Last summer, we spent an entire episode debating what defines the perfect beach read. Our conclusion? It can be just about anything you want it to be—and it rarely deserves to be dismissed as fluff. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun swapping book recommendations, and so with a year already behind us—and with so many more books on our shelves (and Kindles)—we decided to get the gang back together and kick summer off with another books-obsessed episode.

Joined by Traveler's director of operations Paulie Dibner and associate publisher at Riverhead Books, Jynne Dilling Martin, we've dedicated this week's "Women Who Travel" episode to the female-authored books we think you should be reading this summer—whether you're rebooting on the beach, hiking a national park, or simply sprawled in front of your A/C unit until further notice. Fiction and non-fiction, some are inspired our travels, like A Visit to Don Otavio by Sybille Bedford, a 1953 travel memoir set in Mexico City, and Téa Obreht's upcoming novel, Inland, a sweeping novel set in the 19th-century American West, while others are simply must-reads of the moment, like Sally Rooney's Normal People and Sophie Mackintosh's The Water Cure. Tune in to hear all this and more (including Jynne's crazy, 10-country travel schedule) and you can check out a full list of all the books we're currently obsessed with below. Have a book you can't stop thinking about? Let us know about it in our Women Who Travel Facebook group.

Thanks to Jynne and Paulie for stopping by, and to Brett Fuchs for engineering and mixing. You can find info on our upcoming Women Who Travel trips here—we'd love to see you—and check back every Tuesday for the latest installment of Women Who Travel. To keep up with our podcast each week, subscribe to Women Who Travel on the iTunes store or Spotify and if you have a minute to spare, leave a review.

Books mentioned this episode: