COTTAGECORE READING LIST | Books To Love in the Spring & Summer

Cottagecore and Countryside books go hand in hand. It is about romanticizing your life and seeking inspiration from the fictional characters that are living your countryside dreams.

Springtime is a reminder that even the smallest person can make a difference, and we can inspire each other by just being ourselves, like the snowdrops and crocuses that are the first spring flowers that we see. Even if the snow is still there, they break through the surface and show its beautiful colors as a signal to the whole world to start blooming again.

For us book enthusiasts, and bibliophiles, blooming can mean a new book list to enjoy. No matter what goals you have set this year we hope that our “Cottagecore Reading List” can help you find as much inspiration and enthusiasm to bloom in the best possible way. We hope you will find our top 10 cottagecore reading list as pleasant as we had putting it together and we would love to read in the comments about your favorite countryside classics!

Enjoy our Cottagecore Reading List where we focus on the countryside books that are easy to love in the spring and summer.

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The Secret Garden

After a tragedy leaves Mary Lennox orphaned, the bratty ten-year-old British girl is sent from her home in India to Yorkshire, to live with Archibald Craven, a distant uncle whom she has never met. The tale piques Mary’s curiosity and inspires her to find this secret garden, a search that introduces her to new friends, including a robin redbreast; Dickson, a twelve-year-old boy with kindness to animals; and Colin, her secluded sickly first-cousin.

The Hobbit

Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit. A lovable kind of character that enjoys a comfortable, slow-living life. He rarely travels farther than the pantry of his cozy hobbit hole in Bag End. His peaceful lifestyle is highly disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive one day outside his doorstep to offer him to become an important part of their “treasure hunt” and possibly encounter the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent.

Walden: Life in the Woods

Experience a year in the life of Thoreau at Walden Pond in this classic work. Visit the bean field, the village, and the ponds; learn about our brute neighbors, the higher laws of nature and humankind, and the benefits of reading and solitude.

Anne of Green Gables

The Cuthberts are in for a shock. They are expecting an orphan boy to help with the work at Green Gables – but a skinny red-haired girl turns up instead. Highly spirited Anne Shirley charms her way into the Cuthberts’ affection with her vivid imagination and constant chatter, and soon it’s impossible to imagine life without her.

Lassie

Lassie is Joe’s prize collie and constant companion. But when Joe’s father loses his job, Lassie must be sold. Three times she escapes from her new owner, and three times she returns home to Joe until finally she is taken to the remotest part of Scotland–too far a journey for any dog to make alone. But Lassie is not just any dog.

Howard’s End

Howards End has been recognized as one of the finest novels ever written in English. The story loosely follows the lives of three families: the Wilcoxes, whose wealth derives from the exploitation of British colonies; the Basts, an impoverished couple; and the Schlegels, half-German sisters who find themselves set between the vastly opposing classes of their peers.

The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows is a novel by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow-moving and fast-paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphized animals in a pastoral version of England. The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie and is celebrated for its evocation of the nature of the Thames valley.

The Tale of Hill Top Farm (Beatrix Potter)

The Tale of Hill Top Farm is a historical fiction story about the beloved author Beatrix Potter. In this first Cottage Tale, Beatrix is introduced, an animal lover and Good Samaritan with a knack for solving mysteries. With help from her entourage of talking animal friends, Beatrix sets out to win over the human hearts of Sawrey, where she’s just bought an old farm–and plans to stay.

Little House on the Praire

Based on the real-life adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the award-winning Little House series has charmed generations of readers with its depiction of life on the American frontier.

Black Beauty

The gentle thoroughbred, Black Beauty, is raised with care and is treated well until a vicious groom injures him. The damaged horse is then sold to various masters at whose hands he experiences cruelty and neglect. After many unpleasant episodes, including one where he becomes a painfully overworked cab horse in London, Black Beauty finally canters towards a happy ending.

All Creatures Great and Small

In All Creatures Great and Small, we meet the young Herriot as he takes up his calling and discovers that the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire are very different from the sterile setting of veterinary school.

BONUS: The Little Book of Cottagecore

The Little Book of Cottagecore helps you make simple living a reality with delightful cottagecore activities you can enjoy no matter where you live. Whether you’re interested in baking pies from scratch, basic sewing and cross-stitching, gardening, beekeeping, or making candles and soaps, this book is full of fun, hands-on activities that make it easy and enjoyable to unplug from modern life. Full of step-by-step instructions and homegrown inspiration, you’ll find fun, practical ways to enjoy rustic and relaxing cottage-core activities in your everyday life.