Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish, and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s all about books, lists and sharing the love we have of both with our bookish friends. I’m running a week behind, so this week I’m considering what books are calling to be read this summer…

Looking back at my spring TBR, I found I’d read far more of it than I thought I had – mostly because most of the books on it were Subjective Chaos nominees or ARCs, and I’ve been keeping myself very focused on those commitments.

My summer TBR is more free-form. Sure, there’ll be Subjective Chaos shortlists and ARCs, but there should be plenty of room to just follow my nose. As I’ve got July off, I’m hoping expecting to read more books than usual this month too (although if in the end it turns into a glut of Civ VI and Stardew Valley, I’ll go with it).

My plans for the first half of July are very fixed. I’ve seen some really terrible reviews for Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor, but I have an ARC so I shall be giving it a whirl and making my own mind up. However, it’s fair to say I’m more excited to read my first Emmi Itäranta novel, an epistolary eco-thriller in space (The Moonday Letters). I’m generally excited about reading more SF – my reading diet has been very fantasy-biased for over a year – but I am looking forward to diving into some Subjective Chaos sequels and hoovering up Stormsong by CL Polk and Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan.

I’m reserving the second half of July for mood reading. I’ll be on holiday, anything goes. So this next selection isn’t a TBR so much as a random pick of what might leap off my shelf… I’ve been hankering to stray outside of genre by way of a change, so don’t be surprised to see some historical and/or contemporary fiction later this month (I pre-ordered Summerwater by Sarah Moss and 2 years later I really should read it). That said, Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes looks like the perfect cosy fantasy for idle summer days; and Jonathan Nevair’s Goodbye to the Sun would scratch my space opera itch whilst also being a retelling of Antigone (omgomgomg). Or I might dive into my ARC pile. Speaking of which…

I plan to take part in ARC August this year as I have accumulated over 50 unread ARCs, some going back years (mostly because I missed their release date and then prioritised upcoming releases). I will only get a small handful addressed in August as I’ll be starting a new job, but I plan to alternate recent and backlist misses to start to make amends. And as I’ve got such a lot to choose from this should still feel a lot like mood reading!

What will you be reading?