100 Books Everyone Should Read New York Times List

Summer is in total swing and there's nothing like heading to the beach — or the park — sitting by the h2o, contemplating the view, grabbing a good book and just immersing ourselves in information technology. That'due south why we're throwing out some ideas for the perfect summertime novels.

We are adhering to "embankment reads" rules though: most of the titles here are either total page-turners or grant some instant gratification — or both. And all of them will transport you lot 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" by Patricia Highsmith (1955)

The oldest book on this list is the start one in a serial of v psychological thrillers that Patricia Highsmith wrote about her infamous Tom Ripley character. Even if he'south a sociopath with more than than murderous tendencies, the reader can't avoid being on Ripley'due south side while reading Highsmith's engrossing novels.

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

This Australian classic is prepare in 1900 and features a group of boarders from an all-girls school in Victoria as they accept a solar 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'due south writing style and the setting for this novel may have you drawing some parallels with other classic coming-of-historic period novels written by and starring women, the ending of Picnic at Hanging Rock could simply have been written in the 1960s.

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

Allow me the hometown reference with this Spanish novel set in Barcelona in 1979. Written by the Galician-Catalan author Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Southern Seasis the almost famous of his novels starring the private detective Pepe Carvalho. He's a gourmet who's equally obsessed with nutrient, literature and the metropolis of Barcelona.

Too a methodical description of the city in the late 1970s, the book also includes references to a trip to the Southern Seas that never was.

"Norwegian Wood" past Haruki Murakami (1987)

Written past Japanese author Haruki Murakami, this coming-of-age novel follows the story of Toru Watanabe, a college educatee who is obsessed with American literature. He's trying to effigy out his life in Tokyo in the 1960s and ends upwards in relationships with two women who couldn't be more than different: there's Naoko, the old girlfriend of his best friend, and Midori, 1 of his classmates.

The story takes the reader from the bustling streets of Tokyo to the peaceful quietness of a rehab eye 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 go a debt paid, and ends upwards in Los Angeles, where he learns most the movie-making concern and how to become a producer. Set in Hollywood in 1990, this California archetype masterfully blends suspense, thrills, sense of humour and fifty-fifty the slightest hint of a Western.

This story is so quintessentially Hollywood that there's a 1995 flick adaptation starring John Travolta and a 2017 TV show with Chris O'Dowd, just you lot should definitely first with the Elmore Leonard novel.

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

American novelist Donna Leon has been calling Venice dwelling house for years. Her kickoff volume in the mystery series that stars the Venetian constabulary detective Guido Brunetti follows the investigation of a music conductor'south death subsequently he's poisoned during the intermission of a Verdi opera at La Felice.

Leon has been steadily publishing ane new Commissario Guido Brunetti installment a year for decades. So if you lot love the Venitian setting, criminal offense stories and the constant descriptions of all the delicious foods (and drinks) that Brunetti ingests on a daily basis, this could definitely be the series for yous.

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

Chances are we'll never get to encounter Luca Guadagnino's sequel to his Call Me by Your Name pic accommodation. And while André Aciman'south follow-up novel, Observe Me, may get out hardcore fans of Elio and Oliver a little scrap underwhelmed, there'south nothing like going back to the original material.

Set up against the backdrop of the Italian Riviera, this coming-of-age story follows the precocious Elio equally he falls in beloved with Oliver, a graduate pupil and Elio'southward parents' invitee for the summer. This iconic summertime read perfectly captures the feeling of longing for someone and it features plentiful, engaging conversations, early morning swims, leisurely bicycle rides, a furtive relationship and a passionate trip to Rome.

"Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)

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

Americanahmakes for a great read not only as an engaging and entertaining novel but likewise equally a study near race in America from the perspective of a non-American Blackness person. The novel also packs a circuitous love story betwixt Ifemelu and Obinze, who moves to London and has to live there as an undocumented immigrant.

"Big Little Lies" by 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 just likewise the identity of the person who dies and whose investigation propels the whole plot, Liane Moriarty'southward soapy thriller withal very much deserves a read.

On the one hand, instead of the rugged coast of Northern California, the novel Big Little Lies is set in the suburban Northern Beaches of Sydney. On the other manus, the book jams enough sense of humor and sharp banter — especially when it comes to the inclusion of dialogue from the law interrogations amidst the many parents who have their kids to the same school as our protagonists — that you'll find enough nuggets of new material to more than justify the read.

"The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017)

Taylor Jenkins Reid's historical fiction bestseller is set between the publishing world of present-day New York and the classic 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 between Monique and Evelyn in which the sometime star tells her origin story and the reasons behind her many marriages throughout the years.

"Less" by Andrew Sean Greer (2017)

Andrew Sean Greer's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel stars Arthur Less as a novelist with a dwindling career and a cleaved heart. As if all of that wasn't enough already, Less is on the brink of turning l. When his one-time 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 avert the much-dreaded event.

Greer's fun and never-tranquillity novel takes the reader and its protagonist from the foggy shores of San Francisco to New York Metropolis, Mexico City, Turin, Paris, Berlin, Morocco, India and Nippon.

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

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

The novel stars Nat, a reluctant-to-be-out-of-the-field agent in his late forties, who has had a long career developing sources in Russia. Nat's back in London and somehow can't avert getting himself involved in however another surveillance plot. The volume is set in 2018 and there's constant chatter among its characters regarding Brexit and the Trump administration. 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 notwithstanding worth a read if merely to appreciate Le Carré'south succinct however masterfully rich and descriptive prose.

"Embankment Read" by Emily Henry (2020)

Let'south add Embankment Readto this listing of embankment reads because Emily Henry'due south romance novel truly does its title justice. Set in a minor Michigan town, the novel tells the story of bestselling romance author January and acclaimed fiction author Gus. They stop up being neighbors and living side-by-side in lakefront cottages.

One matter leads to some other and they terminate up making a deal: by the end of the summer he'll be the i to pen a romance book and she'll write a nighttime and dour one. They both demand to teach the other everything they demand to know to be able to produce something in a genre they're non used to working in. Of course, also all the procrastinating and writing, there's also time for dearest.

"The Vanishing Half" past Brit Bennett (2020)

Concluding yr's revelatory novel The Vanishing Half tackles the subject of passing when it comes to racial identity. The Brit Bennett-penned historical novel, which is already being developed into a limited serial past HBO, tells the story of 2 identical twin sisters from a small boondocks in rural Louisiana where the bulk Black population is and then low-cal-skinned that one of the sisters passes as a white woman for most of her life after fleeing boondocks.

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

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

Let'south close this list with an August release from i of 2020's bestselling authors. Later her Mexican Gothicwas chosen as Best Horror novel last twelvemonth by the Goodreads users, author Silvia Moreno-Garcia returns with Velvet Was the Dark.

The Mexican Canadian author sets the action in 1970s United mexican states City and writes nearly Maite, a secretary obsessed with romance stories and her beautiful neighbour Leonora. When the object of her fixation disappears, Maite starts looking for her — but she isn't the only 1.

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