#20BooksOfSummer is a nice, simple reading challenge hosted each year by Cathy from 746 Books: you can see her list here and she also has images you can download for the challenge (I’m doing 20 books, but there are also 15 book and 10 book options).
The reason I like this challenge is that it’s simple – read 20 books between 1 June and 3 September and share them on Twitter using the hashtag, or alert Cathy to what you’ve read on her blog. You’re allowed to swap in and out books and it doesn’t matter if you don’t complete all 20. I use it to find other interesting blogs to read and to find new readers for my blog.
You can read my round-up posts from 2015 and 2016 and find lists with links of all the books I read then over on my 20BooksofSummer page – scroll down, as I’ve added my list for this year there already.
So, what’s on the list for this year? I don’t have to add books from The Pile because I have got rid of most of The Pile already with my massive batch of May reading. So here are the paper books I have chosen (I say chosen; most of them are from the first half of my TBR) and a note on two additions below.
So …
Mitch Prinstein – “Popular” [not pictured] – a NetGalley book about social media likes and popularity in the digital age.
Stuart Maconie – “Long Road from Jarrow” [not pictured] – another NetGalley book in which he follows the path of the Jarrow marchers.
If I am approved for any more NetGalley books, they will have to be ADDITIONAL to these. Gulp. And I’m going to try to read these two by the end of June to give me lots of room for All Virago / All August.
Susie Dent – “How to Talk Like a Local” – one of her little books on language, this time on regional dialects and idioms.
Farahad Zama – “Mrs Ali’s Road to Happiness” – the fourth in the Marriage Bureau for Rich People series which I’ve been reading for a while. Should be light but with a bite of social conscience.
Miriam Toews – “A Boy of Good Breeding” – from the wish list, I like her novels about small town Canada although this seems very whimsical indeed.
By the way, I’m not necessarily going to read them in this order …
Scott Jurek – “Eat and Run” – to some of us, he’s a famous vegan ultrarunner and quite a lot of my running friends have read this. I love reading stories about how runners have achieved great feats.
Adam Nicolson – “When God Spoke English” – as regular readers know, I would read a re-writing of the phone book if it was done by Nicolson, and this is about the King James Bible.
John-Paul Flintoff – “Sew Your Own” – he goes looking for the meaning of life and ends up sewing his own clothes. Reviewers have not loved this as it’s quite disjointed and theoretical rather than explaining how he did things – I suspect I may end up swapping this out!
Francis Brett Young – “The Black Diamond” – rural and urban and industrial history mixed with violence, sex and football. As you do.
Eric Newby – “Something Wholesale” – the only book of his I haven’t read, about his adventures in the rag trade. Might be a good contrast with the Flintoff book.
Natasha Solomons – “The Gallery of Vanished Husbands” – novel I know nothing about but recommended by my friend Luci, who passed it to me originally.
Jane Gardam – “Old Filth” – her book centred on a male character which I have ignored all these years in favour of her female-centric ones. We’ll see.
Barbara Taylor – “Eve and the New Jerusalem” – feminism and socialism rising in the 19th century.
From here for a bit are reserved for All Virago / All August (which includes Persephones) which I do with the LibraryThing Virago Group. Not as many this time as last year.
Gladys Huntingdon – “Madame Solario” (Persephone) – a great big novel set in Cadenabbia on Lake Como, where we have stayed!
R.C. Sheriff – “Greengates” (Persephone) – I love his quiet observation of family life and this looks lovely, the tale of a man and his wife finding a building project in their retirement.
Amber Reeves – “A Lady and Her Husband” (Persephone) – what would you do if you found your husband was scrimping on the wages of the women who work in the tea rooms he owns?
Mollie Panter-Downes “One Fine Day” (Virago) – I’ve enjoyed her short stories and now it’s time for this novel set just post the Second World War, which many friends have admired.
Zora Neale Hurston – “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (Virago) – a classic of course, though a lot of dialect in it.
Dorothy Whipple – “Every Good Deed and other Stories” (Persephone) – I know these short stories will be wonderful.
Nick Baker – “ReWild” – another review copy, for Shiny New Books, about reclaiming our life in the wild places of our immediate world. This will need to be read soon for review.
So, what do you think of my list? 11 fiction and 9 non-fiction, no travel but going to the US and India and around the world on ultramarathons. A book on tech and a book on running and a book on nature. Mid-century women’s writing, the Midlands and a fair dose of feminism. That gives quite a good picture of my reading in general!
Have you read any of these? Are you doing 20BooksOfSummer this year?
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 30, 2017 @ 11:10:28
What I lovely pile of books! I’ve read the Newby and loved it (well, I love all his books!) and also One Fine Day which is magnificent. I’m not doing the challenge but I shall watch with interest those who do! Enjoy and good luck!
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Liz Dexter
May 30, 2017 @ 13:03:38
I’m pretty sure this is the only Newby I’ve not read, so I can’t wait to get to it!
