8 Iconic Books Every Guy Should Read This Summer

The LIVE A LITTLE Summer Reading List: featuring titles on self growth, biography, business, and more. Zero affiliate links, thanks to your support.

LIVE A LITTLE is a style and lifestyle journal for the adventurous man—written from the pen of a former magazine editor turned menswear copywriter.

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AT THE END of last year, I wrote a story on the best books I read in all of 2024. I had a lot of fun with that story, and based on the messages I received I could tell you all got some enjoyment out of it too.

The greatest tip I’ve ever learned about reading is that you don’t have to finish a book all in one go. You can chapter hop. Book hop. That’s because reading to me is about following curiosity.

So if you lose interest in one title, and you catch interest in another, make the switch. Come back to the first book at a later time. You can have a goal to finish it, sure. But don’t chain yourself to a book like it’s an AP Lit assignment.

How I Make Time to Read

These days, my best reading time is before bed. I set my phone out in the kitchen and turn the alarm up loud so I hear it in the morning. Then, I get into bed and open a book or my Kindle. About 30 minutes into reading, my eyes get heavy, and I start falling into slumber. It’s my best reading—and sleep—hack.

A recent photo of me diving into The Pocket Guide to Action on a flight to Florida. Another great book to consider!

In the mornings when I make my coffee I occasionally read. At the airport and on the plane is a solid opportunity to open a book. The pool, beach, Barton Springs—always a title in my tote bag. Then, there’s coffee shops and the public library. Most of the time I’m visiting those spots on the weekends.

The LIVE A LITTLE Summer Reading List

Like I mentioned in my Best Books of 2024, LIVE A LITTLE requires embracing curiosity as a way of life—and few things feed that hunger better than a good book.

My reading list ahead is primed for the summer, but really it’s evergreen. So I encourage you guys to bookmark this post and keep coming back to it for inspiration.

Now, let’s get to it.

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Best Business Book: Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chounard

I came across Yvon Chounard’s half biography/half business book at a local spot called First Light here in Austin. For those who enjoy third spaces, First Light is a true third space. The store and interior coffee shop stays open until 9pm, and there’s plenty of seating inside and out.

Anyways, the bright colors of this book caught my eye as I was scanning the self-help section. My cousin, who I was there with at the time, had a copy Ametora by David Marx to read on his trip, (another great book!) so I figured I needed a new book too. I picked up Let My People Go Surfing and ended up powering through it all weekend long.

This book might be one of my top 5 books of all-time. Chounard is, and has always been, counter-cultural. Yet he’s spun his grit, passions, and core beliefs into one of the most successful and environmentally responsible companies the world has ever seen. I find myself coming back to this book several times already this summer. Each time, flipping to an individual section on chapters “Production Philosophy” or “Marketing”—and more specifically “Copywriting” and “Advertisement.”

Patagonia is 1/1. There’s no business like it. I use this book to gather inspiration and practical knowledge for how to blaze my own path. (272 Pages)

Best Biography: Edison by Edmund Morris

I’m a big biography guy. Last year, I read biographies on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Pete Rose, and Teddy Roosevelt. All left me with a profound impact, but the author of the TR biography, Edmund Morris, had me wanting to look up more books written by him.

That’s how I stumbled upon this biography of Thomas Edison. Morris wrote the chapters in reverse order of Edison’s life, so you start in a Benjamin Button type scenario where you begin with Edison old in age at his home in Fort Myers, Florida, and then work to his youth.

There’s a saying that gets thrown around that there are true geniuses our world gets every 50-100 years. I now know Edison is one of those for sure. The sheer number of inventions he created, and his determination for learning and testing, is just insane to think about. Edison was built different, and he was always willing to take risks. (800 pages)

Best Fiction Read: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

Fiction books are a healthy escape from the mind. Relaxing. Time flies fast when you’re latched on to a good one. The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu is a science fiction book with many short stories inside. It was given to me as part of joining the book club at my work. We read a few selections then discuss every couple of weeks.

I’ve jumped ahead a bit on these stories because I find them so interesting. Science fiction is one of the most imaginative things an author can create. Liu develops heart-tugging stories with unique characters and plots. The best part is they’re short, so you can read 1-2 in a setting before bed.

If you have trouble finding good fiction, or are curious about diving into science fiction, I recommend you pick up this book. I’m glad it found its way to me this summer. (464 pages)

Best Tell-All Memoir: When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter

We’re starting to hit a trend now where New York media is reliving its “golden years,” of the 1990s and early 2000s. I believe former longtime EIC of Vanity Fair, Graydon Carter, ignited that conversation with his memoir this spring, When the Going Was Good.

Coming off over two-and-a-half years of being a NYC-based journalist in the magazine industry, I found Carter’s memoir quite personal. Growing up, I had this vision of what being a journalist in New York would be like. I worked hard, climbed to the top, and got to the Big Apple. Once I got there, I quickly found out the life I was fascinated with in my youth was not like it used to be. (But hey, don’t get me wrong, it’s still pretty fun to be a writer in The City these days.) Basically, you had all the resources in the world back then. Today, not so much.

