If you feel similarly, I have 24 book suggestions for long and leisurely summer reads. These are all novels that I’ve read and loved that I believe are perfect for filling the long summer days. At the end of this list I’ve also shared a few Big Books on my TBR and asking you to share your favorite doorstops with me.

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But wait…there’s more! Over at Novel Pairings, and I used to host Big Book Summer for our Patreon community where we’d use the summer month to read and recap a lengthy classic. We’ve compiled these recaps into bundles available for purchase for anyone who wants to go back and deep dive into a big classic with us. In our Gumroad storefront, you can find recaps of The Odyssey (no better time to read it!), Les Misérables, The Custom of the Country, and more. If you’re looking for some classroom vibes that you can work through at your own pace, I think you’ll love these!

And if Big Books are decidedly not your summer reading vibe, be sure to check out ’s list of “shortish books to bring on vacation.” She’s rounded up 21 excellent slim novels and charted them by likelihood to bring on summer malaise. It’s so smart and so fun.

Alright…let’s get into the (big) books!

1. The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia (476 pgs). A multigenerational Mexican saga steeped in magical realism, this book isn’t too too long, but has the kind of warmth and sweep that fit perfectly into long summer days.

2. The Story of the Stone by Cao Xuequin, translated by David Hawkes (544 pgs). Hailed as one of the greatest novels ever written, this leisurely portrayal of a grand Chinese household in gentle decline rewards unhurried attention and careful reading while containing a plot worthy of a soap opera. This book is just the first part so if you fall in love, you have many more pages available to you!

3. The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif (544 pgs). Weaving between colonial Egypt and the present day of the novel through letters and stories-within-stories, this is an undeniably romantic book that makes you want to slow down and linger.

4. The Narrows by Ann Petry (560 pgs). Petry’s compassionate, clear-eyed portrait of a Black community in 1950s Connecticut and the doomed love between two hopeful people is the kind of novel that quietly overtakes you and stays with you long after you turn the final page.

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The phrase “generous reader” isn’t my own but I’ve been using it since my classroom days, and, at this point, I’m not sure where I picked it up. It’s a term that looms large in my own mind, but one that I’ve never taken the time to critically examine. In the last few months, faced with some frustrations in my own reading life, I’ve started to unpack what this concept actually means to me so that I can decide its value and practice is more deliberately.

It could be easy to conflate reading generously with being easily forgiving of books, but this isn’t my personal definition. I certainly can be “forgiving” of a book’s flaws or issues I see because I appreciate the book as a whole, but I don’t tend to read in a way where I’m reaching for reasons to love a book and overlooking choices that bother me. It’s not that I think this is a bad way to read, it’s just not the way I enjoy reading. And after years of studying and teaching English, I’m not sure it’s even possible for me.

Another thought is that reading generously has a similar meaning to looking for the most generous interpretation of a situation. As the mother of a young child, I am inundated with this concept in my Instagram discover page, and I find it a genuinely helpful parenting tool. I try my hardest to interpret meltdowns and behavioral issues generously, allows me to access empathy, remember how hard it is to be a kid, and understand the potential reasons behind her actions. This gets quite close to what I think of as being a generous reader with a few caveats. I think we book lovers can actually be over accepting of the flaws within books because we know how hard it is to write and we empathize with what it must feel like to put work out in the world for critique. I understand this urge towards magnanimity in reading, especially when writers and readers interact more than ever, but I don’t think this framework serves readers or writers well.

In my mind, I can arrive at the most generous interpretation of a work of literature by approaching everything within the book as an intentional authorial choice. This connects to another way to define generosity outside of frequently used synonyms like kindness, forgiveness, and magnanimity. To be generous is also to be freely giving of our time and resources—and this is what I try to do when I read. Taking my time with a book and using the skills the I have in my arsenal in an attempt to understand what a book is doing and why—that is my version of reading generously.

So, for me, to read generously is to approach what I find within the book as intentional creative choices and to give my time and intellectual resources to consider these choices—especially when I find something in a book I don’t like. Why might the author have used so much foreshadowing? Why use this simile to set the scene? Why choose this particular point of view? Why choose not to use quotation marks for dialogue? The point here is not to psychoanalyze the author (although if you’ve taken lit theory, you know that can be fun too!). We can’t know why every individual author made each singular craft choice, but we can consider what effect they might be looking for with that choice. Why did they choose this point of view becomes what effect does this particular point of view have on the novel as a whole? How does it allow for this exact story? How does it help develop a theme or mood? And how does it work on me as a reader to influence my perception of the text?

Full disclosure that considering these questions doesn’t always lead to satisfying answers. This practice isn’t about assuming if you don’t like a book, you must be missing something. Sometimes I come up with an answer that’s not convincing. Sometimes my answer makes me more certain that the choice the author made was a bad one for what they were attempting to do. Sometimes I find myself having to ask “why would they do this” so often that the whole thing crumbles and the book just doesn’t work. Being a generous reader is an entirely different thing than being a forgiving reader.

This gap between the reading forgivingly and reading generously is important because when we attempt to understand rather than simply overlooking, we can become more critical readers and truly develop our own sense of taste. Here are some of the effects I find of being a generous reader:

• I sharped my analytical skills. For me, reading generously is reading analytically. Spending time with a book and being curious about the intentions and impacts of the craft is literary analysis. Even though I’m no longer writing papers or planning lessons around the literature I read, I’m practicing the same skills by asking these questions.

• I can appreciate, even when you don’t enjoy. This is huge for me. I don’t want to reading to sloggy, boring, or like a waste of my time, but I also don’t need to love every book I read. Attempting to understand why an author might have made a choice I don’t like helps me appreciate the craft behind a piece of writing, even when I don’t love and adore it.

• I can consider the difference between poorly done and not-to-my-taste. In coming to appreciate what I don’t enjoy, I’ve started to discern when a book is good, but not for me—or, conversely, bad, but very much for me. I can, for example, appreciate the effect of mood-setting similes

• I differentiate between intended effect and actual effect. By trying to understand what an author was attempting, I can then ask whether the book succeeds at these attempts. For me, this is the key to determining whether or not a book “works.” What was it going for and where does it actually land?

• I have more to say about books I don’t like. I think there’s a lot of value in reviewers sharing straightforwardly what we just don’t like in a book, but these are often matters of personal taste. I know I don’t like first person present tense, however, it’s more useful to be able to name that I don’t like it and analyze whether or not the choice worked towards the author’s intension.

• I remember the books I read better. When I engage with something deeply, think it through, and arrive at my conclusions, I feel like I really own my reading of a book. The books I don’t remember are the ones I don’t read generously.

• I am more impressed with books that really nail it. When a book blows me away, I love to think about how an author made that happen. What choices did they make to make me feel that way, think that thought, connect so deeply with a character. I want to know how the magician pulled off the magic trick and reading generously helps me appreciate a writer’s skill all the more.

Mulling all of this over, I believe I can still call myself a generous reader, but my concept of what that means has shifted a bit. I am a less forgiving reader than I used to be and my tastes have evolved. But I now believe that shift has actually come from reading generously. Taking the time to truly understand if and how a book is working and approaching texts with the belief that the author is making intentional choices that impact my reading is the most generous interpretation of a reading situation. So perhaps, after all my concern, generous reading and critical reading are inextricably linked.

💬 Tell me your thoughts!

• Do you think of yourself as a “generous reader”? What does that term mean to you?

• Can you be a generous reader while still finding yourself annoyed, frustrated, and dismayed at what you’re reading?

• Is there a limit on generous reading? Where is the line, for you?

• What adjectives define the way you read? Why are they important to you?

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For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

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Today the FictionMatters Lit Society Manager Maddie Stough joins us for a discussion about our relationship w…

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First, welcome to all the new folks who have found this newsletter through the Paperback Summer Reading Guide. I’m so glad to have you here! Since there are some new faces, I thought today would be a good opportunity for a brief reintroduction and a refresh on what you’ll find here at FictionMatters. If this is all old information to you, go head and breeze on past to your regular Sunday programming!

