20 Books of Summer 2024 (But More Like 10)

After taking part in 20 Books of Summer, hosted by Cathy from 746books, for the first time in 2022, I said that I wouldn’t participate again, because I had put myself under too much stress (this was entirely my fault as Cathy is the most laid-back host ever). However, the moment I started seeing other bloggers sharing their reading lists, I couldn’t help but want to take part again as well. 

The challenge is to read 20 books (or 15, or 10) during the three months of summer, being a great opportunity to take a good number of books off your TBR. Since, for some years now, I’ve mostly only been buying books as I read them, the number of unread books on my shelves is low. Fear not! I have around 300 books on a wish list. 

For my list of books to read from 1 June to 1 September, I picked two unread novels from the ones I already own, plus eight other books that have been on my wish list for at least more than six months. Yes, this time I’m only committing to read 10 (relatively short) books, in order to increase my chance of success! They are:

Reading Ireland Month is Coming

The time to celebrate books written by Irish authors is near. This March, Cathy from 746 Books will once again host Reading Ireland Month! She encourages us to read any type of books, between 1 and 31 of March, as long as their authors are from the island of Ireland. If we wish we can also theme our music-listening and viewing choices around this celebratory month.

I’m usually terrible at taking part in reading events and challenges, because I tend to never have the appropriate books at the right time. I only participated in Reading Ireland Month once before, two years ago, for example. This year, however, I was prepared and have, in fact, been eagerly waiting to take part in The Begorrathon, having ordered two books by Irish authors back in January.

My plan is to read the books by Irish authors mentioned below and also to try to watch some movies and TV series. Are you curious to know what my choices are?

Christmas Book Blogger Tag

Seeing that Christmas Day is just around the corner, I wanted to write another post related to the season. After six years of blogging, I was short of new ideas, though. My solution involved no creativity whatsoever, since I just googled Christmas-related tags. The Christmas Book Blogger Tag, created by Rachel from the blog Confessions of a Book Geek, which I had never heard of before, seemed interesting, so I decided to answer as many questions as I could.

 

What is your favourite Christmas scene in a book?

I don’t tend to read many books solely set during Christmas. I think I’ve only read a handful of them; thus, I’m picking one from a very limited sample. The Christmas scene that is the most vivid in my mind at the moment is the one in The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter, so I’m considering it my favourite for this tag, though the book is only partially set at this time of the year. The main character in this novel, Melanie, and her siblings have a very different Christmas than the one they were used to. After the death of their parents, they had to go live with their brutish uncle Philip, a toymaker in London.

 

Do you have any Christmas book traditions?

I wish I had an impressive answer to this question. But I, sadly, don’t. Maybe I should start one next year…

20 Books of Summer 2022 – How Did I Do?

2022 was the first year I took part in 20 Books of Summer hosted by Cathy of the blog 746 Books. The challenge is simple, albeit not necessarily easy to achieve – read 20 books during the three summer months (it’s also possible to read only 10 or 15). As in a way I was already expecting to happen, I didn’t manage to read the 20 books I had selected at the end of May. I only read in their entirety eleven books, decided not to finish three and am still currently reading one (Human Acts by Han Kang).

Although this challenge allowed me to finally pick up books that had been on my wish list for a long time, I don’t think I’ll participate again next year, since it was far more taxing than I had anticipated. I thought that having a set number of books to read within a short space of time wouldn’t be a weighty pressure, but it ended up feeling like it. I usually only read one to three books a month (depending on the size), so I found it stressful to have to push myself to read more than usual. Well, I didn’t have to… but, particularly in July, I tried really hard to. Having only picked up short books also rendered the reading experience in a way monotonous.

Below is the list of books that I had set for the challenge, featuring links to the reviews of those I read and mentioning the ones that I DNFed.

The Book Reviewing Tag

Reviews are a staple of the majority of book blogs, but that doesn’t mean that all bloggers review books in the same way. Since I’m always interested in knowing how other bloggers approach the reviewing process, I was pleased to discover the book reviewing tag, created by Fatma from the blog The Book Place. It is all about how we write reviews, the books we choose to review and how we evaluate our own reviews. There are eight questions that I tried to answer succinctly.

 

What’s your review writing process like (do you write notes somewhere, make annotations, highlights, etc.)?

I’ve been following the same review writing process almost since I started blogging. I always write notes on a notebook or, if I’m not at home, on my phone at the end of each reading “session” about the things I don’t want to forget to mention on the review of the book I’m reading – initial plot points, writing style, personality of the characters, quotes I liked, etc. This makes writing the review itself (usually the day after I finish the book) easier, since I then only have to connect all the notes in a coherent way, plus write an introduction and a conclusion. The proofreading process takes sometimes as long as writing the review, since I keep getting prepositions and other things wrong. But it’s all part of the joy of not having a blog in my first language.

