Reading for Summer Staycations

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I’ve noticed some of the ‘Summer Reading Guides’ are coming out all over Substack and the wider Internet in the past couple of weeks. Whilst I’m here for it, I like to try to do something a little bit different.

A couple of years ago, I shared a post suggesting books and reading for inspiring wanderlust, pairing reading with different types of vacations.

With the economic situation as it is, as well as many of us concerned about minimising our carbon footprint, more of us than ever are spending our ‘staycations’ more locally. I have to admit, myself and my family are big fans of the term ‘Micro Adventures.’ These are those little everyday adventures we can take ourselves on when the sun is shining (hopefully), or when we just want to stay local but still experience new things.

Below I’m suggesting six great books to accompany you on any and all micro adventures you might be planning this season 😀

In case there is anyone out there who doesn’t know of this book, it is Brontë’s classic Gothic tale of the toxic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a young boy who is taken in by Cathy’s father. Cathy and Heathcliff grow up together, and have an unbreakable bond, which leads to all manner of violence, strife, and some of the best lines in literature:

“I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights follows the Earnshaw and Linton families through decades of trauma stemming from this passionate, toxic infatuation, resulting in a glimpse of an ultimately happier future for the next generation.

The book makes an ideal accompaniment for long hikes on the moors or over hills and dales.

If you’ve already read Wuthering Heights (and don’t fancy a re-read), this brand new biography of Emily Brontë draws on formerly inaccessible notebooks and manuscripts to construct a portrait of Emily and her sisters. Lutz also traces the influence of Emily’s work and her fantastical early poetry.

Atmospheric and enlightening, this would be worth the rambling, despite the blisters.

Lazy picnics on a comfortable blanket require a fun, rompy sort of a novel, IMO.

Miranda July’s novel All Fours is sure to fill this need. The story is told by an unnamed female artist, who decides to take a trip away from her husband and young child. She doesn’t get very far: practically the next town over, where she installs herself in a hotel and begins an infatuation with a young man she meets there.

July’s book is very much about the progression of the woman as artist and self-expression, as well as the female body.

This was a huge hit a couple of years ago, and well worth a read on a scorching summer’s day…bring a fan…

“All of the hormones that made me want to seem approachable so I could breed are gone and replaced by hormones that are fiercely protective of my autonomy and freedom”
― Miranda July, All Fours

In The Enchanted April, we encounter four women. Firstly, Lotty Wilkins, a woman stifled by her husband and her boring life, where she wears dowdy clothes and feels out of her depth at her solicitor husband’s social engagements. Next is Rose Arbuthnot, a religious woman who is unhappily married. Together, they find two more women to spread the cost of a holiday in a medieval castle: socialite Lady Caroline Desster and the elderly widow, Mrs Fisher.

The idyllic setting soon sets the backdrop for this unlikely quartet of women to experience personal change and renewal in their outlook on life. In the so-called ‘middlebrow’ category, this humorous, uplifting, scenic novel will take you away from the world as you pedal around the countryside.

Ideal if you could also end up on a moonlit terrace with a glass of something sparkly at the end of your ride 😀

Lauren Elkin’s novel Scaffolding is perfect for slipping into a tote as you wander the cool halls of a museum or art gallery this summer.

Set between Paris and London, the novel centres around the stories of two women: Anna, a psychoanalyst working in the framework of Lacan and living in Paris in the present day (or at least up to 2020), and Florence, a student and feminist living in early 1970’s Paris. The central connection between the two women are that they both occupy the same Belleville apartment in Paris at different times, as well as their shared interest in psychoanalysis.

There is also a third woman, Clèmentine, a young feminist living in the apartment building who befriends Anna. The novel’s title comes from the scaffolding that is being erected over the Paris apartment building during its ravalement; a French word which translates to ‘facelift’ or ‘restoration’ in English. It refers to the process of improving the appearance of a building, for example cleaning or renovating the facade.

The book is a gorgeous exploration of friendship, fidelity, fertility, psychoanalysis, and inter-generational trauma. The themes in this one just keep on coming. One of the best books I’ve read in a long time, and which I will definitely be revisiting before long. Just reading Elkin’s ideas makes me feel more intelligent.

Anybody who regularly reads this publication will know that I am a huge fan of Jean Rhys’s writing! I have written several essays about her already, and this year am conducting a Reading Rhys project. Part of that has been to re-read all five of her novels in order, starting with Quartet.

The novel tells the story of Marya, a young married woman living in Paris in the 1920s and her reckless husband, who finds himself arrested and imprisoned for a year. Marya, penniless and living in a cheap hotel, is offered refuge by a couple she meets.

“Not that she objected to solitude. Quite the contrary. She had books, thank Heaven, quantities of books. All sorts of books.”
― Jean Rhys, Quartet

What ensues is based very closely on the real-life story of Rhys’s affair with writer Ford Madox Ford whilst living with himself and his partner, the artist Stella Bowen. Whilst Rhys’s novels are not exactly on the cheery side, her precise prose and dark humour are captivating. The book is set amongst the pavement cafés and bars of early twentieth-century Paris between the wars.

Ideal for reading whilst sipping a Cappuccino and watching the world go by.

This novel by the wonderful Daphne du Maurier tells the story of Mary Anne Clarke, du Maurier’s great-great grandmother. It is a fictionalised account of Mary Anne’s rise to posterity through becoming the mistress of the Duke of York.

A Regency adventure published in 1954, it is one of the lesser-read books of du Maurier, but just as rewarding as her others. The things Mary Anne gets up to are quite remarkable, and the history of the novel is just as fascinating.

I am not a huge fan of historical fiction, but du Maurier writes this like it’s one of her other page-turners. Hugely satisfying! Made me long for a chaise longue on which to perch whilst reading.

I have never been afraid to shout about my deep appreciation for the books of Mary Wesley and I am a completionist in all her novels.

Set on the Devon coast, Jumping the Queue tells the story of Matilda Poliport, recently widowed, who has decided life isn’t worth living, and the charming stranger she meets who is on the run from the police.

Joining forces with the enigmatic young man, Matilda comes to question the awkward secrets that have plagued her marriage. This is Wesley’s first novel and really encapsulates the themes and black humour that populate her books. Perfect for reading on your favourite rock or deckchair.

I hope you enjoyed that little foray into some of my favourite staycation reading - because what really is the point of taking a micro adventure without a good book to accompany you? 😂

Happy adventuring, friends!