Classic summer reads for lovers
Here in the UK we’ve had a tantalising glimpse of early summer over the past few weeks. Strap in – as the balmy months roll in, all the lovers and romantics will inevitably crawl out of the woodwork to bask in the sun with their nose in a book.
If a contemporary summer read isn’t hitting your fancy quite right, don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.
Here are my top classic summer reads for all you lovers out there.
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
(1847)
The OG romanticised toxic relationship. If tumultuous, torturous love is your bag, look no further. If you look up the word ‘yearning’ in the dictionary, there’s a little picture of this novel’s cover.
Emily Brontë’s classic novel is the perfect angsty summer read for anybody who’s fed up with the modern dating pool – this novel will remind you that if he’s not haunted by your memory, screaming, crying, throwing up, and willing to dig up your dead body in a fit of passion so he can embrace it, he’s not worth it.
Also – great opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the novel before the upcoming adaptation, with the frankly unhinged casting choices of Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff.
Jules et Jim by Henri-Pierre Roché (1953)
A lilting, free spirit of a novel, following a throuple in Paris and across Europe in the years before WW1. Very bohemian, very sensory, and very chaotic.
Bonus points if you can show off by reading it in the original French. The 1962 film adaptation is also great.
Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin (written 1940s, published 1978)
This one is fun to read in public. It’s a collection of erotica written by Nin during the 1940s for a dollar a page, a way to keep the lights on and food on the table. The patron purportedly instructed her to “focus on the sex. Leave out the poetry.” Writing in her preface, upon revisiting the pieces in the late 70s, Nin observed that the poetry of it was sort of inherent, even in its pared back form, due to her writing sex from a feminine lens.
More a lustful summer read than a romance, but very worthwhile nonetheless – one of the only (or, at least, most prolific) female writers of erotica in that era.
Bonjour Tristesse
by Françoise Sagan
(1954)
I mean, what did you expect? Most of these books are either French or set miscellaneously in Europe somewhere. Europe is an inherently sensual, romantic place. I don’t make the rules. And if anyone knows how to do a languid summer read, it’s the French.
Bonjour Tristesse is essentially a bunch of bored rich people on the French Riviera in summer, variously fucking and being emotionally tumultuous. If you get the Penguin Modern Classics edition, translated by Helen Lloyd, you get a double bill with A Certain Smile, which is a very sensual novella about a young woman who starts an affair with an older man.
Both had explicit sex scenes that were originally removed for publication, but they’re back baby. Highly recommend both these novellas for a short, hedonistic summer read. Best consumed in the sunshine with an iced coffee or in the evening dusk with a glass of wine.
The Graduate by Charles Webb (1963)
Here’s to you, Mrs Robinson.
This novel is the absolute definition of ‘bored rich people fucking because there’s nothing else to do in summer’, and I’m here for it. It’s a lazy summer read for reading when you’re being lazy in the summer.
Honourable mention for the 1967 film adaptation of it, which is a fantastic movie.
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (1908)
Rather more chaste than the last few. A Room with a View is a glorious snapshot of ‘the grand tour’, exploring the restrained culture of Edwardian-era England in contrast against the balmy climes and amorous attitudes of Italy. A very sweet story of falling in love, featuring a stolen kiss in a field of violets – what’s not to love?
I haven’t personally watched the 1985 adaptation of this novel, but I’m led to believe it’s rather good.
The Inseparables
by Simone de Beauvoir
(written 1954, published 2021)
A recently-discovered ‘lost’ novel by the prolific second-wave feminist thinker. De Beauvoir never published this manuscript in her lifetime, as the thinly-veiled autobiographical nature of it was too intimate to share.
This is the story of a formative and passionate friendship between two young girls who grow into adolescence together. Super queer coded – this will be a very familiar read for anyone who discovered their queerness through a one-sided, accidentally-too-fond friendship.
As problematic as De Beauvoir is, this is a great read and short enough to be a relatively light summer read.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
The 100th birthday of this novel was a few weeks ago, so take it out and show it a good time. Hedonistic, histrionic, and luxuriant – everything a balmy summer read should be.
Sip on this novella by the pool with a mint julep in hand.