Happy Summer Reading

Congratulations! You’ve voyaged through another school year full of the triumphs, challenges, and sweet surprises of international life. Thank you for all your hard work – you deserve to completely enjoy this summer. 

But what’s a good summer without good books? We’ve gathered the ISS staff’s top recommendations to get your reading list started:

  • An American Marriage by Tayari Jones 

  • Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan 

  • Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate 

  • Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien 

  • Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Journey by Alfred Lansing (especially the Simon Prebble audiobook version!)  

  • Exit West by Mohsin Hamid  

  • The Alice Network by Kate Quinn 

  • The Lost City of the Monkey Gods by Douglas Preston 

  • The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 

  • The Outsider by Stephen King 

  • The Sellout by Paul Beatty 

  • The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve 

  • This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Anne Patchett 

  • Pachinko by Min Jin Lee 

  • Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly 

  • Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng 

  • New Media Reader edited by Nick Montfort and Noah Wardrip-Fruin 

  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 

  • Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult 


Whether you’ll be enjoying these books at beaches, backyards, or international airport terminals, we wish you a happy summer of reading!