
#20BooksofSummer an annual challenge hosted by Cathy at 746Books and one I’ll be joining in for the first time, though I did eye it in the past as well. This is a simple and flexible challenge where you pick a list of 10, 15 or 20 books to read between 1 June and 1 September 2022. And that’s not all, one can change one’s list, drop the number down, swap books–it’s all allowed.
Since despite my best intentions, I seem to be perpetually swimming in a sea of review copies, greedily sought from NetGalley and Edelweiss, and also Booktasters, for this year, I’ve decided to limit my list to 10, at least to start with. Since one can revise one’s list, I’ll see how things stand midway and may decide to increase my list to 15 (or who knows–miracles do occur–20!).
My entries are all chosen from the physical books I have on my TBR pile (mountain is a better word), which has been suffering neglect as a result of said sea of review copies. Of my ten choices, nine have featured in past Shelf Control posts about books lingering on my shelves though I’ve been meaning to read them, and I’m hoping, this challenge gets me to finally start reading these books, which I really do want to very much.
So here it is (all the links are to my shelf control posts which contain a description of the book except for the Alexander McCall Smith which links to its goodreads page):

- Father Goose by William Lishman
- The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
- Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
- The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
- The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
- The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson
- The Familiars by Stacey Halls
- The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson
- Attendant Lords by TCA Raghavan
Are you participating this year? What books have you chosen? Good Luck!
I’ve read two from your list Mallika, The Jousekeeper and the Professor and And Then There Were None and really enjoyed them both. Thanks so much for taking part and best of luck!
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Thanks Cathy 🙂 Looking forward to this very much. And Then There Were None is a bit complicated for me–I remember the story well, but having read and seen so many adaptations and versions, I found myself confused as to whether I’d ever read the original book, That’s how this ended up on my TBR.
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The only one I’ve read is the Ogawa which I enjoyed, I hope you do too! Good luck Mallika 🙂
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Thanks Madame Bibi 🙂 Keeping my fingers crossed
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Good luck with the challenge! It’s my first time taking part too. You have some great titles on your list – I’ve recently finished reading The Familiars and loved it, hope you do too!
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Thank you Emma 🙂 Happy to hear that The Familiars was so good. I’m looking forward to picking it up soon. Good luck to you too.
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Wow – I’ve been doing this since 2015! My challenge page is here if you’re interested https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/about/20-books-of-summer/
I don’t choose my books till the last day of May. Traditionally, I don’t allow review books on it, it’s straight print TBR. Eeks! And I try to do All August / All Virago as well but I have books in mind already and not sure there are any/many Viragoes in there.
Have fun and happy reading!
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Wow, that’s great to hear. I’ve done the same–no review copies/ebooks, just 10 from the physical pile that I have waiting.
Thanks, and good luck to you too 🙂
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Good luck! I never join in formally because I can’t stick to lists, but I will definitely read 20 books over the summer!!
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Thank you 🙂 This is more an effort to pick up some of the books I’ve been buying instead of just letting them pile up as I read review copies.
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Housekeeper and the Professor!! Oh what a lovely book! I am a big fan of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency–but am so sad they changed readers after 20 books with no explanation. Enjoy your reading.
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Glad to see so much enthusiasm for The Housekeeper and the Professor–this was recommended to me by a friend with whom I share many reading interests, so I have really been looking forward to finally picking it up. Perhaps this will be the one I start with.
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Good luck! And Then There Were None is one of my favourite Christie novels and I also enjoyed Golden Hill and The Familiars. I’m still putting my list together – I’m tempted to go for the full 20 but I think 10 or 15 would probably be more sensible!
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Thank you 🙂 I was too, but when I’m working I manage only about 10-12 reads a month on average and there’s always a fair few review copies so I though 10’s a safe bet for me. I’ll look up your list when it goes up.
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Good plan to get rid of some of your TBR mountain! I’ve only read two – The Kalahari Typing School for Men (enjoyable light reading) and And Then There Were None, which is one of her very best! Hope you enjoy them and all the others. 😀
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Thank you:) I really must start picking up the books I keep buying before adding another lot to the ever-growing mountain. They are all books I very much want to–just that there’s only so much time in a day.
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Good luck and have fun with your challenge Mallika. ❤📚
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Thanks so much Sandy 🙂
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I think I will also join this challenge. I haven’t read any of these, but I’ve been wanting to read And Then There Were None for a while now.
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Wendy, yo can pick your own list of books. Its really flexible. Check Cathy’s main post that I’ve linked.
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The Agatha Christie is ingenious (and it helped that I read it overlooking the island that inspired the book’s setting) but I couldn’t really feel sorry for many of the victims – which is part of Christie’s intention, I think. I still want to read the Ibbotson and may add it to my summer reads too.
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I’m looking forward to reading it and finally working out if I have actually read it before. The Ibbotson has been waiting a while now. I seem to get to her fiction with ghosts and such oftener.
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The Housekeeper and the Professor is a beautiful book.
The only other one I’ve read on your list is the Agatha Christie. I’ve heard good things about Golden Hill, though.
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Glad to hear that. The Housekeeper and the Professor is the one I hope to start my stack with in a day or two.
I have heard much praise for Golden Hill as well. My mother’s read it and she liked it very much, especially the historical detail
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I’ll be sure to look out for your review of Golden Hill, Mallika – you might tempt me to borrow it from the library!
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