My #20BooksOfSummer2022 Challenge……

It makes me very happy to type this so here goes

 CHALLENGE COMPLETE!!!! Wahoo!!!

The fabulous challenge, wonderfully hosted each year by the lovely Cathy at 746Books, is always a blast to take part in and this year I didn’t think I was going to finish my 20 books, but with the help of the heatwave that made it too hot for me to want to do anything other than read, I got there with a few days to spare!!  And I stuck rigidly to my list this year and found some wonderful new favourite books amongst them so that’s always the wonderful bonus to this challenge!!

Now I just need Cathy to run this challenge throughout the year and I might be able to make better inroads on the obscene TBR pile!!

Here’s a quick look back at the 20 Books that made 2022 a successful, if a little too hot, Summer for me!

BLONDE by JOYCE CAROL OATES – 5 STARS

GRACELAND by BETHAN ROBERTS – 3 STARS

ANY HUMAN HEART by WILLIAM BOYD – 5 STARS

FACES ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE by EMMANUELLE PAGANO – 3 STARS

ISABEL’S SKIN by PETER BENSON – 4 STARS

SAVING LUCIA by ANNA VAUGHAN – 4 STARS

MAGPIE LANE by LUCY ATKINS – 3 STARS

THE DOVES IN THE DINING ROOM by LAURA LAAKSO – 4 STARS

SOULJOURNER by PAUL STEVEN STONE – 5 STARS

SNEGUROCHKA by JUDITH HENEGHEN – 4 STARS

THE GIRL FROM THE HERMITAGE by MOLLY GARTLAND – 4 STARS

THE EIGHTH GIRL by MAXINE MEI-FUNG CHUNG – 5 STARS

THE CHAMELEON by SAMUEL FISHER – 4 STARS

WE ARE ANIMALS by TIM EWINS – 5 STARS

TULIP FEVER by DEBORAH MOGGACH – 3 STARS

STEALING ROSES by HEATHER COOPER – 4 STARS

FINER THINGS by DAVID WHARTON – 3 STARS

THE TYRANNY OF LOST THINGS by LUCY RHIANNON COSSLETT – 4 STARS

THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING by COLETTE SNOWDEN – 5 STARS

SWIMMING HOME by MARY-ROSE MACCOLL – 3 STARS

📚📚📚

And there it is!! Roll on Summer 2023!!!!! 😉

Advertisement

It’s back!!! My 20 Books of Summer 2022 list! #20BooksOfSummer22 #ReadingChallenge

I can’t believe it is that time of year already!! The wonderful reading challenge hosted by the lovely Cathy over at 746 Books is back for the 2022 version!!  And it’s just as relaxed as every other year!!  Choose your own target – be it 10,15 or the full monty of 20 – and then from 1st June to the 1st September is the time frame allowed to complete your challenge!

And it’s that chill that you can change your target if needs be, and even the list of books you initially choose can be changed if they’re not working out for you!! And that’s why I love this challenge!! It’s a great way for me to attack the out of control TBR mountain and I’ve had lots of fun this year deciding which plan of attack to take….. should I read lots off the Netgalley shelf?  Or go for all the real life books I have??!!

And I’ve come to the decision to attack the paperbacks that are clogging up my bookshelves! They’ve been sat there for years and I keep meaning to get round to them but failing miserably!! But I’ve also grouped them in pairs under very tenuous links……it made sense to me when I was coming up with the list so forgive me for the madness!!

So here it is…..the book stack for Summer 2022!

Now sit back and enjoy my silly links! Click on the book title to take you to the GoodReads page if you want to know more about each book!!

GIRLS’ NAMES

ISABEL’S SKIN by PETER BENSON

SAVING LUCIA by ANNA VAUGHT

BIRDS

THE DOVES IN THE DINING ROOM by LAURA LAAKSO

MAGPIE LANE by LUCY ATKINS

BEGINNING WITH S!

SOULJOURNER by PAUL STEVEN STONE

SNEGUROCHKA by JUDITH HENEGHAN

BODY PARTS!

