Passport? Packed. SPF? Slathered. All that’s left is the most essential travel companion of all: a very good book (or five).

Whether you're sun-dazed in the north of Italy or cooling off on the Croatian coast with a crisp spritz, there’s something uniquely indulgent about reading on holiday – no deadlines, no distractions, just you and the story. From cult-classic novellas to steamy modern love affairs, our edit of beach reads has been handpicked to suit every kind of hot-weathered escape. Expect glamorous affairs, poetic introspection, and more than one narrator spiralling under the Mediterranean sun.

These are the titles we’re tucking into our carry-ons, stuffing in our straw totes, and pulling out beach-side. Warning: they may lead to impromptu bookstore visits and long, wine-fuelled conversations with strangers. Below, find your literary itinerary.

1. Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan

Arguably the definitive Euro summer read, this cult classic was penned by French writer Françoise Sagan when she was just 18. First published in 1954, it follows the sun-soaked holiday of Cécile, a precocious 17-year-old, and her charming, hedonistic father – until their idyll is interrupted by the arrival of his late wife’s best friend. A tale of desire, jealousy and the cruelties of youth, it’s recently found new life through Kaia Gerber’s Library Science book club and an upcoming film adaptation by Durga Chew-Bose, starring Lily McInerny and Chloë Sevigny.

2. The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley

Riley's novel was included in the 2026 Booker Prize Long List, and if you're looking for a book that rewards close attention, this is it. It's an intimate, razor-sharp exploration of grief, family dynamics and unlikely companionship. Riley has an uncanny ability to make the smallest interactions feel profound.

3. Rytual by Chloe Elisabeth Wilson

For anyone who’s ever been seduced by beauty marketing – this one's for you. Rytual peels back the high-gloss façade of the beauty world to reveal something far more unsettling beneath. Melbourne poet Marnie Sellick introduces us to a young woman who lands a dream job at a cult beauty brand – only to find herself drawn into the gravitational pull of its alluring, all-powerful founder. But is it just branding, or something more insidious? Equal parts sharp and seductive, this is a story about image, influence, and the uneasy thrill of belonging.

4. My Year in Paris With Gertrude Stein by Deborah Levy

Levy turns her singular gaze to Paris in this slim, genre-defying memoir. It's anchored by the legacy of Gertrude Stein, but don't call it a conventional biography. It's more like a wandering meditation on creative freedom, reinvention and the intoxicating pull of the city. The perfect companion for anyone dreaming of lingering afternoons in Left Bank cafés.

5. Antiquity by Hanna Johansson

For fans of Call Me By Your Name and Bonjour Tristesse – Antiquity follows an unnamed narrator, a lonely woman in her thirties, who falls in love with chic older artist, Helena, after interviewing her for a magazine. Her obsession sees her join Helena and her teenage daughter, Olga, on holiday in the Greek city of Ermoupoli. At first, the narrator is seethingly jealous of Olga, but soon, however, this shifts to desire, at the prospect of becoming someone's first, if perverse, lover.

6. Fruit Fly by Josh Silver

Equal parts tender, funny and devastating, Fruit Fly follows a young queer protagonist navigating first love, friendship and the messy process of becoming yourself. Silver writes with warmth and wit, capturing the intensity of youth without ever slipping into sentimentality. It's the kind of coming-of-age novel you'll finish in a day.

7. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

No holiday reading list would be complete without Ferrante. If you’ve never cracked open the Neapolitan Novels, let this summer be the time. The first in the series introduces us to Lila and Elena, childhood friends in a working-class neighbourhood of Naples. Their bond is tender, brutal, jealous, and lifelong. It’s impossible not to get swept away in Ferrante’s world. Even Rachel Patton in The White Lotus couldn’t put it down – sunbaking poolside in Maui with My Brilliant Friend in hand.

8. Etruscan Places by D.H. Lawrence

Part travel writing, part philosophical meditation, Lawrence's final work chronicles his journey through the ancient Etruscan sites of Italy. But I'd venture to say he's more interested in atmosphere than archaeology, contrasting the vitality of lost civilisations with the modern world around him. It's lyrical, contemplative and an ideal read for anyone spending summer wandering Italy – or simply wishing they were.

9. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

Another new release from 2025: Vuong’s long-anticipated second novel is a kaleidoscope of grief, memory, and queer longing. Set between post-war Vietnam and contemporary America, The Emperor of Gladness is told in a fractured, dreamlike style that makes the ordinary feel mythic. With Vuong’s signature lyricism, this book pulls you into the soft violence of love and survival.

10. Sex and Lies by Leïla Slimani

This collection of testimonies from Moroccan women – gathered by Slimani during a return to her home country – is unflinching, intimate, and radical. Through their stories, a portrait emerges of a society caught between repression and resistance. Paired with Slimani’s own reflections, Sex and Lies reads like a manifesto for bodily autonomy. A bold, necessary read for the long, hot days of summer.

11. Raven Smith's Trivial Pursuits by Raven Smith

If you don't already follow the hilarious and singular writer and internet commentator Raven Smith on Instagram, you simply must. And now, he's a Sunday Times Bestseller courtesy of his newly released book: Raven Smith's Trivial Pursuits. His exploration of the minutiae of everyday modern life and culture is irresistibly self-aware and a perfect remedy in trying times.

