This year’s crop of summer reads is a rich mix—spanning coming-of-age books, gripping thrillers, thoughtful memoirs, and inventive literary fiction. From buzzy pop novels to long-awaited returns by beloved authors, these are the books we can’t wait to pack in our tote bags this season. Here’s your definitive guide to the stories that will keep you turning pages all summer long.
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
In The Emperor of Gladness, a desperate college dropout named Hai is about to end his life when a chance encounter with Grazina, an elderly widow battling dementia, changes everything. Set in small-town Connecticut, this tender novel traces their unlikely bond and the chosen family Hai finds among diner coworkers, all navigating life on society’s margins. A moving exploration of friendship, survival, and the quiet power of second chances.
Goddess Complex by Sanjena Sathian
In Goddess Complex, Sanjana Satyananda is trying to move on after leaving her husband at a commune in India over a disagreement about having children. But with her anthropology dissertation stalled and her ex mysteriously missing, she’s pulled into a surreal spiral—fielding calls from strangers about fertility and confronting eerie glimpses of the life she might’ve had as a mother. Darkly funny and genre-bending, this sharp feminist satire explores the pressures of parenthood, procreation, and modern womanhood in a world of influencers, egg-freezing, and self-optimization mania.
The Toilet Seat by Latha
The Toilet Seat is a raw and unfiltered exploration of sex, love, and societal taboos, challenging deep-rooted myths and hypocrisies around sexuality in Indian culture. With fearless honesty, it tackles topics like premarital and extramarital sex, sexual dissatisfaction, and gendered double standards—urging readers to open up conversations about intimacy, pleasure, and relationships. A bold Tamil bestseller, it’s a provocative call to rethink how we view sex—and yes, the title will make perfect sense by the end.
Birding by Ross Ruane
Set in a crumbling seaside town, Birding follows Lydia, a former teen pop star grappling with the trauma of her past as a predatory ex resurfaces, and Joyce, a woman stifled by a life spent under her mother’s suffocating control. As both women reckon with forgotten dreams, toxic histories, and long-buried pain, fate draws them together in this poignant, powerful story of survival, self-discovery, and the hope of taking flight—even with broken wings.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
From Fredrik Backman, bestselling author of Anxious People and A Man Called Ove, comes a funny, moving novel about four teens whose deep friendship one summer shapes a stranger’s life decades later. When 18-year-old Louisa inherits a mysterious painting, she sets off on a journey to uncover its origins—unearthing a powerful story of love, resilience, and the quiet beauty of connection that endures across time.
Notes to John by Joan Didion
A previously unpublished work by Joan Didion, Notes to John offers a rare, intimate glimpse into the writer’s life as she began therapy in late 1999, following a difficult period for her family. Originally written as a journal for her husband, John Gregory Dunne, the entries chronicle her sessions with a psychiatrist, touching on themes of alcoholism, adoption, depression, her strained relationship with her daughter, and struggles with her work. With Didion’s signature clarity and emotional precision, this deeply personal record reveals a lesser-known side of the iconic author—questioning, vulnerable, and unflinchingly honest.
Words Platform Desk
Date 15.04.2025