Two weeks ago Cathy at 746Books announced the 2023 edition of her annual challenge #20BooksofSummer, a flexible challenge which encourages readers to pick 20 (or 15 or 10) books to read between June and August (until 1st September) of the year. Being a flexible challenge, one is welcome to increase or reduce numbers, replace books and more. Last year, my first time participating, I’d chosen to read 10 books and managed 9and a 1/2 but this year, I’m giving myself more of a challenge by raising the number to 15. Like last time, I am prioritising the books that I’ve purchased over review copies which gain my attention for much of the year, but unlike last time, where I only had books that I physically owned on the list, this time, I’ve included 9 physical books and 6 e-copies. Also since I will be hosting #ReadingtheMeow2023 in the second week of June, I have two review copies (of cat-ty) books on this list as well, though I do hope to read more than these for the actual event! So here goes:

Physical books

The physical book pile includes ones which have been pending for long and which I keep meaning to get to but don’t. In these are also a couple of contemporary young adult titles I excitedly bought but haven’t heard read. The books are

  1. The Cousins by Karen M McManus
  2. The Foundling by Stacey Halls
  3. The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer
  4. Coromandel by Charles Allen
  5. An Academic Question by Barbara Pym
  6. The Rescuers by Margery Sharp
  7. Farthest Field by Raghu Karnad
  8. Loveboat Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen
  9. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

E-Books

This list includes one title that I really want to get to this time, which is essays by Percy Shelley, something that’s been pending for far too long on my pile; others in the list are a couple of books for Chris at Calmgrove’s #LoveHain (reading the Hanish cycle by Ursula Le Guin) which I haven’t started (though it’s five months into the year already) and a couple of the cat-ty books!

  1. A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays by Percy Bysshe Shelley
  2. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursuala Le Guin
  3. The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
  4. Our Cats in Amsterdam by Julian Worker (second in the Diary of a Buddhist Cat set of books)
  5. Don’t Trust the Cat by Kristen Tracy
  6. Umberto’s Circus by Eduard Bass

So those are my 15 books. Let’s see how I do this time.

Are you joining in this challenge? Which books are you planning to read? Any on my list that you’ve read or plan to?

47 thoughts on “15 Books of Summer”

  2. As you know, I read Before the Coffee Gets Cold – I’m curious what you will think of it. And I’ve read and strongly recommend the Le Guin, though not this time around – I hope you will too. Currently on The Word for World Is Forest, which I’d missed till now. Barbara Pym, Georgette Heyer, and Margery Sharp are all favorites. Looks like you’re going to have a great summer!

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  8. I recently started Before the Coffee Gets Cold but temporarily put it aside for other reads I’d planned – it’s a bit too soon for me to pass an opinion on it yet though! Apart from the Le Guin titles I haven’t read any of the others, but good luck when you get to them. 🙂

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  11. I haven’t read any of the books on your list, but Barbara Pym is one of my favourite authors, so I’m keen to hear what you think of AAQ. You’ve got a nice variety across your list, so hopefully lots to enjoy.

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  14. You have some lovely books to read! Can’t wait tor read your thoughts on them, especially Pym’s and Our Cats in Amsterdam. I can’t find the author’s books, though (Julian Woker), at both Scribd and Playbooks. But then I found another lovely cat-ish book with Buddhist theme, so… 😛

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  17. Nice list! I’ve gone for the 20 and, as usual, I’m not allowing myself to include review books existing or incoming, or e-books, even though I have NetGalley books for each month. Fool or not? Hm, we’ll see. I don’t always do it, but I always enjoy it! Have fun with yours.

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    1. I didn’t include any last time with with Reading the Meow planned and the way my reading has been so far this year, I decided not to risk not including a couple of review books. And my purchased or downloaded ebooks do tend to get neglected otherwise

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