By Zsófia Benyi

Viviene Gornick said: revisiting beloved, metamorphic writing feels like “lying on the analyst’s couch.” The perfect way to encapsulate this summer is by the devouring book after book like its fresh fruit, connecting big-league writing to this time in your life. Whether you are desperate to escape your reading slump (perhaps feeling guilty for not picking up a book in a while) or if you are the swiftest bookworm does not matter: here are the 23 best reads for the summer solstice recommended by Masterly writers and journalists in over five different genres and categories.

James Clear, writer of Atomic Habits sold over 9 million times, claims the best books in the self-help category to be: The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It by Kamal Ravikant, and Superhuman by Habit by Tynan. Any book by Lorrie Moore will be a winner (Vogue editors agree), and the final pick in our self-help category is precisely Self-Help! Moving from some self-love to crushing, connecting love, here are the best books for relationships and passion in all its shapes and sizes: Unattached: Empowering Essays on Singlehood by Angelica Malin, Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn, Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hedrix, and All About Love by Bell Hooks. Emily Ratajkowski, the author of My Body, claims that Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino, Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett, and The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century by Amia Srinivasan truly transformed her life. Finally, before swaying away from the topics of self-help, love, beauty, and feminism, the must-read recommended by Vogue editor Emma Specter about body love is Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by Adrienne Maree Brown.

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So, maybe you want to create magic this summer: these two best artist biographies guaranteed will sweep you up in the flow, like Just Kids by Patti Smith and Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. Or, if you specifically desire to level up your writing, look no further than these best books on the topic selected by New York Times Bestsellers: The New New Journalism by Robert Boynton and Bird by Bird, written by Anne Lamott. If it is a productive girl summer: The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Getting Things Done by David Allen will fire you up like no other. Finally, calling all fashion lovers, you can count on these faithful fashion book buddies to give you all the tips you need: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight for the sneaker-lover, D.V by Diana Vreeland and The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Tally for a fashion journalism inamorato, and The One 100 by Nina Garcia for those craving a style cicerone.

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