Could there fairly be called an ideal season for reading? One time of year when it seems like everything conspires to bring you and the perfect book together in peace? Well, no. Of course not. Reading is seasonless and is just as easily enjoyed on the coldest, most formidable days of winter, when you’re hopefully tucked away in some warm corner with a book in hand and a tumbler of whiskey within reach (a roaring fireplace is a nice touch, but not strictly necessary), as it is on the hottest days of summer, when you’re lying on your back on the beach, one arm flung over your brow to deflect the sun, water-warped pages sticking hopelessly to lotioned-up fingers.
And yet. There’s something particularly lovely about springtime reading. Perhaps it’s because everything seems so new and undiscovered right now; everything is refreshed, including our capacity to find wonder in the pages of a new book. Plus, there’s no denying that the balmy days of spring seem designed to make us all want to abandon work and any other responsibilities and take off to sit under a flowering tree and lose ourselves in the pages of an unfamiliar world. But what to read once you’re there? Well, that can be the hard part. But not for you. No, for you it’s easy, because we did all the choosing for you this go-around. Here are our choices for the 50 things we’re most excited to read this spring and summer in no particular order. Some are now for sale at a (locally owned, independent) bookstore near you, while others won’t come out for a couple more months. But that’s ok, you can wait… preferably under that flowering tree with one of the books already available.
