Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books that Give Off Summer Vibes.
Since I just did a Top 5 Tuesday post about summer books a few weeks ago, I thought I’d switch it up a bit and instead talk about books whose titles sounds full of summer themes… even though the books themselves aren’t exactly light, beachy reads.
- On the Beach by Nevil Shute: On the beach? Excellent! Except not, because it’s the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust and radiation is coming to wipe out the last remaining survivors.
- Dune by Frank Herbert: Glorious rolling sand dunes along a beautiful beach? Sorry, nope. It’s sci-fi on a desolate world. With killer sand worms.
- The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian: Little girls playing in the sand with their parents on a sunny day? No. This one is set during and after the Armenian genocide.
- Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green: An epic summer romance about star-crossed lovers? Not at all. It’s about a lonely American girl and a German POW.
- The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach by Pam Jenoff: Yes, there’s a beach! But it’s really a wartime love story with lots of sadness and loss.
- Sunshine by Robin McKinley: A bright sunshiny day? Ha ha. No. This is one of my very favorite vampire stories, very dark and creepy.
- Firefly: Big Damn Heroes by Nancy Holder: Chasing lightning bugs on a summer lawn as evening falls? Nope. A super fun sci-fi space western, but nothing to do with actual fireflies. (Or summer.)
- Summer Knight by Jim Butcher: A chivalric tale about knights and ladies and a summer joust, perhaps? No, it’s all about Chicago wizard Harry Dresden and the dangerous, deceptive faerie courts.
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman: A little beach town, with a country lane leading to the shore? Sorry again. This is a terrific fantasy… but it’s not about a beach vacation.
- In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien: Ooh, a country get-away by a romantic lake? Well, there’s a lake, but it’s not peaceful or romantic. This is really disturbing suspense, without a hint of summer fun and relaxation.
Can you think of more books with summer-themed titles that just aren’t summery at all?
If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link with me! Tell me about your favorite books with summer vibes!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
Ooh, Dune is a good choice!
My TTT .
I think I need to re-read Dune, especially with the new movie (TV?) version coming out.
haha awesome twist in the theme! Sunshine! Love that!
Thanks! Sunshine is such a great book…
Oh I like your take on the topic!
My post!
Thanks! I needed to do something different, since I just posted about summer books about two weeks ago. 🙂
Those sound like some great books!
They really are! I like when I can feature books I’ve actually read. 🙂
Great list! I really want to cross Sunshine off my TBR.
Ooh, you should! It’s so good.
Very interesting. I’ve read Sandcastle Girls, Ocean at End of Lane and Summer of My German Soldier–none of which are traditional beach/poolside summer reads. Great job!
Ha, thanks! I actually read Sandcastle Girls on a summer vacation — and yes, it was a great book, but it was also a pretty sad choice for a vacation read. 🙂
Indeed!
This is good, Lisa. I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but it will be fun to come up with a couple!
I’d love to see what you come up with!
This is a great twist on the topic! I definitely expected The Ocean at the End of the Lane to be much lighter than it was based on the title.
My TTT
The cover makes it look a little eerier, but definitely the title could trick someone into expecting a very different sort of story. 🙂
Ooh I’m a big fan of the Dresden Files, and especially Jim Butcher, and DUNE is on my 2020 tbr – hope I’ll get to it soon.
That reminds me that I need to get on the waiting list at the library for the new Dresden book!
You do, the waitlist will be long 😂
Haha it never occurred to me that Firefly was a summery title (we don’t have fireflies here) What a fun list!
I actually really miss summer fireflies, since we don’t have them where I live — but where I grew up, chasing fireflies was such a special summer experience as a child. 🙂