FACES ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE by EMANUELLE PAGANO

ANY HUMAN HEART by WILLIAM BOYD

CELEBRITY ICONS

GRACELAND by BETHAN ROBERTS

BLONDE by JOYCE CAROL OATES

GIRL IN THE TITLE!

THE GIRL FROM THE HERMITAGE by MOLLY GARTLAND

THE EIGHTH GIRL by MAXINE MEI-FUNG CHUNG

WILDLIFE

THE CHAMELEON by SAMUEL FISHER

WE ARE ANIMALS by TIM EWINS

FLOWERS

TULIP FEVER by DEBORAH MOGGACH

STEALING ROSES by HEATHER COOPER

THINGS IN THE TITLE!

FINER THINGS by DAVID WHARTON

THE TYRANNY OF LOST THINGS by RHIANNON LUCY COSSLET

WATER ACTIVITIES!

THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING by COLETTE SNOWDEN

SWIMMING HOME by MARY-ROSE MACCOLL

📚📚📚

So there we have it! I am hoping to complete the full monty of 20 but I already have my doubts!! But I will try my best and have a blooming good time taking part in it all with everyone!! Bring on those hot sunny days so that we can all devote as many hours as possible to completing our challenge!!!

Good luck everyone!! And if you’re not signed up already, come join in the fun!!

20 BOOKS OF SUMMER 2021 – I’m in!! Are you?! #20booksofsummer21 #bookbloggers

How is it that time of year already?!! I can remember picking out my books for 2020 what seems like last week!  But here we are and the fabulous Cathy over at 746 BOOKS is setting up the 20 Books of Summer once again! And it’s my favourite time of the year!   Time to get some books off the TBR mountains!

The rules are simple – sign up to read either 10, 15, or 20 books over the Summer months from the 1st June to 1st September – and join in the fun using the hashtag #20booksofsummer21 to help and support everyone else in achieving their dream!

I always like to change things up as to how I pick my books for the Summer months – and it never gets any easier!!  Sat here surrounded by physical books as well as being shocking embarrassed by all the digital books I have stashed away (out of sight, out of mind!) I really never know how to narrow down the choice! BUT this year I’m going simple!!  I’ve just taken a look at my Netgalley shelf  and I am shamed!!  It is in the high treble figures and that is just awful!  So I’m going to clear a page of Netgalley reads!  That matches the 20 perfectly!  I’ve gone for my most recent additions and maybe this will now inspire me to go back and explore the others!  Let’s just hope I don’t keep adding to the shelf over the Summer!

So here’s my run down of what I’m hoping to read – I’d best get my Kindle charged up and ready to go!! Click on the book title for a link to the GoodReads blurb!

MY 20 BOOKS OF SUMMER 2021 TBR

VOYEUR by FRANCESCA REECE

OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER by JANE WENHAM-JONES

MURDER: THE BIOGRAPHY by KATE MORGAN

THE IMAGE OF HER by SONIA VELTON

THE WOLF DEN by ELODIE HARPER

FINDING THE MOTHER TREE by SUZANNE SIMARD

MY MESS IS A BIT OF A LIFE by GEORGIA PRITCHETT

THE WOMAN IN THE PURPLE SKIRT by NATSUKO IMAMURA

SONGS IN URSA MAJOR by EMMA BRODIE

THE DREAM WEAVERS by BARBARA ERSKINE

ANNA by SAMMY H.K. SMITH

ANIMAL by LISA TADDEO

HIDDEN SECRETS AT THE LITTLE VILLAGE CHURCH by TRACY REES

THE ISLAND HOME by LIBBY PAGE

THE ROSE GARDEN by TRACY REES

THE FAIR BOTANISTS by SARA SHERIDAN

A SECRET SCOTTISH ESCAPE by JULIE SHACKMAN

THE STRANDING by KATE SAWYER

VOYEUR by FRANCESCA REEVE

MADAM by PHOEBE WYNNE

THE GHOST IN THE GARDEN by JUDE PIESSE

📚📚📚

So there we have it! I’m committed!!Aarrgghh LOL!! A good mix of fiction and non fiction to hopefully keep me inspired!! Fingers crossed this is the motivation I need to FINALLY  start getting my Netgalley shelves looking a little more respectable……. a girl can dream anyway!!
I hope you’ll be joining in the fun too!!

