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See Our Summer
Books to Watch!
What makes a classic a classic? Many of what we consider classics today seemed out of place when they were first published. Some books are assigned the title “classic” long after the fact, and some are deemed “instant classics." Our interactions with so-called classics—the ways we discuss, teach, and package works of significance—define them and keep them alive. Publishers play a crucial part in this process, and some go the extra mile when it comes to shedding new light on old books, introducing underappreciated writing to a modern audience, or simply creating beautiful updated editions. Below are some imprints and series focusing on established, overlooked, and freshly dubbed classics bound (no pun intended) to get you excited about rediscovering old favorites or discovering new ones for the first time.
What books are there to look forward to for the rest of the summer? Fall? Winter? As the second half of the year approaches, we have you covered with our most anticipated reads for the last six months of 2025, including plenty of fresh contemporary fiction, an exciting haul of speculative and historical works, and some bookish nonfiction, such as a new biography of James Baldwin and memoirs from Margaret Atwood and Arundhati Roy. We’ll be featuring some of these upcoming titles in our digital magazine, as well as our First Impressions program and book club.
Summer isn’t only about beach reads, and really, you can read anything you want on the beach. Titles being released this July include books weighty in content, size, or both, and below are just a few. This short list of fiction and nonfiction features narratives that leave their unique mark on the past, spanning the lives of the Romantic poets, World War I, the Salvadoran civil war, and 1980s London. Follow our coverage of some of these and many other recommended reads in our digital magazine.
Whether you’re planning for a vacation, a staycation, or just enjoying the warm days ahead, we’re here to help you map out your summer reading. Splash into the summer spirit with absorbing beach reads, stories that evoke the season, and books for letting your mind relax and unfurl. And don’t worry, unlike in a certain AI-generated summer reading list, these are all real books we chose ourselves that actually exist (or will soon). Plus, these titles have been recently featured or are scheduled to be featured in our digital magazine, so you can peruse our reviews and “beyond the book” articles along with them.
Got your towels and sunscreen ready? How about your summer reading? Here are some books to start the season right: a reflective memoir about relationships and selfhood, a fantasy imagining a world where doors lead to unpredictable fates, an ambitious story of identity in America, and a darkly funny novel set in modern Ukraine. Follow along with upcoming coverage in our digital magazine.
According to most sources, the current figure for how many Americans are in a book club is five million. However, this figure hasn't been updated in over 25 years, so a new estimate is long overdue. Before we share our new estimate, let's go over where the old estimate came from, and why you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet.
