With the summer well underway, the mark-makers recommend books and magazines to help you while away some relaxing hours on the sun lounger or the sofa. From thrillers to travel mags to kids’ books, we’re pretty sure we’ve found something for everyone.

Chloe
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
A beautiful book centred around people and events in a Paris apartment building over a fairly short period of time. The characters are likeable and funny, the story is clever. After I read it there wasn’t a thing I would have changed: it’s perfectly put together in every way. Because it’s so self-contained, it’s great for people who are series-phobic. Prominent themes: food, love, film, literature, history, class, fashion, pets, philosophy, family – no expertise or interest in any of these is necessary to enjoy it anyway. A delightful accompaniment to any holiday.

Nic
Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty
After watching the recent HBO series Big Little Lies (Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman – if you haven’t seen it you’re in for a treat), I was keen to explore more of Liane Moriarty’s work. Ignoring the slightly girly title Three Wishes it didn’t disappoint. It’s a story of three sisters (triplets) and their relationships with each other and those around them. I especially liked Moriarty’s wry observational sense of humour and I totally related to the honest portrayal of the family dynamics. If you are off on a relaxing holiday and want something easy to read that will make you laugh, cry a little and feel a real connection to the characters, this is the book for you.

Tom
Boat Magazine
Boat Magazine is an independent travel and culture publication that focuses on a different, inspiring city for each issue. The creators behind the magazine physically move to the focus city, setting up their own studio and working with locals to create the content with aim of uncovering the stories that don’t usually get told. Issue 8 (of 13) dives deep into the sprawling city of Los Angeles and tells its story from the view of artists, musicians, chefs, car-dwellers, poets, palm trees, and the local fashion scene.

Shannon
Oola the Owl Who Lost Her Hoot! by Tim Bugbird
Pheebs loves this book because the Owl goes on an adventure to find her hoot asking different animals if they have seen it. When Oola happens upon a toad he RIBBITS a lot, and I do it loads of times in a really low voice and she finds it hilarious.

I will also be reading (to Phoebe):

• The Witch with an Itch by Helen Baugh
• Bright Stanley by Matt Buckingham
• The Star of the Zoo by Virginie Zurcher
• Little Rex and the Big Roar by Ruth Symes

Fran
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberley McCreight

“In Reconstructing Amelia, Kate’s in the middle of the biggest meeting of her career when she gets the telephone call from Grace Hall, her daughter’s exclusive private school in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Amelia has been suspended, effective immediately, and Kate must come get her daughter – now. But Kate’s stress over leaving work quickly turns to panic when she arrives at the school and finds it surrounded by police officers, fire trucks, and an ambulance. By then it’s already too late for Amelia. And for Kate. An academic overachiever despondent over getting caught cheating has jumped to her death. At least that’s the story Grace Hall tells Kate. And clouded as she is by her guilt and grief, it is the one she forces herself to believe. Until she gets an anonymous text: she didn’t jump. Reconstructing Amelia is about secret first loves, old friendships, and an all-girls club steeped in tradition. But, most of all, it’s the story of how far a mother will go to vindicate the memory of a daughter whose life she couldn’t save.”

I love love love this book because it is so full of suspense and curveballs that have you constantly rethinking the theories you form in your head. Definitely worth a read if you are a Gone Girl/Girl on the Train lover!

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What are your go-to summertime reads?