6 sizzling books to add to your summer reading list

As the weather gets warmer and much awaited vacations draw nearer, we start looking for the perfect books to bring with us on our summer adventures. But what truly defines a ‘summer read’?

For the director of content marketing at Rakuten Kobo, Nathan Maharaj, he says his reading list is never defined by the season. 

“I have never really believed in summer reading because I’m reading constantly. I know some people talk about [wanting to read] something lighter for the summer. I just want to read what I read,” said Maharaj.

For Montreal-born writer Christine Estima, summer reading is more about where you read than the genre of the book itself.

“There’s nothing better than lying in a park on the grass and bringing out a really good book and just kind of like lazing the day away,” said Estima.

Maharaj and Estima joined The Next Chapter‘s Antonio Michael Downing to dive deeper into some of their best book recommendations to add to your to-be-read list this summer.

Big Chief by Jon Hickey

“Belonging is the thread through this book … There’s so much of this inside and outside and who belongs inside of here? Who has to be out of it?” said Maharaj. 

In Big Chief, an aspiring young leader is caught up in his home reservation’s political scene. Mitch Caddo has always felt disconnected from his Anishinaabe ancestry having grown up outside of the reservation but when the re-election of his lifelong friend Mack Beck is met with tough competition, personal tensions come to the fore. The question remains of how far Mitch is willing to go.

Jon Hickey is a writer and member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and is currently based in San Francisco. Big Chief is his first novel.

Cher: Part One by Cher

“I think what’s really interesting about it is that although we kind of know her as like this brash, brazen vixen, she really is quite thoughtful and quite introspective in the book,” said Estima.

Chronicling the life and legacy of the acclaimed artist, Cher is the part one of a two-part memoir. In the first book, she delves into memories from a chaotic upbringing longing to be a performer and the complex relationship she had with her mother. Beyond the artistry, Cher reveals personal details about her every day life and relationships.

Cher is an American singer, actor, and philanthropist. She set the record as the only female artist to top Billboard charts for seven decades in a row and she is the recipient of multiple awards including the Academy Award in 1988 for Best Actress in Moonstruck.

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

“I would say people who love literary fiction, who love relationships and maybe on the sly you’d love to see what people who read romance novels are into this will give you all of that,” said Maharaj.

Slow Dance follows the fateful reunion of high school best friends Shiloh and Cary. When Shiloh returns to north Omaha for a friend’s wedding, all she can think about is seeing Cary, who she hasn’t spoke to for the past 14 years. What will he think of her at age 33? Does he even want to see her? The novel explores the honest love story of two old friends drawn back together again.

Rainbow Rowell is an American fiction writer of comics, YA and adult fiction. She is best known for her YA novel Fangirl and Elanor & Park. Slow Dance is her first adult novel in ten years.

The Café with No Name by Robert Seethaler, translated by Katy Derbyshire

“The book is pretty much just about the people in this select time period who come in and out of the cafe, their lives, their loves, their losses, their mourning, their healing, their hope,” said Estima.

Set in Vienna in the summer of 1966, The Café with No Name is about a man in his thirties who happens upon a business opportunity of opening a café. Robert Simon is described as a warm and determined man and when he opens his café, the place becomes an inviting hub for humorous and interesting characters to wander through.

Robert Sethaler is an Austrian writer and actor. His other books include The Tobacconist, A Whole Life and The Field.

Katy Derbyshire is a British translator and writer based in Berlin, Germany.

Lake Burntshore by Aaron Kreuter

“As there’s this political conflict that feels very much of our moment right now, Aaron Kreuter tips it on its side and goes like, ‘Hey, if you’re really concerned about colonialism and exploitation, here it is in your backyard. And how do you feel about that?’ Which isn’t to say the other thing isn’t real, but this is also real,” said Maharaj.

In Lake Burntshore, camp counselor Ruby’s idyllic summer is disrupted when the camp owner’s son hires Israeli soldiers to fill staffing gaps. Ruby, a committed anti-Zionist, must decide if she’s willing to risk her job to confront him over issues of Jewish belonging and settler-colonialism, even as she falls for one of the soldiers, Etai. As tensions rise, Ruby must navigate her growing feelings for Etai while also grappling with the camp’s impact on its relationship with the nearby Black Spruce First Nation.

Aaron Kreuter is a Toronto-based author of five books. His short story collection You and Me, Belonging won The Miramichi Reader’s 2019 “The Very Best Of!” award for short fiction and was shortlisted for a Vine Award for Jewish Literature in the fiction category. Kreuter’s previous works also include the poetry collections Arguments for Lawn Chairs and Shifting Baseline Syndrome, which was a finalist for the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry. 

The Adult by Bronwyn Fischer

“She really captures what it is like to be 18 and you’re still loaded with so much insecurity and you don’t really know who you are yet and you don’t really know why someone else would actually like you,” said Estima.

When Natalie leaves her hometown for her first year of university in Toronto, she is 18 and unsure of herself or where she belongs. She meets Clara in her dorm who wants to be friends, and Rachel in her poetry class who is set on becoming a writer.

Natalie is at a loss when she meets Nora, a much older woman who she’s inexplicably drawn to. In The Adult, Natalie navigates her way through newfound feelings and independence in this torrid love affair.

Bronwyn Fischer is a Toronto-based writer born in Bahrain. The Adult is her first novel.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.