I read voraciously all year long and every season has special elements that make me think, at the time, Ah, this is really it: the absolute best time of the year to read. And summer is no different. I adore sprawling out on a blanket (half shade/half not) on the hot sand at Lakelse, Ice-tea close at hand, book cracked. I revel in late night reading where the light is fading, fading, fading but still not gone. My senses are thrilled by the stormy, windy, rainy weirdness of hot summer nights, where the uneasy weather adds to the story . . .

Yes, beach reads. Soggy summer savers. Sunburn salve. Bug bite balm. Sun-kissed escapes and escapades. Warm weather wonders. There’s a bunch of corny ways I refer to the books I read in the summer, and I thought it was a global thing, that everyone loved a summer read—but apparently, no. I was shocked (and horrified!) to learn that July and August are the poorest months of the year in terms of book sales, print and electronic. But whether you buy, borrow, or use summer, as I do, to catch up on my ever-present and overflowing to-be-read stack, here are a few books I highly recommend.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: totally awesome story, man! (Archaic 80s praise used intentionally because while most anyone over 13 will enjoy this story, people who were teens or 20-somethings in the 80s will have special moments of extreme-geek pleasure.) USA Today called it “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix,” and while I usually don’t like those types of descriptions, in this case, the comment nailed it. Ready Player One is pure zany fun and adventure. I hit page 10 and realized a huge smile had permanently taken over my face—a testimony to how wildly entertaining the story is, considering it’s a dystopia novel based on earth in 2044 and the author’s vision of our future world is an obvious trajectory of our society’s current issues and problems.

In The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit by JJ Lee, the basic premise is, “Chinese man with an abusive father inherits a dated navy suit of his father’s after his dad dies, and sets about tailoring it to something he can wear—serving as a metaphor for how he searches to reconcile himself to his past,” but the book is really about so much more. Anyone who has ever had a parent (so I guess that’s all of us) will find something to identify with in Lee’s quest to come to terms with hard aspects of his childhood and to understand and make peace with his father. It also, because of the people who make up the story, sheds light on at least some Chinese people’s immigration experience—which was very interesting, though sometimes bitterly sad (for me) reading.

There is a lot of pain in Lee’s personal experience, but he’s a wise, inspiring soul—and very witty and dry. And he has a lot of compassion. The latter, I think, is what spoke to me the most. Even when he’s describing his father at his worst, there’s a sympathy that really touched/inspired me.

The Taste of Ashes by Sheila Peters reads more like non-fiction about actual living, breathing individuals and literally true events, than well-researched fiction that’s “merely” emotionally true. I enjoyed it—and was challenged by it—immensely. The story’s written in a braided narrative, with three main point-of-view characters: Isabel Lee, one-time wild child, now recovering alcoholic and fodder for the small town rumour mill, Father Álvaro Ruiz, a priest seeking respite in Canada after enduring mind, body and spirit breaking torture in Guatemala, and Janna—Isabel and Álvaro’s daughter, born out of an intense affair the first time Álvaro was in Canada as a young Oblate priest—a child Álvaro knows nothing about. I couldn’t put the book down—though at times, out of stress, outrage and empathy, I wanted to throw it across the room.

For crime and series lovers (I’m taking it for granted that you’ve already picked up Louise Penny, starting with Still Life), I suggest Mariah Stewart’s Mercy series about an independent private investigator agency that deals with cold missing person cases. Fast-paced and super readable, I like her growing cast of characters a lot.

Wherever this summer takes you, I hope your adventures involve books. So good for the mind and the soul. And so fun! Happy sunning—and reading!

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“Beach Reads” by me, Ev Bishop, was originally published in the Terrace Standard, July 31, 2013 as my monthly column “Just a Thought.”