Our Summer Reads, Vol. 1 – Olivia Gündüz-Willemin

Summer is finally here, and with it, the best time of year to curl up with a book, free – at least in our heads – of all obligations to read anything out of obligation. Long-anticipated leisure reads, lakeside picnics, and much-needed sunshine. This June, the Attic on Eighth writers share what it is that they’re looking forward to reading this summer season.

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I may not be a student anymore, but I still find that there’s something thrilling in looking forward to a pile of exciting, non-obligatory summer reads. I shared my favorite books for the season a couple of years ago on the Attic, and I stand by every one of them – I’m listening to the Brideshead Revisited soundtrack as I type this and can’t disassociate it from the early weeks of summer. I love to reread classics over the summer as there’s something soft and soothing about it. I still fondly remember the grad school summers I spent slowly rereading Sense and Sensibility and Anne of Green Gables to calm my anxious mind and allow me to relax. This summer though, I’m hoping to get those same feelings by finally reading the stack of Persephone Books volumes I picked up last summer but never got around to reading – especially Katherine Mansfield’s Montana Stories and Helen Hull’s Heat Lightning – and by finally delving into classics like Vita Sackville-West’s All Passion Spent , Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, and Djuna Barnes’s Nightwood. Otherwise, I’m very excited to read more recent releases and feel a little more connected to the world around me. I’m currently deep into Jenny Zhang’s short story collection, Sour Heart, and I’m absolutely loving it.

Without further ado, here is what I’m planning on – or rather, hoping to – read this summer:

• Sour Heart, Jenny Zhang

• Motherhood, Sheila Heti

• All Passion Spent, Vita Sackville-West

• Sex & Rage, Eve Babitz*

• Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan

• House-Bound, Winifred Peck

• The Montana Stories, Katharine Manfield

• Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh

• Hotel World, Ali Smith

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shafer & Annie Barrows

• The Collected Schizophrenias, Esmé Weijun Wang

• The Hours, Michael Cunningham

• The Friend, Sigrid Nunez

• Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward

• Vain Shadow, Jane Hervey

• Heat Lightning, Helen Hull

• Nightwood, Djuna Barnes

• In the Eye of the Sun, Ahdaf Soueif

• My Absolute Darling, Gabriel Tallent

• The Clockmaker’s Daughter, Kate Morton**
  

*Yes, this was on my winter list and I never finished it. Hoping summer makes me enjoy it more!

** Shamelessly sitting in my TBR pile since last summer, when I snatched it up thinking I would get to it immediately. Let’s face it though, several of these have been sitting in my pile for too long.

What are you reading this summer?

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Olivia Gündüz-Willemin is Editor-in-Chief of The Attic on Eighth. She has multiple literature degrees and is dedicated to reading her way through the world while trying to stay as calm as possible.