15 books to read on vacation: perfect summer reads for 2026

A young Belgian woman begins working at an imposing Japanese corporation and soon discovers that order, obedience and cultural rigidity can become a maze as absurd as it is oppressive. Amid humiliating tasks, impenetrable bosses and protocols bordering on the surreal, Nothomb transforms her own work experience into a sharp, ironic and fascinating autobiographical narrative. With a direct style and biting humor, she exposes culture clash, the fragility of identity and inner resistance to systems that seek to erase individuality. A brief yet powerful read that leaves you laughing, uneasy and reflective.

Fun fact: Nothomb is one of the most prolific French-language authors, publishing one book a year since 1992.

Christopher, a teenager with a singular, mathematical way of interpreting the world, decides to investigate the mysterious death of a neighbor’s dog. What begins as a simple detective case turns into an emotional and revealing journey, where logic collides with human confusion and courage emerges in unexpected moments. With an unforgettable narrative voice, Haddon crafts a tender, intelligent and deeply human novel about fear, trust and empathy.

Fun fact: Haddon was an illustrator and screenwriter before becoming a novelist; this book sparked a key debate about neurodivergent representation in literature.

A warm, endearing and delicious novel that rescues the story of an Italo-Argentine family who created the iconic sorrentinos. With gentle humor and an intimate narrative pulse, Higa blends recipes, small family disputes, affectionate memories and well-kept secrets, composing a portrait of tradition and culinary heritage. A comforting read that smells like a Sunday kitchen and celebrates stories passed down through generations.

Fun fact: The Sorrentinos is based on the true story of the Vespoli family, who still run their restaurant in Mar del Plata.

In this brief and exquisite novel, a French merchant undertakes repeated journeys to Japan in search of silkworm eggs, only to discover a strange and delicate world that dazzles him. Amid dreamlike landscapes, meaningful silences and an impossible yet magnetic love, Baricco writes a book you can read in a few hours but remember for years. His poetic, almost musical prose envelops the reader in an atmosphere of suspended beauty.

Fun fact: Baricco founded the Scuola Holden, a prestigious writing school in Turin.

A crime committed on a train stranded by snow, a group of passengers with reasons to lie, and the famous Hercule Poirot facing one of the cleverest puzzles of his career. Christie delivers one of the genre’s most perfectly constructed mysteries, full of clues, twists and a resolution as surprising as it is elegant. An absolute classic that proves why she remains the undisputed queen of mystery.

Fun fact: Agatha Christie is the best-selling mystery writer in history, with an estimated 2 billion copies sold.

Slightly longer than the others, but well worth it —so if you’re carrying a backpack or large bag, don’t leave this monumental novel behind. With historical precision and narrative power, Padura reconstructs the intertwined lives of Leon Trotsky, his assassin Ramón Mercader, and a Cuban writer who stumbles almost by chance upon the hidden traces of this twentieth-century political tragedy. Blending rigorous research, suspense and deep reflection on power, betrayal and the human cost of grand ideologies, the novel moves between Moscow, Mexico, Barcelona and Havana, unfolding a world of espionage and secrets while showing how political decisions shape —and devastate— private lives.

Fun fact: Padura won the Princess of Asturias Award and is one of the most widely read Latin American authors in the world.

Capote reconstructs the brutal murder of a Kansas family and the subsequent investigation with a meticulousness that forever transformed narrative journalism. The blend of real data, interviews and literary techniques creates an absorbing, unsettling and deeply human story. The book works as a chronicle, a psychological thriller and a profound study of crime and its consequences —ideal for readers seeking intensity, even under the sun.

Fun fact: Capote spent six years researching the book alongside his friend Harper Lee.

A deeply moving novel that weaves together voices and timelines to explore the bonds that define us, the losses that shape us, and the stories that continue to live on even after their authors are gone. With delicate prose and a structure that unfolds like an emotional puzzle, Krauss creates a narrative where humor and melancholy coexist naturally. Luminous, intimate and poetic, it becomes a tribute to the stories that save us and the ties that transcend generations.

Fun fact: Krauss was a finalist for the National Book Award and has been translated into more than 30 languages.

After a violent outburst that changes his life forever, José María, a construction worker, hides in the attic of a mansion inhabited by an affluent family completely unaware of his presence. From this almost spectral refuge, he becomes a silent observer of a life that isn’t his, while the confinement —both physical and emotional— alters his perception of the world and himself. With dry, precise prose, Bizzio builds a disturbing psychological thriller in which tension grows page by page and the line between reality, paranoia and desire grows ever thinner.

Fun fact: Bizzio’s short story “Cinismo” was adapted into the film XXY, which won awards at Cannes.

Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the most singular and unforgettable characters in modern literature: excessive, brilliant and pathetically charming, wandering through New Orleans wrapped in his robes, medieval theories and hilarious contempt for the contemporary world. As he encounters a gallery of eccentric characters —street vendors, failed activists, seedy bar owners, bewildered police officers— the novel unleashes an unstoppable chain of absurd situations, brilliantly constructed. Toole crafts a ferocious satire of American society, bureaucracy, morality and everyday nonsense, with humor that is both sharp and tender.

Fun fact: Toole won the Pulitzer Prize posthumously; his mother succeeded in having the novel published years after his death.

Four generations of the same family recount, through different voices and eras, a story marked by the search for identity, inherited secrets and emotional scars that stretch across time. Huston proposes a fascinating structure that moves backward, unraveling traumas, decisions and silences that shape each character. With sensitivity and intimate, profound writing, the novel explores how family memory —real or invented— leaves indelible marks on those who inherit it.

Fun fact: Huston is a Canadian-French, multilingual writer and a key voice in literary feminism.

Mairal constructs a fast-paced, ironic and deeply human story about a writer who crosses over to Montevideo with a simple plan —to withdraw money— and ends up living one of the most revealing days of his life. Between desire, personal crisis and everyday miseries, the novel captures contemporary masculinity, self-deception and the melancholy of time passing with surgical precision. Agile, funny and sharp, it can be read in one sitting and lingers long after.

Fun fact: The novel was adapted into a film directed by Ana García Blaya.

In a dystopian future where books are banned and firefighters burn them, Bradbury imagines a society numbed by screens and superficial consumption. Through the moral awakening of its protagonist, Montag, the novel reflects on intellectual freedom, censorship and the fragility of critical thought. An essential classic that remains unsettlingly relevant, filled with powerful imagery and somber beauty.

Fun fact: Bradbury wrote much of the book in a library, paying ten cents per hour for a typewriter.

In this brief and dazzling novel, Duras revisits a formative episode of her youth in colonial Indochina: a clandestine, unequal romance that would forever shape her emotional life and literary work. With enveloping, sensual prose and a hypnotic atmosphere, she explores desire, memory and complex power dynamics. An essential twentieth-century work that says everything in a few pages and leaves a lasting mark.

Fun fact: Duras was a key figure of the French nouveau roman and one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century.

In this short story collection, Enriquez unfolds a disturbing universe where the everyday blends with the sinister and the social with the supernatural. Her stories —set in familiar neighborhoods, houses and streets— pulse with contained violence, social critique and a magnetic darkness that grips from the first line. With a distinctive, unmistakable style, she cements her place as one of the most powerful voices in Latin American horror.

Fun fact: Enriquez won the Herralde Prize and the Critics’ Prize for Our Share of Night.