December is the storm before the calm. There’s Christmas shopping to do, parties to attend, work to cram in and holidays to plan. If you’re anything like us, that means you don’t have much time to read, but you do have multiple daydreams about lying on a sandy beach with a paperback and G&T in hand.
To help you make those daydreams more hyper-specific, we’ve pulled together a list of recommended beach reads from bookish people who have actually read them. As always, we don’t specify what constitutes a beach read – meaning the below list spans grim to gleeful, fact to fiction. You’ll find poetry, short stories, and a 721 page epic notorious for making people cry.
And if that’s not enough, check out the past four years’ worth of recommendations, from 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 (plus, some still relevant winter reads here; and some hot smutty reads, here).
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Death Valley by Melissa Broder
Read and recommended by Rachel Lynch, store manager of The Open Book
In Death Valley, a woman ventures out into the Californian desert in search of the mysterious something she feels is missing from her life. She stumbles on a huge cactus - certainty of its existence is as yet undetermined - and finds herself on a journey of trippy discovery, grief, healing and acceptance. To be clear, this one's pretty weird, but perfect for a hot, hot day when you may or may not be imagining entire worlds in the hazy depths of summer.
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
Read and recommended by Bel Hawkins, writer and co-author of Make it Make Sense
I read this on holiday in Kenya earlier this year and couldn’t put it down. It’s such a perfect book for when you’re either far away or wishing you were. Think: mother-daughter dynamics, horny holiday trysts, blue sea swimming, new feelings in foreign places, sickness, sexuality — perfection.
Capote’s Women by Laurence Leamer
Read and recommended by James Bush, fashion designer and columnist for The Post
My mother recently bought me a copy of Capote’s Women, by Laurence Leamer. In all honesty, I tend to roll my eyes at the whole fangirl thing around Truman Capote and the society women known as his swans. It’s just so effing obvious. However, this book is fantastic. It’s beautifully written and thoroughly researched, with each chapter focusing on the life, loves and heartache of different high society women. There are tales of agony and ecstasy, privilege and sacrifice, all woven together in such a manner as to present a surprisingly fresh perspective on an otherwise over exposed theme. An excellent beach read.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Read and recommended by Paula Penfold, Investigations journalist at Stuff
I have a terrible habit of judging books by their covers or in this case, title, and for some reason found this one off-putting — until friends started raving about it. They were right to.
A baby born to a drug addict mother in a trailer in Tennessee, named after his father, Damon, but in Tennessee everyone gets a nickname. His best friend is Maggot. His mother meets and marries Stoner, and so the domestic violence begins. Demon loses everything and everyone, including the girl who thought was the love of his life, Dori, his accomplice in becoming an opioid addict.
If it sounds grim, it is. But it’s also absorbing and compassionate, with beautifully written lessons on poverty, Big Pharma, and what it means to be alive. It turned out to be my favourite book of 2024.
The Nevermoor books by Jessica Townsend
Read and recommended by Claire Mabey, author of The Raven's Eye Runaways, books editor at The Spinoff and founder of Verb Wellington
My brilliant friend, the poet Freya Daly Sadgrove, had been telling me to read the Nevermoor books by Jessica Townsend for ages. This year I finally did. I read Nevermoor, Wundersmith and Hollowpox in quick succession and now have the agonising wait for April 2025 for the fourth book to be released. The series is a fantasy perfect for all ages (from about 10+): there's a school for magic and arcane arts, and a hotel that transforms itself according to whim and moods, and one of the most brilliant leading characters of all time in Morrigan Crow.
What makes this series so enchanting is that the character development is complex and very real. Morrigan, her friends and found family will soon become dear to you and you'll be powerfully invested in their trials and triumphs. These books are the ideal summer read for escape, intensity and pure pleasure. The books are thick but pacey, unputdownable and always surprising. Townsend is a genius for worldbuilding: she's taken the magic fantasy genre and done something totally new with it. I can't recommend these books more!