HAPPY READING

#20BooksOfSummer – It is back!!! I’m in! Are you?? #20BooksOfSummer20

How could I not join in again?! My favourite time of the year is back!! The lovely Cathy over at 746 Books is hosting yet another fabulous 20 (or 10, or 15!) Books of Summer!  There are very few rules! You pick your own TBR, your own target and then from 1st June 2020 – 1st September 2020 your aim is to read those books! What could be more simple?!!

Well, deciding on the list each year is never easy – and then sticking to it is even harder as there’s always new books that tempt me! – but this year I need to shift a few books off the shelves (haha!) so I’ve gone for a mix of 10 books that have been loitering about for quite some time, as well as 10 non fiction books as I always say I want to read more! Well, now is my chance!!  Whether I stick rigidly to the list is another matter……

Here’s my 20! Click on the title for a link to the GoodReads page…

Starting with the Non Fiction pile…

The Last Giants by Levison Wood

A Secret Sisterhood by Emily Midorikawa

Diary of A Modern Country Gardener

Owl Sense by Miriam Darlington

Swimming With Seals by Victoria Whitworth

The Secret Life of Books by Tom Mole

The Otters’ Tale by Simon Cooper

The Way of the Hare by Marianne Taylor

Wally Funks’ Race For Space by Sue Nelson

How To Catch A Mole by Marc Hamer

And now for the Fiction stack…

Fishbowl by Bradley Somer

Women’s Weird; Strange Stories by Women 1890 – 1940

Slade House by David Mitchell

Madeleine is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum

Witchborn by Nicholas Bowling

Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson

Sea of Lost Love by Santa Montefiore

Happy Days of the Grump by Tuomas Kyro

A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside

Perfume by Patrick Suskind

📚📚📚

So there we have it! I hope to do all 20, there may be some changes, I may lose some sleep….. but it’s all good fun and I can’t wait for June 1st to be here!!

HAPPY READING!!

The 20 Books of Summer Challenge 2019 #746Books #20booksofsummer #tbr

It’s that time of year again!! Wahoo!!  The lovely Cathy of  746 Books is hosting this wonderful challenge again  to help us get a whole heap of books off our ever increasing TBR piles!!  In a fun way!!

You can choose how many books you want to read from the 3rd June to the 3rd September – 10, 15 or to go for the full monty of 20 and you can choose your own books and even swap them around as you see fit over the Summer!  I know I always start with the intention of reading certain books, but then get tempted by others! That’s ok with this challenge! It’s all up to you!!

So I’ve had great fun (!) deciding how to choose books for my ‘full monty’ challenge this year – it’s never easy with so many books to choose from! BUT I’ve plumped for a LITTLE and LARGE reading challenge for myself this summer!  I’ve gone for 10 books of under 200 pages (LITTLE!) and 10 books of over 400 pages (LARGE!) in the hope that I can get some of the chunkier books off my bookshelves that I always avoid picking up but mixing them up with the smaller books to give myself little breaks in between – alongside reading blog tour books and other books as normal! Because, why not!!!

So I’m already predicting failure for myself this year but I don’t care! I just love being part of it all and hope this little kick up the bum will get me to read the bigger books quicker and to stop being so scared of them all!  Want a look at the pile of doom?!!!

LITTLE

1. DANDELION WINE by RAY BRADBURY  192 pages

2. DAMNATION ALLEY by ROGER ZELAZNY  157 pages

3. ANIMAL FARM by GEORGE ORWELL  95 pages

4. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by VIRGINIA WOOLF – 159 pages

