What you should read this summer, according to our experts

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For many, summer is the time to finally catch up on reading lists, as well as discover the next big book to dive into while relaxing on the beach.

But in a world full of choice, it can be hard to figure out which book is right for you. On July 9, arts editor Judith Pereira and book critic Emily Donaldson answered your questions on The Globe’s list of summer reads, what your next book should be and gave advice on how to read more. Here are some highlights from the Q&A.

The Globe’s reading lists

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What’s your favourite book on the summer reading list?

Judith Pereira: Maggie O’Farrell’s Land is amazing and I loved it not just for her facility with language but also because it takes place in Ireland just a decade or so after the Great Hunger killed so many people. I don’t know much about that time but that’s why I find novels so fascinating; in many ways they’re better than non-fiction at looking at what people were dealing with — how Irish struggled against British rule in a time of such emptiness and sadness.

I also find I’m really enjoying Colson Whitehead’s Harlem series and this is the last book in the trilogy. I love mysteries and thrillers where the landscape, the time act as a character and Whitehead is a master at making you feel the night and the seediness that comes in New York in 1950s (first book), the 1970s (second) and now the 1980s (third).

Emily Donaldson: I would add Valerie Luiselli’s Beginning Middle End. Few writers move as effortlessly between the personal and the historical as Luiselli, and I found this novel quietly absorbing from beginning to end. Also Claire Fuller’s Hunger & Thirst. I’m not usually one for horror-gothic, but this one – a compelling mix of psychological tension and great writing – grabbed me from the beginning.

What’s your process for picking the 100 best books of the year? How early do you start making that list?

Pereira: I have a spreadsheet where I start inputting titles that I’ve read/am interested in or that writers/editors at The Globe have mentioned to me.

As the year progresses, that list just keeps getting larger until around October when I get about 20-30 writers/editors/staffers at The Globe to come to a meeting where I present the first round of titles; we debate what we’ve read that year, what I’m missing from the list. Sometimes books get dropped in that round but then they can be added back in if someone comes to meeting number two and argues for it. Then there’s a third round with just a few people in November.

This year we will be publishing a stand-alone section for The Globe 100. We will also be holding a Globe 100 event again. Here’s a link to last year’s event.

Thank you for not settling for a selection of “beach reads” for summer. Why is there a difference between your recommendations and what’s always topping the bestseller lists?

Pereira: I do think there’s crossover on the bestseller lists with authors we’ve profiled or reviewed: Louise Penny, Carley Fortune, Yann Martel, Emily St. John Mandel. As we go through catalogues, that’s how we determine the lists. The Globe 100 is a bit different because we have more people contributing to it and we are looking at a year’s worth, plus they’ve all been read by that time.

I do have genre round-ups, so the previews are really what we would like to read this summer/what we think would be on by us at a beach/cottage/farm/park/backyard.

Reading advice

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How do you get good book recommendations, when social media will parrot the same books over and over, and your friends might not have the same taste as you?

Donaldson: Stay away from social media! I’ve never been on BookTok, and have no plans to do so. The pace and vibe of social media strikes me as completely at odds with the kind of sustained attention that reading demands. One rewards distraction. The other patience.

The trick, I think, is to build a small ecosystem of trusted sources: reviewers, librarians or critics whose tastes consistently overlap with yours, even if you disagree with them a lot of the time. (Sometimes knowing who dislikes the same books you do is just as useful.)

To my mind, the best overlooked source is independent bookshops. Their staff and owners are often among the most knowledgeable readers you’ll meet. They’re used to handselling, and the better they know your likes and dislikes, the better their recommendations become. A lot also have a “staff picks” wall.

Prize longlists are also a surprisingly good source. Sometimes the books on them are even better than the winners (juries will often compromise where their opinions diverge widely). Year-end “best books” lists (especially the Globe 100!) usually surface interesting titles as well.

Pereira: I agree with Emily about everything she says and here’s how I know that booksellers are magicians: Rupert from Ben McNally Books suggested that someone get me Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant. Only a bookseller would know that I — the recipient of so many books — would not only not have it, but that I would love it.

How do you approach reading classics? I find it hard to get past the older language.

Donaldson: I think the main challenge is attuning your ear to the unfamiliar language and pacing. But what feels awkward on page five often starts to feel natural by page fifty.

Start with classics that are genuine page-turners: Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Grey, The Count of Monte Cristo and virtually anything by Austen or Dickens all have strong narrative momentum, making the language easier to settle into than, say, behemoths like Moby-Dick, Middlemarch or The Brothers Karamazov.

And do not feel obligated to slog through every book you try. Some became classics because they changed literature, not because they’re rollicking yarns. I also don’t think the goal shouldn’t be to check titles off a list – it’s to find the books that have earned their reputation because they still have the power to move/grab us.

How many books do you tend to read a year? What are your tips for increasing reading output with a busy life?

Donaldson: I read a lot of them, but it’s also my job. I’m not a particularly fast reader, I just put in the hours.

Instead of reading more, maybe aim to read more often. It’s hard to find an extra hour in a day, but 10 or 15 minutes is usually possible. Reading before bed, or while waiting for an appointment or bus adds up surprisingly quickly. In the pre-smartphone age, I always carried a book in my purse to stave off potential boredom, now I make sure I have a few downloaded on my phone.

