Cathy at 746 Books is hosting the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge again this year. As Cathy explains, it’s the most relaxed reading challenge you’ll participate in (swap books out, change your target, do whatever). The challenge is straightforward – read twenty books between June 1st and September 1st.
As I’ve done in previous years, I’m using this challenge to read predominantly from my to-be-read stack.
Of course, it’s winter in Melbourne. So while Cathy et al. is enjoying the Irish sunshine, I’ll be rugging up. The last few years, I’ve compared the Irish summer with the Melbourne winter on the day I finished each book. I’ll do it again this year.
Here is my Summer (Winter) reading list (with spots free for my book group picks and whatever takes my fancy):
01. To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
02. 100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet by Pamela Paul
03. Paperback Crush by Gabrielle Mos
04. Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley
05. The Draft by Emma Quayle
06. Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
07. My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig
08. Temper by Phoebe Walker
09. Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
10. The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell
11. The Polygamist’s Daughter by Anna LeBaron
12. A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
13. Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
14. Antarctica by Claire Keegan
15. What I’d Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma
16. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
17. Ransom by David Malouf
18. A Kind of Magic by Anna Spargo-Ryan
19. Wifedom by Anna Funder
20. Dinner Party: A Tragedy by Sarah Gilmartin
21. Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov
And audios that I’ll only count if the timeline is tight…
01. Undoctored by Adam Kay
I love how you describe the rules of this challenge as ‘do whatever’ – sums it up perfectly! I look forward to seeing your winter temperatures rise way higher than our Irish summer could dream of once again.
It’s why it’s the best reading challenge!
So far we’ve had a really cold autumn so you may well beat us this year.
It’s 22 degrees here at the moment, probably the highest we will get all summer 🙂
Lovely picture! I thought Antarctica was a great collection, I hope you enjoy it.
Pure coincidence that the books I picked were all moody blues! Looking forward to Antarctica.
I don’t recognise that Anna Krien which is going straight on my list. Big fan of her writing. Happy reading, Kate!
It was out many years ago Susan and is about a sexual assault that occurred within context of Australian Rules Football – so I guess it could be classified as true crime.
Thanks for that. Probably not one I’d search out. Her fiction is excellent.
You’ve got two five-star reads there: Night Games by Anna Krien and Antarctica by Claire Keegan.
Yay! I’ve had Night Games for years but when I bought it, my husband grabbed it (and that never happens so I let him read it… and then found it again recently). I have an AFL double on my list – Night Games and The Draft.
Well, I hate football (of any kind) but this book was brilliant (and deepened my hate of the game!!). I read it back to back with ‘Black and Proud’, a book about Nicky Winmar, which I still think about. Sadly, I never reviewed the books… I just could not articulate my feelings properly so didn’t bother trying 🤷🏻♀️
OMG… another Claire Keegan! I don’t care what its about, I’m going to preorder it, NOW!
It’s a wonderful short story collection!
I saw her speak at the Melbourne Writers Festival recently and decided it was a good opportunity to pick up her back collection 🙂 I got Walk the Blue Fields as well as Antarctica.
Nice blue stack! I hadn’t heard about a new Krasnostein, what’s that one about?
Enjoy the challenge! Buy Me the Sky sounds very interesting.
Here is my list:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2023/05/12/20-books-of-summer-2023/
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