Top Summer Books for Poolside Reading, Take 2

Summer is officially here, pool owners will be enjoying warm weather, sunshine and poolside relaxation for another couple months. We love our reading so much that we couldn’t stop at one list only! By now, you may have gotten through the first list, or are looking for some different books to read. Reading by the pool can be a great way to relax, unwind and work on your tan. We’ve put together a second list of some of the top book picks for summer.

Books about water, swimming or set at a pool or beach…

1. Swim – Why We Love the Water by Lynn Sherr

This book takes a historical perspective on how swimming has changed over the millennia. One passage about Trudie Elder, the first woman to swim the Channel, stands out: “‘To me the sea is like a person – like a child that I’ve known a long time,’ she said 30 years after her Channel swim. ‘It sounds crazy, I know, but when I swim in the sea I talk to it. I never feel alone when I’m out there.’”

2. Swell

Perfect for the beach or pool, Jill Eisenstadt’s book is set in the seaside New York City neighbourhood in Swell, which follows a Manhattan family as they relocate to Rockaway, uncover family secrets, and make a case for the idea that beach living might not always be everything it’s cracked up to.

3. How to Read Water: Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea

You’re poolside sitting by water, so why not read about it? This book will tell you how to use water to find north, how to decipher wave patterns, and many other water-related skills.

4. The Light Between Oceans

Set on an isolated island off the coast of Australia in the 1920s, The Light Between Oceans tells the story of a young married couple who adopt a baby they find in a boat – a decision that will come to haunt them for the rest of their lives. The book is now a major motion picture.

5. Man vs Ocean by Adam Walker

This nonfiction book chronicles one man’s quest to complete the Ocean’s Seven, in which a swimmer must cross: the Channel, the Cook Strait, the north Channel (from Ireland to Scotland), the Strait of Gibraltar, the Molokai Strait, the Catalina Channel and the Tsugaru Strait. Only a handful of people have completed all seven swims. It’s a retelling of an adventure that’s difficult to put into words precisely because so few people have done it.

6. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

While Laurel’s life seems neatly on track–everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne’s backyard pool. Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about the girl who stopped swimming.

7. Swimming

Narrated by a precocious young woman born to be an Olympic swimmer, this book has loads of dramatic tension, a fresh narrative voice and subject matter just aching to be explored.

When reading at the pool, don’t forget to pack your pool tote! Along with one of our book picks and Leisure Pools Spotify playlist, we recommend packing:
  • Sunscreen
  • Water
  • Towel (along with laying on a towel, a rolled-up towel serves as a nice head rest!)
  • Sunglasses and/or hat
  • Poolside snacks
  • Flip flops or sandals
  • Pool float (if you tire of a lounge chair, a pool float is great to relax in for summer reading!)

You can on your way to enjoying poolside reading with your own swimming pool. Contact Leisure Pools today 1300 SPLASH and Get Swimming in Quality and Style.

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