing world of present-day New York and the archetype Hollywood of the 1950s, 1960s and onward. When the relatively unknown journalist Monique Grant is tasked with writing a profile on the legendary actress Evelyn Hugo, she can't believe her career-changing luck.

The novel guides the reader through a series of interviews betwixt Monique and Evelyn in which the former star tells her origin story and the reasons behind her many marriages throughout the years.

"Less" past Andrew Sean Greer (2017)

Andrew Sean Greer's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel stars Arthur Less every bit a novelist with a dwindling career and a broken eye. As if all of that wasn't enough already, Less is on the brink of turning 50. When his old long-time boyfriend invites Less to his wedding, our hapless protagonist decides to embark on a series of back-to-back international trips with a "ramshackle itinerary" to avoid the much-dreaded event.

Greer'south fun and never-quiet novel takes the reader and its protagonist from the foggy shores of San Francisco to New York Urban center, Mexico City, Turin, Paris, Berlin, Morocco, India and Japan.

"Agent Running in the Field" by John le Carré (2019)

The last published novel of late spymaster John le Carré is a render to some of his career-defining themes in the world of international espionage, which he describes with precision — and without a glimpse of glamour or spectacle.

The novel stars Nat, a reluctant-to-exist-out-of-the-field agent in his late forties, who has had a long career developing sources in Russian federation. Nat's back in London and somehow tin't avert getting himself involved in yet some other surveillance plot. The book is set in 2022 and there'due south constant churr among its characters regarding Brexit and the Trump assistants. Le Carré favors none of those.

Fifty-fifty if you don't like international thrillers featuring double agents that much — who doesn't though? — Agent Running in the Field is still worth a read if only to capeesh Le Carré's succinct yet masterfully rich and descriptive prose.

"Beach Read" by Emily Henry (2020)

Allow'due south add Beach Readto this list of embankment reads because Emily Henry's romance novel truly does its title justice. Fix in a small Michigan boondocks, the novel tells the story of bestselling romance writer Jan and acclaimed fiction writer Gus. They end upward beingness neighbors and living side-past-side in lakefront cottages.

One thing leads to some other and they end up making a deal: by the end of the summer he'll be the 1 to pen a romance book and she'll write a nighttime and bleak one. They both need to teach the other everything they need to know to be able to produce something in a genre they're not used to working in. Of grade, besides all the procrastinating and writing, there's also time for honey.

"The Vanishing One-half" by Brit Bennett (2020)

Last year's revelatory novel The Vanishing Half tackles the field of study of passing when it comes to racial identity. The Brit Bennett-penned historical novel, which is already being developed into a express series past HBO, tells the story of two identical twin sisters from a small town in rural Louisiana where the majority Black population is so light-skinned that one of the sisters passes as a white adult female for almost of her life after fleeing town.

The action encompasses several decades starting in the 1950s and weaves together the life of the assimilated sister — who'south leading a double life in New Orleans first and then Los Angeles — with that of the other 1, who is forced to return habitation.

"Velvet Was the Night" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2021)

Let's close this list with an August release from one of 2020's bestselling authors. Later on her Mexican Gothicwas chosen equally Best Horror novel last year by the Goodreads users, author Silvia Moreno-Garcia returns with Velvet Was the Night.

The Mexican Canadian author sets the action in 1970s Mexico City and writes about Maite, a secretarial assistant obsessed with romance stories and her cute neighbor Leonora. When the object of her fixation disappears, Maite starts looking for her — simply she isn't the just one.

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