Beach bonanza!

Summer reading selections from TLS contributors highlight a diverse range of fiction and non-fiction, reflecting both personal interests and broader literary trends. Discussions center on the challenges of balancing holiday leisure with intellectually demanding texts, such as the time-slip novels of Solvay Ballet or the historical depth of Dorian Negrifa’s *Said the Dead*. The conversation also touches on the intersection of personal history and botany, exemplified by poet Hannah Lowe’s "Jamaican Forget-Me-Not," a piece from her sequence of plant sonnets that explores medicinal folklore and colonial legacies in the Caribbean. These literary explorations emphasize how reading habits shift during the summer, with contributors seeking both escapism and profound engagement with the world. The episode bridges the gap between memoir and poetry, illustrating how literature serves as a vessel for both personal discovery and historical inquiry.