5.  MAN WITH A SEAGULL ON HIS HEAD by HARRIET PAIGE – 170 pages

6. THE GLORIOUS LIFE OF THE OAK by JOHN LEWIS-STEMPEL – 88 pages

7.  FIERCE FAIRYTALES by NIKITA GILL – 176 pages

8.  TOKYO UENO STATION by YU MIRI – 180 pages

9.  THE STORY OF THE TREASURE SEEKERS by E.NESBIT – 200 pages

10.  A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA by URSULA LE GUIN – 183 pages

LARGE

1. THE TURN OF MIDNIGHT by MINETTE WALTERS – 472 pages

2. THE GARDEN OF LOST AND FOUND by HARRIET EVANS  – 481 pages

3.  THOSE WHO ARE LOVED by VICTORIA HISLOP  – 480 pages

4.  THE LABYRINTH OF THE SPIRITS by CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON – 805 pages(!!!!)

5.  BRIDGE OF CLAY by MARKUS ZUSAK – 583 pages

6.  GODSGRAVE by JAY KRISTOFF 419 pages

7.  SOMEONE LIKE ME by M.R.CAREY – 500 pages

8.  THE MURDER OF HARRIET MONCKTON by ELIZABETH HAYNES – 504 pages

9.  THE GUTTER PRAYER by GARETH RYDER-HANRAHAN  – 512 pages

10.  A LONG SHADOW by CAROLINE KINGTON – 444 pages

📚📚📚📚📚

Made things easy for myself haven’t I?!  I’m sure I’ll crack on well with the LITTLE list so at least I hope to get 10 read this Summer!! We wait and see how I approach the LARGE list! I may need lots of tea and biscuits to get myself through those!

Are you taking part this Summer?! Good Luck if you are – come join us if you aren’t already signed up!  Use the #20booksofsummer on Twitter and you can see everyone else who is taking part!!

HAPPY READING!!

#20BooksOfSummer – Challenge Update – Completed!

As I look out the window on a very rainy Sunday, it’s nice to be able to report that I have completed the 2018 20 Books of Summer Challenge – yay me!!!  

So thank you to Cathy of 746 Books for hosting yet another fabulous Summer event!  My target this year was to read 20 books from my NetGalley bookshelves and, for the most part!, that is exactly what I did!! I did change a few books along the way as I found myself adding some new NetGalley finds on to the list, alongside some books that I bought myself that I just couldn’t resist reading for the challenge.  I found it to be a fabulous way of kicking my butt into gear and getting some books read that had been sitting around on the virtual shelves for quite a while!  Maybe there needs to be the 20 Books of Autumn & Winter challenges too to help me shift more off the ever expanding TBR piles!!

So here’s a rundown of the books that kept me entertained – click on the title for a link to my GoodReads reviews!

The End We Start From by Megan Hunter  – 4 stars

A Proposal To Die For by Vivian Conroy  – 3 stars

 

Vox by Christina Dalcher  – 4 stars

Summer at Hollyhock House by Cathy Bussey  – 3 stars 

Snap by Belinda Bauer  – 4 stars 

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden  – 5 stars 

The Moby-Dick Blues by Michael Strelow  – 3 stars 

Girl With Dove by Sally Bayley  – 3 stars 

Summer at Carrick Park by Kirsty Ferry  – 5 stars

The Daughter of River Valley by Victoria Cornwall  – 5 stars 

Whistle In The Dark by Emma Healey  – 3 stars 

The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale  – 4 stars

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Ruth Hogan  – 5 stars 

Oh Crumbs by Kathryn Freeman  – 5 stars 

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman  – 5 stars 

Arlette’s Story by Angela Barton   –  4 stars 

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd  – 3 stars

The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan  – 5 stars

 The Cafe At Seashell Cove by Karen Clarke  –  5 stars

My Mother the Liar by Ann Troup  – 4 stars 

☀☼☀☼☀

Did you take part this year? I hope it has been successful for you as well! Roll on next Summer!!

20 Books of Summer 2018 #20booksofsummer

 

The smell of Summer is in the air!! And now it is time to take part in one of my favourite bookish challenges!!! The lovely Cathy over at 746 Books started this a few years ago now, and thankfully has decided to run it again for 2018!

It’s a simple enough challenge! From the 1st June to 3rd September the challenge is to read!!  The main aim is 20 books, but you can also sign up for 10 or 15 if you want to! And you can change your reading list along the way, or the number if needs be! We never know what challenges lie ahead over the summer months so this is the perfect challenge to take part in as nothing is set in stone!

