Every summer, book recommendations begin appearing across the internet. NPR, Oprah Daily, the New York Times Book Review, Forbes, and BookTok influencers share lists of novels meant to be read during vacations, at the beach, or while relaxing in the summer.
But the tradition is much older than social media. What is now known as the “beach read” has roots going back more than 150 years, when the growing popularity of summer travel gave publishers an opportunity to boost an otherwise slow publishing season.
In the 1860s and 1870s, increasing numbers of middle-class Americans traveled to destinations such as Newport, Bar Harbor, and Cape May for summer leisure.
At the time, light reading was not always considered harmless entertainment. Some religious leaders and cultural critics associated novel reading with physical and moral decline.
When summer novels were called “literary poison”
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, a prominent Brooklyn preacher, was among those who strongly opposed popular light fiction.
In the summer of 1876, Talmage warned his congregation against bringing cheap paperbacks on vacation, as per a report. He described light novels as “literary poison” and argued that more “pestiferous trash” was read during July and August than during the other months of the year, as per a Smithsonian Magazine report.
His criticism reflected wider concerns among 19th-century religious and cultural figures about the effects of popular fiction.
Publishers gave summer reading a new image
Publishers responded to the criticism surrounding light fiction. Magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s and the Century helped turn light summer reading into a more genteel part of middle-class leisure.
Paperback novels were promoted as convenient reading for resort stays and long Pullman car journeys. Their light format made them easy to carry, while their straightforward plots allowed readers to pick them up and put them down as other summer activities called.
Many novels also featured resort settings that introduced readers to destinations, activities and fashions associated with summer leisure.
Summer fiction opened doors for women writers
The growing market gave fledgling authors, particularly women, an opportunity to enter the literary marketplace.
Laura Jean Libbey, a popular author of working-girl fiction, used summer settings including Newport, Lenox, and Long Branch in three of her novels, as per the Smithsonian Magazine report.
Marion Harland, the pen name of Mary Virginia Terhune, approached publisher Charles Scribner with a plan for With the Best Intentions, an 1890 summer novel set on Mackinac Island.
Stephen Crane also turned to a summer setting in The Third Violet, published in 1897 after the international success of The Red Badge of Courage.
The genre became increasingly associated with women readers. Magazine covers and publishers’ advertisements featured women relaxing with books, including images of women beneath trees or at the beach.
One Summer became an early summer-reading success
Blanche Willis Howard’s One Summer, published in 1875, exemplified the popular summer novel of the period.
Set in a community on the Maine coast, the story follows a spirited young woman who initially rejects the attention of a young man after an awkward encounter. The two meet again in Bar Harbor, where she eventually admits her love for him and they become engaged.
Unlike many summer novels that were popular for only a few months, One Summer continued to appear in successive printings and illustrated gift editions into the following century.
In 1876, Publishers Weekly asked booksellers to identify their most saleable novels. One Summer ranked below Dinah Mulock Craik’s John Halifax and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre but ahead of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The phrase “beach read” came much later
The term “beach read” is far newer than the summer-reading tradition itself. According to the Los Angeles Public Library, the phrase first appeared in literary periodicals around 1990, as per the Smithsonian Magazine report. Its origin is unknown.
The reading habit, however, had already been developing for generations. Today, BookTok, BookTube, and Bookstagram have created online communities around seasonal recommendations. Hashtags including #SummerReading and #BeachReads help readers discover books, while romance, fantasy, romantasy, science fiction, and thrillers regularly appear on summer reading lists.
Substack newsletters and podcasts also contribute to what people choose to read during the season. TikTok offers an annual summer reading list to its nearly two billion active users.
From paperbacks to BookTok
The way Americans discover summer books has changed dramatically since Talmage criticized light novels in 1876. Publishers once relied on paperbacks, magazines, railway stations, and resort culture to make seasonal reading appealing. Today, social-media communities can shape those choices, with readers sharing recommendations through BookTok, BookTube, Bookstagram, newsletters and podcasts.
