The Ultimate Summer Books Preview of 2019

How’s your summer reading list shaping up? Maybe you’ve already got it on lock, in which case, more power to you. Or maybe, like some of us in the Literary Hub office, you have been totally overwhelmed by the waves of Most Anticipated Summer Books lists, and can’t figure out which to prioritize. Or maybe you just want to know which one book you should be reading this season. In any of these cases, I’ve got you covered (people in the last camp: it’s The Nickel Boys).

As is now tradition, I have read all of the seasonal book listicles so that you don’t have to. To be precise, I read 30 Summer Book Previews, which recommended a grand total of 403 different books—but only 72 were recommended 3 or more times, and those 72 are listed below, organized by the number of lists they graced. (For a full accounting of the lists I surveyed, scroll all the way to the bottom.)

21 lists:

Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys (July 16)

(Thrillist, EW, Esquire, TIME, NYLON, Vulture, Elle, LA Times, Good Housekeeping, Publishers Weekly, BuzzFeed, Lit Hub, She Reads, New York Post, Women’s Health, Newsday, BookRiot, Southern Living, Washington Post, Goodreads, Philadelphia Inquirer)

*

18 lists:

Elizabeth Gilbert, City of Girls (June 4)

(Thrillist, EW, Esquire, Vogue, TIME, Refinery29, Elle, Good Housekeeping, BuzzFeed, She Reads, New York Post, Women’s Health, BookRiot, Southern Living, Washington Post, Goodreads, Newsweek, Philadelphia Inquirer)

*

17 lists:

Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (June 4)

(Thrillist, EW, Esquire, Vogue, TIME, Refinery29, NYLON, Vulture, Elle, Good Housekeeping,, BuzzFeed, Lit Hub, Southern Living, Washington Post, Goodreads,Newsweek, Philadelphia Inquirer)

*

14 lists:

Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Fleishman Is in Trouble (June 18)

(Thrillist, EW, Vogue, Refinery 29, NYLON, Vulture, Elle, BuzzFeed, Lit Hub, Alma, Women’s Health, Southern Living, Washington Post, Newsweek)

Lisa Taddeo, Three Women (July 9)

(EW, Esquire, Refinery29, Vulture, Elle, LA Times, Good Housekeeping, Lit Hub, New York Post, Newsday, BookRiot, Washington Post, Goodreads, Newsweek)

*

13 lists:

Téa Obreht, Inland (August 13)

(Thrillist, EW, Esquire, TIME, NYLON, Elle, Publishers Weekly, Lit Hub, Alma, The Week, Newsday, Southern Living, Philadelphia Inquirer)

*

12 lists:

Jean Kwok, Searching for Sylvie Lee (June 4)

(Thrillist, TIME, NYLON, Elle, Good Housekeeping, Publishers Weekly, Lit Hub, The Week, She Reads, New York Post, Goodreads, Philadelphia Inquirer)

*

11 lists:

Nicole Dennis-Benn, Patsy (June 4)

(EW, Vogue, TIME, NYLON, Vulture, Elle, BuzzFeed, New York Post, Newsday, Southern Living, Washington Post)

*

10 lists:

Jennifer Weiner, Mrs. Everything (June 11)

(EW, Refinery29, Good Housekeeping, StarTribune, Alma, She Reads, Women’s Health, Newsday, BookRiot, Goodreads)

*

9 lists:

Kristen Arnett, Mostly Dead Things (June 4)

(Thrillist, EW, Esquire, TIME, NYLON, Elle, BuzzFeed, Lit Hub, Alma)

Blake Crouch, Recursion (June 11)

(EW, TIME, Good Housekeeping, BuzzFeed, StarTribune, She Reads, BookRiot, Goodreads, Newsweek)

*

8 lists:

Mona Awad, Bunny (June 11)

(EW, Refinery29, NYLON, Vulture, Elle, Publishers Weekly, Lit Hub, Newsweek)

Jasmine Guillory, The Wedding Party (July 16)

(EW, TIME, Refinery29, Good Housekeeping, Alma, She Reads, Goodreads, Newsweek)

Lauren Mechling, How Could She (June 25)

(EW, Esquire, Vogue, Refinery29, NYLON, Vulture, Elle, Women’s Health)

Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror (August 6)

(Thrillist, Esquire, TIME, NYLON, Vulture, Elle, Lit Hub, Alma)

De’Shawn Charles Winslow, In West Mills (June 4)

(EW, TIME, NYLON, Publishers Weekly, BuzzFeed, StarTribune, Southern Living, Philadelphia Inquirer)

*

7 lists:

Catherine Chung, The Tenth Muse (June 18)

(Thrillist, EW, NYLON, Elle, Publishers Weekly, BuzzFeed, Lit Hub)

Edwidge Danticat, Everything Inside (August 27)

(Esquire, TIME, LA Times, BuzzFeed, Lit Hub, BookRiot, Newsweek)

Laura Lippman, Lady in the Lake (July 23)

(EW, Refinery29, Elle, StarTribune, Lit Hub, New York Post, Washington Post)

*

6 lists:

Sarah M. Broom, The Yellow House (August 13)

(EW, Vogue, TIME, NYLON, BuzzFeed, The Week)

Kalisha Buckhanon, Speaking of Summer (July 30)

(TIME, BuzzFeed, StarTribune, Lit Hub, New York Post, Essence)

Helen Phillips, The Need (July 9)

(Thrillist, NYLON, Vulture, Elle, StarTribune, Newsweek)

Ruth Ware, The Turn of the Key (August 6)

(EW, Good Housekeeping, StarTribune, New York Post, BookRiot, Goodreads)

*

5 lists:

Chanelle Benz, The Gone Dead (June 25)