12. Acid for the Children by Flea

Also in the memoir stack is that of Red Hot Chili Pepper's bassist Flea. His 2019 book Acid For The Children is so revealing and raw – you get such a sense of his cheeky humour, his jazz-inflected prose, and the fun, danger and mayhem he partook in as a raucous adolescent in 1970s and 80s L.A. It's less an account of his days as a RHCP member, and more a window into his life before the fame – meeting Keidis, growing up in a bohemian, music-obsessed household, and the loneliness that came with always feeling he was a little different.

13. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The latest from the Daisy Jones & The Six author drops us into the orbit of a 1970s interior designer to the stars. There's retro glamour, sweeping romance and a bittersweet look at the passing of time. It's already a #1 bestseller and should follow in the footsteps of her other beloved novels as modern classics.

14. Sunbathing by Isobel Beech

A RUSSH favourite, Beech’s debut is a meditation on loss, solitude and the slowness of healing. Set in a Tuscan farmhouse, it’s the kind of book that soaks in – tender, sparse, and deeply human. If you’re craving space to breathe, to think, to feel something quietly profound – this is it. We also chatted to Beech last year about her own favourite reads.

15. Waiting for Britney Spears by Jeff Weiss

A pop culture read for fans of Von Dutch and The Simple Life, Weiss's semi-fictional memoir blurs fact and fancy to follow a young writer chronicling America's sweetheart through Vegas superclubs and Malibu car chases.

16. Lonely Mouth by Jacqueline Maley

This short story collection from the journalist and novelist behind The Truth About Her offers sharp, funny, melancholic portraits of women on the cusp – of heartbreak, of reinvention, of clarity. Maley writes with a light touch and a journalist’s eye, making these stories perfect to dip in and out of between swims.

17. Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley

Hailed as one of the freshest new voices in Australian fiction, Brickley’s debut maps queer love, creative ambition and cultural friction across cities and decades. It's layered, sexy, and soaked in music references. Think Zadie Smith meets Sally Rooney... in a dive bar.

18. Hot Milk by Deborah Levy

Levy’s scorching novel of mother-daughter entanglement, sunstroke, and sexual awakening is a must for the season. Set in a blistering Spanish village where a mysterious clinic promises cures, Hot Milk is equal parts fever dream and philosophical probe. The book was also recently adapted as a dreamy film, which you can catch in select cinemas across Europe (in case you want to watch it after you've finished reading).

19. Night People by Mark Ronson

Pop's most influential producer just published his raucous memoir detailing a life raised by hedonistic creatives, and his escapades amongst the 90s New York club scene. It's earnest, heartfelt and recently green-lit for an upcoming feature film.

20. Mr Salary by Sally Rooney

If you're not much of a reader but still want some bound-together pages to throw into your beach bag, Rooney’s short story about Suki and Nathan – childhood family friends with unresolved tension – is a concentrated dose of her signature themes: unspoken desire, complicated love, emotional restraint. A perfect 40-minute read, best enjoyed in one small sitting.

21. Ruins by Amy Taylor

This taut and addictive debut novel set in Athens was recently optioned for film with Vanessa Kirby and Sebastian Stan already set to play its leads. It's a provocative, voyeuristic novel about a couple who, hoping to reconnect during a summer in Athens, become entangled with a mysterious young Greek woman – an encounter that sends their relationship spiralling into unexpected and explosive territory.

22. The Trio by Johanna Hedman

A novel of intimacy, nostalgia and youth. The Trio follows Thora, August and Hugo – inseparable as teens in Stockholm – whose lives become complicated by a shared summer in Paris and a secret that fractures their bond. Told from alternating perspectives across a decade, Hedman captures the ache of trying to hold onto something already slipping away.

23. Flesh by David Szalay

The newly crowned winner of the 2025 Booker Award, Flesh is the book all your literary muses have tucked into their beach bags this summer. Whether it's Dua Lipa (who just interviewed Szalay for her Service95 podcast), or even Stormzy – the book has fans in high places. The story follows István as he moves through life from adolescence to old age; a spare and hypnotically written life in account.

24. Bread of Angels by Patti Smith

Smith's latest book (only released a few weeks ago), is a memoir of her teenage years – a post-Second World War childhood and a radiant portrait of a soon-to-be-artist. It's sort of like a Just Kids prequel/sequel (more conventionally memoir than M Train or Year of The Monkey). A look at the earliest years of the celebrated rock poet.

25. The Uncool by Cameron Crowe

The Almost Famous director finally drops his long-awaited memoir in early December, and as one of America's most iconic journalists and filmmakers, it's sure to be a bestseller. Considering Almost Famous was semi-autobiographical, think of it as its essential counterpart: a raw exploration of his formative years in rock and roll.

26. Água Viva by Clarice Lispector

A stream of consciousness from Lispector, Água Viva has become a cult classic that dissolves the boundaries between thought, feeling and language. It's written as an intimate address from an unnamed narrator, and is contemplative of art, time and existence in prose that feels both hypnotic and revelatory. It's also a favourite of one Taylor Russell.

Feature images: one, two.