There is nothing better than a good book and a pool. Throw in a cold drink and some sunscreen and you have basically a perfect afternoon. I’ve rounded up seven books that are genuinely worth packing in your beach bag this summer — the kind you stay up too late reading even when you’re on vacation and supposed to be relaxing. All of these are free of anything too heavy or too uncomfortable, just great stories with characters you’ll find yourself thinking about long after you’ve closed the last page.

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1. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

This one has been on my list for a while and I finally understand why everyone raves about it. Set during the summer of 2020, Lara is on her family’s cherry farm in Michigan with her three adult daughters — all home because of the pandemic — and they beg her to tell them the story of the summer she fell in love with a man who would later become a famous movie star. What unfolds is a quiet, deeply moving story about young love, the roads not taken, and the particular kind of happiness that comes from a life chosen rather than fallen into.

Ann Patchett’s writing is elegant without being fussy, and this is the kind of book that makes you feel like you’ve been sitting in the sun on a Michigan farm by the time you finish it. The audiobook, read by Meryl Streep, is also absolutely worth it if you’re more of an audiobook person.

2. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

One of the best word-of-mouth books of the past year, and one I think is absolutely perfect for reading by the pool. The Correspondent is an epistolary novel — told entirely through letters — following Sybil van Antwerp, a woman in her seventies who has spent her whole life writing letters to everyone from friends and family to authors and politicians. We join her late in life as she navigates complicated relationships with her ex-husband and grown children, and through her correspondence, we slowly fall completely in love with her.

Sybil is one of those characters who stays with you. She is formal and a little prickly at first, and by the end you will want to write her a letter yourself. Joyful from start to finish, and also a wonderful audiobook.

3. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

If you haven’t read Fredrik Backman yet, this is an excellent place to start — and if you have, you already know what you’re getting into. A failed bank robber accidentally holds a group of open-house attendees hostage in an apartment. As the day unfolds and we get to know this unlikely group of strangers, the book becomes something far more moving than the absurd premise suggests. Backman has a remarkable ability to write about ordinary, flawed people in a way that makes them feel deeply extraordinary.

This one is funny, tender, and the kind of book that sneaks up on you emotionally in the best possible way. A great one to read in one sitting on a long lazy pool day.

4. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

A Pulitzer Prize winner and a love letter to Little Women, Hello Beautiful follows the Padavano family across generations, beginning with William Waters who finds love and a new family — only to have his past threaten everything they’ve built together. It’s the kind of family saga that makes you feel like you know these people, the kind where you finish and immediately want to call your own family.

Fair warning: bring tissues. This one will wreck you in the most satisfying way. It’s not a quick read — it’s a rich, layered one — but it’s the kind of book that makes a vacation feel meaningful. A slow burn that absolutely pays off.

5. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Yes, two Ann Patchetts on this list. She earns it. The Dutch House is the story of Danny and Maeve, a brother and sister bound together by their complicated relationship with the house their father built and eventually lost. Told over decades, it’s a story about family, wealth, memory, and the way certain places can haunt us long after we’ve left them.

The audiobook is narrated by Tom Hanks, and it is genuinely one of the best audiobook experiences I’ve come across. His voice is perfect for this story. Whether you read or listen, The Dutch House is a masterpiece. Impossible to put down.

6. Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of those authors who always delivers, and Atmosphere is her most recent release. Set against the backdrop of 1980s NASA and the space program, it follows Joan Goodwin, a professor of physics and astronomy who is invited to join an elite group training to go to space. Among them: a Top Gun pilot, an aeronautical engineer, and a scientist — and the story that unfolds between them is ambitious, romantic, and completely absorbing.

If you loved Daisy Jones and the Six or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, this has the same compulsive readability. The 1980s setting gives it a nostalgic warmth, and the space program backdrop makes it feel genuinely epic. A perfect summer read.

7. Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell

This one is the most intense on the list, so I want to be upfront: it deals with domestic abuse and homelessness, which are heavy topics. But the way O’Donnell handles Ciara’s story — a woman who makes the incredibly difficult decision to leave her emotionally abusive husband and start over with two young children and nothing to her name — is breathtaking. It is not a dark read in the way that leaves you feeling hopeless. It is a story about courage and survival that is completely impossible to put down.

I read this in one afternoon. The pacing is relentless and the writing is stunning. Roisin O’Donnell is a debut author and this is the kind of first novel that makes you immediately want to know what she’s writing next.

A Few Tips for Poolside Reading

If you’re a Kindle person, the Paperwhite is fully waterproof — so no more anxiety about splashes. If you prefer a physical copy, a gallon zip-lock bag is your best friend for keeping it dry in a beach bag. And if you’re an audiobook person, all seven of these are available on Audible and several of them (Tom Lake with Meryl Streep, The Dutch House with Tom Hanks) are particularly worth listening to over reading.

Happy reading this summer. I hope one of these ends up being your favorite book of 2026.