Another thought: have books in a few genres – nonfiction, novels, short stories – on the go all at once so you can match your reading to your mood and energy level. And don’t force yourself to read a book you’re not enjoying. Stop. Throw it in the donation box. Life is too short.

Pereira: I read a lot but I don’t always finish books. That’s one tip I would give to all my friends: There are way too many wonderful books out there to keep plodding through ones you don’t like.

Book recommendations

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I am looking for a recent sci-fi or fantasy book from a Canadian author. Any recommendations?

Pereira: I’m not quite sure what you’re thinking when you say “recent,” and I’m not sure if you’re more a William Gibson kind of person or a Guy Gavriel Kay person. Kay had a book out last year, Written on the Dark.

I would also recommend Kay’s work for fans of historical fiction who want a touch of fantasy; Kay’s writing is sublime and I’m always recommending him to friends. I will say that I count Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility as an excellent introduction to ideas of time travel/metaphysics.

I’m looking for a historical fiction as well-written and engrossing as the Wolf Hall series. What should I read?

Donaldson: You’re right, Hilary Mantel is in a class by herself. But historical fiction is also a massive genre, so I’ll stick, per your precedent, to novels set in Britain and Ireland.

The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett is, for many readers, the gold standard of historical adventure. Her work is denser and more linguistically exuberant than Mantel’s, but many serious historical-fiction buffs regard the two authors as peers. If you’re not averse to fantastical elements in your Tudor historical novels, Rebecca Lehmann’s The Beheading Game (about Anne Boleyn after she’s decapitated) from earlier this year got excellent reviews and includes some Wolf Hall familiars, including Henry VIII, Cromwell and Thomas Wyatt.

I loved David Greig’s The Book of I from last year, which is set in the ninth century. It’s about a Viking, a monk and a mead-maker who have to figure out how to live alongside one another when they’re left behind on the Scottish island of Iona after a raid. Last, if you like lyricism, two more recent books on the Irish famine stand out: Grace by Paul Lynch and Land by Maggie O’Farrell, which came out last month.

Pereira: I love Mantel and am gutted that I won’t have any new books from her. Have you read her revolutionary France book, A Place of Greater Safety. I also really loved Grazia dei Rossi trilogy by Jacqueline Park who wrote about Renaissance Italy.

Can you recommend the best of new science books written by Canadian scientists or science writers?

Pereira: I was just talking with Ivan Semeniuk who covers science for The Globe and who has written about many excellent books for us about what he was reading. He mentioned two books: Beyond Inheritance: Our Ever-Mutating Cells by Canadian science journalist Roxanne Khamsi and Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works by Helen Pearson who is from the U.K.

Here are some books that Ivan has recently written about for Globe Books; one was about Roger Penrose who is British but the book was written by Patchen Barrs, a Canadian. He also wrote about Lee Smolin’s 2019 book Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution.

The book I’m always recommending to everyone is Entangled Life by Martin Sheldrake, it’s about the hidden life of fungi and not only was it mind-blowing, it was also beautifully written.

What’s one of your most upcoming anticipated books of the year?

Donaldson: Ayad Akhtar’s The Radiance, Patrick DeWitt’s Dodge City, Rachel Cusk’s Life of M, Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s Said the Dead and Blue Jays sportscaster Hazel Mae’s memoir, Before I Let You Go (I love her so much).

Can you recommend any good graphic novels?

Donaldson: So many! If you’re looking for something recent, Tillie Walden’s Charity & Silvia is a revelation and Lee Lai’s Cannon from earlier this year was shortlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. Other notables, which all happen to be Canadian: Joe Ollman’s Fictional Father and his recent graphic book of short stories The Woodchipper, Kate Beaton’s Ducks, Daniel Innes and Christina Wong’s Denison Avenue and Jillian and Mariko Tamaki’s Roaming.

As for the classics: Chester Brown’s Louis Riel, Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Joe Sacco’s The Fixer, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Seth’s It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken.

I read a lot of literary fiction, but I’m finding it hard to get engrossing books that aren’t tailored to a mass audience. What’s a compelling lit fic book?

Pereira: We are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Camara won the National Book Award for translation and it was just a delight. Also my favourite book of 2024 was Clear by Carys Davies. I will read anything by Lauren Groff and Matrix is one of my favourites. Others that I would suggest: Isola by Allegra Goodman and A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna.

Donaldson: Literary fiction is a massive genre, so I’ll stick to recent releases, randomly. I’m currently reading Claire Fuller’s Hunger & Thirst which is highly readable and has a gothic/horror tinge, if you’re up with that. Ann Patchett’s Whistler, just out, is, like most of her work, getting stellar reviews. I thought Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know was his best in years. Douglas Stuart’s John of John, a gay coming of age, and Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore, got kudos equally from book club heavy hitters and the literary press. Maria Reva’s fun, absurdist Endling from last May was nominated for or won practically everything and chugs along nicely. Last, I’ll throw in two engrossing books from Emma Donoghue: The Pull of Our Stars and Haven.