FictionMatters began as a graduate school project all the way back in 2014. I was studying English Lit at Georgetown and deciding whether to continue into academia or teach high school English right as a new round of Common Core Standards was released. The new standards required that something like 50% of texts read by high school students be nonfiction. Now, this was actually must more complex than it sounds, but this got me thinking about why we read fiction in high school in the first place. The high school English classroom is kind of a funny place if you think about it. We have young people read classic literature while also helping them learn to write literary analysis papers with the assumption that learning this type of writing helps with all types of writing. I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate, but I believe deep in my soul that there reading literature is essential for young people and I wanted to consider why.

I decided to plan my final grad school project around this question. I interviewed as many people as I could about why they read fiction, and specifically what they feel they learn from reading fiction. I also dove into the research about what happens in our brains while reading fiction. The Georgetown English Department was a strong proponent of sharing our graduate work outside of the university so I knew I wanted some place to share my findings. I began posting my interview snippets along with what I was reading on Instagram and Tumblr.

When I finished my MA and started teaching high school English, I maintained the Instagram as a chronicle of my reading life and a way to connect with other readers outside of my educational world. This grew, and at some point I started getting books sent to me by publishers and seeing myself as a book reviewer, if not a true literary critic. I started a newsletter in 2019 (first on MailChimp!) as a way to write longer reviews and reach people outside of the noise of social media.

In 2020 when Covid hit and I left the classroom, I decided to see if I could make “professional reader” my career. I wanted to take what I loved doing in the classroom and bring it to other online readers. It’s grown beyond my wildest dreams, and I truly feel like the luckiest bookworm in the world that this is my job!

On Substack, you’ll get book reviews alongside essays inspired by my educational background. My goal is not just to help you find meaningful books, but to help you engage more deeply with the books you read by becoming a more confident, .

Here’s what you’ll find on the FictionMatters Substack:

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📕Sunday newsletters with reviews of the books I’ve read recently, links to favorite (mostly literary) finds around the internet, and personal news and recommendations.

📝Wednesday Reading in Public essays were I explore buzzy bookish topics, offer tips on reading more deeply, and reflect on the literary landscape at large. This is where my English teacher past really comes out, but it’s also where I try to offer insights garnered from 12 years of sharing my reading online.

🎧Books That Matter podcast series where I interview writers I admire about the books that matter to them. I typically release one or two of these each month, but I only host these episodes when there’s an author I really want to speak with, so they can be a bit sporadic. Here’s how to listen in your podcast player.

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📚Friday Mood Recs where I help you build a TBR based on reading moods, niche topics, and readalikes.

🎧Monthly Ranked Reading Recap podcasts in which I share and rank every book I read in the previous month.

🎧Monthly This Month in Books podcasts where I chat with Liz Hein, the most voracious reader I know, about what’s making news in the literary world and a handful of books we need to discuss.

📓Special in 2026, you’ll also get This American Lit, an independent study series designed to engage with American writers and texts who are contemplating the idea of America.

If you like what you’ve seen here, but are more in search of a community of readers, you might be interested in the FictionMatters Literary Society on Patreon. You can learn more about the differences and overlaps between each community here.

However and wherever you’re engaging, thank you so much for reading with me. Over the last few years I’ve learned that the best part of reading in public is community and I love reading alongside each of you. Thanks for being here!

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This week I read…

Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary. I’ve been so excited to start this favorite childhood series with Louise and decided our camping trip could be a perfect opportunity. I chatted with my kidlit whisperer and she said Louise might be ready and to give it a try. I packed Beezus and Ramona knowing that the focus was more on the older sister because I wanted to start when Ramona is four—just like Lou. We started reading the book the first night of our trip and the reinforced what we read by listening to the audiobook of the same chapter in the car the next day. This worked beautifully! After doubling up on the first couple chapters, she got used to a longer chapter book without many pictures and was remembering and following along easily.

In the first book in Cleary’s beloved Ramona series, we meet Beezus—a bookish, rule-following nine-year-old—and her rambunctious, sometimes naughty, little sister Ramona. Throughout the book, Ramona torments Beezus with her four-year-oldness and Beezus frets that she’s terrible for not always liking her sister. Ramona’s antics are hilarious for adults and kids alike and this book was such a fun family read. It also provided opportunities for us to talk about why it can be hard to be four and how important it is for grown-ups to remember what it’s like to be a kid. But also, Louise could identify when Ramona had crossed a line and would be very vocal about it!

As much as we all loved Beezus and Ramona, we’re going to hold off on Ramona the Pest of awhile. We started it and because it’s more from Ramona’s perspective, Ramona’s troublemaking seems more stressful to Louise. Cleary does such a wonderful job getting into the head of a little kid who wants to be good and loved but who is often misunderstood and sometimes causes trouble. That level of realism upset Lou a little, so we’ll just reread Beezus and Ramona while we wait for her to be ready. Bookshop | Libro.fm

Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai. I don’t have a full review of this Booker shortlisted book from 1980, but I do think many readers of this newsletter would enjoy it. This is a slim family novel that follows four siblings who have grown apart and examines the way small, unreconciled moments from childhood can impact us long into adulthood. Paralleling the story of the family, Desai explores the Partition of India and we see the way macro historical and political events can shape the intimacies of individual lives. The prose is stunning, lush and evocative, and the way Desai uses rich imagery to develop symbolic depth is the kind of writing that reminds me why I like reaching for my backlist shelves. If you love quiet family stories or books that ask questions about individual and collective memory, this is a book for you. Bookshop

Now I’m reading…

I’m still reading Land by Maggie O’Farrell. I also finished Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich, but am saving my first thoughts for book club.

New on my TBR…

Louise has been extremely into the mythology of Jormungundr recently (it’s all thanks to this book) and a friend recently told me about this novel retelling from the perspective of Jormungundr’s mother. I’m so excited to pick it up!

💬 Tell me about your week in books! What did you finish, what are you reading now, and what have you added to your TBR?

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I loved this piece from Maris Kreizman about how the biggest books of the year so far are the ones we all want to argue about. (Harpers Bazaar)

As mentioned last week and even before, I’ve been thinking a lot about the way AI is affecting not just the way we write, but the way we think about writing. I really appreciated this essay which has a click-baity headline (always an annoyance) but goes deep into how AI in the literary atmosphere is changing us all—even if we’re not using it ourselves. (Atlantic, gift link)

I’ve seen a lot of shade thrown at the NYT Book Review for their listicle featuring potentially popular summer reads, and I get it. But also if you want to see their list and don’t have a subscription, here you go. (NYT, gift link)

This summer release roundup added some new books to my TBR, which I didn’t think was possible (and definitely wasn’t necessary). (Lit Hub)

Some of the most recognizable illustrators in the world of picture books spoke about their processes, and I learned so much! (The Guardian)

Your next read based on your favorite ‘00s indie songs. (Electric Lit)

The 13 best book covers of May. (Lit Hub)

interviewed the Bookseller for Galley Brag, and it’s a must read.

Galley Brag

Galley Brag #28

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9 days ago · 17 likes · Ezra Kupor

• We took Louise camping for the first time and it was so much fun! She loves tasks and loves novelty so setting up our campsite was basically the highlight of her year. One of our stops was near Mesa Verde. We stayed at a Ramble campsite, and I can’t recommend it highly enough—especially if you have kids or are trying to get (back) into camping. Each campsite has a full outdoor kitchen so you don’t need a camping stove. There are flushable toilets, nice outdoor showers, and other amenities like hammocks and corn hole. It’s pretty much the best of both worlds between true car camping with the modern conveniences that are hard to give up when you’re traveling with a little one. Currently they have spots in Colorado at the Sand Dunes and Mesa Verde, but they have ten other sites in development, and I will definitely be visiting more!

  

• In addition to Beezus and Ramona, we spent a lot of our road trip listening to Sparkle Stories, in particular the Mrs. Castlechanter’s Magic Cabinet series. The story is lovely, gentle, and soothing, but still suspenseful and engaging. It does lean a bit too hard into the life lessons on occasion, but it mostly blends seamlessly into the plot. This subscription is $15 a month which feels like a lot unless you’re listening constantly, but if you’re going on a roadtrip with a young kid this summer, it’s definitely worth doing the free trial to break up the screen time.

