I’ve taken part in Cathy’s 20 Books of Summer challenge every year since 2017, but have never managed to read all of the books on my list – until now. I’ve come very close once or twice, reading 18 or 19 of them, but usually I get distracted by other books and end up only reading 10 or 11. What did I do differently this year? I can think of three things: first, I only listed books I needed to read anyway – NetGalley review copies and books for various other reading challenges and events. I also took advantage of Cathy’s flexible rules and listed some alternatives in case any of the books on my main list didn’t appeal when the time came. Finally, I avoided including any very long, heavy books, which is a mistake I’ve made in the past.
Here’s what I read, with links to my reviews:
1. Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie (Read Christie 2024)
2. N or M? by Agatha Christie (Read Christie 2024)
3. Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson (Moomin Week)
4. Thomasina by Paul Gallico (Reading the Meow)
5. In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas (Walter Scott Prize project)
6. The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi
7. The Meiji Guillotine Murders by Futaro Yamada
8. The King’s Witches by Kate Foster
9. The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron
10. The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal
11. The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks
12. A Woman of Opinion by Sean Lusk
13. Babylonia by Costanza Casati
14. The King’s Mother by Annie Garthwaite
15. A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith
16. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
17. The Lost Queen by Carol McGrath (didn’t finish – still reading)
18. The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden
19. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
20. Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead
Alternatives
I listed four of the shorter books remaining on my Classics Club list as alternatives:
1. The Black Lake by Hella S. Haasse
2. The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff (didn’t read)
3. The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
4. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (didn’t read)
As you can see, I actually read 19 of the original 20 books on my list, plus 2 of the alternatives, for a total of 21. I also enjoyed most of these books, which is the most important thing!
Thanks to Cathy of 746Books for hosting.
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Today is also the first day of another of my favourite reading challenges, RIP (Readers Imbibing Peril), which is back for its nineteenth year! This event, which used to be hosted by book blogs, seems to take place mainly on Instagram now (follow @perilreaders for more information); I’m not very active over there, but I still like to join in with RIP, even if it’s just in a casual, flexible way.
The idea is to read, watch or listen to anything that fits one of the following categories:
Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Dark Fantasy
Gothic
Horror
Supernatural
After reading from my 20 Books of Summer list all summer, I don’t want to make another long list of RIP reads as I would prefer to be spontaneous and just read whatever I feel like reading. I’ve already started working through a collection of classic horror stories – Tales Accursed, edited by Richard Wells – and I have plenty of other suitable books on the TBR.
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Did you take part in 20 Books of Summer and did you complete your list? And are you taking part in Readers Imbibing Peril XIX?
She Reads Novels 
Well done for finishing! I also managed to finish mine, and will post a round-up tomorrow or Tuesday. RIP is one of my favourite yearly reading projects now, and I’m also hoping to participate.
Thank you! It definitely helped that I tried to stick mainly to shorter, lighter books this year.
I should do this, too. I will seemingly never learn.
Well done! I didn’t manage to write reviews for all of mine, which is how I managed to read 19 books, my best attempt at this challenge. I didn’t know RIP was on Instagram now. I have an account but haven’t been on it much – I’ll check it out.
19 is a great result as well. Writing reviews can take up a lot of time that could be spent reading. And yes, RIP has been on Instagram for the last few years. I’m glad they’re keeping it going, but I’ve never really got to grips with using Instagram.
Great work on your 20 Books of Summer! I also love RIP but I think I need a bit of a breather before embarking on another challenge, and it also feels better suited to October than September, so I’ll do a list later on.
Thanks! Yes, it can be too much going straight from 20 Books of Summer to another challenge. I think most of my RIP reading will probably be in October as well.
I haven’t done RIP for several years. I might try it this year.
Congrats on getting so many books read for your summer reading challenge. That’s awesome. And I like to read more suspenseful thrillers and supernatural stories this time of year, too. I’m hoping to find a really good ghost story this month or next. RIP is always fun, though now that it’s mostly on Instagram I don’t really play along.
Thank you! I didn’t expect to complete the challenge – I’ve never done it before! I hope you find some great ghost stories and thrillers to read, even if you’re not really playing along with RIP.
I always forget when RIP is coming up, but I have a few books reviews scheduled to post that will qualify.
I nearly forgot about it this year as well. I’ll look forward to your reviews.
Congrats on beating the 20 Books challenge! I think I only succeeded once too – what a feeling of achievement! 😉
Thanks! It’s definitely a sense of achievement – this challenge is much harder than it looks!
Congrats on your 20 books of summer reading! I do love the RIP challenge too, must get a little pile together!
Thank you – and thanks for hosting this for the last ten years. Enjoy your RIP reading!
Thanks Helen!
Congrats on completing your summer challenge! I also made it to 20 books, though I didn’t start with a particular list. One of these days I’ll try that. Have fun with RIP!
Thank you! Congrats to you too on completing your 20 books. It’s difficult sticking to a list, but I did allow myself some alternatives, which worked well for me this year.
A brilliant effort to achieve the total you wanted to read – and more! And seeing your list reminds me what a range of genres you managed to incorporate in your summer progress, with books Iike the Japanese mysteries sorely tempting me!
I’ll probably read a few titles which I’ll link to RIP XIX, but the genres here are so broad that the chances I’d read some relevant titles from those genres were always going to be high. Anyway,.I shall make a bee-line for them now. 🙂
Thank you! Yes, I’m quite happy with the variety of books I read this summer; the Japanese mysteries were both fascinating, particularly the Takagi.
I’ll look out for your RIP reviews. Like you, I would usually read books from those genres anyway but joining in with the challenge gives me an extra incentive to read them sooner rather than later.
Congratulations on completing the 20 Books of Summer Challenge! 21 books is amazing 🥳 It was my first year doing this event and I so enjoyed it, started with the goal of 10 books and I was able to read 18!? Thank you for your comment on my blog, happy reading! 😊
Thank you! 18 is a great number, especially when you were only aiming for 10.
Hi Helen, well done on completing your 20 Books of Summer! I only managed to finish 5 of my 10 Books of Summer, but I did enjoy them all. And now I am very much looking forward to RIP! 🎃
Blessings, Jessica 💌