The calendar says June 21 today, so that makes it official: Summer is here! And just as with swimming pools, cool beverages (see below) and biting mosquitos, summer just isn’t summer without those summer reading lists. Slather on the sunblock and settle in for these hot reads for the sunny days…

Rebecca Lee’s Bobcat and Other Stories is the short-story collection equivalent of Call Me Maybe — a summer treat so good that you can’t get enough of it! In its Beach Reads feature, The New York Times calls Bobcat “[a] first rate collection . . . Ms. Lee also makes it increasingly clear that bobcat wounds are far from the worst damage lovers can suffer.” And the Barnes & Noble Discover  “selection committee readers went crazy for Bobcat & Other Stories” for its summer picks.

Bobcat also is one of the five Algonquin books featured on the iBookstore Beach Reads list, which highlights B.A. Shapiro’s New York Times bestseller, The Art Forger, Susan Nussbaum’s debut novel, Good Kings, Bad Kings,  Betsy Carter’s Swim to Me and Michael Parker’s The Watery Part of the World.  Just be sure not to drop your iPad in the sand.

If you haven’t already picked up the latest from Jill McCorkle, Rona Brinlee urges you to do so on NPR‘s Best Reads of the Summer. She says, “you will fall in love with [Jill’s] characters” in Life After Life.”

Pamela Thompson has another suggestion for a book to take to the beach —  David Samuel Levinson’s debut novel, Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence.  “This is real storytelling and a compelling plot.”

And while you’re sitting back to enjoy these hot reads, you’ll surely need an ice-cold cocktail.  The Today Show posted a sampling of the recipes from Amy Stewart’s latest, The Drunken Botanist. Here’s one a Summer Cocktail that Amy shared with O Magazine:

1 sprig mojito mint

1 sprig pineapple sage

1/2 lime

4-5 strawberries

1/2 ounces white rum

1/2 ounce St. Germain elderflower liqeur

Sparkling wine, optional

Cheers and happy reading!