20 Books Of Summer 2022 Reading Challenge #20booksofsummer22

whatcathyreadnext14 Comments

20-books-of-summerThis annual challenge is run by my namesake Cathy at 746 Books.  This year it takes place between 1st June and 1st September 2022.  I’ve participated for the past few years but only managed to complete it once, last year in fact.

As (the other) Cathy explains, the rules are simple.  Take the Books of Summer image, pick your own 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 as well.  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. This year I’m targeting the paperback books that have been in my TBR pile the longest according to Goodreads. Most are books I bought myself; a few (whisper) are review copies. All have been there an embarrassingly long time. Why just paperbacks? Well, because they’re double-stacked at the moment and it looks untidy! If I enjoy them and think I might want to read them again, they’ll go back on the bookshelf.  If not, they’ll go on the pile for the charity bookshop.

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.

The Cleaner of Chartres by Salley Vickers Read and reviewed
The Boy Who Saw by Simon Toyne Read and reviewed
The Women of the Castle by Jessica Shattuck Read and reviewed
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (waiting since March 2017) Read and reviewed
If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio (waiting since April 2017) Read and reviewed
Island of Secrets by Patricia Wilson (waiting since April 2017) Read and reviewed
The Plague Charmer by Karen Maitland  (waiting since May 2017) Read and reviewed
The House of Birds by Morgan McCarthy (waiting since July 2017) Read and reviewed
The Honey Farm on the Hill by Jo Thomas (waiting since August 2017) DNF
Rivals of the Republic by Annelise Freisenbruch (waiting since August 2017) Read and reviewed
The Girl from Simon’s Bay by Barbara Mutch (waiting since September 2017) Read and reviewed
My Mother’s Shadow by Nikola Scott (waiting since October 2017) Read – review to follow
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (waiting since October 2017)
Treason by James Jackson (waiting since November 2017)
The Draughtsman by Robert Lautner (waiting since March 2018)
The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle by Kirsty Wark (waiting since March 2018)
The Painter of Souls by Philip Kazan (waiting since April 2018)
Appetite by Philip Kazan (waiting since April 2018)
Ponti by Sharlene Teo (waiting since April 2018)
Where Roses Never Die by Gunnar Staalesen (waiting since May 2018) Read – review to follow

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

20 Books of Summer 2022

My Week in Books – 15th May 2022

whatcathyreadnext

MyWeekinBooksOn What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I went Down The TBR Hole in an attempt to weed some books from my To-Read shelf on Goodreads. 

Tuesday – I published my review of crime novel Requiem in La Rossa by Tom Benjamin as part of the blog tour. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Bookish Characters. 

Wednesday – I shared my review of historical novel A Ration Book Victory by Jean Fullerton as part of the blog tour. WWW Wednesday is my 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. 

Thursday – I published reviews of crime thriller Little Drummer by Kjell Ola Dahl, and historical mystery A Taste for Killing by Sarah Hawkswood as part of the blog tours. 

Friday – I shared my review of Elektra by Jennifer Saint.

Saturday – A double serving today with a guest post by author Louise Fein to celebrate the publication in paperback of her historical novel The Hidden Child, and review of thriller Outcast by Chris Ryan as part of the blog tour.  

New arrivals

Think of MeThink of Me by Frances Liardet (ARC, 4th Estate)

Egypt, 1942. Amid the falling bombs, Hurricane pilot James Acton meets Yvette Haddad, a captivating young Alexandrian with a penchant for dangerous driving whose love will become his reason to survive.

England, 1974. James has come to the village of Upton to begin again. Trying to escape his grief for Yvette, who died ten years earlier, he hopes to find new purpose as the vicar of this small Hampshire parish.

One day, alone in his church, he comes across an abandoned silk scarf. The scarf feels familiar, it feels like Yvette’s, and yet how can it be, all this time later? James pulls on the thread of this mystery which leads him to Yvette’s private diary, where he makes a devastating discovery.

James’s world unravels, but as the mystery unfolds, he comes across something so precious and so long list, he thought he’d never find it again: hope.

Tasting SunlightTasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz, trans. by Rachel Ward (eARC, Orenda)

Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic where she to be treated for anorexia. She’s furious with everything and everyone, and wants to be left in peace.

Liss is in her forties, living alone on a large farm that she runs single-handedly. She has little contact with the outside world, and no need for other people.

From their first meeting, Sally realises that Liss isn’t like other adults; she expects nothing of Sally and simply accepts who she is, offering her a bed for the night with no questions asked. That night becomes weeks and then months, as an unlikely friendship develops and these two damaged women slowly open up – connecting to each other, reconnecting with themselves, and facing the darkness in their pasts  through their shared work on the land.

Nothing Else Vis 3Nothing Else by Louise Beech (eARC, Orenda)

Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet.

But Harriet is gone … she disappeared when their parents died, and Heather never saw her again.

When Heather is offered an opportunity to play piano on a cruise ship, she leaps at the chance. She’ll read her recently released childhood care records by day – searching for clues to her sister’s disappearance – and play piano by night … coming to terms with the truth about a past she’s done everything to forget.

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: Vincent van Gogh: The Healing Power of Nature
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Witch’s Tree by Elena Collins
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan