With limited space in your suitcase, picking the right book to lug with you on your travels is important – and certain reads suit some situations more than others.
Whether it’s a saltwater-soaked tale of loss to suit your moody seaside escape or explosive intrigue in Eden to read on the beach, here are the best summer reads of 2022 based on your holiday of choice.
The breakup escape
What: Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord
Why: We’ve all been there. Your heart is in shards on the floor, eyes are puffy and you’ve been considering all manner of ill-advised life changes. (“Fringe? Hell yeah, I’d look good with a fringe!”) Don’t. Do. It. Sometimes a change of scenery is all you need to start the healing process. Annie Lord’s unhinged but unflinchingly honest memoir delivers up some relatable introspection when it comes to love and loss, ripe for exploring one of the most universal experiences in humanity.
Annie Lord, Orion Publishing Co Notes on Heartbreak, $, available at Waterstones
Faraway beach holiday
What: You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Why: There are two certainties with a beach holiday. You will go over your 20kg Ryanair allowance and be forced to wear half of your suitcase on the flight, and there will be a suffering beach read shoved in your salty, sandy tote for the entirety. Akwaeke Emezi’s romance is one of 2022’s most highly anticipated novels and for good reason. With a title taken from the Florence + the Machine song “Hunger”, the story follows Nigerian-American Feyi who escapes the city for a much-needed dream island holiday after a traumatic life experience. But just as she begins to open her heart to new possibilities, she falls for the one man she can’t have.
Akwaeke Emezi You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty, $, available at Faber
Moody seaside getaway
What: Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Why: The good old-fashioned seaside getaway gets a lot of stick, mainly because British weather is known to be a vengeful entity. But sometimes it’s exactly what you need. Grey skies, moody cliffside walks and mystical churning tides. It’s the perfect setting to read Julia Armfield’s now-cult masterpiece, released back in March but out in paperback this July (all the better to squeeze into your backpack). Deeply romantic and devastating, it follows marine biologist Leah, who – after a deep-sea expedition gone wrong – returns to her wife Miri eerily changed.
Julia Armfield, Pan Macmillan Our Wives Under The Sea, $, available at Waterstones
Chaotic city break
What: Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
Why: Sitting on foreign public transport, trying to navigate supermarkets abroad or wandering unfamiliar streets, it’s tempting to imagine the lives, tragedies and loves of the strangers who pass by. The spellbinding new novel from Ottessa Moshfegh (of TikTok sensation My Year of Rest and Relaxation) does exactly that with its complicated, often grotesque characters, transporting readers to a medieval village where the natural and supernatural collide.
Ottessa Moshfegh Lapvona, $, available at Blackwells
Soul-searching solo trip
What: Why Didn’t You Tell Me? by Carmen Rita Wong
Why: The power of a solo trip to completely flip a perspective is not to be underestimated. Spend enough time alone, without the noise of others, and it’s likely the microscope will turn inwards, on your own life and emotions. Carmen Rita Wong’s powerful memoir is perfect for such a journey. The former national television host and advice columnist tells the story of her immigrant mother and her long-held secrets – and how they completely upended everything she knew about her identity and place in the world.
Carmen Rita Wong Why Didn’t You Tell Me? A Memoir, $, available at Amazon
Quiet camping trip
What: Paradais by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes
Why: You’ve shunned the noise and ruckus of the crowds to be at one with nature. Enfolded in a hammock, zen scenes for miles around, your perfect reading accompaniment will…transport you to riveting and dangerous scenes (because you crave the drama minus the proximity, obviously). So this one isn’t necessarily a summer read but it’s one of 2022’s big-hitters and not to be missed. Fernanda Melchor’s book (translated from Spanish) follows the macabre schemes of two misfit Mexican teenagers in a hellish, narco-controlled village. Expect brutality, violence and all the thrills – to be enjoyed tucked far, far away in a tranquil location.
Fernanda Melchor Paradais, $, available at Waterstones
Road trip
What: Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin
Why: The best thing about a road trip, aside from the snacks and tunes? The constantly changing scenery, and the opportunity to sneak a peek into the lives and locations of many others. Lydia Conklin’s delightful collection of stories does the same thing, celebrating the humour, darkness and beauty of the queer and trans experience. From a fifth-grader exploring gender identity by dressing as an ox to a non-binary person experimenting with an open relationship on the eve of their eye surgery, expect to cry and laugh at these unlikely tales of humanity.
Lydia Conklin Rainbow Rainbow, $, available at Blackwells
Staycation
What: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Why: Sometimes it is good to stay put. You want a break but without the effort of navigating a jam-packed airport. Fair play. There is beauty in the ordinary and the everyday, and just switching off in your normal surroundings. Gabrielle Zevin’s novel focuses on how such a normal, average day like this can change everything. While waiting in a busy train station, student Sam Masur spots an old friend. The pair met eight years prior when they were both children in a hospital gaming room. This chance meeting is the catalyst and the two become superstar collaborators on a blockbuster video game. Fame and tragedy ensue in this modern-day epic spanning 30 years.
Gabrielle Zevin Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, $, available at Waterstones
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