How to Romanticize Your Summer Reading Life

Summer is nearly here, and if you’re anything like me, your mind is already turning to your TBR pile. Gone are the school days of long afternoons spent devouring books in the sun—but that doesn’t mean you can’t recreate the magic. With a little intention, you can design a summer reading ritual that feels both sweet and semi-productive. Here are a few ways to make your summer stack something to look forward to every year.

Join a local reading challenge.

It probably won’t surprise you that I was obsessed with my local library’s summer reading challenge as a kid. If you, too, marched down the block around Memorial Day with your library card in hand, signed your name on a construction-paper flower or pony, and left with a stack of books that tested your checkout limit—I have excellent news:

Some libraries still run summer challenges for adults.

Here in Seattle, Seattle Arts & Lectures teams up with the Seattle Public Library and King County Library System every summer to create a Summer Book Bingo. They provide the template, suggesting broad categories of what to read in each square tile. This year, they include things like, “author from another continent” and “resistance” and “great escape.”

You choose books that match the prompts, and if you complete a Bingo (or the full board), you can enter to win prizes. It’s the perfect mixture of structure and freedom.

Or… Make your own!

Last summer, the categories of the Book Bingo card didn’t excite me. But I love the idea of a visual card to inspire a reading goal. If you find you’re in a similar boat, Canva has tons of templates you can customize. Or you can start from scratch if you're design-savvy.

Prefer analog? Grab your markers and a ruler and build a version for your wall or bullet journal. Maybe it becomes a work of art at the end of the summer when you add doodles, quotes, or other additions inspired by your reads.

Pick a summer reading theme.

I first heard this idea from Gretchen Rubin on her Happier podcast: give your reading life a seasonal theme. If you’ve ever stalled out on an assignment with no directions, you know that having some parameters to work with can actually spark your creativity and encourage progress.

Choose a focus area—dystopias, romances, books about water—and let it shape your summer stack. If you're not sure where to start, think about a movie or show that recently captivated you. What about it drew you in? Follow that thread.

Give your theme a name to help make it stick and give you a simple structure. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Summer by the Sea – beach reads, books set on the coast, or anything ocean-themed

• A Summer Affair – novels about messy relationships, forbidden love, or romantic chaos

• Summer of Science – nonfiction, speculative fiction, or literary science stories

• A Summer to Die For – murder mysteries, thrillers, and true crime

Whether you follow a prompt, build a board, or just pick a theme that sparks something in you, I hope your summer reading feels a little magical this year. I’ll be sharing updates on my own board soon—join me?

What I'm reading: The Bombshell

My ears to yours: