Buckle up! It’s time for summer reading. Today we’re welcoming you on a literary adventure with the release of the FOURTEENTH annual Summer Reading Guide!

We’re bringing you along for a literary road trip in our 2025 MMD Summer Reading Guide. The guide goes out to our member communities and a la carte purchasers at 10:00am EDT this morning, kicking off my favorite reading time of the year. (If you have opted in for the Guide but don’t see it in your inbox, please visit the help section on modernmrsdarcy.com/SRG. If you’re reading this after 10:00am, no worries—our Guide will be ready when you are!)

We always say that summer’s too short to squander on books that aren’t right for you, or aren’t right for you right now. The guide includes books I personally adore, though that doesn’t mean they’re right for every reader. That’s why in every description I give you the information you need to help you decide if that book sounds like a good fit for you.

This year’s guide includes 35 titles. That’s a lot of books—and that’s why every year since 2014, I’ve narrowed the choices down to a fraction of that for my fellow minimalists and decision haters. Our new Minimalist Summer Reading Guide features six selections.

For each minimalist edition, I strive to select a variety of titles across many genres that keep you turning the pages but also have serious substance. You could inhale these titles quickly but find yourself thinking about them for weeks, months, or even years to come. And while easy to read, these titles are wonderfully thought-provoking and discussable.

I hope you enjoy this short and sweet summer list!

Want the full 2025 MMD Summer Reading Guide?

Visit the Summer Reading Guide HQ page to sign up and get the 2025 guide delivered to your inbox, along with Unboxing access (if you hurry, you can still attend live!).

Our two Unboxing Parties are today at 1:00pm and 8:00pm Eastern time. In our 90+ minute live sessions, I share every title in the Guide and why I chose it. Our conversation is casual and unscripted, filled with real talk about great books, in the presence of people who love books and reading. We’ll share the replay tomorrow for anyone who can’t attend live (or anyone who just wants to watch again and again); that recorded video event will be included with purchase for anyone who accesses the Guide beginning May 16.

The 2025 Minimalist Summer Reading Guide

This thrilling family tale wrestles with questions of identity, loyalty, and our complicated relationship with technology. Jane grew up in rural Montana with only her father for company. She loves him unquestioningly, and eagerly absorbs everything he teaches her about self-reliance (good) and technology (bad). But one day when she’s seventeen, he surprises Jane by bringing home a computer that she stealthily uses to connect to the outside world. What she learns—about the world and her own existence in it—shakes her faith in the father she loves. Jane longs to break free, but even as she takes big steps to build her own life, she can’t turn her back on him. This central tension had me racing though the pages, as did the complex family dynamics and irresistible 90s nostalgia. More info →

Lamb’s gut-wrenching new novel, his first in nine years, begins with a shocking tragedy involving a father under the influence. This act of a moment tears Corby’s family apart and strips him of his freedom. In prison, Corby’s guilt and grief consume him; his misery is compounded by a terribly unjust penal system. And yet there are moments of soaring human connection, as Corby finds small mercies in the form of kindness from the prison librarian, an escape into his art, and friendship. Lamb’s novels are not without elements of redemption but I can’t overstate how terribly sad this is—and also how deeply human. An extraordinary and unforgettable reading experience. More info →

Cross The Holiday with Sliding Doors and you’ll get a sense of Harbison’s adult debut. After a disastrous thirtieth birthday party, Meg books a getaway to the quaint Irish village where she had once dreamed of moving. That’s when things get weird: everyone seems to know her already. She has an apartment and friends and a hot ex who’s none too pleased to see her. Most shocking of all: in this version of her life, her best friend, who died in a car accident just before college, is alive and well. So why isn’t Meg happy? Harbison asks important questions about choice, contentment, and what makes for a meaningful life. I found it utterly unputdownable. Out June 3. More info →

Small-town teenager Doris was Mrs. Lucas’s star student before family demands compelled her to drop out. When she finds herself in the family way, she persuades Mrs. Lucas to take her to Atlanta for an abortion, where the two mingle with celebrities she’s seen in Ebony, civil rights leaders like Coretta Scott King, and Mrs. Lucas’s queer Black friends. Their behavior is shocking—her mama certainly wouldn’t approve—except they treat Doris with marked kindness and seem to have good hearts and common sense. Cheering Doris on through her life-changing weekend was one of my favorite reading experiences this year. I ate up the voice, the style, the story. More info →

King’s exceptional debut was inspired by her grandparents and the pencil company they once ran in Shanghai. The magical pencils in this book retain the memory of what they’ve written, and those who know how to “reforge” them can bring the memories they contain back to life. This power can be used to expose family secrets, betray a nation, or communicate loving words that were never uttered aloud. This is a real genre-bender, blending WWII-era historical fiction, grounded fantasy, family drama, and queer romance, all with compelling characters and an original and propulsive plot. Readers may also be drawn to the sweet grandmother/granddaughter relationship, close look at Chinese history, and thoughtful exploration of questions concerning data, privacy, and who owns our stories. Out June 3. More info →

Wilson deftly combines the heavy and the light in this found family story of four scattered half-siblings who meet for the first time and pile into an old PT Cruiser to go find the father who abandoned them long ago. Wilson’s stories often feel larger than life, yet the emotional heart feels real and relatable. Quirky, warm, and bighearted, with a multigenerational cast and road trip hijinks galore. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s no spoiler to say I found this coast-to-coast adventure to be an utter delight. Out May 13 More info →

What are you most excited to read this summer?

If you find something great in this Minimalist Guide or our full Summer Reading Guide, would you spread the book love? Our hashtag is #MMDSummerReading. (Follow me on Instagram at @annebogel, the podcast at @whatshouldireadnext, and Book Club at @mmdbookclub for summer reading goodness all season long.)

Happy summer, and happy reading!

Anne

P.S. If you don’t yet have the full 2025 MMD Summer Reading Guide and you’re either a Book Club or Patreon member or you purchased a la carte, don’t leave a comment here. Please visit modernmrsdarcy.com/SRG and check out our help section.