Summer Reading List 2025
Summer is for reading. Not the kind you squeeze in between obligations, but the deep, unhurried reading you've been saving for the long days and longer evenings ahead. At Hidden Shelf, we've been putting together this list since the first warm weekend of the year, and this year's picks are some of our favorites.
From the Hidden Shelf Catalog
- Stars in the Grass — A Christy Award-winning novel set in the American heartland in the 1960s. A boy. A family unraveling. A faith being tested in quiet, devastating ways. One of those books that stays.
- What We Take — A beautifully paced novel about what we carry with us and what we're finally willing to leave behind. Perfect for a long, reflective summer afternoon.
- Swan Vanishing — This one catches you off guard. It builds slowly and then arrives somewhere unexpected. One of those books you set down just to think.
- The Lightning Within Us — Urgent and alive. This novel moves fast and burns bright. You'll finish it in two sittings and want to press it into someone else's hands.
- The Widow of Escondido — Rich in atmosphere and deeply human. A novel that rewards slow reading and gives back generously.
Also Worth Your Summer
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin — A sweeping novel about creativity, collaboration, and what we make for the people we love. It's about video games on the surface and about everything that matters underneath.
- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano — The Pulitzer Prize-winning multigenerational saga is everything you want from a summer read: emotional, immersive, and impossible to put down.
- James by Percival Everett — Huckleberry Finn retold from Jim's perspective. One of the most essential American novels in years. Brilliant and necessary.
- The Women by Kristin Hannah — An epic, heartbreaking novel about a woman who serves as a combat nurse in Vietnam and comes home to a country that doesn't want to know what she saw.
Whether you're reading by the water or in the rare cool of an afternoon, we hope this list gives you exactly the summer you've been looking for. Browse the full Hidden Shelf catalog for more titles worth making time for.
This is part of our Summer Reading List series. See all editions →