For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter!

Happy reading!

If you’re still interested in getting the guide, I’ll be donating all proceeds made through Friday, June 5th. If you want to contribute, but aren’t interested in the guide, will be hosting her monthly $5 Friday on June 5th to support I AM ALS as well.

And if you missed Traci and I chatted about the process of creating our reading guides, what summer reading means—and doesn’t mean—to us, and what we’re going to be reading now that our guides are done. You can catch the replay here:

Unstacked

A Live Kickoff Summer Reading Guide Season!

My Nonfiction Reading Guide dropped today, so I went live with the greatest guide maker in the game, Sara Hildreth to talk about how we craft our guides. Sara’s is an all paperback fiction guide, and mine is an all nonfiction guide. We started off talking about our guides and what is new this year, and then took questions from all of you about what makes a book righ…

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13 days ago · 72 likes · Traci Thomas and Sara Hildreth

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This week in books.

This week I read…

The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders (out July 7). I am a sucker for a family novel. The intricacies and idiosyncrasies of familial relationships are endlessly fascinating. And because families are all so varied (there’s a quote about this, yes?), every family novel has the possibility to feel simultaneously familiar and singular. But as much as I love this type of story, I have to say that I’ve struggled to find truly great family novels in my new release reading. Other than a few standout gems in recent years—The Bee Sting comes to mind—I’ve worried that perhaps the novelty had faded, and I’d exhausted the genre.

Enter Shannon Sanders’s debut novel The Great Wherever, which is one of the best family novels I’ve read in years. The story primarily follows Aubrey, a 32-year-old working too many so-so jobs in Washington, D.C. while waiting for her wealthy boyfriend of four years to finally propose. Unfortunately for Aubrey, what she thinks is finally that engagement dinner turns out to be a break-up over a last meal leaving her future a major question mark. The derailment of her relationship leads Aubrey towards an overdue visit of a piece of property she inherited a stake in after the death of her father—a property originally purchased by her great-grandfather, one of the first Black landowners in the state of Tennessee. At first Aubrey thinks a quick sale of the land might be the windfall she needs to get back on her feet, but the distant relatives she shares ownership with all have their own opinions about that, as do the family ghosts who watch it all.

I love Sanders’s eye for detail, her inclination towards humor, and the skilled way she brings characters to life. But what makes this novel particularly memorable is the choices she makes with narrative voice. The novel is narrated by a gossipy ghost who lingers around her living ancestors, observing and judging every move. This ghost and her spirit compatriots have their own strong opinions about what their descendants should do with their land and their lives, and the resulting voice is delightful. The tone is warm and funny, giving the reader intimate insight on the family lore while also providing enough distance from the action of the plot to make it feel like a sweeping portrayal of a family. In the last couple years, I’ve become really interested in the choices writers make about narrative voice and I just love how much this (potentially risky!) choice adds to what Sanders is exploring about identity, family, and legacy. This book is out in early July, and I definitely recommend preordering, but if you want to sample her style (and meet Aubrey!) you should pick up the short story collection Company in the meantime. I’ll also be sharing a Books That Matter episode with Shannon Sanders the first week of July, so stay tuned for more! Bookshop | Libro.fm

Now I’m reading…

Now that my Paperback Summer Reading Guide is out in the world, I’m turning my attention to new releases. I just started Land by Maggie O’Farrell and its different from what I expected based on the blurb and reviews. Ultimately, I think that’s going to be a good thing, but I’ll have to keep reading to find out.

New on my TBR…

Like many readers, I think I’m going to need to revisit East of Eden before the miniseries drops. Anyone else in?

💬 Tell me about your week in books! What did you finish, what are you reading now, and what have you added to your TBR?

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Further reading.

The Guardian released a list of the 100 Best Novels. I love a list and was excited for the rollout, but the presentation was lame and the whole thing kind of fizzled. I know some people were really upset about various placements, but to me it all seemed rather boring and expected. I have read 52 of the 100, but many of those were in college and I barely remember them. It did inspire me to try to pick up more classics in the back half of the year, which is always a good thing. (The Guardian)

released her Nonfiction Reading Guide on Friday. I find it difficult to discover the right nonfiction books for me because even though I might be interested in a subject, if the style isn’t to my liking, I get bogged down. The way Traci shares books always helps me figure out what nonfiction I actually want to pick up.

I really loved this year’s International Booker winner. It also doesn’t surprise me that a book about translation keeps winning the translated fiction awards! (NPR)

The NYT shared a Summer Reading Bucket List (gift link), and I’m thrilled to report that you can complete every item with a book from the Paperback Summer Reading Guide.

FictionMatters

The 2026 Paperback Summer Reading Guide

Hey, readers…

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13 days ago · 108 likes · 26 comments · Sara Hildreth

There are lots of fantastic summer reading guides, but The Atlantic’s might be the closest one to my personal taste—other than my own of course.

15 new books our critics can’t wait to read this summer. (NPR)

The best reviewed books of the week. (Lit Hub)

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End notes.

• There were several AI stories in the literary world this week. The one I found most concerning of where we’re headed is the Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner that appeared in Granta (Vulture). It brings up so many questions. Can we spot AI writing? Do we even know what good writing is anymore? Must we be suspicious of everything we read now? I appreciated what Vauhini Vara had to say about it in this piece as well (Atlantic, gift link). As a fiction writer and reporter, she’s one of my most trusted voices on this issue. Is any of this impacting your reading life? I’d love to know how readers are thinking through all of this.

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For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter!

Happy reading!

Sara

I am so excited that YOU are excited about the 2026 Paperback Summer Reading Guide! Maddie, Liz, and I had a blast talking through the books at our Roundtable and are now able to share the video recording (audio only to come!). In this post you’ll also find time stamps for all of the categories and books if you want to skip around. We …

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I am so excited to be sharing the 2026 Paperback Summer Reading Guide today! Truth be told, there was a moment when I thought the guide just couldn’t happen this year, which makes me particularly proud of what I’m putting out today. I went about this year’s guide differently, deciding in advance to seek out literary genre fiction and organize the guide by familiar genres. This self-imposed criteria led me to find fantastic books I never would have tried before, and now I get to share them with you!

The complete PSRG—52 books!—is available to all paid newsletter subscribers and Patreon members. Patreon members, you should already have the PSRG in your inboxes now. If you don’t see it in your email, please visit the FictionMatters Patreon page to access the guide. Paid newsletter subscribers, keep scrolling to find the link to access a PDF of the complete 2026 Paperback Summer Reading Guide.

As you know, this year’s guide is particularly special to me because I am donating the proceeds to I AM ALS in honor of my dad who passed away from ALS in March. In addition to contributing the price of new monthly subscriptions and stand alone purchases to this cause, I will be matching the total we arrive at. That means if you subscribe today, you’re paying $5 for the PSRG, but contributing $10 to I AM ALS!

And don’t forget that my book pal is releasing her Nonfiction Reading Guide today! She is joining me in donating the price of new subscriptions to I AM ALS, and I will also be matching her donation. So make sure to go get her NRG as well, which means more books for you and an additional $10 to I AM ALS.

Speaking of Traci, we’re going live on Substack at 10am PT. Make sure to tune in if you want to hear us gab about books and all things summer reading!

Alright, if you want to access the 2026 PSRG, there are three ways to get it this year:

1. Upgrade to the paid version of this newsletter. You can get the PSRG for as little as $5 by subscribing this month or by upgrading to an annual plan for only $50. By sticking around for the year, you’ll get year round book recommendations and exclusive podcasts from me! By joining now with either a monthly or yearly subscription, you can also attend our PSRG Roundtable on Zoom today, Friday, May 22nd at 1:30pm MT / 3:30pm ET (a recording will be available after the fact if you can’t make it live).

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2. Join the FictionMatters Literary Society through Patreon. Joining now means access to the complete PSRG as well as invitations to events and access to exclusive content for as long as you remain a member. You can become part of the Literary Society for just $10/month. By joining now, you can also attend our PSRG Roundtable on Zoom today, Friday, May 22nd at 1:30pm MT / 3:30pm ET (a recording will be available after the fact if you can’t make it live).

