Summer TBR list 2026!!!

I love reading all year (obviously) and every season has its different lovely energy that it brings to reading. In summer reading is lying in the park for hours finishing a whole book in a day. It's being stuck on a roasting train going somewhere exciting and getting lost in a story to make the journey fly by. It's that special way you can somehow read at least twice as fast when you're on holiday especially if you're lying by the pool. I really think you slip into some other dimension, honestly you can read about fifteen books in a week! Anyway what I'm saying is long light days and sunshine call for having a book in your bag at all times so you can plonk yourself down anywhere pretty and dive in. These are the four books I'm most excited to read this summer.

Ali Smith Summer

The next installment in Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet! I have loved this series so much, Ali Smith is one of my favourite authors, so I’m really excited to start the next one. I say this in every Seasonal Quartet review, but there is just something so special about reading the season books in the right seasons. Smith’s writing about nature and the world is so beautiful it really makes you engage with your surroundings and the story at the same time. As always the blurb is scant and you never really know where you’re being led, but I get the sense it will be all about change. A perfect read for me as I finish one job and start university again!

Nathalie Olah Bad Taste

The full title of this is Bad Taste or the Politics of Ugliness which really caught my attention. I am very interested in ideas and discussions about monocultures and subcultures, but I mostly tend to hear about that in the fashion sphere. There it is mostly all about the dreaded ‘personal style’ trends, dupes or knockoffs, the ‘cool girl’ and the discourse around the difference between online fashion and real life fashion! Bad Taste is “an interrogation of the importance we have placed on ‘good’ and ‘bad’ taste” and “the impact this has on our identities, communities and politics”. I’ve been loving niche non-fictions recently and can’t wait to get into this!

Patti Smith Just Kids

Joan Didion loved this book and I love Joan Didion so I’m confident this will be up my street. I love anything set in the America through the 20^th century as well. I really enjoy books that are sort of an autobiography but lean more into the prosaic style. I find that it lets me get into almost any biography even if I don’t really know much about the person beforehand. I actually love getting my first impression of someone that way without having any preconceptions or much more than a hazy knowledge of their work. That way I can delve into their archives alongside an unfurling story. Expect me to develop a great love of Patti Smith over the next few months!

Clare Chambers Shy Creatures

Writing this I’m realising this is actually a really similar premise to Just Kids but fictional! Shy Creatures tells the story of an art therapist in 1960s London. I’ve heard lots of good things about this book, particularly about Clare Chambers’ beautiful writing style. A sense of mystery also promises to weave its way in here alongside love, loneliness and freedom. It sounds so lovely! Not that you should judge a book by its cover but Shy Creatures has the most beautiful artwork. It’s all adding to the gorgeous vibes!

I’ll end up reading lots more books than this - I like to see what I’m in the mood for and catches my fancy at the time. But I always like to have a few gems I’m really looking forward to among the random experiments or cheesymcgees that are sprinkled through! Have you read any of these? If so what did you think? Let me know your Summer TBR list below I’d love to know and get some more inspiration!

Love, Grace xx