Let’s Talk Bookish: Summer Reading Plans

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.

As June’s prompts went up a little late I didn’t have a chance to do this one for June 14th, so I thought today would be a great chance to catch up a bit and talk about my summer reading plans!

Let’s Talk Bookish June 14th:
Summer Reading Plans!

Prompts: It’s almost summer! What summer reading plans do you have? Any specifically summery books you want to read over the next few months? What makes a book feel summery to you? Any examples?

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you’ll likely be aware that last year and this year I haven’t really done ‘seasonal’ reading. Mainly because I’ve been focusing on the reading challenges I’ve signed up for – and I think I’ll sign up for less next year! I do try and lean a bit seasonally though when I’m picking out my next books, but it doesn’t always work out as sometimes I miss the season by the time I get to it!

Recently though, I did focus in on books I wanted to review for Pride in Horror over at Divination Hollow, and I managed to get through a few. Not as many as I would have liked, but the useful thing was I already had queer books on my challenges, so they also helped towards my goals. I’m not sure if there’s anything particularly summery on the challenges, but something about The Stars Too Fondly does make me think of summer with the soft colouring on the cover. Similarly, the cover of You’re History – with the big sunglasses and stripy background – strikes me as summery. Other than that, I don’t think I have any particularly summery books on my list right now!

I think ‘summery’ can be hard to define – there are definitely ‘beach read’ type books in a handful of different genres, but they’re not often the books I’m really drawn to! Mostly, when I think of ‘summery’ books, I think of heat – I often read ‘darker’ books and I think summer can be really effective in genres like horror, where summer is often used to invoke nostalgia and innocence contrasted with the kind of heat and danger that increases in those months. It’s a strange thing to try and define, as I think ‘summer’ can evoke all sorts of different sensations and meanings!

So, with that said, I’d love to hear about what kinds of books make you think of summer – is there anything in particular you look for in books this time of year? Would you have any summery recommendations, in any genre?