Summer Reading: A Journey of Discovery

The phrase ‘summer reading’ has grown up alongside us. Once a dreaded assignment from our school days, it’s since evolved into one of life’s quieter indulgences. Whether it’s your buoy through long-haul journeys, or your first priority when you hit the beach, this leisurely season of reading only gets better with age.

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When it comes to our collective reading list among editors at Condé Nast Traveler, the picks are as varied and delicious as summer’s vine ripened heirlooms. We’ve found ourselves nose deep into our paperbacks perched over the Ligurian Sea, on cinematic road trips through the Southwest, and seated on far-flung flights to Asia.

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The Lion Women of Tehran

We chanced upon a copy of The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali at our local library and devoured it over a weekend. The novel follows the profound friendship between two young girls in 1950s Iran, tracing its evolution through decades of political upheaval. Woven through the loss and betrayal are stories of courage, resilience, and feminism. At a time when Iran dominates political headlines, this novel offered a deeply human perspective on a country too often reduced to geopolitics.

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Arati Menon, our global digital director, shares her experience with The Lion Women of Tehran: ‘I was captivated by the novel’s exploration of the complexities of Iranian culture and the unbreakable bond between two women.’ This poignant novel will leave you reflecting on the power of female friendship and the resilience of the human spirit.

The Hour of the Star

For Bridget Knowles, our associate social media manager, The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector has been a standout read this summer. She explains: ‘Lispector’s writing is unnervingly intimate to the mid-to-late-twenties soul: slow-moving lyricism that keeps you unknowingly flipping the pages, only to land on a revelatory punch you’ll carry with you for the rest of your life.’

This mesmerizing novel drops us into the electric landscape of 1970s Brazil, following a young (ugly) girl’s love (situationship) with a rat of a boyfriend while weaving through themes of identity, inwardness, and social class. It’s the perfect masterpiece to dissociate with on a beach, near a body of water, or in the air, with enough depth to leave you perfectly unsettled.

John of John

Rebecca Misner, our features director, west coast, discovered John of John by Douglas Stuart while on vacation in Italy. She remarks: ‘Like one of those portable neck fans tourists wear, but way less embarrassing, John of John became my way to retreat from the heat.’

This captivating novel takes place in the 1990s, before everyone had internet and cell phones had become appendages, and the story’s pacing matches that era in that nothing is immediate. It’s not that nothing happens—so much happens—but the book is one big slow reveal, and the journey to get there is serpentine, and painful at times, but so worth it.

Talk

Jessica Sulima, our commerce writer, recommends Talk by Linda Rosenkrantz, a carefully selected compendium of transcripts of conversations between three artist friends during a 1965 Hamptons summer. She shares: ‘It’s the perfect read to take with you on a beach, near a body of water, or in the air, with enough depth to leave you perfectly unsettled.’

These conversations offer a glimpse into a changing America—abortion, psychoanalysis, the trials and tribulations of turning 30—that might be eerily similar to the conversations you and your friends are having today.

Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black

Jessica Chapel, our commerce writer, has spent the past year reading and rereading Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black by Cookie Mueller. She remarks: ‘Cookie Mueller pulls you from her suburban childhood in the 1950s to hitchhiking through 1960s San Francisco, working with John Waters’s Dreamland troupe, raising a son in downtown New York, and stumbling through parties, apartments, hospitals, and road trips to share stories that are as chaotic as they are strangely tender.’

This mesmerizing collection of stories will leave you reflecting on the power of human connection and the resilience of the human spirit.

Grendel

Kat Chen, our editorial assistant, destinations, recommends Grendel by John Gardner, a sub-200-page novel that takes on the oldest surviving English epic and flips its perspective to center on the namesake Grendel and how exactly he evolved into the looming wretch we remember as one of the Western canon’s greatest monsters.

She shares: ‘Gardner’s writing is a bird-flipping, foul-mouthed, incredibly injured personality who has his fair share of mommy issues—or in other words, a fascinating travel companion.’

This thought-provoking novel will leave you reflecting on the complexities of human nature and the power of storytelling.

Saturday Night

I cracked open Susan Orlean’s Saturday Night, which was published in 1990. I’ve been on a kick of almost exclusively reading books that are about 30- to 40-years-old, and Saturday Night has been a standout read this summer.

Orlean’s writing is a masterclass in storytelling, weaving together a narrative that is both deeply personal and universally relatable. This book will leave you reflecting on the power of human connection and the resilience of the human spirit.