Mission accomplished! I did well on the 20 Books of Summer challenge.
As it was, the challenge delivered one of my least enjoyed books this year and my first five-star book. Oddly, both books were about four sisters.
Other highlights (in addition to The Alternatives), included Love, Death & Other Scenes by Nova Weetman; Day by Michael Cunningham; and Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck.
I try to avoid counting audios (somehow it feels like cheating), but did need to include one (and a half) this year to make up the twenty books (half because I won’t finish Soundings by Doreen Cunningham today). Of the audios I listened to, the highlights were After Story by Larissa Behrendt, and Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor.
I always intend to use this challenge to tackle my TBR stack but intention and execution are two different things… and because of a stressful few months at work I have twice had to apply my Books-and-Sandwich-Self-Care strategy*. The result was the purchase of nine new books, so the TBR stack only grew.
And how did the weather comparisons go? Belfast’s summer was mostly slightly warmer than Melbourne’s winter, with a couple of exceptions at the beginning and end of the challenge.
Thanks again to Cathy for hosting this challenge!
*the strategy is simple – go to a bookshop and buy books. And then go to an excellent sandwich shop and order a delicious toastie (preferably something that you wouldn’t make for yourself at home – my go-to is a tuna melt).