This memoir pulls back the curtain on a time where every great writer was recruited and compensated to come to the best publications. There’s tales of Carter rising to the top, celebrity encounters, and endless amounts of cash flying around. My favorite note from Carter is how every writer was encouraged to go out in the city and find ways to expense breakfast and lunch daily, because that meant they were mingling with other people and staying well connected. If I ever manage a team of writers, they can expense food for as many business breakfasts and lunches as they want! (432 pages)

Best Beach Read: Barbarian Days by William Finnegan

There he goes again with another memoir…. But I’m not recommending Barbarian Days just for that category. This is the best beach read. William Finnegan is not an accomplished journalist and author. He’s lived in New York City for years now, but in his early life he was a nomad surfer. Traveling from conteninet to continent and soaking up all of what the world had to offer.

I find this book inspiring in the sense of how travel changes us, and how we can make a life we wish to create. (If we seek it and work hard enough.) Basically, this is a true LIVE A LITTLE book. It’s not that long either. All the imagery of surfing and sage wisdom from this book is the perfect read when you’re beside a body of water. (466 pages)

Best Self-Help Book: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

While I did start journaling as early as 17-years-old, Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way is what gave me an organized method for journaling in my early 20s. It’s a workbook that unlocks creativity and inner thinking through a practice called “morning pages.”

The idea is simple: write three full pages of journaling in the morning (or anytime of day really). You can follow the prompts given to you in the workbook, or you can do train-of-thought writing—where you write down what you are thinking right there in that very moment and don’t hold back.

I do morning pages weekly. Not always as often as I’d like to, but enough to build a body of work that consists of three of these ruled notebooks that span over five years of thought. The journaling is therapeutic to me, and it’s helped me figured out situations in career, relationships, and life overall. Start journaling now if you haven’t yet. Use this book as the vehicle. (560 pages)

Best Non-Fiction Read: Kilo: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels by Toby Muse

Toby Muse has been a foreign correspondent for years. He started his career in South America, then found himself in Columbia working for Bloomberg News and covering finance. While in Colombia, he eventually broke into crime reporting, which led him to covering the cocaine trade in Colombia—you know, the heart of the global cocaine trade.

His book Kilo covers years of reporting on the cocaine trade. There’s stories of him traveling deep into the small farm towns in rural Colombia to talk to locals, embedding with Colombia special units to raid coca fields, and covering the journey of cocaine leaving the country and moving across oceans to get it to the United States.

This book is filled badass reporting. The audiobook version is solid too. (320 pages)

Best Go-Anywhere Book: Education of a Wandering Man by Louie L’Amour

If you’ve been a subscriber to LIVE A LITTLE for a while now, you know how much I love to talk about Louie L’Amour and his memoir Education of a Wandering Man. I discovered this book in fall in 2024 while visiting Ryan Holiday’s bookstore, The Painted Porch, in Bastrop, Texas.

It’s become my favorite go-anywhere book in 2025, and I’ve found myself taking it on trips and to random spots around town when I want something easy to read. What’s great is the book is pocket-sized, so the fact I can stuff it in my back pocket is a huge plus. Here’s what I wrote last fall about the book that still rings true today:

“L’Amour’s memoir shows what can happen if you commit yourself to becoming a lifelong learner. L’Amour never went to college. He grew up during the Great Depression, spending much of his young adult years traveling the U.S. and the world looking for work, collecting experiences, and reading.

He was a voracious reader, and he documented a lot of what he read and could recall much of what each book was about. The fascinating thing about L’Amour’s memoir is that it was published posthumously—about a year after he passed away in the late 1980s.”

Staying curious. Collecting experiences. That’s the LIVE A LITTLE way right there. (272 pages)

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The LIVE A LITTLE Summer Reading List Rundown

• Best Business Book: Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chounard

• Best Biography: Edison by Edmund Morris

• Best Fiction Read: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

• Best Tell-All Memoir: When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter

• Best Beach Read: Barbarian Days by William Finnegan

• Best Self-Help Book: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

• Best Non-Fiction Read: Kilo: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels by Toby Muse

• Best Go-Anywhere Book: Education of a Wandering Man by Louie L’Amour

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READ MORE FROM THE ARCHIVES

Are you caught up on my latest posts? Here’s what you might’ve missed.

• I just wrote a recap about my July 4th trip to Jacksonville, Florida. There’s a dive bar in Neptune Beach with $3 PBRs that you need to know about.

• Last month, I published a style breakdown on the 15 best shirts for summer under $100.

• Paid subscribers have access to two recent style breakdowns: 105 Men’s Style Summer Style Essentials and 23 Men's Watches That Will Never Go Out of Style.

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