Summer Reading 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, it's John. Hi, it's Andy.
And it's Nicky.
Hello, everybody. Hello, everybody. Welcome to our backlisted summer reading special. What's going to happen? What's going to happen, Nicky?
Well, we've each brought two books to the table, which we think you might enjoy this summer. And we're going to talk about how excited we are about them. This is a show that is always very popular with our audience every year, which is why we've decided to come back and interrupt our hiatus, our backlisted sabbatical to come and just do another one.
What are hiati for if they're not for interruption? So here we are.
Also, this explains why this is a slightly different format for Summer Reading than in previous years. In the old days, we used to do summer reading at the end of summer as a kind of update on what we had read. But this is in time for summer and is based on the fact that we've actually got a bit more time this year, well, some of us have, to read what we like. So buckle up.
It's going to be a bumpy ride. It is, at least it feels like an endless summer, doesn't it? It already feels like we're into the third heat wave of the summer.
I know, I know.
Which six books are the Backlisted team recommending for Summer Reading 2026?
No more talk about heat waves, please. I hear it brings on more.
I'm just going to quickly plug what's been happening on the Patreon we had a chat this week in our Booker Prize book club about we had a really interesting discussion with lots of Patreons present about Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie next month we will be going back to 1975 and the prize winning book Heat and Dust by Ruth Parabo-Jabvala if you'd like to join us for that It's happening on the 10th of August. So get across to www.patreon.com forward slash backlisted where you can sign up to join us for that. We've also got an episode coming up of Backlisted Readers where our lovely patrons join us and bring a book with them. And the next episode is on Truman Capote and Other Voices, Other Rooms.
Amazing. And I owe a great debt to our friend Val. for bringing us into Capote world and me into the TV series Capote versus the Swans, which we don't have time to talk about today. But nevertheless, that's been a good part of the summer already.
I also owe a debt to Val. She had chosen Other Rooms, Other Voices, but I thought she'd chosen In Cold Blood. So I ended up reading two Truman Capote books to prepare for that show, which I'm very pleased about because they're both greats.
What joy. Hashtag never enough Capote.
Never enough Capote. Right, Andy, what books are we going to talk about today?
OK, I'm enjoying this. If we sound a bit jolly and on point, it's because our producer, Nicky Birch, is quite rightly enforcing timing rule today crack on so if you listen over the next hour but no more you will hear us talking about the following books The Matchbox Girl by Alice Jolly Boulder by Ava Balthazar The Guilt Kid by James Curtis As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee Flashlight by Susan Joy.
You sound like you're reading the top ten there. I know.
And in at number six. And once again at number one. we will land near the end of the show on The Palm House, which is the new novel by Gwendolyn Riley. We've all read. We have all read. Right, stick around, everybody, for the next 55 minutes and counting. Please, let's go first. John, what have you been reading this year so far?
Okay, I'm very pleased to talk about... On this summer reading special, a relatively new book published earlier this year, The Matchbox Girl by Alice Jolly, published by Bloomsbury. And I think I'm delighted to say that it has just been awarded the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, which I'm thrilled about. I'm thrilled for two reasons. One, because I think it's a brilliant book. And two, because for a long time, I published Alice Jolly. And I think she is one of, she's obviously been a guest on the show. I think she's one of the most interesting writers out there. What was her last novel called? Her last novel was called Marianne Sate Imbecile. That was a wonderful, wonderful book. And it was runner up for the Folio, Rathbone Folio Prize.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:06–1:25
2
Which six books are the Backlisted team recommending for Summer Reading 2026?
1:25–15:49
3
What makes The Matchbox Girl by Alice Jolly a notable historical novel?
15:49–54:59
4
Why is Boulder by Eva Baltasar a recommended short novella for travel or transit reading?
54:59–59:46