Join the FM Patreon

3. Purchase the PSRG as a standalone item through my Buy Me a Coffee Page. If a subscription or membership isn’t right for you, you can buy the standalone PSRG for $10 through my Buy Me a Coffee Page. In your purchase confirmation page, you’ll also get a link to attend attend our PSRG Roundtable on Zoom today, Friday, May 22nd at 1:30pm MT / 3:30pm ET. Unfortunately, we are unable to send standalone purchasers the recording after the event. Sending the Zoom link to standalone purchasers is new for us and we are prepared for glitches! If you do not receive your Zoom link, please email fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com with a screenshot of your PSRG purchase and we will send you the link! Unfortunately, we are not able to offer a recording of the Roundtable to those who purchase the guide as a standalone.

   Purchase Your Standalone 2026 PSRG

Whatever option you choose, I hope I’m able to put something wonderful on your summer reading list this year! If you have questions, please respond directly to this newsletter or email me at fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com.

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Paperback Summer Reading Guide FAQs

What is the Paperback Summer Reading Guide?

The PSRG is a collection of backlist books read and curated by me that I think make for particularly great summer reads. I’ve been creating this guide for six years and I love seeing which books become hits in our reading community.

Why backlist?

As soon as I decided I wanted to create a summer reading guide of my own, I knew it was going to be filled with backlist books. First of all, there are already so many fantastic summer reading guides that feature new releases. But I also just love backlist reading. I love the feel of a paperback in my hand—especially for beach and pool reading. I love discovering new-to-me books that have stood the test of time. And I love using the summer to read books not everyone else is reading. Plus, backlist means you can get a lot of these from the library right away or inexpensively from Thriftbooks or your favorite used bookstore.

What types of books will I find in the guide?

When I was a teacher, I used my summer breaks to read the long, challenging, literary books I didn’t always have the capacity for during the school year. This inspired the first batch of PSRG books and it has remained my north star every since. This guide is made up primarily of literary fiction, because that’s what I like to read. Yet while I create this guide for readers who don’t necessarily want breezy books in the summer, I also keep in mind what sorts of reading experiences feel like quintessential summer reading to me by keeping in mind some guiding principals. This year, the terms I kept in mind were captivating, propulsive, transporting, and hopeful. Every book on the list fits at least one of these descriptors.

Are these books you’ve already reviewed?

No! I read specifically for this guide for the first five months of the year to spotlight books I’ve never shared before. Because they’re backlist, there might be a few that you have read before (in fact, I love when that happens!), but they’re all new to me.

How many books will be on the PSRG?

About 50. I know…I know…I’m not always sure that more is more, but this year we have a lot of books. Here’s why. When my dad passed away, I wasn’t sure how much I’d be able to or even want to read this season so I asked my frequent collaborators Maddie Stough and Liz Hein if they would contribute to the main guide this year. But then I did read…I read a ton. And so did Maddie and Liz! We actually cut more books that we ever have this year and still ended up with around 50 total. About 80% of the books are my selections with 20% coming from Maddie and Liz.

How many categories are in the main part of the guide?

There are nine categories and this year, I have organized the guide by…genre! Yes, this is still a summer reading guide for lit fic readers, but I wanted to try something a little different this year. I had so much fun diversifying my reading across genre while still looking for the stylish prose and deep themes I want in my books. In addition to genres, you’ll find the fan favorite categories “No Plot, All Vibes” and “Feels Like Summer.”

When does the PSRG release?

The guide will be be available on Substack on Friday, May 22nd at 8am MT / 10am ET.

How do I get the guide?

The guide is available to all paid Patreon and Substack subscribers. It will also be sold as a standalone for $10. If you are already a paying Patreon or Substack subscriber, you don’t need to do anything now. You will get the guide delivered to your email on Friday, May 22nd. If you aren’t currently a paid subscriber, you can upgrade your Substack or join Patreon now, or wait until the guide is released on Friday. Free subscribers will also receive a newsletter on Friday with instructions for upgrading or purchasing the standalone guide.

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***If you want more information on the differences between Substack and Patreon memberships, please visit my website.

Will there be a Zoom roundtable this year?

Yes! Maddie, Liz and I will be hosting the Zoom roundtable on Friday, May 22rd at 1:30pm MT / 3:30pm ET. In this virtual gathering, we’ll chat about the process of curating this year’s guide, talk through each of the books, and answer questions you have about specific books. You’ll get the link on Friday, May 22nd in the same email newsletter as your PSRG. This is a webinar so you will not be on camera and we will record the event for those who can’t attend live.

How else are the books arranged this year?

Because this year’s guide is categorized by genre, you’ll find a “Take a Second Look” section in the guide that organizes the PSRG picks in a more mood reader friendly way. There will be a list for “Armchair Travel,” “Genuine Page-Turners,” and more. Like last year, you’ll also find badges to indicate which books are translated, long and leisurely, and particularly great on audio.

Is there anything else new this year?

We have one new section this year called “Should’ve Been a Summer Read.” Maddie, Liz, and I each chose five books we’ve already read and shared that would make perfect summer reads. Because the PSRG is made up of all new-to-me books, they didn’t qualify for the main guide, but we’re sneaking them in another way.

What else do I need to know?

• I always like to reiterate that this guide is particular to my taste and skews more literary and more challenging than what’s typical thought of as a beach read. Of course, I want everyone to grab my guide, but if that’s not your summer reading vibe, that’s okay! There’s definitely another guide out there for you!

• I will be going live on Substack with on Friday, May 22nd at 10am PT / 1pm ET. Traci is dropping a Nonfiction Reading Guide on Friday so we’ll be chatting about our guides, our processes, and all things summer reading.

• This year, the money I make from the PSRG will be going to I AM ALS. I lost my dad to ALS earlier this year and have been wanting to contribute in his honor. It feels right to combine that with a project I love and make it more of a community effort. For all new subscriptions to FictionMatters in May and until June 4th, I will donate that $5 monthly subscription to I AM ALS, plus I will match it, meaning $10 donated for every new subscriber. I’ll also be donating and matching all of my earnings from standalone guide purchases.

• Plus, is also donating $5 for every new person who subscribes to get her Nonfiction Reading Guide and I’m also matching those donations. That means you can spend 10 bucks, get two guides with dozens of book recommendations, and be contributing $20 to I AM ALS.

If you have any additional questions, please comment here, respond to this email, or email me directly at fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com. I can’t wait to get this year’s guide to you on Friday!

-Sara

What I’m seeing in the literary fiction world this summer is debuts, newly translated titles, books that ride the line between literary and beach reads, and books that sound charmingly strange, which makes sense with the big names publishing this fall. I’m looking forward to some new voices and some surprising rides this summer!

These new seasonal anticipated books lists are for paid subscribers. Upgrading your subscription today gets you this anticipated new releases list and my Paperback Summer Reading Guide, which comes out Friday, May 22. Plus in May I’m donating the $5 monthly subscription payment of every new member to I AM ALS with an additional matching contribution—so upgrading means $10 to this wonderful organization. It means so much to me to be able to put my favorite project of the year towards something good in honor of my dad.

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Alright, let’s get into all of the weird and wild and wonderful summer books releasing between May and August…

Already read and loved

Canon by Paige Lewis (Viking, May 19). This peculiar epic is a joy to read. If you’re looking for something outlandish and different from the typical brand of summer reading, this is one to pick up.

The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders (Holt, July 7). Sanders’s debut novel is one of the best new family sagas I’ve read in recent years. Told from the perspective of a gossipy ghost, this book offers humor and heart without sacrificing depth.

Top picks: Small press gems

I love supporting small presses and there are some very exciting indie books hitting shelves this summer.

• One Leg on Earth by Pemi Aguda (Norton, May 5). The way Aguda blended myth, folklore, and reality in her short stories is masterful, and I’m eager to read her debut novel.