It’s always fun to see how everyone is doing and Cathy also tweets progress using #20booksofsummer so I’ll be doing the same – if I remember! – and hope you do too if you take part!

Probably the hardest part for me is choosing the initial list of 20!  The bookshelves of doom are always looking over me at this point, as well as the Kindle bursting at the seams with book choices thanks to my book acquiring habits!! So I have decided on using this opportunity to attack my NetGalley bookshelf which is way out of control!! Not my fault of course!! But now I have the perfect excuse to go through the backlog of books I’d been so excited to read when I first spotted them there!

So below is the preliminary list – there may be changes along the way! – so click on the book title for the link to the GoodReads page if you want to know more about each book!

Arlette’s Story by Angela Barton

Oh Crumbs by Kathryn Freeman

Us Against You (Beartown #2) by Fredrik Backman

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

Letters to Iris by Elizabeth Noble

The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen

Elefant by Martin Suter

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Ruth Hogan

Girl with Dove by Sally Bayley

The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan

The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale

The Moby-Dick Blues by Michael Strelow

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

Just For the Holidays by Sue Moorcraft

The Way of all Flesh by Ambrose Parry

The Poison Bed by E.C. Fremantle

The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J.Harris

The Cafe at Seashell Cove by Karen Clarke

My Mother the Liar by Ann Troup

Whistle in the Dark by Emma Healey

📚📚📚

And there we have it! A wide range of genres and hopefully lots to keep me entertained over the summer months!

Hope a few of you will be joining in the 20 books fun! Looking forward to seeing your lists and progress!!

HAPPY READING!

#20BooksOfSummer – done and dusted!

It is the 3rd September! And my Summer of taking part in the fabulous #20booksofsummer hosted by the lovely Cathy at 746 Books has come to an end! And I’m happy to report that my quest to read 20 books over the Summer period has been a success!!  Wahoo!! Yay me!!  Sounds like an excuse to go book shopping and treat myself to a book or two as a reward!! Like I need an excuse anyway, but I’ll use it!!!

The books I chose to read this year were those on my Kindle as I do have a tendency to hoard an e-book or a hundred, and I found this a great way to get through some of those I’d forgotten about alongside others I’d been approved for via NetGalley and that helped me keep on top of reviews there too!  Win Win situation!!

So here’s a little summary of all the books that I got through over the past couple of months – click on the title if you’d like to see my GoodReads review!

The Ice by Laline Paull – 3 stars

Esteemed Vampire Cat by Tyrolin Puxty – 5 stars

Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore  – 4 stars

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison  –  4 stars

Up Close by Henriette Gyland  –  5 stars

Impossible Views of the World by Lucy Ives  –  2 stars

After I’ve Gone by Linda Green  –  3 stars

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig  –  3 stars

House.Tree.Person by Catriona McPherson  –  4 stars

A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall  –  5 stars

Finding Secrets by Lauren Westwood  –  4 stars

The Butterfly Storm by Kate Frost  –  2 stars

Laura Lake and the Hipster Weddings by Wendy Holden  – 2 stars

Mist & Whispers by C.M.Lucas  –  3 stars

Girl Reading by Katie Ward  –  3 stars

 

Second Chance Summer by Jill Shalvis  –  2 stars

Flutter by Olivia Evans  –  3 stars

Yesterday by Felicia Yap  –  3 stars

Cutting Back by Leslie Buck  –  4 stars

The Scandal by Fredrik Backman  –  5 stars

And there we have it!!  May have found 2 of my favourite books of 2017 already by taking part in this so am very grateful for that alone!! And with 20 less books now on my TBR pile I feel I can approach the remaining – insert obscene number of books piled up around the house – with more confidence and hope that they throw up some more fascinating stories like those I’ve uncovered over the Summer of 2017!  Roll on the #20booksofsummer2018!!

HAPPY READING!!

#20BOOKSOFSUMMER – the update!

My quest to get myself organised has led me to update my #20booksofsummer list which I started at the end of May and all organised by the lovely Cathy at 746 Books .  A way to get us all, hopefully, reading a little more over the summer months and keeping us focused as readers in trying to reduce the TBR mountains we all have collected!!

