Tuesday 31 May 2016

#20booksofsummer: Because I Need an Excuse to TBR...

20booksfinal

Thanks to the beauty of twitter I just found out about 20 Books of Summer hosted by Cathy of 746 Books, which I've apparently missed every single summer up to now, but it's never too late to join in I guess, so here I am jumping on the bandwagon!

The basic idea is that between June 1st and September 5th you attempt to read 20 books (or however many you want,really). I have a pile of 20 I pulled off of my shelves but I know I'll find lots more in the library so this list will be subject to change. I'm going to pull them out five or ten at a time and pile them on my coffee table, since that worked really well at motivating me through my May TBR. I'm also going to be hosting a readalong of Middlemarch during July if anybody's interested in reading that with me - watch this space for details going up later in the week!

So before we start, rather than me listing my individual reasons for choosing these let's just say that all of them are books I want to read because I love the series, the author, or someone I think is great bought it for me or otherwise recommended it! Now that's done, here's the pile I've pulled out:


Series I'm partway through 

The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie and These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder for the #LittleHouseRAL (these are additional titles because I'll be reading them for the read-along Lynn and I are hosting this year)

Heroes of Olympus: House of Hades by Rick Riordan - a bit of Percy Jackson catch-up can never be wrong!

The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home by Catherynne M. Valente

Rilla of Ingleside by L.M Montgomery

Series I Want to Start 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor 

Changeling by Philippa Gregory 
Awesome Nonfiction

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Deep South by Paul Theroux

Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine

Take it as a Compliment by Maria Stoian and The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston - two more additions for The Feminist Orchestra book club!

Standalones 

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri 

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer 

The Prestige by Christopher Priest

Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon 

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey 

Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M Montgomery.

Poetry  

Dart by Alice Oswald

Classic Type Stuff 

The Children who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham (and possibly The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett and any number of other Persephone classics)

Middlemarch by George Eliot - I'll be reading this over a 6 week period during the end of June and July. Look for details later this week!

I'll also have a couple of children's books to read for my kid lit book club but I only know that June's pick is the brilliant Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo, which I'll probably re-read but have already read.. So based on this list I need to read around 9 books a month, which is a little daunting but providing I mix it up with longer and shorter titles, fiction and non I think I can do it!

Are you taking part in the challenge? Leave links to your lists in the comments, I'd love to see them!



10 comments:

  1. Great list! A few people seem to be reading some of the Anne books - Rilla counts as that! It's all temoting me to re-read them all. The Michael Chabon is a good one too. Enjoy your reading! Here's my list... https://fictionfanblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/20-books-of-summer-2016/

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  2. I just saw this today, and I think I'm going to join. It helps keep me focused and motivated. Summer can get really busy.

    Good luck with Middlemarch.

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  3. I'm not taking part - I was aware of this challenge until you shared it - but I'm going to be following along with your fun!

    It sounds like you've got a great mix of books on your stack of 20, and it's great that you've picked them from what's on your shelves already.

    The Prestige is a book I've been keen to read for a while as the film adaptation is one of my all time favourite films, so I look forward to seeing how that title pans out for you.

    Happy reading!!

    Reading With Jade

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  4. Flora and Ulysses was sooooo awesome! And I love Lahiri, period! Nice list! Love how we both have the Little House books right there front and center! Hard to believe we're over halfway through with the series books!

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  5. Oh, I might join this! I've just finished uni for nearly four months of summer and I was thinking of trying for 12 books a month... so more like 36 books of summer for me! (Well, that's my optimistic target anyway!)
    Graceling and its sequels are so good, I've been thinking of rereading them some time. Also Bad Feminist is great :)
    And Middlemarch readalong? Eeep! Count me in!

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  6. The Snow Child is really good -- so atmospheric. Best wishes with your summer reading!

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  7. Oooooh I feel like I maybe did this once, but I am so into making a summer book pile, yaassss! Also I have been trying to read Middlemarch for SO LONG so I shall probably be joining you on that journey :D

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  8. I read Belzhar by Wolitzer and am keen to try her older books - I'll be curious to see what you think of this one.

    I have Ivey's latest book on my TBR pile - it may get bumped into one of the free slots I've left on my list for August as I keep hearing good things about it.

    Good luck

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  9. I read Belzhar by Wolitzer and am keen to try her older books - I'll be curious to see what you think of this one.

    I have Ivey's latest book on my TBR pile - it may get bumped into one of the free slots I've left on my list for August as I keep hearing good things about it.

    Good luck

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  10. Ohhh, this is a good idea! It's probably a little too late to join in now, but I wish I'd seen this.

    I desperately recommend The Prestige. Desperately and fervently (I just tried to spell that three different ways before giving up and googling it).

    I also recommend ALL the books in your 'Series I Want To Start' category. All of them :)

    I've never read Middlemarch, or any of her other books, but I keep meaning to. I know NOTHING about them though, so I'm slightly apprehensive.

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