• The Fifth Year by Marlen Haushofer, tr. by Shaun Whiteside (New Directions, May 26). Thank you, New Directions, for the Haushofer Renaissance! Another masterpiece is coming our way later this month.

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I started planning this trip shortly after my dad passed away, and it served well as something joyful and exciting to direct my attention towards. This wasn’t a nostalgia-fueled thing—I don’t think my dead enjoyed the Disney experience much at all—but a trip to “the happiest place on earth” definitely seemed like a good idea for where we all were emotionally. And it was wonderful! My theory that four-and-a-half might be a pretty perfect age for the Disney experience proved true. She had no expectations and no list of things she must do and so everything we did get to felt special and we didn’t have to plan our days according to a checklist or spreadsheet. Also at four, the characters still feel real. Meeting Mickey, Aladdin, Mary Poppins, and especially the princess crew was a real thrill for our little one and seeing it all through her eyes was very special.

Returning home I realized I was able to defer some of my grief by channeling my energy into spearheaded this trip and now I have more time and room to sit with my feelings. That’s probably a good thing for me, but I’m certainly not opposed to planning another trip soon as a coping tactic.

Before we get into this week’s books, I have a couple quick housekeeping announcements. My April Ranked Reading Recap will be combined with May’s and released in early June. I am swamped working on the summer reading guide, and something had to give!

Speaking of the Paperback Summer Reading Guide, that will release on Friday, May 22nd. The guide is available to all Patreon members and paid Substack subscribers and will also be available as a standalone purchase. This year, I am donating the proceeds of all new subscriptions and standalone sales to I AM ALS in honor of my dad. This patient-led organization supports ALS research and assists people living with the disease. For my current subscribers, I’ll also be bolstering this donation from my May Substack and Patreon income, so part of your current subscription will also go to this great organization. If you’d like to contribute more, please consider purchasing a standalone guide for a bookish buddy or simply contributing on your own! I’ll be sharing more details on the PSRG including the drop party time and how this year’s guide is organized in next Sunday’s newsletter. Thanks so much for all of the support this year, readers. It means so much to me.

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This week in books.

This week I read…

Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online by Fortesa Latifi. I picked this up on audio when I needed a little break from vetting paperback fiction for my summer reading guide, and it served its role as an entertaining and informative distraction well enough. In her book, Latifi explores the lives of momfluencers, tradwives, teen moms, kidfluencers, and other social media genres that put kids at the forefront. Through extensive interviews with parents who’ve made all variety of decisions in regards to their kids’ social media presence—and sometimes with the kids themselves—Latifi is able to give readers behind-the-scenes access to the glossy (un)reality we see online.

Of course the major question the book asks is if making money from showcasing your children is exploitative, and even though the answer seems an obvious yes to me, Latifi doesn’t offer a definitive answer. She seems to agree with my at-a-distance assessment, but after talking to so many kids who say the love being (or want to be) influencers and parents who have seen the benefits of life-changing social media income, she offers more nuance than I would have expected. I think that could be a good thing, but there seems to be something missing from the book that is no fault of Latifi’s, and that’s time. Yes the first wave of influencer kids are adults now, but there isn’t enough data—or even anecdotal evidence—to really say what the longterm effects of this type of childhood are. I’m glad Latifi wrote the book now to bring these questions to the forefront, but I hope this isn’t the last book examining this trend.

My other issue with the book is personal. I was unfamiliar with almost all of the families and kids Latifi highlights in her book, so what did I do whenever I encountered an unfamiliar Instagram handle? Looked them up of course! The sometimes gossipy tone of the book made me want to be in-the-know and I found myself going down online rabbit holes I never would have been interested in before. In that way, for me, this book served almost the opposite of its intended purpose and I wish I could get those hours of my life back. Alas, I’m glad I read it and if you have better self-control or a preexisting familiarity with Lafiti’s subjects, you’re likely to avoid this particular pitfall. Bookshop | Libro.fm

Now I’m reading…

I’m in the final sprint of Paperback Summer Reading Guide creation and have basically been reading nonstop. This is one of the most fun and maddening parts of the process, and I can’t wait to share what I’ve found with all of you!

New on my TBR…

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of A Tender Age by Chang-Rae Lee and that will be one of the first books I pick up after my summer reading guide is complete.

💬 Tell me about your week in books! What did you finish, what are you reading now, and what have you added to your TBR?

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Further reading.

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced this week. Here are the winners. (NPR)

I can never quite articulate why I enjoy Elizabeth Strout’s work as much as I do, so I appreciated reading another critics thoughts on the matter. (Atlantic, gift link)

Douglas Stuart on great novels of gay life. (New Yorker)

The rise of the literary nepo baby? The children of famous novelists on following in their parents’ footsteps. (Guardian)

Are you looking forward to stocking your beach bag with books? Here are some sizzling summer thrillers to get you started. (NYT, gift link)

The post-trauma plot book is here. (Vulture)

Seven death-defying books for the adventurous reader. (Atlantic, gift link)

I’m very curious about the creator of Adolescence’s take on Lord of the Flies. (NPR)

Out of this world space books for kids. (Book Riot)

The best reviewed books of the week. (Lit Hub)

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End notes.

• Louise has been very into Snow White and the Seven Dwarves lately, and I love that for us. I was worried it would be too scary (it is scary, but she’s fine with it) but what I’d forgotten is that it’s so slow—complimentary! All the quick cuts and vibrant colors of modern movies keep kids glued to screens, and we do plenty of new stuff too. But with the muted color palette and long scenes where very little happens, Snow White actually tries her attention skills, and I feel good about that.

• This episode of In Plain English found me at exactly the right time. The final stretches of summer reading guide prep are always intense, but this year I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by options for books to read in the waning weeks of creating it. This conversation was all about how constraints can foster creativity and after listening to it, I came up with a few more limiting factors for my guide. It was soooo helpful! I have much more direction in terms of choosing final books to vet and deciding what will make the final guide. I highly recommend listening now matter what sort of field you’re in or whether you even consider yourself “creative.”

• As spring turns to summer, we’ve been enjoying seeing what grows in our new garden. Moving into a new house in winter is kind of fun because it’s a total surprise to see what blooms and grows. This beauty finally opened this week (in spite of a May snow storm!) and has delighted us all.

For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter!

Happy reading!

Sara

Today’s post is too long for email and is best read in a web browser or in the Substack app.

Okay, readers, after months of build-up, we are finally entering the time period of recognizable Great American Novels—the books we read in school or the ones we’ve always meant to pick up. Our collective enthusiasm and motivation might have dipped a bit in our Rhetoric and Revolution unit, but I hope you’ll find something in our Unit 3 syllabus that you are excited to read and discuss.

And for the first time in this project, we have a shared Touchstone Text to read collectively and help bring everything together. You can find more on that below, but this unit’s Touchstone Text is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This is a book I’ve wanted to revisit for myself since I stopped teaching it and one that bridges the Puritan ideals of Unit 1 with the Romantic sensibilities of Unit 3. Whether you’ve read it previously or will join me in a reading over the next two months, I’m so excited to discuss it with you! Unless there are many requests, I am not planning to create a scheduled read-along for The Scarlet Letter, however I will provide a kit with resources and reading questions in late May or early June for those planning to read it. Please let me know if you have a strong preference!

Housekeeping:

• There is now a This American Lit tab on the FictionMatters Substack homepage. You can access all past syllabi, unit discussions, and more from that tab.

• We have a PDF versions of the syllabi!! You all have requested PDF versions, and I’m happy to comply. You’ll the PDFs for Unit 1, Unit 2, and Unit 3 syllabi linked at the bottom of this newsletter.

This American Lit Unit 3: Romanticism, Reform, and the American Renaissance (1820s - 1860s)

The decades between roughly 1820 and 1865 produced some of the most extraordinary writing in the English language and gave birth to the American Novel. Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Hawthorne, Melville., and Poe are classroom staples and some of the first writers who come to mind of when we think of quintessentially American writers. This period gave shape to something we might start to recognize as a distinctly American literary voice—a voice that is expansive, obsessed with self-invention, concerned with the natural world, and highly focused on the self and the soul.

