ben's summer stuff 2026
a mini, sunny guide is here
Last year I recommended A Month in the Country and various other warm weather treats. All remain excellent and I refuse to retract them.
Rather than repeat myself, below are the new additions to the bag but the old one still works just fine.
We’ve got a few books, a few things to wear and a couple things to drink while you’re outside enjoying the sunshine.
📚 Books
🔑 The Safekeep
A sweltering, slow burn of a book that took home the Women’s Prize, Yael van der Wouden’s debut is a worthy summer read and our first public pick for The Boys’ Book Club. You’ll be thinking about this one for a while once you’ve finished.
❤️ Heart the Lover
If you like romance, here’s the smart version for the holiday.
Lily King’s love-triangle tale manages to be sweet, literary and moving without outstaying its welcome. It’s a little like a good wedding speech — in and out without belabouring the point, but giving the people what they want. Will they, won’t they. Smart dialogue. Characters worth rooting for (mostly).
It was also the most recent Boys’ Book Club read, so you’d be joining our ranks. (The tote is so exclusive it’s only on the arm of every man who’s been to one of our performative reads — but we’ll make it available for purchase.)
🍋 Fruit Fly
I think this is going to be the big book of the summer.
It’s got the psychological-thriller plot, the cool young author and an ostentatious cover you can’t miss. Luckily it’s not all hype — the writing lives up to the buzz, fizzing with energy, humour and menace throughout.
Pick this if you want people to ask you about it.
🧙♂️ A Wizard of Earthsea
Everyone’s reading fantasy, so why not read the stuff written before fantasy hit the algorithm?
I read Le Guin’s classic by the beach a couple of months back and, expecting a huge dragonquest like all the rest, was shocked by how sophisticated and personal a story it was. Ignore the bloated-yet-somehow-rushed romantasy releases and enjoy barely 200 pages of beautifully spare, timeless storytelling. The world feels lived in and every sentence has been properly polished.
This one’s lasted for a reason.
🏙️ London Falling
The big obvious nonfiction book to be reading, and it is a good one — Patrick Radden Keefe doing exactly what he does, a London teenager’s death cracking open the city’s seedy underworld.
What I’d actually do, though, is pick one of his earlier ones and pretend you’re a properly in-the-know kind of person. I’ve got his one about the Troubles, Say Nothing, somewhere.
🫒 A Year in Provence
The original chuck-it-all-in-and-move-to-France fantasy, where Peter Mayle buys a 200-year-old farmhouse in the Luberon and spends a year trying to go native. Warm, funny and you’ll find it hard to resist a quick google for French farmhouses after.
📖 One Big Book
Every summer needs one doorstop you finally commit to. I’m going for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which has sat by my bed for far too long. Summer feels like the time to finally disappear into it.
👕 Clothes
Woolrich shirt
This has become a compliment machine – every time I wear it people say (nice) things. (on sale here)
Light, airy, a little boxy and with a cool print, the material means I can dress it up or down and feel comfortable, even in the recent heatwave. Even if you can’t find this exact one, the principles – elevated fabric, camp collar, boxy cut – still hold.
Big floppy canvas sun hat
I look terrible in hats. But if I’m lounging, or out for ages, I want a floppy one to cover me a little — particularly while I read. This one from Ikea is both fine and cost £4.
Beater sunglasses
I’m all for expensive sunglasses, believe me, but getting some from Explicit Poets reminded me of my old Audi A6, tan old banger I bought for half my Blaydon RFC match fee. Having something you don’t care too much about is quite freeing, and given their inexpensiveness, I’ve been chucking these in my pocket to go all kinds of places and got a lot of wear out of them.
Nike C1TY
As billed, these are amazing city sneakers, and they come in a whole host of colours and materials to suit anyone’s wardrobe. I’ve got an off-white pair for general wear and a brown, hiking-looking version for slightly rougher stuff.
Other Stuff
AKT deodorant
I’m aware recommending deodorant is hardly exciting, and worse, I’ve done this one before. But I’ve really enjoyed my AKT London, now with a little roller that squeezes every last drop from the tube. I’ve got the orange and feel very pleased with myself after applying it every morning.
Chilled red wine
La Trompa — Succés Vinícola (Conca de Barberà)
Feeling a little fruity, I had a couple of glasses at a work lunch the other week and congratulated myself on the choice. The name comes from the Catalan for being a bit tipsy, but while perhaps that’s a little declassé, chilled red will make you seem in the know so you can pretend you’re extra sophisticated while you refresh yourself.
Earl Grey with lemon
I’m mostly off the dairy and, while I’m a coffee guy at heart, I’ve been enjoying a late-afternoon Earl Grey with a slice of lemon. Join the revolution.
Double espresso
And while coffee prices skyrocket (even as the quality seems to be dropping), eschew the terrible-for-you and frankly immature milkshakes everyone’s drinking and have a very European double espresso. Cheap, satisfying and short for summer climes. If I smoked, I’d have a cigarette too and feel like I’m back in France.
Apple wired headphones
My AirPods Pro had been a regular pain for a while, so eventually I gave up and went back to wired. Twenty quid, never need charging, and the sound quality when you speak is so much better. Right now I can’t imagine going high-end again.
Kindle
Amazon kindly sent me a couple of Kindles, and while the matcha one does its job, the new Paperwhite is a cut above — particularly paired with a case that turns the device on when you open it like a book. The extra bit of width to the screen, the tactility in hand and the speed of its software are just a pleasure to use.
🏁 Wrap It Up
That’s all from my actual bag. Anything you recommend for the weather drop in the comments!
(There are a few affiliate links scattered through here, so I’ll get a small commission if you buy something)
Books rec's on point as usual!! You're tardie to the Earl Grey party 🥳. (..on the 🇺🇲 tea shelf for years..a regular Christmas 🎄 present to my brother). Untuck-it shirts for summer ☀️..