12 books to read this summer

It's that time of year again, when all the major publications seem to think you enjoy six weeks of summer holiday and can spend it doing nothing but reading 1000-page novels, sinking cocktails and lazing about by your infinity pool.

We've come up with a summer reading list that we hope is a lil' more realistic, taking in some recent faves and brand new titles, plus a couple of short story and poetry collections to dip into on that long weekend in Whitby. Without further ado, here are The Skinny's pick of summer reads for 2016. 

The Girls by Emma Cline 

Young American author Emma Cline's much-hyped debut novel is not the cheeriest summer read of the year, but it is one of the most powerful. Set in the Californian summer of 1969, The Girls follows teenage protagonist Evie Boyd's descent into the thrall of a Manson-like cult. Like Jeffrey Eugenides in The Virgin Suicides, Cline masterfully uses the sultriness of the season to explore the complex negotiations of girlhood – and the damage caused when that innocence falls under undue influence. Published by Random House, out now

Dirt Road by James Kelman 

James Kelman's ninth novel is being acclaimed as one of the Scottish writer's major works, and we can see why. Dirt Road follows the music-obsessed teenager Murdo, dreaming of a life beyond his Scottish island home, and his recently widowed father, as Murdo is offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in Louisiana. It's a fitting read for those needing an escape to the open road; a tribute to the power of music, and a guide for anyone wrestling with the loving sacrifices of parenthood. Published by Canongate, out 14 Jul

What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi

Nigeria-born writer Helen Oyeyemi is on her sixth book at the age of 31, and her creativity shows no sign of abating. Her first set of short stories, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is an ambitious collection that revels in the magical art of misdirection, jumping from an elaborately imagined school of puppetry narrated by a puppet (Is Your Blood as Red as This?) to a feminist caper set in Cambridge (A Brief History of the Homely Wench Society). Oyeyemi's imagination is astounding. Published by Picador, out now

All That Man Is by David Szalay

Not really a novel but a series of vignettes following nine men at different stages of their lives, David Szalay's All That Man Is starts with a teenage backpacker and ends with a septuagenarian ex-politician. Sure, the men are almost all concerned with love and money, but Szalay's writing is exquisite and his broad outlook – with the stories hopping across several European countries – offers something of a love affair with the continent's interconnectedness. Published by Jonathan Cape, out now

The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante

If you've been waiting for the right moment to tackle Ferrante's four-book opus – the biggest literary phenomenon of the last couple of years, alongside Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle series – then a summer of political turbulence might be the time. Much has been made of Ferrante's keyhole-intimate understanding of the central relationship, between lifelong friends Elena and Lila, but perhaps more fascinating is her depiction of 20th-century Naples as it convulses its way through decades of violence, corruption and revolution. It's an important portrayal of men, women and politics; and the characters will never leave you. Published by Europa Editions, out now

Treats by Lara Williams 

Manchester-based writer Lara Williams' debut short story collection offers exactly what it says in the title; Treats is a series of (bitter)sweet little tales that look to find beauty in the debris of romantic, parental and professional relationships. Modern and wryly humorous, Williams' prose has a playful touch, and she lightly crafts Treats' stories to enable all her characters to exist in the same city and the same world, as we do. Published by Freight, out now

Say Something Back by Denise Riley

The poetry community has held Denise Riley in high regard for a while now, but her most recent collection, the Forward Prize-nominated Say Something Back, should deservedly give her a wider readership. The collection's pinnacle is the long poem A Part Song, an elegy written in response to the death of Riley's adult son. Say Something Back is moving, tender and brave in its meditation on death and memory; a reflective read for a disruptive summer. Published by Picador, out now 

The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma   

Chigozie Obioma's first novel The Fishermen explores the tragedy of four young Nigerian brothers who are told by a mysterious prophet that the eldest will be murdered by one of the other three, all this within the context of Nigeria's controversial 1993 presidential elections. Combining conventions of literary fiction with a style of African oral storytelling, The Fishermen is a coming-of-age story not only for its narrator, but for Obioma's home country. Published by One, out now 

Animal by Sara Pascoe

An unusual offering from comedian Sara Pascoe, Animal is an entertaining, informative and no-holds-barred 'autobiography of a female body'. In the conversational tone of her standup routine, Pascoe tackles what it is to be a woman, colouring her wide-ranging research with autobiographical experiences such as her struggles with anorexia and abortion as a teenager. All of this makes Animal a complex yet life-affirming read; a book that, like a good friend, tells you the truth no matter how bleak things can get. Published by Faber & Faber, out now

All Involved by Ryan Gattis 

Newly out in paperback, Ryan Gattis's visceral piece of historical fiction All Involved tells the story of the 1992 Los Angeles riots through 17 first-person accounts. Gattis successfully inhabits the voices of gang members, shopkeepers, a nurse, a fireman and many more, all caught up in the chaos of this incendiary moment in history. His research and empathetic tone make All Involved a fascinating social study on a par with David Simon's seminal TV series The Wire. Published by Picador, out now

Paris Vagabond by Jean-Paul Clébert

One to both promote and pierce the wanderlust in you, 'one of the best books ever written about the French capital' is freshly available in a new translation. A collage of notes made during and about writer Clébert's time on the streets of Paris – not as a flâneur, but as the outcast of the title, living hand to mouth on the city's streets – Paris Vagabond presents a side of the city that has now largely disappeared, and offers 'a proximity to life; a kind of unfeigned awe at simply being alive'. Published by New York Review of Books, out now 

Considering the Women by Choman Hardi

Another contender for this year's Forward poetry prize, Kurdish writer and translator Choman Hardi's collection Considering the Women explores the eternal push and pull relationship between immigrants and their homeland(s), as well as considers the plight of women in a patriarchal society and as survivors of political violence. An important voice now more than ever, Hardi brings us closer to the experiences of those for whom we all too often assume to speak. Published by Bloodaxe Books, out now

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