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I think this is why summer reading still has a hold on those of us who have aged and opted out of the school calendar; I can still conjure up the feel of childhoos summer reading in my body. Even though my summers are no longer filled with empty days stretching out in front of me, my reading is the one place where I can get close to capturing that feeling of freedom and possibility.

In honor of the approaching summer reading season, I’m sharing how I’m setting myself up for a 90s reading summer. These are the steps I’m taking to capture the nostalgia of childhood and manifest the 90s summer reading vibes I crave. If you’re just as excited as I am about the next few months of reading, I’d love to hear how you’re approaching your 2026 summer reading and how you make your summer reading seasonally ideal.

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Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Book of the Month. As always, I only recommend books, products, and ideas I genuinely think you'll love.

How to manifest a 90s reading summer:

Identify when your uninterrupted reading time will be.

Unfortunately very few of us adults have the long, languid, nothing-but-time-to-kill summer days we had as kids. Instead of bemoaning that fact (okay, I do still bemoan it a little), I try to look ahead and figure out when throughout the summer I might be able to capture that same feeling. For me, these are summer Fridays when my daughter often has sleepovers with my mom. Usually Friday is my big work day because I can devote the entire day to it, but this summer I plan to clear my calendar for at least a few of these and read from dawn to dusk. Even having a couple of lazy reading days on my summer calendar is enough for me to capture a bit of the childhood magic. Look ahead at your calendar to see if there’s a weekend, a day, even a half-day that you can clear your schedule for time purely devoted to reading.

Map out the reading places or spaces that feel like summer to you.

As a kid, summer meant reading anywhere and everywhere—especially outdoors. This year I know that my front porch is going to be my go-to summer reading spot. I’ve pictured long days with my book on the porch bringing out coffee in the morning, snacks all day, and a glass of rosé in the evening. I honestly believe that visualizing this is going to help me fully transition into summer reading mode as soon as I open a book out there.

Having a place in mind that already feels like summer to you is a great way to get in the summer reading mindset. Maybe it’s a classic summer reading spot like the beach or pool, maybe it’s throwing down a blanket and having a picnic in your backyard, or maybe it’s staying up late reading in bed while the rest of the house is sleeping—go ahead and pull out the flashlight! No matter what else is going on, let that place transport to the magical realm of summer reading.

Balance curation with surprise and delight.

I like my summer reading to be a healthy mix of planned and spontaneous. Doing self-guided reading projects give me the required summer reading vibe I admittedly kind of love, but giving myself an opportunity to stumble upon books haphazardly is the kind of serendipitous delight that makes for a truly nostalgic reading season.

One of the ways I’m infusing surprise into my reading life is with Book of the Month. BOTM curates a handful of new releases every month and allows subscribers to choose one brand new hardback with their subscription along with any add-ons that catch their eye. What I love about BOTM is it adds a spontaneous, sure-I’ll-try-that feeling to my reading. When I’m bogged down by too much choice or feeling stuck in a genre rut, choosing my BOTM pick helps immensely. I love that BOTM helps me manage my TBR by highlighting a few highly curated books across genres but still allows me to pick what I’m in the mood for each month.

For May, I chose Canon by Paige Lewis which I’ve already read and adored—add it to your beach bag if you want something super quirky and original! And Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray. Crime fiction isn’t my go-to, but I’ve seen rave reviews and this is the kind of foray into the unfamiliar that really makes my summer reading feel like summer.

Right now, you can get your first month of Book of the Month plus a mini-tote for just $5 with the code FLORAL. Discover all the May selections and sign up for your first blue box here.

Read a series.

I haven’t lost myself in a book series in years, but what better way to have a 90s reading summer than total immersion in book after book with the same characters. My childhood summers were often spent with the Box Car children, the Wakefield twins, and Nancy Drew. In hindsight, I think I loved the all-consuming feeling of devoting myself to a summer series. And in the present, having a series on-hand makes the endless question of what to read next a little easier (another perk of a BOTM subscription!). This summer I plan to finally jump on the Morning Star and On Calculation of Volume series bandwagons, but if anyone has an excellent fantasy series to recommend to me, I’m open!

Develop a library habit.

If you’ve gotten out of the habit of visiting your local library, now is the time to start. There’s no reading freedom that quite compares to being able to take home as many books as you’d like for no dollars! This summer I’m hoping to have a weekly library date with my daughter one afternoon a week so we can start developing library visits into a routine part of our reading lives. If you are recommitting to your local library this summer, be sure to check if they have a summer reading program. Denver Public Library’s Summer of Adventure is exclusively for kids, but I’ve heard that some libraries and bookstores offer similar incentives for adult readers!

Celebrate success with a devoted reading day.

I think one of the reasons summer reading feels so good is it was total reading freedom following the culmination of a lot of work. We’ve just finished a school year, finals, tests, grading, etc. and now we just get to read. I’ve realized that I’ve cultivated the same feeling by releasing my Paperback Summer Reading Guide at the start of summer. The relief that comes from being done makes the next books I read all the more pleasurable.

If you have a big project, an intense week of parenting, or another big life event, plan to follow it up with some devoted reading time. The mantra of “when I finish this I can read whatever I want” is such a good motivator and makes the reading that follows feel like a real treat.

Treat yourself to a personal pan pizza—or treat of your choice.

Speaking of treats, who else misses getting rewarded with a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut for a summer spent reading? To truly capture the feeling of a 90s reading summer, I’m integrated this back into my reading life this year. When I finish ten books, I’m going to take myself out solo for a pizza and diet coke. Of course I will also bring a book to enjoy with my meal and begin working towards my next prize, because now I make the rules and I think multiple celebrations are in order this summer…maybe round two will be ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. What’s more nostalgic than that?!

Tell me your thoughts! What will you be doing to cultivate a 90s reading summer? What books and vibes bring out the best of summer reading notalgia for you?

Leave a comment

For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter!

Happy reading!

Sara

In today’s episode, Liz and I chat about why we’re just not clicking with the literary internet these days and then dive into the books we’ve been reading recently. This episode is heavy on new releases (Liz even read one of my most anticipated fall books), but I do have one cult classic poetry collection and one Victorian novel to share as well.

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Rob Franklin is the author of Great Black Hope, which was published in June 2025. A national bestseller, his debut novel was nominated for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Barnes and Noble Discover Prize, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence — it was named a “Best Book of the Year” by TIME, Vogue, NPR, and Vanity Fair, among others. A co-founder of Art for Black Lives, Franklin holds a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from NYU’s Creative Writing program. He teaches writing at School of Visual Arts and edits fiction for Joyland. He lives in New York.

In this episode, Rob and I discuss Richard Siken’s debut poetry collection, Crush. Not only was this my first time reading Crush, I had never even heard of it before Rob’s recommendation. I found this collection to be urgent and astonishing. I’m so grateful to Rob for bringing it to my attention and for this fascinating discussion about poetic language, the development of taste, and the interplay between writer, reader, and text. I hope you love this conversation and that getting to know Rob as a reader encourages you to go pick up Great Black Hope–it’s an excellent summer read!

Books and Links

• Crush by Richard Siken

• The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

• Claudia Rankine

• Citizen by Claudia Rankine

• Mark Doty

• Terrance Hayes

• Lighthead by Terrance Hayes

• Ben Lerner

• Zadie Smith

• Katie Kitamura

• Raven Leilani

• Transcription by Ben Lerner

• Open City by Teju Cole

• Donna Tartt

• Joan Didion

• Hilton Als

• White Girls by Hilton Als

• Bluets by Maggie Nelson

• “You Are Jeff” by Richard Siken

• True Grit by Charles Portis (Audiobook read by Donna Tartt)

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

• Edmund White

• Audition by Katie Kitamura

• Mary Oliver

• W.H. Auden

• Chloe’s Scene by Jay McInerney

• What I Saw at Taylor Swift’s Delirious Eras Tour by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

• How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow Company Worth $250 Million by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

• Another Country by James Baldwin

*This post contains affiliate links.

