As a general rule I try to read one book every summer that I won’t forget. Over the years I’ve slowly pieced together a shelf of books that are as synonymous with the season for me as any literature can be. Whether you are not leaving the UK this summer or already on holiday, see below a truncated list of some of my all-time summer favourites in an effort to help you find yours — listed in no particular order.
- Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan (Trans. Heather Lloyd)
Funny, immoral, and entirely French — in Bonjour Tristesse, we follow Cécile, who leads a carefree life with her widowed father and his young mistresses until, one hot summer on the French Riviera, he decides to remarry, bringing devastating consequences.
Cécile is distinctive — she is witty and lazy, gets regularly drunk, begins an affair with a boy she happens upon at the beach and refuses to touch her schoolwork because it makes her restless and bored. And yet as she leads this careless and decadent lifestyle, the inevitable change that begins to loom at the end of summer, as well as the consequences of her own actions, leaves the reader with a sense of dissatisfaction. For me, this book’s 100 pages perfectly encapsulate all the emotions of summer; excitement, freedom, boredom, excess, and a vague sense of discontent.
- Eurotrash by Christian Kracht (trans. Daniel Bowles)
Sometimes summer means being locked into close proximity with your far-from-perfect relatives. Long listed for the International Booker prize earlier this year, Eurotrash details the dubious road-trip of a jaded, middle-aged author and his crotchety, alcoholic mother.
The Sunday Times described this book as “too silly to be serious and to serious to be silly.” Take this both as an incentive to read and fair warning; Kracht documents a vicious emotional universe in which his semi-autobiographical characters drive around Switzerland attempting to give away the inheritance garnered by investments in the arms industry. Haunted in different ways by the figure of her father, an ardent supporter of Nazism, mother and son reckon with their darkest truths. Granted this might not sound like fun — but this book is bitterly funny and highly entertaining, while ultimately being incredibly moving.
- The Girls - Emma Cline
In a coming-of-age story like no other, Evie Boyd is looking for acceptance; and finds herself caught by the intoxicating pull of a soon-to-be infamous cult. Cline’s debut novel follows her developing obsession over the course of the summer, as she remains oblivious to the approaching violence.
Set in northern California, during the turbulent end of the 60s, our 14-year-old protagonist finds herself caught up in the freedom and carelessness of a group of older girls, one of whom she is particularly mesmerised by. She is quickly drawn in to the sprawling ranch and inner circle of a cult and its charismatic leader, but as her obsession intensifies, she remains oblivious to the impending violence. Told through two timelines, namely the voice of Evie at fourteen and sixty-one, this book is hypnotic. It deals with the loss of innocence, the powerful sway of influence, and the inexplicable force of a formative female friendship.
- Tokyo Express — Seiko Matsumoto (trans. Jesse Kirkwood)
A succinct, calculated and devilishly intelligent mystery, Matsumoto’s recently translated detective fiction is brilliant. The bodies of a young couple are discovered in a rocky cove, suggesting suicide — but a shabby local detective and a young gun from Tokyo are not convinced, and together begin to unpick a meticulous crime.
While this book barely scrapes 150 pages in length, do not let its compactness fool you. It is ingeniously plotted, dense with alibis and false leads, as well as faithfully depicting the methodical procedure of detective work. The seemingly innocuous crime is steeped in corruption, scandal, and most centrally of all a fatal train journey. The meticulous documentation of the railway timetable of post-war Japan lends this work an originality that I haven’t come across for a while in detective fiction. By all means, follow my example and devour this book in one sitting.
- The Summer Book — Tove Jansson (trans. Thomas Teal)
Beloved creator of the Moomin family comic strips and books, Tove Jansson is an expert at weaving simple stories which hold universes of meaning. In this collection of stories, she tells the story of a grandmother and granddaughter exploring, arguing, and playing together during a summer on the island.
It is difficult to categorise the themes and emotions of this collection — in the end it has far too many to try. In its opening chapter, the old woman and small child discuss death and how best to dive into water; both are quietly grieving the loss of the girl's mother, which is only briefly mentioned once. Instead, the two talk, fight, curse each other, have adventures, make things and break into the new summer house on a neighbouring island because they are outraged that the businessman who built it has locked it instead of leaving it open. The narrative seems to have no forward motion, instead existing in lit moments, each chapter acting as its own beautifully constructed, complete story.
If none of these books is of any interest to you then as a last resort, I will share my fool-proof tactic for selecting your book of the summer. Go to your shelf and pick up any book that you have owned for over four months and never read. Then read it.
