What’s on your summer reading list?

After spending the last three summers ploughing through recommended reading lists, I found myself with too much freedom to choose. Choosing where to start on what feels like a never-ending list of books accumulated over my university experience is a difficult job, so I decided to come up with categories to help focus my quest over the summer to finally read for pleasure again.

The first category is ‘books which have sat on my bookshelf for far too long’. This category is great for saving money because I already have the book so there is no excuse not to read it! For me, the book from this category is And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. I treated myself to this book when finishing my A-Levels back in 2015 and it has sat on my bookshelf ever since. Starting my summer reading a book I bought to celebrate the start of my Warwick adventure seems apt.

I decided to come up with categories to help focus my quest over the summer to finally read for pleasure again

My next category is ‘the classic you’ve never actually read’. As an English student, people are horrified when they find out I’ve never actually finished Pride and Prejudice (I really have tried but I can’t do it and I’m sorry to say it hasn’t made the cut for this summer’s reading list). Instead I’ve chosen George Orwell’s 1984. Although I already know the entire plot, I am a fan of Orwell’s writing style in Animal Farm and I don’t want to miss out on the experience of reading this classic.

‘The book your friend recommended’ is my favourite category because there is nothing better than knowing someone thought of you when reading a book. I love it when my friends suggest I would enjoy a book, so this summer I want to make an effort to get through their recommendations. Two such novels are The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

For me, the most challenging category is ‘another book by an author you like’ as I tend to put authors on a pedestal after reading a particularly moving book. My aim this summer is to read another book by Thomas Hardy. One of my top five favourite novels is Tess of the d’Urbervilles, a novel which I highly recommend; it takes a very special piece to enter my top five. Since reading it, I have been too nervous to pick up another Hardy novel as this particular text moved and shaped me in ways I could never have anticipated. Trying to abandon these fears of Hardy’s work not living up to Tess, I’ve decided to choose another popular Hardy novel to settle me back in: Far from the Madding Crowd. I hope to progress onto a lesser known Hardy novel such as A Pair of Blue Eyes.

I tend to put authors on a pedestal after reading a particularly moving book

When reading for pleasure, it can be very easy to slip into reading quick and easy novels as it doesn’t require much concentration. Whilst this can be helpful when trying to get back into reading, it is nice to set challenges to avoid restricting the literature you’re choosing. I decided on the category of ‘a book far longer than you would usually choose’ to try and break my habit of picking up books I know I can finish in a day! The book I’ve chosen for this category is Stephen King’s It. After holding in my screams in the cinema at the 2017 film adaptation, I was adamant that I would make an effort to read the book once I had time on my hands. I enjoy horror films, so a horror book feels like a good route to go down when challenging myself to read longer novels.

Other categories to inspire your reading include ‘a book set in a place you’ve visited’, ‘something which isn’t a novel (poetry, plays, etc.)’, ‘something set outside of Europe’ and ‘a genre you wouldn’t usually choose’. Happy reading, and don’t forget to keep adding books to that never-ending reading list!