Wine pairs well with cheese, beer is for brats and Rozanov is meant for Hollander, but the ultimate classic for your summer indulgence is and will always be a book and its beach. As summer approaches, Maine’s coastal treasures — from beaches to bays to lakes — are awaiting your visit, the backdrop for your encounters with amazing characters, thrilling narratives and even your own self.

Here is our recommended pairings of books and beaches to level up your summer reading.

Scene and Be Seen: ‘Maine Characters’ by Hannah Orenstein, on York Beach 

If you missed the wave of “Maine Characters” by Hannah Orenstein last year, now’s your chance to grab a copy, head to York Beach, and get your main character energy on. Half sisters Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster spent a month each summer at their father’s lake house in Maine — separately. As fate and grief bring these strangers together, they have to learn to navigate the truth of their past. Can they overcome the secrecy and betrayal and end their exile? Lay on a raft and find out in this heartwarming page-turner-meets-the-parent-trap.

Lake Life: ‘The Maine Woods’ by Henry David Thoreau, at Birch Point State Park 

Walden’s not the only pond for this New England philosopher. Thoreau took three significant trips to the mostly unexplored woods of Maine. Pair your state park stroll and seaside leisure diving into the Maine of the past in these pages as we travel with the philosopher by canoe, campfire, hike and moonlight. Follow Thoreau as he observes and learns from the Abenaki, imagines life as a logger and leans into the values of solitude and thought on the quiet of this crescent-shaped beach.

Coming-of-Age: ‘Good Girl’ by Aria Aber, on Sand Beach, Deer Isle

Nothing says coming-of-age like lying on a secret beach with your head in a book, letting the mind and body imagine all there is to survive on and past the horizon. Lucky for us, Aria Aber’s debut novel, “Good Girl,” has just been released in paperback. Follow 19-year-old Nila as she navigates Berlin’s world of artists, underground raves and political upheaval. Whether this daughter of Afghan refugees is up all night navigating the hazy world of drugs and dancing or reading Kafka, we follow her through the visceral trials and tribulations of early adulthood. One night, she meets an American writer, Marlowe. Is it love? Or is his orbit becoming controlling? What will it take for Nila to become who she wants to be? Every spellbinding and dazzling sentence glimmers like light on a crestfallen wave.

A New Mythology: ‘Dreamt I Found You’ by Jimin Han, at Jasper Beach

Jimin Han’s new novel, “Dreamt I Found You,” takes place in East End — an invented, small, New England coastal town that serves as a seemingly utopian vision of a town for Korean immigrants. Not everything is as it seems, though. Dahee and her cousin, Channing, were born on the same day. Though they’re raised in a sibling-like kinship, they couldn’t be more different — especially when it comes to love. Dahee is called to East End to help Channing avoid an obsessive suitor and a tragic fate. From their different reactions as children when they hear the famed Korean love story, “The Song of Chunhyang,” to their approaches to marriage in their early 30s, Dahee and Channing fall into their old roles once again. There’s no better place to read Han’s retelling of Korea’s greatest love story than Jasper Beach, whose “singing pebbles” bring that haunting magic of ancestors, making the mythic modern and reminding us that even in grief, love and stories carry us to wherever it is we are going.

The Short and Short of It: ‘Night of the Living Rez’ by Morgan Talty, in Penobscot Bay, Lincolnville Beach

A day at the beach is incomplete without a book of short stories to mark time. Let the sunscreen soak in as you read one story, then take a dip in the sea. Another story accompanies lunch, then a stroll to collect beach glass. Another story in the shade, and so on. Levant writer Morgan Talty’s debut book, “Night of the Living Rez,” gives us 12 linked short stories set on the Penobscot reservation on Indian Island. Follow David, the protagonist, across stories, as he grows up with a painful past and uncertain future. All that unravels in David’s world and beyond is met with deep compassion and searing humor.

Strut Your Strout: ‘The Things We Never Say’ or ‘Olive Kitteridge’ by Elizabeth Strout, on Popham Beach

From Portland to Brunswick to Bates College, there’s nary a backdrop in Maine in which a book by Elizabeth Strout wouldn’t be well-suited. If you’re already a fan, hang out with her new protagonist, Artie Dam, in her new novel, “The Things We Never Say.” While this high school history teacher seems to live a full life, Artie finds something lurking beneath the surface of his very existence. If you haven’t encountered Strout, take a copy of her short story cycle, “Olive Kitteridge,” for a spin. In these interconnected short stories, we glean a vision of Olive and the other families in Strout’s invented Maine town, Crosby, though a deft weaving, indeed.

King of Horror: ‘IT’ by Stephen King, at Old Orchard Beach

When Stephen King misremembered Marianne Moore’s line “imaginary gardens with real toads in them” as “real trolls in imaginary gardens,” one of the greatest books in the whole of the horror genre was born: “It.” The evil, shapeshifting entity (often appearing as Pennywise the Dancing Clown), hunts its favorite prey, young children, every 27 years. Whether you’re encountering “It” for the first time or rereading this American classic, explore the iconic fictional town of Derry from the luxury of a beach towel, lest you’re hoping to hold your breath in the dark. This is a perfect summer pairing with a beach — and with HBO’s exceptional new series, “Welcome to Derry,” for those stormy summer nights.

Why Be “Gone Girl” When You Could Get the Boy Gone: ‘How to Survive in the Woods’ by Kat Rosenfield, on Lake Hebron

For those who enjoy all of the outdoor thrills Maine has to offer, look no further than the latest novel from thriller writer Kat Rosenfield. Whether you’re bringing a book to the beach, to a campfire, on a drive or as company along Maine’s famed portion of the Appalachian Trail, the Hundred Mile Wilderness, “How to Survive in the Woods” will have you racing through pages. What does it mean to survive? To be a survivor? For Emma Sharp, the stakes of her controlling marriage to Logan Grant are endlessly terrifying. Until she meets Logan’s ex-girlfriend, Taylor, and they hatch a plan deep into Maine’s backcountry.

While the Sun Lasts: ‘Klara and the Sun’ by Kazuo Ishiguro, on Crescent Beach

In his most recent novel, “Klara and the Sun,” Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro takes a reverent look at AI, climate change and our relationship to nature — to human nature and our evaporating relationship to the elements that got here, the sun in particular. As the protagonist, Klara, is brought into a human house with her purpose to befriend a child, the most important relationship she builds ends up being with the sun. As we enjoy the sun of our days, this genre-altering novel bends the limits of sci-fi, literature and our selves.

Into These Arid Days: ‘The Collected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay,’ on Ogunquit Beach 

Born in Rockland, Edna St. Vincent Millay was one of the greatest poets of her time. Whether you want to whisper sweet somethings into a new love’s ear lying at the water’s edge, commune with the elements or match the water’s music, there’s a Millay sonnet or narrative for you. “Once more into my arid days like dew, / Like wind from an oasis, or the sound / Of cold sweet water bubbling underground, / A treacherous messenger, the thought of you / Comes to destroy me…” Get wrecked by sun, waves and longing all summer long with this collection in hand.

Lisa Hiton is a writer living in Brooklyn, N.Y. She is the author of the poetry collection “Afterfeast,” and her work has been featured or is forthcoming in the Kenyon Review, The Slowdown, NPR, New South and elsewhere.