Sunburn and heatstroke aside, a UV Index reading of 8-10 comes with a unique optical challenge: discerning whatever it may be on our screens. Ergo, modernity and summertime aren’t always compatible. When even Instagram Reels refuse to abide, books (the physical kind) will have to be the last man standing, naturally. As far as the internet is concerned, little else can rival anti-intellectualism as “buzzword of the season”. It appears that being disgustingly educated has become a universal ambition – and who am I to disagree?
Well, thank goodness for paper, ink, and daylight.
What follows are 10 titles handpicked from my glorious bookshelf, from crinkled and dog-eared volumes to the freshly acquired, unread, and destined for the sand:
Madonna in a Fur Coat, Sabahattin Ali
Read and loved. Easily demolished in three sittings. A Turkish classic fusing contemporary art galleries and serendipitous meetings. Published in 1943 but reads like it was written last Tuesday, especially in the way it captures time and geography as love’s adversaries. Bring tissues and maybe a pen.
The Position of Spoons: And Other Intimacies, Deborah Levy
TBR (to be read). An eclectic collection of 34 essays dubbed “too unclassifiable to be labelled”, all paying homage to Levy’s personal muses. A celebration of vitality that hovers between mundanities and intellectual legacy, from an ode to Colette to the beauty and stasis of lemons. I have thoroughly enjoyed every other one of Levy’s works, so I anticipate this read with high hopes.
White Teeth, Zadie Smith
Read and loved. Still the most dazzling debut novel from the early 2000s. An exploration of generational trauma and post-colonial identities in a North London setting that is as sensuous as it is sardonic, depicted across three families, four decades, and a genetically engineered rat. Nothing charms me more than Smith’s sharp-witted prose – and not to mention she wrote this at just 21!
Everything is Predictable: How Bayes’ Remarkable Theorem Explains the World, Tom Chivers
TBR. Because nothing screams beach read quite like 18th-century probability theory. Blending biography and science writing, Chivers takes a single mathematical equation and explains its many applications in everyday life. However, the real question: statistics made palatable? What are the odds?
Munkey Diaries, Jane Birkin
Read and loved. An intimate collection of Birkin’s very own diary entries from 1957 to 1982. Reading it felt vaguely trespassory, rather like a tour of her mind that I hadn’t exactly earned the right to. Her words open a window to lived joys and sorrows alike, and I believe it would be in the interest of anyone with a passion for handbags to know a little more about the woman behind the esteemed Hermès model.
Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris, A.J. Liebling
TBR. A memoir that details Liebling’s éducation sentimentale, both in life and in French cuisine, as a young student in 1920s Paris. Original and unapologetically gluttonous, it was hailed by the late Anthony Bourdain as “the benchmark for great food writing”. Reportedly, the smell of butter and excellent wine (and regret) can be found at every turn of the page – a thesis I am very eager to test myself.
Nadja, André Breton
Read and loved. The founding text of surrealist literature that reads like the cooler, more cerebral cousin of Madonna in a Fur Coat, featuring another man’s infatuation with an enigmatic femme fatale around a walkable city. But where the former breaks your heart, Nadja breaks your skull, as it ultimately paints the line between artistic inspiration and psychosis as damningly thin.
The Age of Diagnosis: Are Medical Labels Doing Us More Harm Than Good?, Suzanne O’Sullivan
TBR. In troubling times where identities are often shaped by self-diagnoses and borrowed labels, a neurologist suggests that – perhaps – not every human quirk requires a clinical name. For our own sakes, this era of symptom-mongering on TikTok surely should come to an end – and I trust that the book will have substantive claims to back this up.
The Oldest Bitch Alive, Morgan Day
TBR. The title alone deserves a standing ovation. A brazen debut novel that explores the inner workings of a French bulldog, ageing and beset with parasitic worms. Filthy, poignant and staggeringly original for a 2026 publication. 21st birthday looming, I look forward to reading and resonating with it.
