Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, in which we all talk about a bookish topic and have fun making lists. This week we’re looking at summer reads.

I don’t do beach holidays, and I don’t typically read the books publishers like to push as beach reads. So I’m totally treating this week as a chance to figure out my summer TBR and get excited about what I’ve got coming up over the next 3 months. It’s catch up time when (if I’m lucky) I’ll get through 3 books just on flights!

I’ve also discovered Cathy Brown’s 20 Books of Summer challenge this weekend, which is to read 20 books between June 1st and September 5th. This is a worthy goal both in terms of number of books and I intend to join Cathy’s in reading books I already own – especially as my May book haul got a bit out of hand…

 

So what will I be reading?

Some of my summer reads are obvious, as they’re read-alongs:

These count towards #20daysofsummer but I’m not counting them towards my Top Ten Summer Reads (although they will account for a considerable amount of my reading time and pleasure) as I’m already signed up to read them. So, on to some recent acquisitions I’m hankering to read:

African Monsters – short stories by African writers, edited by Jo Thomas & Margret Helgadottir. The list of contributors is awesome, and I’m looking forward to reading the European and Asian editions too (in due course *cough*).

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – explores magic through music in Mexico City through the eyes of 3 teens in the 80s. Alliteration, nostalgia and concept FTW.

Tremontaine – the prequel to the Riverside novels. Obviously I need to read this. I remain in awe of Ellen Kushner’s trust in opening up her world to other authors, and this one’s all about Diane. HALLO DUCHESS.

Sharp Ends – I feel a bit guilty, because I keep bouncing off Joe Abercrombie’s short story collection. I seem to have drifted a long way from his grimdark world, which I once loved. So, one more go before I put this on the shelf and wait for a new planetary alignment.

Best of Apex Magazine Vol 1 – this collection of shorts published by Apex opens with the Nebula-winning Jackalope Wives and I can’t wait to see where it goes from there.

 

Since we agreed (or I suggested, and I’m assuming you’re happy to go along with me) that read-along books don’t count towards a Top Ten Summer TBR, I suspect some of these little gems may throw themselves off the shelf and hurl themselves at me if I don’t get to them soon:

Way Down Dark – I enjoyed James Smythe’s Anomaly books, so I’m curious to try his Clarke Award-nominated YA SF. A plucky teen tries to wrest control of a generation ship back from its criminal overlords and turn it back to Earth – but it’s far from certain whether Earth offers a safe haven.

The Hugo Long List Anthology – more award nominated short stories. Yay, bite-size books!

Half-off Ragnarok – Seanan McGuire’s Incryptids are my idea of beach reading. Entertaining, undemanding and snarky. With a cult of talking mice. I’ve got jetlag in my future, and the Incryptids are usually a good cure.

Trouble and her Friends – it’s not a good year if I don’t read Melissa Scott, so it’s time to make 2016 a good year (although I may end up reading Five-Twelfths of Heaven rather than Trouble. Or I could read both. Oooh. Maybe I’ll read both).

Dust – I picked up Elizabeth Bear’s angelic SF novel yonks ago, and other books keep reminding me I haven’t read it yet. I should fix that.

 

…of course, we all know I’m dreadful at sticking to TBR lists. They’re aspirational, right? I’ve only read half of the books I named in January and March (but hey, there’s still time. I’ll get to them). But whatever happens, here’s to reading 20 books by September 5th!

 

What will you be reading this summer?