And it appears that my challenge is going very well so far as I have reached the halfway point!!  A whole 10 books read from my list – yay me!!!  This challenge runs until the 3rd September so I’m feeling quietly confident that I will be able to achieve my aim again, although I’m rather now wishing I hadn’t said that as I’ve not suffered a reading slump recently and I’ve just invited it to start! 

So here’s a little look at the books I’ve completed and if you click on the titles you get to see my GoodReads review page if you so wish!

1.  The Ice by Laline Paull  –  3 stars

2. Colt Harper – Esteemed Vampire Cat by Tyrolin Puxty  –  5 stars

3. Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore by Robin Sloan  –  4 stars

4.  Up Close by Henriette Gyland  –  5 stars

5. After I’ve Gone by Linda Green  –  3 stars

6.  House.Tree. Person by Catriona McPherson  –   4 stars

7.  A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall  –  5 stars

8.  Finding Secrets by Lauren Westwood Writer  – 4 stars

9.  Laura Lake and the Hipster Weddings by Wendy Holden  – 2 stars

10.  Mist & Whispers by C.M.Lucas  –  3 stars

All up to date now then!!  And most have been enjoyable experiences which always helps!!  A Thousand Paper Birds has been the highlight for me so far! Such a magical book!! 

 The main reason I started this challenge was to make a dent on my Kindle TBR list and the NetGalley list too was spiralling out of control, so this has really helped me to free up some space on both and I am now just hoping I can keep up the pace and reach my goal!! I can see August being another busy reading month!!

HAPPY READING!!

20 Books of Summer – 2017 challenge!

It is back!! My favourite time of year!!  And all thanks to Cathy at 746Books who started all this off way back when!  It runs from the 1st June to 3rd September and is just a fun little challenge to help spur you on in getting a few more books read and, hopefully, reduce the TBR mountains just a little!

It is always difficult putting together a list and you do have the freedom to change it if you want – your list, your rules!! – but I find that having a set list makes me focus a little more and takes the stress out of wasting time deciding what to read next! The stress I had this year putting my list together was how to decide what books to put on! There are piles of books everywhere in my house screaming out to be read – do your TBR piles do that to you too?! – and I finally settled on the hidden TBR piles and that is those on my Kindle/s!!   I do have a tendency of downloading books after seeing a review, or finding it for free, and then it is gone never to be heard of again!  So this challenge will now give me the kick up the butt to finally read these books, along with a few that have been on my NetGalley shelf for a while, and hopefully help me decrease one TBR pile for a while!

So here is a list of what will see me through the next couple of months – click on the title for links to the GoodReads page if you’d like a bit more info about each book!

1.  Colt Harper: Esteemed Vampire Cat by Tyrolin Puxty

2. Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore by Robin Sloan

3. The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

4. The World of Shadow by Kate Hamer

5. Up Close by Henriette Gyland

6. Impossible Views of the World by Lucy Ives

7. After I’ve Gone by Linda Green

8. The Ice by Laline Paull

9. How to stop time by Matt Haig

10. House.Tree. Person by Catriona McPherson

11.A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall

12. Finding Secrets by Lauren Westwood Writer

13. The Butterfly Storm by Kate Frost

14. Laura Lake and the Hipster Weddings by Wendy Holden

15. Mist & Whispers by C.M.Lucas

16. Bricking It by Nick Spaulding

17. The Girl with the Green Tinted Hair by Gavin Whyte

18.  Reunited by Daniel Gothard

19.The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making by Catherynne M.Valente

20.  Second Chance Summer by Jill Shalvis

And there we have it! The list for 2017!  Isn’t it bad when you can’t remember downloading half of the titles you find as you rummage through the library on your Kindle!!  Oops!!  So hopefully they’ll all be fabulous reads and I’m really looking forward to discovering some new authors to me and I think there’s a book to cover every mood this Summer!

Will you be taking part in the 20 Books of Summer?! I hope so! Looking forward to seeing more lists!!

HAPPY READING!!