Is summer the perfect season for reading?
Every year around June, British and American magazines all feature "Summer Readings." These are book guides of books to read in the summer. There's even a term called "beach reading." This term is used to refer to books that are perfect for reading while lying on the sand or by the pool on vacation, and the books chosen are often light and enjoyable.
Authors who often make the list of beach reads are Taylor Jenkins Reid and Emily Henry: the former is known for her entertainment novels set in the glamorous world of the entertainment industry, while the latter is known for her humorous romance novels, both of which incorporate a modern feminist perspective.
But when did summer begin to be touted as the best season for reading? According to Donna Harrington Luecker, a researcher of 19th-century magazine culture, during this era of urbanization and industrialization, people began to take summer vacations away from town. Vacations, which had previously been reserved for the upper class, began to become popular among the middle class as well, and magazines began to feature summer leisure activities.
A common image used was a picture of a young woman reading while relaxing in a hammock, making reading a symbolic holiday activity, along with swimming and sightseeing.
The vacation-inspired phrase "beach reading" seems to have come into use in the 1990s, but its origins are unknown. It may be related to the chick lit (women's novels) boom at the time, such as "Bridget Jones's Diary."
