Summer Reads, as Recommended by Fictional Characters

To help you pick your hot-weather reading wisely, we asked a few literary insiders what they recommend for beach bags and road trips this summer. And how much more insider can you get than between the covers of a book (or screenplay)? Here’s what classic fictional characters think you should be reading from now till Labor Day:
Addison DeWitt (All About Eve) recommends Crazy Rich Asians. The book that’s turning into one of the summer’s hottest tickets is also the poolside pick of the cutting DeWitt. He’s taking a break from the social foibles and dark secrets of New York’s demimonde with this deliciously mean look at the upper-upper crust of Singapore.
Captain Ahab (Moby Dick) recommends Unbroken. Open seas, monsters of the deep, an enemy just out of reach, an existence on the very edge of insanity: this book has it all! (Also a highly recommended Father’s Day pick.)
Anne Elliott (Persuasion) recommends Sisterland. Anne understands better than most what it feels like to look at a sister and see a stranger. Sittenfeld’s story explores the bent but ultimately unbreakable connection between twin psychics who have radically different perspectives on their abilities.
Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird) recommends Eleanor & Park. Scout relates to this story of two teen misfits whose divergent weirdness make them a perfect fit in the unforgivingly conventional world of 1980s Omaha.
Min Green (Why We Broke Up) recommends Night Film. Inveterate movie buff Min is anxiously awaiting the August release of Marisha Pessl’s second novel, which tracks a disgraced journalist’s search for Stanislas Cordova, a reclusive film director who made a handful of shocking, virtuosic horror films, then disappeared from view.
Jo March (Little Women) recommends The Flamethrowers. Though Jo ultimately found success writing within the corseted boundaries of her own experience, she honors any female writer who makes her protagonist an ardently independent, speed-obsessed (that’s land speed) artist who appreciates the opposite sex but doesn’t need them.
Bella Swan (Twilight) recommends Wuthering Heights. Why is this doomed gothic romance the summertime choice of YA lit’s clumsiest heroine? We asked her: “When I think ‘summer,’ I think pale skin, gray skies, and unending moors,” she says. “It just makes you want to kick back with a nice glass of lukewarm water, you know?” Thanks, Bella.
What’s your recommended beach read this summer?