(Esquire, Vogue, TIME, NYLON, Southern Living)

Sarah Gailey, Magic for Liars (June 4)

(Good Housekeeping, BuzzFeed, Alma, She Reads, Goodreads)

Emily Nussbaum, I Like to Watch (June 25)

(Esquire, Elle, Lit Hub, Alma, Philadelphia Inquirer)

Yoko Ogawa, tr. Stephen Snyder, The Memory Police (August 13)

(Thrillist, Esquire, TIME, Vulture, BookRiot)

Regina Porter, The Travelers (June 18)

(EW, Esquire, Refinery29, New York Post, Southern Living)

Rion Amilcar Scott, The World Doesn’t Require You (August 20)

(Esquire, NYLON, BuzzFeed, BookRiot, Southern Living)

*

4 lists:

Lauren Acampora, The Paper Wasp (June 11)

(Thrillist, New York Times, Elle, Publishers Weekly)

Margaret Atwood, The Testaments (September 10)

(Thrillist, Good Housekeeping, She Reads, Goodreads)

Rachel Cusk, Coventry: Essays (August 20)

(Thrillist, Elle, Lit Hub, Southern Living)

Tan France, Naturally Tan (June 4)

(TIME, Goodreads, Newsweek, Philadelphia Inquirer)

Grant Ginder, Honestly, We Meant Well (June 11)

(She Reads, New York Post, Southern Living, Newsweek)

Mark Haddon, The Porpoise (June 18)

(Esquire, TIME, BookRiot, Philadelphia Inquirer)

Helen Hoang, The Bride Test (May 7)

(Good Housekeeping, She Reads, Women’s Health, Washington Post)

Claire Lombardo, The Most Fun We Ever Had (June 25)

(Good Housekeeping, She Reads, New York Post, Goodreads)

Courtney Maum, Costalegre (July 16)

(Thrillist, NYLON, Publishers Weekly, Southern Living)

Beatriz Williams, The Golden Hour (July 9)

(Refinery29, Good Housekeeping, She Reads, Philadelphia Inquirer)

*

3 lists:

Kate Atkinson, Big Sky (June 25)
Chandler Baker, Whisper Network (June 25)
Candace Bushnell, Is There Still Sex in the City? (August 6)
Katherine Center, Things You Save in a Fire (August 13)
Marcy Dermansky, Very Nice (July 2)
Erica Ferencik, Into the Jungle (May 28)
Tope Folarin, A Particular Kind of Black Man (August 6)
Tanisha C. Ford, Dressed in Dreams (June 25)
Natalia Ginzburg, tr. Frances Frenaye, The Dry Heart (June 25)
Thomas Harris, Cari Mora (May 21)
Rajia Hassib, A Pure Heart (August 6)
Malin Persson Giolito, Beyond All Reasonable Doubt (June 4)
Joshilyn Jackson, Never Have I Ever (July 30)
Uzma Jalaluddin, Ayesha at Last (June 4)
Marjan Kamali, The Stationery Shop (June 18)
Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered (May 28)
Amanda Lee Koe, Delayed Rays of a Star (July 9)
R. F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic (July 22)
Roselle Lim, Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune (June 11)
Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet (July 23)
Denise Mina, Conviction (June 18)
Rachel Monroe, Savage Appetites (August 20)
Ariana Reines, A Sand Book (June 18)
Sally Rooney, Normal People (April 16)
Karen Russell, Orange World (May 14)
Richard Russo, Chances Are . . . (July 30)
Riley Sager, Lock Every Door (July 2)
Julie Satow, The Plaza: The Secret Life of America’s Most Famous Hotel (June 4)
Neal Stephenson, Fall; or, Dodge In Hell (June 4)
J. Ryan Stradal, The Lager Queen of Minnesota (July 23)
Elaine Welteroth, More Than Enough (June 11)
Elvia Wilk, Oval (June 4)
Nell Zink, Doxology (August 19)

*

The full list of lists surveyed:

Thrillist’s “33 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer”; EW’s “Summer Books Preview”; The New York Times Book Review’s “Summer Reading”; Esquire’s “Escape the Heat With the Best Books of Summer 2019”; Vogue’s “10 New Books to Read This Summer”; TIME’s “32 Books You Need to Read This Summer”; Vulture’s “12 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer”; Refinery29’s “The Best Beach Reads of Summer 2019”; NYLON’s “35 Great Books to Read This Summer”; WIRED’s “14 Must-Read Books of Summer”; Elle’s “The 30 Best Books to Read This Summer”; The Los Angeles Times’ “7 Highly Anticipated Books for Summer Reading”; Good Housekeeping’s “The 25 Best New Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List”; Publishers Weekly’s “Summer Reads 2019”; BuzzFeed News’ “29 Summer Books to Get Excited About”; the StarTribune’s “45 Books to Keep You Reading All Summer Long”; Alma’s “Favorite Books for Summer 2019”; The Week’s “The Best Summer Books of 2019”; She Reads’ “The Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2019”; the New York Post’s “The 25 Best Beach Reads of 2019 You Need to Pre-order Now”; Women’s Health’s “16 Best Beach Reads To Add To Your Summer 2019 Reading List Stat”; Newsday’s “Best Summer Books 2019”; BookRiot’s “50 of the Best Books to Read This Summer”; Southern Living’s “The Best New Books Coming Out Summer 2019”; The Washington Post’s “The 20 Books to Read This Summer”; Essence’s “10 Books We’re Dying to Toss Into Our Summer Totes”; Goodreads’ “The Hottest Books of Summer”; Newsweek’s “Summer Books 2019”; The Philadelphia Inquirer’s “Big Summer Books for 2019”; and of course, Literary Hub’s very own “Most Anticipated Books of Summer.”