20 Books Of Summer 2024 Reading Challenge #20booksofsummer24

whatcathyreadnext14 Comments

20-books-of-summerI can’t believe it’s time again for this annual challenge run by my namesake Cathy at 746 Books.  Now in its tenth year, the challenge will run from Saturday 1st June to Sunday 1st September 2024.  I’ve participated for the past few years but only managed to complete it once, in 2021.

As (the other) Cathy explains, the rules are simple.  Take the Books of Summer image, pick the 10, 15 or 20 books you’d like to read and add your link to Cathy’s master post so she knows you’re taking part.

The rules are accommodating.  Want to swap a book? Go for it.  Fancy changing your list half way through? No problem.  Deciding to drop your goal from 20 to 15? She’s fine with that too.

I’m aiming for the full 20 once again and, as last year, I’m targeting books that have been in my TBR pile for way too long. Many of them appeared on last year’s list, I’m afraid to say. I have a couple of review copies received from authors I’d really like to get to but I’m also trying to be more realistic by including ARCs with publication dates from June onwards that I ‘need’ to read and review. In previous years I’ve been foolish enough to think I can read 20 books in addition to my review commitments for blog tours, etc.

You can find my list below.  Links from the titles will take you to the book description on Goodreads. I’ll update them with links to my reviews when – note, not if – I’ve read them.

  1. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (acquired October 2017)
  2. Transcription by Kate Atkinson (acquired January 2018)
  3. The Draughtsman by Robert Lautner (acquired March 2018)
  4. The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle by Kirsty Wark (acquired March 2018)
  5. Appetite by Philip Kazan (acquired April 2018)
  6. Anna of Kleve by Alison Weir (acquired June 2018)
  7. Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce (acquired March 2019)
  8. Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts (acquired March 2019)
  9. The Cross and the Curse by Matthew Harffy (acquired May 2019)
  10. Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott (acquired July 2019)
  11. The Second Sleep by Robert Harris (acquired July 2019)
  12. To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek (acquired February 2020)
  13. Tidelands by Philippa Gregory (acquired February 2020)
  14. A Place Without Pain by Simon Bourke
  15. In the Garden of Sorrows by Karen Jewell
  16. French Windows by Antoine Laurain Read and reviewed
  17. Alvesdon by James Holland
  18. Dark Frontier by Matthew Harffy (publishes 4th July)
  19. The King’s Mother by Annie Garthwaite (publishes 11th July)
  20. Heart, Be At Peace by Donal Ryan (publishes 15th August)

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

My Week in Books – 5th May 2024

whatcathyreadnext2 Comments

My Week in Books

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I published my review of historical mystery, The Montford Maniac by M.R.C. Kasasian. 

Tuesday – I came up with my own topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday sharing an update on My Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List. 

Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading. I also took a look at the books on the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 Shortlist.

Thursday – I shared My Top 5 April 2024 Reads. 

Friday – I published my review of historical novel, Darkness Does Not Come At Once by Glenn Bryant.

Saturday – I took part in the monthly #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a book chain from The Anniversary by Stephanie Butler to The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting.

New arrivals

Heart, Be At PeaceHeart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan (eARC, Transworld via NetGalley)

‘I said it before. Madness comes circling around. Ten-year cycles, as true as the sun will rise…’ 

Some things can send a heart spinning; others will crack it in two. In a small town in rural Ireland, the local people have weathered the storms of economic collapse and are looking towards the future. The jobs are back, the dramas of the past seemingly lulled, and although the town bears the marks of its history, new stories are unfolding.

But a fresh menace is creeping around the lakeshore and the lanes of the town, and the peace of the community is about to be shattered in an unimaginable way. Young people are being drawn towards the promise of fast money whilst the generation above them tries to push back the tide of an enemy no one can touch… 

AlvesdonAlvesdon by James Holland (eARC, Transworld via NetGalley)

The village of Alvesdon has been home to the Castells for generations. But the year is 1939 and the peace and tranquillity there is about to be shattered once more by the stormclouds of war in Europe. As three generations of the family gather, they must all face the prospect of their lives being transformed beyond recognition the moment Britain declares war on Germany.

When the inevitable happens and Britain finds itself at war, the younger members of the family and farm workers are called up to fight and those who remain must battle to keep the home fires burning and the farm afloat. The gentle certainties of rural life are replaced by the urgent clamour of war, in the air, at sea and on land, where events unfold with dizzying rapidity and unexpected consequences.

Stretching from the glorious summer of 1939 to the Battle of Britain the following year, acclaimed historian James Holland paints a compelling and immersive fictional portrait of how the war changed everything. For one family and for a community, their way of life can never really be the same again…

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: James by Percival Everett
  • Book Review: Under the Banner of Valor by Gary Corbin