Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.
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Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
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Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
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This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is Books on My Fall 2025 To-Read List. My list is a mix of forthcoming books from my NetGalley shelf, recently received review copies and a couple of books from my list for this year’s 20 Books of Summer challenge that I didn’t get to. Links will take you to the book description on Goodreads.
This year Cathy at 746 Books handed over the baton of hosting the 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge to Annabel at AnnaBookBel and Emma at Words and Peace.
Every year I approach the challenge high on ambition and usually low on likelihood of success. This year my list was made up of the oldest physical books in my TBR pile.
Emma and Anna have helpfully compiled a list of questions to help us recap our experience of taking part in the challenge.
Q.Did you manage to finish all 10/15/20 books? If not, what kept you from completing the challenge?
A. No, I only managed to read seven of the books on my list. As usual I was over-ambitious, aiming for the full 20 books and, being a stubborn old so-and-so, sticking to my original list and not taking advantage of the option to swap books in and out. I had ARCs I needed to read (which I didn’t put on my list) and included two very long books on my list.
Q. Of all the books you read this summer, which one was your favorite and why? Did you DNF any? Why?
A. I enjoyed all the books I read but my favourite was The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel because it was so well-written and was a fitting end to the trilogy that started with Wolf Hall. Also the narrator of the audiobook was superb. I didn’t DNF any books. To be fair, I very rarely do.
Q. Which book surprised you the most, either by being better or worse than you expected?
A. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. I hadn’t expected to enjoy it as much as I did because of the element of magical realism which I often don’t get on with.
Q. Did you notice any patterns in the genres you chose or enjoyed this summer?
A. Not really. Historical fiction, my favourite genre, made up the majority of the books I read.
Q. Which one had the best cover?
A. The Summer House Party by Caro Fraser.
Q. Which one was the longest? And the shortest?
A. The longest was The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel (912 pages). The shortest was Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (229 pages).
Q. Did you read them mostly in print? ebook? audio?
A. They were all print copies although I listened to one on audio (The Mirror & The Light) because it was too big to hold comfortably.
Q. Imagine you’re hosting a “20 Books of Summer” book club wrap party. Which book would you nominate as the guest of honour, and what kind of toast or speech would you give celebrating it?
A. It would have to be The Mirror & The Light because it’s the end of an epic trilogy by an author, Hilary Mantel, who is sadly no longer with us. The book is set during the reign of King Henry VIII so he would probably insist on making the speech. Ideally the party would not end with a beheading.
Q. Looking back at all the characters you met over the summer, which one would you want as a summer buddy for a weekend getaway, and what activity would you do together?
A. I’d go with Sam Coyle from The Dark Isle and spend a week on Orkney, the setting of the book. We’d explore the island’s ancient ruins (she’s into archaeology) and drink whisky.
Q. Any other comments you want to add.
A. To quote from my list of books, the challenge is the bookish equivalent of The Summer House Party, you are both a Force of Nature and I hope you have the Appetite to host it again next year!
What Cathy Read Next... 