Summer classics: 3 essentials – 3 books

What would summer be without some good reading? Bring a book to the beach, along with a pair of swimming shorts, sunglasses, and a cap and you have a day of complete relaxation. Today, our editor and literature expert recommends the classic reads and stylish garments for the summer.

Text: Camilla Åsedal
Photo: MATTEO BIACHESSI & Adlibris

Published 2024-07-06

Summer is a wonderful time for sun, swimming, and reading—though, as a former librarian, I might be biased. While the sun provides us with vitamin D, endorphins, and relaxation, books enhance our intellect, culture and empathy. Reading a book is the perfect way to take a break from phones and computers and truly enjoy your holiday. Below, we recommend books to read on the beach as well as the outfits to accompany them.

Protect yourself with a cap

If you want to protect yourself from the sun's rays or from a literary surveillance society like the one George Orwell describes in the dystopian Nineteen Eighty-Four, a protective cap or hat will come in handy. Joking aside, a cap is the perfect accessory that provides both practical and stylish protection from the sun. Depending on the cap you choose, it can also serve as an aesthetic accessory, adding personality to your style with details like colour, shape, print, and embroidery (and can even hide a post-swim hairstyle).

To caps

American classics

This summer, as usual, we have talked a lot about swimming shorts. The above blue and white striped pair from American Polo Ralph Lauren is a safe bet and a true classic for a day at the beach. Then, relax in peace and quiet on the sun lounger under the parasol, immersed in another American classic: Ernest Hemingway's The Garden of Eden — a gem you discovered at a car boot sale during your summer road trip.

To swimwear

On the road with sunglasses

To be able to read in the intense summer sun, you need to protect your eyes with a pair of sunglasses. Maybe you find yourself on a deckchair reading Jack Kerouac's Drifting and dreaming away to cooler autumn days in New York, among the great cultural icons of the beatniks movement? Alternatively, sailing on Italian waters? Literature has an ability to let you immerse yourself in any life, regardless of whether it is a longing away, an escape from reality or just to relax.

To sunglasses