We feel that nothing defines a summer more than the experience of being engrossed in a really good book. Poolside or in the mountains, diving into a literary endeavor is always a soul-stirring opportunity. That’s why TheReadingRoom’s Best Books of Summer list is a terrific place for busy people to discover their next great read. With millions of members and books on the platform, folks can easily discover, purchase and discuss their next great read, connect with like-minded readers, enjoy online book clubs and receive latest news and deals. Plus, the site has just been re-designed and is very user friendly.

What’s more, as an independent bookseller and social discovery platform, TheReadingRoom wants to ensure that its picks help members find their next great read at the best possible price.

Highlights from the list of 12 include:

· The Girl With All the Gifts by MR Carey – an emotionally charged, ground-breaking thriller set in a world overrun by zombies. Readers see the world through Melanie’s eyes, a young girl living in an underground military base with other children her age. But there is something very different about these kids.

· The Farm by Tom Rob Smith – the new bestseller by the author of Child 44 sees a son caught between his warring parents, and the unwilling judge and jury of his mother as well as a criminal conspiracy that implicates father.

· Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami – this book has sold more than a million copies the first week it went on sale in Japan. This is Murakami’s first book since the much-lauded IQ84.

· Wayfaring Stanger by James Lee Burke – ‘America’s best novelist’ returns with a sprawling historical novel set in the decade before, and the years after, World War II. A confrontation with Bonnie and Clyde in his youth has a deep and long-lasting effect on Weldon Avery Holland as he enters the oil business with his wartime sergeant.

· The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith – published under her pseudonym, the first Comoran Strike novel was lavished with praise by its critics, and there are high expectations for the second.

· My Struggle by Norway’s Karl Ove Knausgaard. TheReadingRoom folks felt that they had to include this one as their 13th book this year, and it’s the one that they see as the outlier. Hailed as the next Proust, this six volume, 3,600 page autobiographical novel is a tour de force that is intense, honest and totally addictive. It has sold more than 450,000 copies in northern Europe. Volumes 1-3 are available now in English. For the full list of TheReadingRoom’s Best Books of Summer 2014, visit http://blog.thereadingroom.com/2014/06/the-best-summer-reads-of-2014.html