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
Read and recommended by Emma Lewisham, founder of Emma Lewisham
Sorrow and Bliss is intelligent, beautiful, tender and extremely witty and engulfed me in the way I'm always hoping to be to be engulfed by novels. An adult coming-of-age novel told with a style that makes you feel as if you're sharing confidences with an old friend. It is impossible to read this novel and not be moved. Meg Mason pulls off something extraordinary, alchemising an unbearable anguish into something compassionate, and wise, without diminishing its pain or magnitude. I absolutely loved it.
Auē and Kataraina by Becky Manawatu
Read and recommended by Jenna Todd, Manager at Time Out Bookstore
This year, I re-read Becky Manawatu's Auē in preparation for chairing a session at Auckland Writers Festival. Auē broke my heart for a second time - reading both as a family saga and then, a thriller - especially those final, spine tingling chapters. After turning the last page, I immediately picked up the sequel, Kataraina (released in October this year.) Immersed back in the world of the Te Au whānau, Manawatu has crafted a masterful, contextual sequel that is different in style in structure, but necessary. I can't think of a better summer read: Auē and Kataraina, one after the other.
My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes
Read and recommended by Cait Emma Burke, writer (read her writing for Ensemble here)
I'm a lifelong, diehard Marian Keyes fan. Ever since I discovered an abundance of her feel-good, funny but always insightful novels at a holiday home my family rented one summer, I've been hooked. I simply devoured her most recent novel, My Favourite Mistake. It has all the makings of a great beach read: a high-flying career woman blowing her life up, a will-they-won't-they romance, a tiny Irish town full of all sorts of characters – you get the picture.
Earth Angel by Madeline Cash
Read and recommended by Georgie Wright, Ensemble writer
I inhaled this collection of short stories. It’s smart and funny and very ~current~, by which I mean the stories are all anchored in a world permanently hooked on an IV drip to the internet. There’s a CEO who got rich off pods that emit smells like ‘Rising Sourdough’ and ‘Berlin Warehouse’; a girl working for a marketing agency that rebrands terrorist organisations; and a 30th birthday party where rent-a-friends mine bitcoin, conjure the dead and freeze their eggs.
I like that Cash probes at relatable issues or fears (billionaires, the moral ambiguity of certain workplaces, ageing) but makes them more interesting (and weirdly more tangible? Truth is stranger than fiction, etc) by blowing them into the realm of the surreal. Cash is also one of the co-founders of Forever Mag, a New York-based magazine publishing short fiction (extremely shameless self promo but who else is going to do it: read my short story here!), and has a debut novel coming in 2025, which I can’t wait for. In the meantime, dip into Earth Angel while you make sand angels.
What We Did in Bed: A Horizontal History by Brian Fagan & Nadia Durrani
Read and recommended by Constance McDonald, writer and photographer (read her writing for Ensemble here)
I found this book on a shared shelf in Athens, trading a Kerouac I wasn’t reading for a book on the social history of the bed.
Written by archaeologists, it makes the mundane shimmer. It covers a lot: from sleeper trains, to Hugh Hefner’s custom waterbed (covered in Tasmanian possum hair), from the etymology of “gossip”, to Kanye West’s Famous.
You’ve probably heard why people say “hit the hay,” but do you know the origins of “night night, sleep tight”? Or that Sadiq Muhammad Khan IV owned a bed adorned with life-sized bronze figures of nude women, complete with human hair, movable eyes, and a music box that played 30 seconds of Faust?
On the luxurious end, there’s the Californian-made Palais Royal mattress: thousands of hand-sewn cotton-wrapped springs, layers of horsehair, and 4.5 kilos of New Zealand cashmere.
I devoured it in two sittings, scribbling notes as I went. IMO, the best books leave you with a rabbit hole of references to chase: songs, paintings, films, historical figures. This, for me, is one of those books.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Read and recommended by Rebecca Wadey, Ensemble co-founder
My husband bought this for me for my birthday, possibly even last year. I’m not great with books that are gifts; I need to know that I felt drawn enough to it to seek it out (yes, I am a recovering English major who refuses to be told what to do in adulthood).
