June 11, 2025

The Power of (a Special Reading) Place: 24 Books to Curl Up With This Summer

What’s your favorite place to read and why? For me it is the Adirondack chair on my balcony, the front porch of anyone’s house, or even by the pool with my feet dangling in the water. All three bring comfort in chaos, and when combined with a cold beverage, not to mention some peace and quiet, that place becomes a portal transporting me into words before me.

This summer, we are here to help you identify the perfect read for that book nook, and feel free to tell us where you love to read (especially if it is a National Trust Historic Site) and what you’re drinking while you do.

Over the last few months, I’ve been crowdsourcing with colleagues and scouring the internet for place-based, history-connected books from a range of genres. The results are twenty-four titles published in the last two years OR are scheduled to be published this summer. While I haven’t had a chance to read every book that is recommended, I have added them all to my TBR list for this summer and can’t wait to see if my instincts (and reviewers) were right!

Looking for a good book for younger readers? Check out our summer reading list for a future preservationist in your life.

This Summer I Want to Travel to Alternate Realties

A series of four book covers in a row.

Book covers courtesy of St. Martin's Press (All the Water in the World), W.W. Norton (The Ephemera Collector), Tordotcom (Monk and Robot), and Grove Atlantic (Orbital).

Science Fiction and Fantasy are genres that often reflect reality in a way that is understandable and digestible, particularly when things are challenging. Helping us to see the stakes that we could face, and emphasizing the ever importance of human kindness and connection. These books are about saving collective memory and history in the face of climate disasters (All the Water in the World, The Ephemera Collector), or two shorter—beautiful, lyrically written—novels where place is a critical part of the story (Monk & Robot, Orbital).

This Summer I Want to Immerse Myself in an Intergenerational Saga

A series of four book covers in a row.

Book covers courtesy of Simon & Schuster (The Manor of Dreams), Berkley (Happy Land), Viking (A Thousand Times Before), Vintage (Wandering Stars).

For those of us who love learning about the past, there is nothing like following the fate of a single family over time. It’s the easiest form of time travel as it serves as a great vehicle to show the personal implications of historical events. The four books in this category approach this idea in different ways but two are focused on a particular place a haunted family estate (The Manor of Dreams), a community of freed people in western North Carolina (Happy Land) or what it means to care ancestral stories and trauma (A Thousand Times Before, Wandering Stars).

This Summer I Want to Fall in Love with these “Beach Reads”

A series of four book covers in a row.

Book covers courtesey of Harper Muse (Southern by Design), Park Row (The Anatomy of Magic), Berkley (Love is a War Song), Delacorte Press (You've Got a Place Here, Too).

Love. Love. Love….and maybe some drama is perfect for when you are basking in the sun digging your feet into the sand. All of these titles combine my favorite things in a beach read: stories rooted in place, second chance romances, and heartfelt journeys about coming to terms with who you are and where you come from (with some guidance from the ancestors).

This Summer I Want to Learn About Some Boundary Breaking Women

A series of four book covers in a row.

Book covers courtesey of W.W. Norton (Love, Queenie), 3 Fields Books (Almost Nothing), Park Row (A Sign of Her Own), Tiny Reparations Books (Marsha).

This year I am looking for some heroes. People who lived their lives in a way that broke boundaries, redefined the expected, and fought for equality in their own way and time. Three of these books are autobiographies (Love, Queenie, Almost Nothing, Marsha) while the fourth is a fictional account of a real life woman who was deaf that that worked with Alexander Graham Bell (A Sign of Her Own).

This Summer I want to play Detective with These Mysteries and Thrillers

A series of four book covers in a row.

Book covers courtesy of Riverhead Books (The God of the Woods), William Morrow Paperbacks (Mother-Daughter Murder Night),Harper Collins (Death at Morning House), Mulholland Books (Salt Bones).

Mysteries come in all shapes and sizes, but I am drawn to those that are deeply rooted in the landscape and environment in which they are set weather a summer camp (The God of the Woods), Two different parts of the California Coast (Mother-Daughter Murder Night, Salt Bones) and a historic home on the Thousand Islands in upstate New York (Death at Morning House) each of these are filled with narratives on past events, family ties, and looking for the truth whatever the cost.

This Summer I Want to Take a Road Trip

A series of four book covers in a row.

Book covers courtesy of Ecco (Run for the Hills), Ready Press (Route 66: The First 100 Years), Bitter Southerner (Thank You Please Come Again), Ballantine Books (The Road to Tender Hearts).

One of the best ways to travel (for those who have the time!) is just hopping in a car and travelling on the open road. As we have done in the past we wanted to include some titles that explore the idea and how the detours and pit stops can also make for great stories as you build stronger bonds and find meaning as you watch the landscape traveling by. Two of these books tackle a family road trip where the journey brings family together in unexpected ways (Run for the Hills, The Road to Tender Hearts), you can see the history of one of Mother Road through photos (Route 66: The first 100 Years), and at a photographic chronicle of an essential stop on any road – the gas station (Thank You, Please Come Again).

View the full list on Bookshop.com.

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While her day job is the associate director of content at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Priya spends other waking moments musing, writing, and learning about how the public engages and embraces history.

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