20 Books Of Summer 2026 Reading Challenge Sign-Up #20BOS26

Posted on by whatcathyreadnext

Last year Cathy at 746 Books handed over the baton of the 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge to two new hosts: Annabel at AnnaBookBel and Emma at Words and Peace. This year Annabel has taken on sole hosting duties producing brand new graphics and a new hashtag #20BOS26.

The 20 Books of Summer 2026 challenge runs from 1st June to 31st August. You can find all the information you need about the challenge here where you can also sign up to participate. 

Every year I approach the challenge high on ambition and usually low on likelihood of success. I’m aiming for the full 20 books again but this year with a healthy dose of realism. Therefore the majority of books on my list are from my NetGalley shelf, prioritising those with publication dates between June and September that I should theoretically be reading during that period anyway. I’ve added a couple from my current Classics Club list, my book club’s June pick and a couple of nonfiction books. Finally the remaining books longlisted for this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction that I haven’t yet read.

Being a stubborn old so-and-so, I like to stick to my original list and not take advantage of the option to swap books in and out. However, I do give myself more freedom to abandon books during the challenge if they’re not working for me. Links from the titles will take you to the book description on Goodreads. I’ll update them with links to my reviews when I’ve read them.

  1. Country People by Daniel Mason
  2. Carrion Crow by Heather Parry
  3. Prey by Graham Hurley
  4. Invitation from a Dictator by Rory Clements
  5. The Eagle and the Wolf (Age of Attila #1) by Gordon Doherty
  6. The Knife Maker of Venice by David Gilman
  7. A Fatal Love by Louisa Treger
  8. Where are the Kings by Donal Ryan
  9. The Millionaire Waltz by Anthony Quinn
  10. Daughters of Naples by Diana Giovinazzo
  11. Throw Away the Key by Jason M. Hough
  12. Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo
  13. Murder at the End of the World by Akane Araki, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
  14. Victoria Four-Thirty by Cecil Roberts
  15. Creatures of Circumstance by W. Somerset Maugham
  16. Miss Veal and Miss Ham by Vikki Heywood
  17. Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
  18. The Draw of the Sea by Wyl Menmuir
  19. Under a Metal Sky: A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder by Philip Marsden
  20. Boundary Waters by Tristan Hughes

Wish me luck! If you’re taking part too, enjoy your summer of reading.

20 thoughts on “20 Books Of Summer 2026 Reading Challenge Sign-Up #20BOS26”

  3. Good luck, Cathy. I’m glad that it’s back for another year, and I will definitely be participating again. I will wait and put my list together in a couple of weeks.

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  5. Looks like a great list! I love that you posted because I really would like to participate in this too. Even though my track record isn’t great, lol. Happy reading 🙂

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  8. I agree with the recommendation for Edenglassie and I also loved Miss Veal and Miss Ham, both of which I read via NetGalley. Via me to think of it, I also have a Daniel Mason on my shelf, A Far Country. I did have it in Dutch translation, but I found it in a street library recently, so I could put that on my list, which I’m still trying to decide on.

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  9. I admire anyone who can make a reading list and stick to it. I’m afraid I struggle to stick to any list I make.

    I’ve read and loved two books by Wyl Menmuir so far – didn’t know he had anything new out though. Something to look forward to

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    1. I find a reading list forces me to carve out time for reading plus most of the books on my list are NetGalley ARCs that I would be trying to read anyway. I confess I’d never heard of Wyl Menmuir before. However I was part of the judging panel for this year’s Winston Graham Historical Prize and he was on it too. He’s a lovely man and is building a boat at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. I thought his book sounded interesting as I love Cornwall. There are two more in the series – The Heart of the Woods and The Spirit of Stone (publishes in June).

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    1. Call Me Ishmaelle is my book club’s pick for June. I don’t think it’s a book I would have chosen for myself and I’m wondering if I’m going to be at a disadvantage because I’ve never read Moby Dick. Definitely haven’t time to fit that in!

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      1. Actually, unburdened by the Melville of it all might be a great perspective for reading Call Me Ishmaelle.

        I find that readers generally have three reactions to Moby-Dick—all perfectly valid! There is the group of readers who finish it and say, “Yeah, that’s a book.” There is the group will that put it down at some point with a “I don’t have time for your whale shenanigans, Melville!” And the group that decides, however flawed the book or their reasoning, that they’ll reread it periodically for for rest of their lives. (I’m the last group.)

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      2. Thanks, that’s really helpful. I’ll be able to tell you how I got on with it as an ‘unburdened’ reader in due course. It will be interesting to hear what other book club members make of it, especially those who’ve read Moby Dick (not many I suspect). Our book club tends to pick books on a whim. Someone sees a book, likes the look of it and we decide in double quick time.

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    1. I haven’t read Moby Dick and definitely won’t have time to do so AND read Call Me Ishmaelle before my book club’s meeting on 24th June. I’m don’t know how much that will affect my enjoyment of it, if at all.

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