I also couldn’t have been less interested in the conceit of this book: two best friends who play and make video games together. But I was running out the door to catch a flight to Fiji and hadn’t planned anything to take so I threw it in my carry-on. You want me to recommend a beach read? This was the ultimate sunburn-inducing beach read. So good I carried it to every meal (I was travelling alone, so not at all antisocial), lay on the beach with it, read it before going to sleep at night and when I woke up in the morning.
This book cut my screen time significantly and filled my heart with joy. It’s difficult to know if this is a truly brilliant book or more a case of right time, right place, so I am on a mission to get everyone I know to read it so I can narrow that down. Sam and Sadie meet as young children, when Sadie is spending time hanging around a hospital as her sister has leukaemia (happily a non-important plot device), while Sam is recovering from a traumatic accident. They bond over playing Super Mario brothers, and so begins a lifelong friendship that eventually also spills over into a professional relationship.
The two things I loved most about this book are, 1. That while all the characters are flawed and humanly imperfect, they are all wonderful people and you are rooting for them, and 2. It’s a story about platonic love that is treated just as wondrously as romantic love. More normalising of platonic love stories in culture please! It’s sharp, it’s insightful and it sprawls through time and places. The perfect beach read. Just make sure you read it in the shade, or you’ll risk being so engrossed you outlast your SPF application.
Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass by Lana del Rey
Read and recommended by Holly Hudson, actor and writer (read her writing for Ensemble here)
Whether your summer is filled with heartache or happiness, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is the perfect read. I chose poetry because after the garbage fire year that’s been 2024, some romance and magic feel in order. Lana Del Ray’s nostalgic debut showcases her original photography alongside unedited manuscript pages.
Unguarded and honest, this book carried me through the worst break up of my life and reminded me that despite it all, life is beautiful. Lana even leaves lined pages at the end for the reader to respond in writing to her work. The book is dedicated to “whoever’s warm, worn, afternoon hands come upon these pages”. If that doesn’t scream gin and tonic in a giant hat and sundress, I don’t know what does.
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Read and recommended by Emily Simpson, TVNZ longform and commissioning editor
In Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood takes a stark situation (an outback nunnery) and infuses it with something truly hideous (a plague of mice) to create a book I couldn't put down. How did she do that? Partly it's because her observations are so compellingly subtle. The nun dynamic will be relatable to anyone who's ever had an irritating colleague; the mouse issue analogous with any problem that feels insurmountable. Perfect for those who like their beach reads a little grim, rendering your sea views and iced drinks all the more delicious.
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All Fours by Miranda July
Read and recommended by Clara van Wel, bookseller at Unity Books
Miranda July is back with an audacious, bawdy, and heartwarming novel about a woman figuring out how to choose the life she wants without losing the life she has.
A successful artist in her mid-40s attempts to drive across the United States. Instead, she gets stuck in a town barely an hour from her house, becomes obsessed with a local man, and spends several weeks redecorating a motel room.
Possibly the world’s first perimenopausal coming-of-age story, July’s latest offering will make you blush, cringe, cry, and choke with laughter.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Read and recommended by Karen Inderbitzen-Waller, stylist and photographer
I read this in July of this year while in the South of France where, every year, I read at least 8-10 books. It’s my happy place, and I get to read everything I’ve collected all year to read on my annual jaunt to a pool in the middle of a forest.
I had seen this book picked in a Vogue by Gwyneth Paltrow who had said she cried her eyes out while reading it; I decided to ignore this since it’s known that Gwyneth cries easily!
The summer before I devoured both The Goldfinch and The Secret History. I felt astray after the latter, as I didn’t want the book to end – so the similar ‘college friends adrift’ basis of A Little Life instantly appealed to me.
I did, in fact, bawl my eyes out, and had to hide away to do so without anyone thinking I wasn’t enjoying my holiday. But it was totally my best read this year, and worth all the crying. Though I did have to explain to my partner and mother in law about the book eventually – to let them know why my face was all red. But it’s truly such a beautiful book about friendship and love that felt so profound and moving. A rather large read at 720 pages, with a stunning cover image: ‘Orgasmic Man’, 1969, by Peter Hujar.
