This is the last day of this year’s 20 Books of Summer challenge hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. It’s the third time I’ve participated and the third time I’ve failed to complete it!
20 Books of Summer is a simple idea – to make a list of twenty books at the start of the summer and then read them between 1st June and 3rd September – but not as easy as it sounds. I have actually read exactly twenty books this summer, but only ten of them were on my list; I was tempted by too many other books in June, and then in July and August I found I was too busy to read very much at all.
Anyway, here are the ten books from my list that I managed to read, with links to my reviews:
1. The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
2. The Woman in the Lake by Nicola Cornick
3. Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh
4. The Devil’s Slave by Tracy Borman
5. Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver
6. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor
7. Decoding the Bayeux Tapestry by Arthur C. Wright
8. Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada
9. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
10. The Canary Keeper by Clare Carson
Of these, my favourites were The Island of Sea Women and The Devil’s Slave.
I am currently reading the following two books but couldn’t finish them in time:
11. A Tapestry of Treason by Anne O’Brien
12. The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley
And these are the eight I haven’t had time for, but do still want to read soon:
13. The Horseman by Tim Pears
14. Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop
15. Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir
16. The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
17. The Anarchist’s Club by Alex Reeve
18. Mrs Whistler by Matthew Plampin
19. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
20. Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou by Amy Licence
They will have to be autumn or winter reads instead of summer ones!
Did you take part in 20 Books of Summer this year? How did you do?
She Reads Novels 
Considering how much else you’ve had on your plate this summer, I think ten is phenomenal! And you’ve reminded me that I’d really like to read The Island of the Sea Women…
Yes, I’m not too disappointed with ten, really, especially as I did enjoy most of them. The Island of Sea Women was fascinating!
I echo FF’s comment. I gave up after three. I knew this was just going nowhere as far as I was concerned.
I doubt I will ever manage to complete this particular challenge. It seems that as soon as I make a list of books, I find myself wanting to read a different set of books entirely!
I read 27 books in the time period but only 10 were from my 20BooksOfSummer list – I rather stupidly didn’t include e-books, review books and book challenge books, using it as a TBR challenge (which is what I usually do anyway) and then had a nervous breakdown in August which chopped into my reading like nobody’s business. I’m happy with my 10 though.
Yes, I think you can be pleased with 10, especially as you read 27 overall. I did the opposite – I included only review copies on my list this year, but that method didn’t work for me either!
I’ve never finished a 20 Books of Summer Challenge – or even a 10 books one! This year I managed 8, although I did read 24 during that time. I just can’t stick to reading from a list it seems.
Reading from a list never seems to work for me, although it doesn’t stop me from making lists anyway! I think 8 is a good result, especially as you read 24 in total.
Well done, Helen. Considering how busy this summer has been for you I think you’ve done brilliantly.
I’m obviously more willing to depart from the initial path than most people: I didn’t feel bad about dropping titles and bringing in new ones. Of course I still didn’t finish – 15 books read but scarcely a review written! It was fun though 😊
15 books is a great result, Sandra – well done! I always try to stick to my original list, but maybe next year I should be more flexible about adding and removing titles.
Among these I have read Gun Island and The Doll Factory. I liked them both, but the latter best; it was positively creepy. I recommend it highly.
I’m sorry I didn’t have time to get to The Doll Factory this summer, but I am definitely still going to read it and am glad you would recommend it!
We all do our best!
Yes, that’s right! I’m not too disappointed with my 10 out of 20 – I didn’t expect to read many more than that anyway.
I did exactly the same as you, Helen! I read 10 books over summer but only 6 of them were off my original list of 10. Oh well, better luck next time. That we enjoyed our reading is what really matters! 🙂
Yes, enjoying our reading is more important than numbers. I didn’t expect to read all the books on my list anyway as I knew I was going to have a busy summer, so I am quite pleased to have read half of them.