Top Ten Tuesdays #241: Summer TBR + Bucket List

Books On My Summer 2019 TBR

Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review.

I wrote a post like this back in 2016 to share my bookish and personal summer goals, as well as my summertime TBR for the year. I always enjoying working on seasonal TBR posts each year and bucket lists specifically for autumn, so why not do a big ol’ post for this summer?

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Because of the nature of this TTT, I figured I’d kick the post off with my TBR list instead of my goals / bucket list, just in case you’re only here for the books 😉 All of these are summer-ish books that hopefully take place near a beach or lake or ocean or someplace WARM.

The Summer House by Hale | Review copy, able to use for challenges
The Summer House by McKinnon | Able to use for Popsugar (two books with same title)
Boys of Summer by Brody | Owned book foreeeeeever and need to read!

 

Summer of ’69 by Hilderbrand | Gimme this timeframe for historical fiction always
Summer by the Tides by Hunter | Family-oriented summer vacation book
It Happens in the Hamptons by Peterson | Gimme all the rich people Hamptons books!
The Last Book Party by Dukess | Another historical fic – summer on Cape Cod + publishing!

The Rest of the Story by Dessen | Always need a Dessen book for the summer – pumped!
The Goodbye Summer by van Name | Review copy to read
The Unhoneymooners by Lauren | My first by them! Review copy

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I started prepping this post and realized I genuinely need to get going on summer-ish reads! It’s June and I have read VERY LITTLE BEACHY ROMANCES. I know July/August are good times for that too but damn. I need to get my shit together. Here are my bookish goals for this summer of reading:

1. Read 10 summer-oriented books/romances

I want to read all of the books on the TBR above, hopefully. I picked ten specifically for this post, of course, but also because I know it’s a good number for me personally. If I don’t get to read any before the end of June (this post was prepped on the 13th), I can still split them out with five in July and five in August. I could also read a couple in June and September, if I want to spread things out more.

2. Plan challenge-specific TBRs for later this year

This is very much not a “summer” type of goal, but it’s a “oh shit we’re halfway through the year and I have so much to do” kind of goal. So, I have issues with non-contemporary/”easy” yearly challenges. The ones that are actual challenges for me are those in other genres, like the Retellings one I signed up for. I need to go through and look at my TBRs I created for challenges (including the Picky Pledge one) and develop a legitimate reading plan for each month until the end of the year. I won’t read a lot of non-contemporary books during the summer months, so I need to pace out my reads between maybe September through December. I hope to go in and determine how to finish these challenges and maybe make a post about it.

3. Explore a new local-ish bookstore (day trip!)

I love taking day trips around Connecticut, especially if I can squeeze in a new indie bookstore during the trip. I always try to visit the Book Barn at least once a year, but I’d like to see a new spot. I have to do some research but Chris and I will probably pick a place to spend the day in the area of the store, trying a new restaurant and checking out the town.

4. Read on the porch at least 2-3 times per week

I adore reading outside, especially on my cute porch! I will typically read outside on the weekends before we go out and do things for the day, or again in the evening when it gets a bit cooler. I also used to enjoy reading outside on my old porch (the last apartment before the Maine year) in the mornings before work, as long as it was warm enough out, and I plan to bring that habit back too. Therefore, we’re going with 2-3 times per week of porch reading!

5. Take 2-3 bookstagram photos per week

I’ve gotten so terrible with bookstagram because I’m not really a prop person. I love looking at gorgeous photos set up all nicely, but I am so bad at them myself. If I can’t be bothered to take an “I’m reading right here, right now!” photo more than once a week, I’ll never get around to setting some up. Either way, summer reading is the perfect kind of photo opportunity: the porch, beach, outdoors in general, poolside, etc.

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My last two summers have gone by really fast and were split up with moving. We spent June 2017 in Connecticut and the rest of that summer in Maine, and the opposite for the summer of 2018. My summers have just felt disjointed for two years so I’m ready to have a full-on Connecticut summer. (Man that probably does not sound appealing to anyone!)

1. Go to the damn beach

I don’t love the beach but I always regret that I don’t go as often as I should! We live within an hour of the good beaches in RI and I’ve heard some of the CT ones I never went to as a kid are nice as well. We really need to get out there. I was supposed to go with Jen during the bachelorette weekend but we ended up changing our minds because of other plans.

2. Eat 10 lobster rolls

I loved this goal from my 2016 list (no idea if I completed it) but I am 100% here for it this year too. I love lobster rolls and the window is small to get really good ones! There are so many seafood places I want to try this year too, so I can really take nice day trips for them. I’m looking specifically at Abbott’s Lobster In the Rough and Jessica’s Garden to start! (I also, since drafting this initially, have made a place-specific list!)

3. Take a weekend trip somewhere

Chris doesn’t have vacation time with his current job so we get a little bit limited when it comes to traveling for the summer. We have plans to take weekend trips for our birthdays in September and October, but I am hoping to go somewhere in July maybe? It might not be possible but I’d love to get away for the weekend beyond just his sister’s wedding.

4. Host a party at the house

We never had a housewarming and didn’t do birthday parties last year like I had hoped, so we talked about having a bunch of our friends over for a big combination party sometime over the summer. Both of our birthdays are in the early fall so we’d like to do something during late summer maybe, when the weather is still warmer and we can be outdoors. (This could happen in mid-September and still count as a summer goal!)

5. Make a specific bucket list for day trips

I mention all the time (even in just this post alone lol) that I love taking day trips. It’s especially true during the summer when I can take backroads and put the windows down. There’s nothing better. I want to go ahead and make a legitimate bucket list for the summer with all of the places we could go as day trips, for when we have a free day over the weekend. This will mostly include things above like lobster roll shacks and local towns.

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