Your fantastic summer reading list

I can really love Instagram. The community that forms and shares and helps each other. Recently, someone helped me via Instagram find a doll that my – autistic – daughter just couldn't get out of her sweet little head and that was truly nowhere to be found. Anyway. This week I asked you on Instagram for your favorite books that all need to go in the suitcase this summer and that caused a fountain of nice tips that I naturally share, because nothing is better than curated content. In other words, someone who has the same taste as you and guides you in the right direction.

Here we go.

At the End of the World – Kristin Hannah

A young woman faces the choice in Alaska to lead her own life or stay at home to support her mother who is being abused by her father.

Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens (was mentioned a lot!)

The story follows Kya, a young girl who grows up alone in the marshes of North Carolina and has a fascination with nature. When a handsome young man is found dead in the marsh, Kya is accused of murder.

The Nomad – Anya Niewierra 

EA boy from the desert has never known anything other than the harsh life under the sun. Until he is taken under the wing of Anxil, a convicted but escaped lady. She enjoys the boy's resourcefulness and passion, but also keeps her own goal in mind.

The End of Loneliness – Benedict Wells

The End of Loneliness is the fourth book by 35-year-old Benedict Wells. The story revolves around Jules, a 14-year-old boy who becomes an orphan along with his nerdy brother Marty and popular sister Liz after their parents die in a car accident.

The Unintended – Cobi van Baars

Cobi van Baars based her novel The Unintended on a true story about an adoption cover-up. A twin is separated from her sibling during adoption in the 1960s, Catholic Limburg. Only 21 years later does the truth come to light and the young women discover how their lives could have turned out differently.

Twilight Life – Jaap Robben

Twilight Life is an impressive and subtle book about loss. A stunning novel about lifelong suppressed suffering.

In the Mist of Golden Gate Park – Murat Isik

About the search for freedom and autonomy, finding a great love, becoming a writer, and the unbreakable bonds with your family.

Swallowing Heaven – Paolo Giordano

When a young Italian woman starts a relationship with one of her grandmother's neighbors in the Italian countryside, they begin an ecological community together, but their relationship comes under pressure due to their unfulfilled desire for children.

The Forgotten Women – Kristin Hannah

Kristin Hannah beautifully and poignantly describes major themes from history with strong women in the lead role. Well-written and offers a vivid picture of that time.

In My Footsteps – Sarah Meuleman

As a young woman, Sarah Meuleman traversed England. With a heavy backpack, without any hiking experience, she walked the Coast to Coast route, from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. Recently, she found the diary she kept back then. Now, more than twenty years later, she impulsively decides to walk the route again. She wants to prepare well, but an event turns Sarah's life – now a mother, writer, and beloved – upside down. With mixed feelings, she begins the journey, rediscovering not only the landscape but also herself.

Les enfants sont rois – Delphine de Vigan

The child is king. The title of the novel by Delphine de Vigan is about spoiled children. Sammy and Kimmy are certainly spoiled. Their mother Mélanie films them daily to generate likes on YouTube and Instagram.

Song of the Prophet – Paul Lynch

A vision of a country at war and a mother's struggle to keep her family together. So beautifully written that it shreds your heart. He won the Booker Prize 2023 with it.

Poverty Explained to People with Money – Tim ‘S Jongers

Poverty is your own fault. Poverty is nothing more than a lack of money. Poverty leads to stupid and unhealthy choices. In a country ruled by wealthy, highly educated people, poverty is viewed in a limited and sometimes even harmful way. Tim ‘S Jongers grew up in poverty, eventually studied, researched poverty, and now makes policy proposals to combat it. How most people think about poverty, he discovered, is completely wrong. That’s why he wrote this book: a crash course on poverty, intended for people with money. Because fighting poverty can only happen if they learn to look differently. Tim ‘S Jongers (1981) is a political scientist, public administrator, and director of the Wiardi Beckman Foundation. For De Correspondent, he writes about poverty; more than 10,000 copies of his book Offensive Broccoli have been sold. Reactions: ‘Confrontational.’ – Sander Schimmelpenninck ‘One of the best books of the year.’ – Paul Verhaeghe ‘Relatable from the first to the last word.’ – Emine Uğur ‘Convincing plea.’ – Kitty Herweijer

Listen – Sacha Bronwasser

Tells the story of someone reflecting on a traumatic and formative period in her life. Sacha Bronwasser wrote art critiques for the newspaper for years and learned in the meantime the difference between looking and seeing.

The Fire Birches – Lars Mytting

Tells the story of Edvard Hirifjell who grows up as an orphan on his grandfather's remote farm and who, after his grandfather's death, tries to figure out why his parents died eighteen years earlier in an accident with a gas grenade in a forest in France.

You Are Beautiful – Ann Napolitano

The number 1 novel bestseller from America of 2023. A brilliant, captivating family drama. From the author of Dear Edward. Four sisters. An impossible love. A heartbreaking family history. You Are Beautiful is a stunning, captivating novel. For readers of Shelley Read and Isabel Allende.

Shoot me, I'm already dead – Julia Navarro

At the end of the nineteenth century, during the last phase of the Tsarist Empire, the Jewish family Zucker must flee Russia. Upon arrival in the Promised Land, Samuel Zucker buys the land from the Ziads, an Arab family headed by Ahmed. A close friendship develops between Samuel and Ahmed that, despite religious and political differences, endures from generation to generation.

Tell me who I am – Julia Navarro

As the civil war looms in Spain, Amelia Gararoya flees her homeland, leaving her husband and child behind. Her life then unfolds in the major hotspots of the 20th century: Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and post-war Berlin up to the fall of the Wall in 1989.