The summer is here (sort of, kind of, depends on the day), and on those certain days where we aren't out and about or enjoying the weather on a beach, nothing can be more relaxing than lounging outside with a cold drink, with a little bit of reading. So to celebrate to cool, beautiful nights, here are, in no specific order, five random book recommendations for the summer!

Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing Of The Dog) – Jerome K. Jerome

     While talking one evening, three friends come to the conclusion that they are all suffering from 'overwork', and are entitled to a holiday trip. They decide that they, along with one of the friend's fox terrier dog Montmorency, will take a boating trip up the River Thames, stopping to take in the sights.

     Jerome K. Jerome began Three Men In A Boat as a serious travelogue, including local history of the area, before it morphed into a comedy novel. And as odd a transition as that may seem, it is one hell of a comedy novel.
     Published in 1889, the wit and humour is as funny and fresh today as it was when originally released. Comedy is usually the hardest to deal with, as it tends to age quicker than other subjects, but what makes Three Men In A Boat still stand is the fact that it is very much rooted in day-to-day, realistic experiences. This is a story of three men (based on Jerome and his friends) who have nothing but the most frustrating, and as a result hilarious, luck in the world. It is set-piece after set-piece of moments that we could see happening, or may even have been in, in one way or another, and the absolute confounded reactions from all those involved are wondrous.
     There are a number of these set-pieces that had me on the verge of tears from laughter. Whether it's the moment in the hedge maze, attempts at opening a can of food, train rides that don't go as easy as they should, the book is made up of a series of events that will continue to hold up even decades from now.

The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle

     A unicorn learns that she may be the last of her kind, and leaves the safe haven of her forest in an attempt to find out what may have happened to the others.

     A wonderful, classic fantasy novel that's fantastic for all ages young and old, The Last Unicorn is a book that I feel is, unfortunately, not as widely known to many younger individuals. With many colourful and interesting characters and creatures, and a sweet and hopeful story, the book is, for lack of a better word, enchanting. It takes its time, not as action packed as what one may expect from 'fantasy', but it is an incredibly satisfying read. It is one of those more modern novels that can be rightly described as a proper fairy tale, beautiful in its entirety.

If On A Winter's Night A Traveller – Italo Calvino

     You go out for the day, and run into a newly released book you are excited to purchase. You take it back home, make some tea, and sit in your favourite place to crack open If On A Winter's Night A Traveller. You begin to read…

     If On A Winter's Night A Traveller has one of my favourite uses of narrative. The beginning of the novel, and every odd-numbered chapter, describes the reader in second-person (so, you), as you read through the novel If On A Winter's Night A Traveller. From the benefits and art of reading, to you getting comfortable, it starts off in a very fun and unique way.
     Every even numbered chapter is the first chapter of a new/separate novel, each varying in genre, style, and such while also pushing the narrative on its way, before all coming together beautifully.
     It makes for one of the most intriguing reads ever, and one that is harder to describe the joy of than it is experiencing. An experiment such as this could have gone wrong, or even not had the impact it could have, but Calvino writes it so masterfully that it seems easy. To say too much more would be to ruin the mystique of the initial time you read it, and robbing you of that experience would be a crime.

We Have Always Lived In The Castle – Shirley Jackson

     Narrated by Mary Katherine Blackwood, who lives in a giant home with her family, consisting of her older sister Constance (who hasn't left the house in 6 years) and her sick uncle. They live isolated from a village, with Mary going in about once a week for groceries, and the villagers just so happen to not be the biggest fans of the family, but why?

     I have recommended We Have Always Lived In The Castle in the past (along with Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House), and I am going to take this time to praise it again.
     A lot of people are quite possibly most familiar with Shirley Jackson and her short story The Lottery, which is a go-to short story for a lot of English classes in high school (rightfully so, as it is incredible, and if you haven't read it, do so!), and they may be familiar with the aforementioned Haunting of Hill House, which essentially laid the brickwork for countless haunted house novels since. But I wish more people I knew were familiar with We Have Always Lived In The Castle, as it is a book that lends itself to much deserved discussion, especially in regards to the ending and how one may feel about it personally.
     What the novel does so well is its presentation of the characters and the situation they are in, before it goes on to raise questions in the reader themselves. We wonder why the villagers think of them what they do, and, with every page we get deeper into it, the story makes us wonder how much we may actually know, or how much of it is actually the way it is. Because of this, the experience makes you feel as though you are one of the villagers, knowing enough but still feeling as though you are slightly on the outside, though we have the benefit of having a first-hand view into what is currently happening in the room. The novel is short and a quick read, since it sucks you into wanting to piece things together and figure out what may be going on, or went on. The first time I read it, I did so in a single day, and the feelings and experience has stayed with me to this day.

The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov

     In 1930s Moscow, the Devil arrives with a handful of associates (including, since this is the internet and I should mention, Behemoth; the gun and vodka loving, sarcastic and jokey, walking-on-two-legs, oversized black cat) to cause some mischief, to say the least. Meanwhile, bouncing back and forth with the aforementioned plot, is The Master, author of an unpublished novel about Pontius Pilate and Jesus, locked away in a psychiatric hospital as Margarita, his love, works to save him.

     Regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and one of the greatest Russian novels ever, The Master and Margarita was written as a satire of Soviet Union between 1928 up until the Mikhail Bulgakov's death in 1940, though it did not see publication until 1966 in a censored version before the full, uncut text was released a few years later. A wonderfully imaginative novel that still stands as one of the greatest social and political satires, the first draft was actually burned by Bulgakov in 1930, as he didn't believe a future as a writer was not possible to him in the Soviet Union. We are lucky in many ways that he decided to tackle the novel once again afterwards, as we not only received the work, but it led to one of the most memorable lines to come from the novel as well.
     The novel has turned a few people off based on they back and forth bouncing of its tones, or the fact that the book consists of going from quite a few strange things to the next, but if you are able to get through it, whether you personally love the book or not, it's the kind that would make you understand why it's regarded the way it is. There are many characters, with many (surreal) things going on, and though it may not be, understandably, for everyone, it is an experience worth having.