As I finalize selections for the guide, I’m seeking out some help from you! I’m curious what you’re hoping to find in your summer reading this year. What do you want your summer reading to feel like? What would you like to discover? Adding the final books and finishing touches is one of the hardest, but most satisfying, aspects of this project and your input could help me land on those last few books to make this guide as perfect as can be.

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This week in books.

This week I read…

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott I love including classics on my summer reading guide for a couple of reasons. First, for some of us, summer is the time when we can slow down and truly immerse ourselves in a book, which means it’s the perfect time to pick up something a little denser than our typical fare. On the other hand, sometimes we forget that many classics were riveting bestsellers in their day. A lot of the books that have stood the test of time were actually popular works read widely by readers of all variety. We don’t always have to treat classics as these precious, sacred texts to be studied and dissected, many of them are just good reads!

Which brings me to Ivanhoe—my first Walter Scott novel and a truly riveting read. This book has it all: romance, war, good and evil, daring rescues, dashing knights, beautiful maidens, and Robin Hood! It is very much a classic that is also a good time. The book is set in medieval England during the Crusades and Scott is very skilled at bring this world to life. Right away in the opening chapters we get rich descriptions of characters clothing and accents along with fascinating tidbits on the evolution of the English language as French and Anglo-Saxon merged. It’s a wonderful example of immersive historical fiction. It also feels extremely timely. There’s an evil buffoon on the English throne, a professed holy war in the Middle East, much discussion of the rightful claim to Palestine, and a pervasive problem of antisemitism plaguing our characters. Honestly, it’s a little eerie. So while the story itself is extremely compelling, the parallels to today were a big part of what kept me reading.

This book also occupies an interesting spot in its own history. Scott wrote Ivanhoe (published in 1819) just before Catholic Emancipation (1829) when Jewish civil rights were part of the political debate in Britain. Ivanhoe was part of that conversation and his novel was largely seen as supporting the emancipationist side. Scott was also consciously pushing back against the caricature of the Jewish villain that dominated English literature and his book includes many direct references and quotations from texts like The Merchant of Venice and The Jew of Malta. So this book was actively political and quite progressive for its time and yet reading it now there’s a lot of discomfort to sit within. Scott’s Jewish characters are largely sympathetic, but they’re also very much othered—and this was an observation of critics contemporary to Scott, not just those writing now. While I’m not critiquing the book for being of its time, it feels too complicated to simply put on a summer reading guide. This is an adventurous, romantic, enjoyable read—and one that requires a nuanced lens if you’re going to pick it up. But I do hope some of you read it—or have already read it—because I’d love to discuss further! Bookshop | Libro.fm

Now I’m reading…

Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai is the April Book Club selection over on Patreon. It’s been interesting to read it so closely after reading The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Anita’s daughter, Kiran Desai. Mother-daughter Booker winners?! We love to see it.

New on my TBR…

has been texting me about this very niche, very nerdy nonfiction book and I’m extremely eager to read it.

💬 Tell me about your week in books! What did you finish, what are you reading now, and what have you added to your TBR?

Leave a comment

Further reading.

Libro.fm has some really great books on sale in honor of Independent Bookstore Day. If you’re not a member and want your audiobook listening to go towards indies instead of Amazon, use my link to sign up now!

This list of Mother’s Day gifts for writers will very much appeal to readers as well. I’d take one of everything but this hair clip is perhaps my most surprisingly delightful find. (Lit Hub)

The best books of 2026 so far. (New Yorker)

Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term intersectionality and helped develop critical race theory, has a new memoir coming out in May. In this interview, she speaks about seeing this moment in America coming. (Guardian)

Eight of the most fascinating biographies to read. (Atlantic)

Haruki Murakami has a new book coming out this year. That’s news enough, but this one’s making headlines because it will be his first to feature a woman protagonist. (Guardian)

I can’t argue with this reader selected best literary film adaptation. (Lit Hub)

The eleven most challenged books of 2025. (NPR)

The best reviewed fiction of the week. (Lit Hub)

Whiting foundation names its 10 emerging writers of 2026. (NPR)

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End notes.

• If you weren’t able to make it to your local indie yesterday or are simply in need of a few additional books, it’s not to late to celebrate, stock up, and support your favorite shop. Bookshop.org has free shipping today so go ahead and click “place order” on your cart that’s been building up. Personally, I have 24 books in my cart…I will be moving some to the wishlist before placing my order, but I am excited to have waited for free shipping day.

• We’ve started doing post-dinner, post-bath neighborhood strolls now that the days are longer. It’s such a wonderful way to wind down for the day and I feel like being outside as the light changes is helpful for all of our sleep rhythms. The other benefit has been exploring our new neighborhood and it’s lovely right now.

• Louise and I had a great Independent Bookstore Day and made our first visit to The Bookies. I remember going to the old location as a kid with my grandma and they’ve done a great job with the new space. There are various play spaces and lots of seating, plus they now have a pretty great selection of adult fiction as well. We’ll definitely be back!

For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter!

Happy reading!

Sara

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I spend a lot of time defending English teachers on my platform, but I will admit that how we read poetry in school dampens many people’s appreciation for it—and I include myself in this critique. For very good reason, English teachers often use poetry as a vehicle for teaching literary devices, but the focus on locating these devices can detract from the impact of poetry as a form. While I do occasionally enjoy analyzing a poem line by line, the focus on this type of explication can communicate that that is the right way or even the only way to read poetry. English class also introduces us to a lot of wonderful foundational poetry whose archaic language can be a barrier to entry. But while a requirement of poetry is care and concern for every word on the page, those words don’t have to be inaccessible.

Today I’m sharing my approach to reading poetry. This is what works for me, and perhaps some of it will speak to you as well. If you have a poetry practice, poem, or poet you love, please share them with us in the comments below!

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My approach to reading poetry

1. I choose poetry collections the same way I choose novels. One thing that keeps people from reading poetry is not knowing where to start. Perhaps there are famous names you know and think you should read, but just like reading a classic novel because you think you “should,” this is usually not the best approach. What I’ve found works for me—and this is groundbreaking, I know—is reading poetry that covers topics I enjoy when reading fiction. For example, I love myth and fairytale retellings so it is no surprise that Carol Ann Duffy’s The World’s Wife is one of my favorite collections of poetry. I also love novels that explore time and memory, which might explain why WH Auden is one of my favorite poets. If there are themes, topics, or tones you enjoy in your fiction, try searching for poetry that covers similar ground. If you like books about motherhood, love stories, family dramas, history—trust me, there are poems for you! My other method for choosing poetry is by identifying people with similar taste to myself. At this point, I have a couple of people who I actually get poetry recommendations from because I trust their recommendations on poetry specifically. But generally, if I tend to like the same novels as another reader, I jump on it when they recommend a poet. While it’s certainly possible to share poetry taste with someone whose prose taste you wildly disagree with, I wouldn’t recommend beginning a poetry journey on the recommendations of a reader who doesn’t generally like what you like.

2. I don’t worry about reading entire collections. Before this week when I read a collection of poetry from front to back in a single sitting, I can’t remember the last time I read an entire poetry collection from cover to cover. That’s why you don’t ever see collections of poetry reviewed in my newsletter in spite of the fact that I do enjoy reading poetry! I do not feel obligated to read an entire collection. I like to flip through and read whatever grabs my attention and may end up reading a single poem multiple times without every finishing the book. A couple of key things here. First, some poetry collections demand to be read in order and in full, and that’s great. These tend to be more narrative collections where I’d miss something if I did my flip through method. I try to pay attention and read the collection the way it’s asking to be read. Second, not finishing a collection might be an annoyance for you if you care about counting books read. If this is you, I’d recommend limiting yourself to a poem or two a day so you still get to savor each and find the ones that really speak to you. If anxiety about finishing is an issue, there are also plenty of amazing online resources for reading poetry—one poem at a time. My favorite is definitely Poem a Day which is a great way to be introduced to the work of contemporary poets.

3. I look for one thing I like. Not every poem grabs me enough to read it multiple times or resonates with me in a way I’ll remember. In fact, most don’t. But in every poem there is something I like or am interested in. It could be the way the author split the line or a particular image they used or a pair of words I’d never seen together or the way they captured a feeling linguistically. Every time I note something that I like in a poem, it makes me excited to read more poetry and makes me a more attuned reader of prose. I love that reading poetry forces me to pay attention to language, but focusing on what I like instead of what I think is “important” allows the reading experience to be more personal and less analytical.

