This illustration was inspired by summer reading lists and photo collections from The New York Times of people reading outside. The headline is adapted from a 1907 article, which read, “A Summer Book Talk — Vacation Reading in Theory and in Practice — The Book in Camp on a Rainy Day — The Book on the Steamer Deck written by Hildegarde Hawthorne.”

“Enjoying a book alfresco is one of summer’s simple, iconic joys, right up there with running through a sprinkler, spotting the evening’s first firefly or scraping a flat wooden spoon across a freezer-burned cup of Italian ice.” Elizabeth Egan in The New York Times Article, For Instant Happiness, Grab a Book and Head Outside

More articles for summer reading inspiration: A Brief History of Summer Reading by Jennifer Harlan for NYTimes and Reading Around New York by Anika Burgess for NYTimes.