Mid-Year Freak Out Tag

The mid of the year is just around the corner, so this is the perfect time to start reflecting on our reading year. I’ve recently watched Lauren from the YouTube channel Lauren and the Books doing the Mid-year Freak Out Tag and decided to answer the questions as well, although, if everything goes according to plan, I’ll read more books in the second half of the year than in the first and, therefore, the best may well be still to come.

 

1. Best book you have read so far this year

One by One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden is probably the best book I’ve read this year so far. Through a story of a grieving family, it paints a picture of the Northern Irish society during the Troubles. As the book goes back and forth in time, the fascinating characters come to life.

 

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far this year

I’ve only read one sequel so far – The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb. It is the second book in The Liveship Traders Trilogy, which is set in a world where the figureheads of ships become alive, because they are made of wood with magical properties.

20 Books of Summer 2022 – Reading Plans

Summer is coming and with it a reading challenge that I’ve never taken part in, but that I have been tempted to try for a while – the 20 Books of Summer, hosted by Cathy of the blog 746 Books. The goal is to read 20 books (or fewer) from our TBR during three months. This year’s edition runs from 1 June to 1 September, and I’m joining in! Besides endeavouring to read 20 books, it’s also possible to choose to read “only” 10 or 15 books. So why have I, as a slow reader who only finishes around two or three books per month, decided to read 20 books? There’s no reasonable explanation!

I do have a plan to try to be successful in this challenge, though. I’m not reading any books a few days before the beginning of 20 Books of Summer. The reasoning behind this is that I hope I’ll miss reading so much that I’ll feel like reading more pages a day than usual. Moreover, when making the list of books I plan to read during this period, I only selected short ones. I don’t think any of them is longer than 250 pages.

Although I don’t have a huge pile of unread books to pick from, since I’ve only been buying books as I read them, I do have more than 200 books on my wish list. From the ones that have been on that list for more than a year, I selected various short novels (some may even be classed as novellas), a graphic novel, plus short story and poetry collections. Four of them are translations of books written by women, because I also want to participate for the first time in Women in Translation month during August.

Six Degrees of Separation – from ‘Our Wives under the Sea’ to ‘Hotel Iris’

It’s the beginning of the month, which means that it’s time for another chain of books. Six Degrees of Separation is a bookish meme created by Kate from Books are My Favourite and Best. Every month Kate chooses one book to start the chain and we just have to select other six, each connected in some way with the previous one.

For April the first book is Our Wives under the Sea by Julia Armfield, which I haven’t read yet, though I enjoyed her collection of short stories Salt Slow. In her debut novel, Miri is happy that her wife, Leah, has returned home from a deep-sea mission. Leah is struggling, however, as that mission has not ended well.

The title of Julia Armfield’s novel reminds me of the short story collection Diving Belles by Lucy Wood. The main character in the first tale, which is memorably atmospheric, goes under the sea on a diving belle to see her husband. The sea is, in fact, a recurring element in many of the stories featured in this collection.

Six Degrees of Separation – from ‘The End of the Affair’ to ‘Catch the Rabbit’

I’ve been meaning to take part in the bookish meme Six Degrees of Separation, created by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best, for a long time. This month I’m finally joining in, despite being (fashionably) late! What does it consist in? Every month Kate chooses a book and we just need to add other six, each having a link to the previous book in our chain.

This March, the initial book is The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, which I don’t know much about, as I haven’t read it. Set in London during the Second World War, it seems to be about an affair gone awry. After Sarah ends her relationship with Maurice Bendrix, he hires a private detective to follow her.

Another book set during the Second World War and that I also haven’t read yet is Transcription by Kate Atkinson. In 1940, the 18-year-old Juliet Armstrong starts working at an obscure department of the MI5, whose purpose is to monitor fascist supporters.

My Choices for Reading Ireland Month

March is just around the corner and with it comes Reading Ireland Month, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Although this is the 6th year of The Begorrathon, as it’s also known, I haven’t taken part before. One of the reasons why I didn’t participate in previous years is that I never happened to have unread books by Irish authors on my shelves. For the 2022 edition I wanted to be prepared, so I bought two books ahead of time.

Sadly, I still won’t be able to write posts based on all the four prompts suggested by Cathy, since I haven’t read enough books by Irish authors, in order to write interesting content. Nevertheless, throughout March, my plan is to write about all the (few) books I’ve read by Irish authors so far and the new Irish books that I will certainly add to my wish list close to the end of Reading Ireland Month. Moreover, I will also review the two books that I will be reading. They are:

 

One by One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden

In One by One in the Darkness, Deirdre Madden tells the story of three Northern Irish sisters. The book comprises two timelines. One is set in 1994, a week before the IRA ceasefire, the other takes place during the sisters’ childhood in the 1960s and the 1970s. The praise for this book is immense, and my expectations are certainly high.