4. I’ve stopped asking, what is this really about? I admit that I love a good poetry explication, and I remember having my mind blown by breaking down various Romantic and Victorian poets in sophomore year English. But not every poem needs (or wants) to be read in that manner. Sure, I still find poems that are clearly operating on a figurative level and I’ll see what meaning I can make with multiple readings and analysis. But this isn’t how I read most poetry now. Instead of asking what is this really about, I now ask, what effect is this having on me? This encourages some amount of reflection and analysis without forcing myself into that English classroom practice of mining a poem to get it “right.”

Now that I’ve shared my approach, I’d love to know about your favorite poems! What’s a poem you love? When did you encounter it? Do you like reading poetry in general? Why or why not?

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For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter!

Happy reading!

Sara

This is all a long wind-up to telling you that I recently DNF’d two books. I was reading them for very different reasons and I stopped reading them for very different reasons. I don’t feel qualified to offer full reviews on books I didn’t finish, but I’ll share why I abandoned them when I did and who might enjoy picking them up.

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This week in books.

This week I read…

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. I picked up the trad wife novel you’re seeing everywhere because I too was seeing it everywhere and I needed to know what the fuss was about. Whenever a book is this buzzy (especially when its a debut novel) I have a hard time resisting—not necessarily because I trust the buzz and think it’s going to be great but because I want to know what’s being positioned as the Next Big Thing. I actually received a copy of this book months ago complete with a farm-style PR package that included jam and a lot of gingham. The Knopf publicity team is truly the best in the business—the know not only how to sell a book but how to make a book.

I already told you I DNF’d this so I won’t bury the lede here: I didn’t like this book. I listened to about 40% of it on audio and found the pacing and characterization very frustrating. I kept hoping for more insight and social commentary and it wasn’t coming. I did want to know what happened though. The premise of a famous trad wife waking up in 1855 and having to live the real version of the life she’s sold online is ingenious and I needed to know the twist. So I picked up my physical copy, aggressively skimmed the middle third and then read the ending (which is weirdly morally heavy-handed). Perhaps in my skimming I missed a lot that would have lead me to a deeper experience with this book, but I knew I was only reading to see what all the fuss was about and I satisfied that need. Based on the general response, I think if you’re looking for a thriller with an original premise this could be a juicy one to pick up this summer, but for me this was a big miss. Bookshop | Libro.fm

Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love by isthisselfcare. I read my first fan fiction! Shortly after my dad passed away, I realized I needed some comfort in my reading life. I tried a lot of books that just weren’t doing it for me and the series that was in my mind as my childhood comfort read was Harry Potter. There are many reasons I didn’t feel like reading the HP series itself but I decided I would pick up the Harry Potter fan fiction title I’ve heard so many people rave about. Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love follows a 30-something Draco Malfoy as an auror tasked with protecting (sexy and single) Hermione Granger and her secret project. This is “Dramione” fan fic so Draco and Hermione eventually get together, but it’s a slow burn and involves lots of fun side quests and adventures.

I liked this book a lot. The writing is good! It’s sharp and clever, rich in detail and relatively well-paced despite its lack of professional editing. But I only made it halfway through before I abandoned it. At some point I realized that I had extracted all the comfort I needed from this delightful story. I didn’t really care to discover details about the secret project and I wasn’t interested in open door scenes between the two protagonists so I just stopped. And honestly, that feels great. I know I have a book to open if I feel adrift and in need of comfort once again, but for now, it’s served it’s purpose. I suppose in terms of recommending this, I think it’s a fun one to try if you’ve been curious about fan fiction and don’t know where to start. I learned a lot about the fan fic world and have been mulling over the implications of this world on the traditional publishing space since I first picked it up. Whatever your reading tastes, it’s a fascinating exercise to dip your toes into this writing community—especially now that so many fan fic titles are being bought by publishers. Read on AO3 | Purchase The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy

Now I’m reading…

I’m back to falling asleep to my other favorite comfort read on audio and am feeling the urge to pick up a physical copy and give it my full attention.

New on my TBR…

We’re getting a new Percival Everett in 2027!!

💬 Tell me about your week in books! What did you finish, what are you reading now, and what have you added to your TBR?

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Further reading.

It’s Getting Harder to Spot AI in Contemporary Publishing. And That’s Very, Very Bad. (Lit Hub)

Great books to bring young readers into the wilderness. (NYT, gift link)

The National Book Foundation released their 5 Under 35 list…and I interviewed one of them!

FictionMatters

Books That Matter: Anika Jade Levy on THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger

Welcome to Books That Matters. Today, I’m joined by Anika Jade Levy. Anika is a writer from Colorado, a founding editor of Forever Magazine, and an instructor in the Writing program at Columbia. Her fiction and reporting have appeared in The Paris Review, Vogue, Playboy, GQ, Interview…

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5 months ago · 27 likes · 6 comments · Sara Hildreth

What’s the best literary film adaptation of the last 50 years? (Lit Hub)

7 books featuring self-sabotaging characters. (Electric Lit)

The best recent crime and thrillers. (Guardian)

What does Lena Dunham want to tell us? (Atlantic, gift link)

The great literary B-sides. (NYT, gift link)

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End notes.

• Top Chef is back! This season is in the Carolinas and, three episodes in, I am liking this crew of cheftestants. I also think Kristin Kish continues to do a fantastic job as host. She is really making it her own without disrupting the rhythm of the show and I love that for all of us. Also I have to say that Peacock has become my MVP streaming service. Traitors, Top Chef, and figure skating from Olympics and beyond! Truly, what more do I need?

• I loved the most recent episode of Critics at Large. It was largely about the new season of Beef and the film The Drama (neither of which I have watched) but unfolded to become a larger conversation about the politics and aesthetics of marriage. It was fascinating and is the kind of conversational criticism I adore: sharp and well articulated points about artistic merit expanding into larger conversations about the cultural moment.

• A couple months ago I preordered a Tin Can phone and it arrived on Friday. For the uninitiated, it’s basically a landline that works via WiFi. It’s designed with kids in mind so you can set up approved incoming and outgoing numbers and even have hours when you don’t allow calls at all. After setting it up this weekend, I have to say it’s an immediate hit. Louise talked to her Bubbe for a solid ten minutes on Saturday night. They chatted about their days, their weekend plans, their dinners, etc. I have never seen my four-year-old so locked into a conversation before—especially compared to a FaceTime call. She was really listening and responding. She asked questions of her own and asked Bubbe to repeat anything she didn’t understand. It was adorable but also felt like real conversation practice. Now of course the novelty could completely wear off, but even if conversations aren’t as exciting after awhile, I still love this development for our household. I’m hoping more families we know will get home phones because there’s strength in numbers. So, my fellow millennials, let’s bring back the landline!

For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter!

Happy reading!

Sara

Completely predictably, my favorite childhood retelling was Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine1. It’s so perfect! Inventive, magical, subversive, and charming, it’s infinitely rereadable and works on so many levels. But I also loved some weirder, darker, more obscure retellings—maybe my taste hasn’t changed all that much. Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix (yes, she of Running Out of Time fame) features a Cinderella who learns how awful the royal family is after she gets engaged to the Prince. Zel by Donna Jo Napoli is a dark, heavy, surprisingly adult reworking of Rapunzel that lives rent free in my head to this day. Echo by Francesca Lia Block is a feminist retelling of the Echo and Narcissus myth and was so formative that I really thought my future career was going to be author of feminist mythological retellings.

Recently I read the much buzzed about Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochauser, and while I had some issues with it (okay, more than issues…I found the ending outright dumb), I did thoroughly enjoy getting back in touch with this component of my reading history. So today, I’m sharing some of my favorite myth and fairytale retellings for adults that are a little more under the radar. I hope it puts something new on your list if you love this type of storytelling as much as I do.

Fairytale and Myth Retellings You Might Not Have Read Yet

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