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Joan Kyler
May 30, 2017 @ 12:15:20
It looks like a good selection of books. I’ve read many R. C. Sherriff and love him. I think you’ll like Greengates. I’m no longer a runner and was never an ultramarathoner (or marathoner), but I’m still a vegan and I loved Scott Jurek’s book. My doctor is a runner but not a vegan or vegetarian, but I gave her a copy of the book. I also like Dorothy Whipple. Good choices!
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Liz Dexter
May 30, 2017 @ 13:04:21
What a lovely and interesting overlap we have there! I’m looking forward to all of those – I am pretty sure they’ll all be good ones for me!
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heavenali
May 30, 2017 @ 14:55:02
Ooh a lovely pile of books. You know I am not joining in this year as I am so hopeless at sticking to lists. One fine Day is wonderful as is Madame Solario and Greengates, and the Whipple Stories. Their Eyes were Watching God is also memorable (I found some of the dialect hard but It’s an excellent novel).
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Liz Dexter
May 30, 2017 @ 14:57:42
Ha – I was thinking what a big overlap we probably have. I can’t wait for the Persephones (will I hold out until August?). I have read another by Hurston – Jonah’s Gourd Vine – so should hopefully be OK with the dialect.
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juliana brina
May 31, 2017 @ 12:39:24
Great list, Liz! From your pile I only read ‘Their eyes were watching God’, and, despite the dialect, I loved the book. Have fun! 🙂
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Liz Dexter
May 31, 2017 @ 12:54:40
I am looking forward to that one – can I wait until August?
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sarah
Jun 01, 2017 @ 07:54:38
Enticing selection. I’m so grateful to you for including Mollie Panter Downes ‘One Fine Day.’ I love her short stories but was unaware she had written a novel.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 01, 2017 @ 07:57:53
It looks like she did a few novels, as well as the two books of short stories re-issued by Persephone – this one is a Virago and I’m not sure they’ve put out the others. I was sooooo keen to read this when it arrived but then popped it in the TBR in its place. I think it fills one of my Reading A Century years, too!
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Brona
Jun 01, 2017 @ 10:37:23
I’ve only read Their Eyes Were Watching God on your list – but it will be a book you treasure forever – guaranteed!!
Love the Persephones – my next visit to the UK will definitely include a visit to the store 🙂
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Liz Dexter
Jun 01, 2017 @ 10:39:51
Ah,yes, that seems to be the one most people have overlap with and the only one by her most people have read. I like to be different, and have previously read Jonah’s Gourd Vine!
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Naomi
Jun 01, 2017 @ 15:47:17
I love Miriam Toews – this is one I haven’t read yet!
Enjoy your summer reading!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 01, 2017 @ 17:15:05
Yes, I think this is the only one of hers I haven’t read apart from the most recent one, whose subject matter is Too Much for me. Hope you have a good summer of reading, too!
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Grab the Lapels
Jun 01, 2017 @ 16:28:31
I love that you’re reading so many nonfiction books. I’ve gotten into them quite a bit myself, lately. If you have any trouble with the dialect in Their Eyes Were Watching God, let me know. I’m a pro at black dialect and Scottish dialect. My reading is weird, lol.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 01, 2017 @ 17:19:02
Yes, I’ve always read a lot of NF, more than most people I know. I’m running at 32 fiction / 27 non-fiction this year so far but NF was ahead until this month. Hoping I’ll be OK with the Hurston as I’ve read another of hers (Jacob’s Gourd Vine), some dialect terms might get me but I can look them up. Not like the days of the 90s where I was mightily puzzled over what a baloney sandwich, of all things, could be!
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State of the TBR June 2017 plus MORE buys plus an article I’d love you to read #amreading #books | Adventures in reading, writing and working from home
Jun 01, 2017 @ 17:34:36
Book review – Dorothy Whipple – “Every Good Deed and Other Stories” (Persephone) plus what happened in Oxfam on Saturday #books #amreading #bookconfessions #20booksofsummer | Adventures in reading, writing and working from home
Jun 04, 2017 @ 19:11:15
Cathy746books
Jun 05, 2017 @ 18:55:35
What a great list Liz, look forward to hearing about the Stuart Maconie – I love him on the radio!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 05, 2017 @ 18:57:29
Thanks, I was a bit disappointed by People’s Songs, and I’ve got Pies and Prejudice (is it called?) on the paper TBR, too, I do like him generally.
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Book review – Natasha Solomons – “The Gallery of Vanished Husbands” #20Booksofsummer #amreading | Adventures in reading, writing and working from home
Jun 26, 2017 @ 21:19:01
Book review – Alexei Sayle – “Stalin Ate my Homework” plus #20BooksOfSummer update #amreading #books | Adventures in reading, writing and working from home
Sep 05, 2017 @ 06:15:57