20 Books Of Summer 2023 Reading Challenge #20booksofsummer23

20-books-of-summerI cannot believe it’s already time for this annual challenge run by my namesake Cathy at 746 Books.  This year it takes place between Thursday 1st June and Friday 1st September 2023.  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 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 and, as last 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 on my bookshelf! 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. I’ve also included a couple of unread hardback books from prior years’ challenges.

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 (waiting since October 2017)
  2. Treason by James Jackson (waiting since November 2017)
  3. Transcription by Kate Atkinson (waiting since January 2018)
  4. The Draughtsman by Robert Lautner (waiting since March 2018)
  5. The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle by Kirsty Wark (waiting since March 2018)
  6. The Painter of Souls by Philip Kazan (waiting since April 2018)
  7. Appetite by Philip Kazan (waiting since April 2018)
  8. Anna of Kleve by Alison Weir (waiting since June 2018)
  9. Wrecker by Noel O’Reilly (waiting since August 2018)
  10. China Blue by Madalyn Morgan (waiting since October 2018)
  11. Chasing Ghosts by Madalyn Morgan (waiting since October 2018)
  12. Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce (waiting since March 2019)
  13. Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts (waiting since March 2019)
  14. In Two Minds by Alis Hawkins (waiting since March 2019)
  15. The Cross and the Curse by Matthew Harffy (waiting since May 2019)
  16. Invitation to a Bonfire by Adrienne Celt (waiting since August 2019)
  17. A Stranger in my Grave by Margaret Millar (waiting since September 2019)
  18. The Night Raids by Jim Kelly (waiting since January 2020)
  19. The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn (waiting since February 2020)
  20. To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek (waiting since February 2020)

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

#NetGalleyNovember Reading Challenge – The Results @NeverEndingNG

The #NetGalleyNovember reading challenge is over for another year and it’s time to see how I did.

I managed to read seven books from my NetGalley shelf (see below) including my oldest approval, The Labyrinth of the Spirits. You can probably work out why it was my oldest approval when I tell you it was over 800 pages long. Links from the book titles will take you to the book description on Goodreads or to my review. My thanks to the publishers who provided me with the review copies via NetGalley, some of them a very long time ago…

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor (Review to follow)
Death to the Emperor by Simon Scarrow
Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver
The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner
Forest of Foes by Matthew Harffy (Review to follow for blog tour)
The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

Unfortunately, although I read the number of books I targeted my feedback ratio didn’t increase by as much as I’d hoped because of new approvals, mostly for blog tours. And I didn’t manage to complete all the squares on the #NetGalleyNovember Bingo card. However, I very much enjoyed participating in the challenge and sharing my progress with the other bloggers taking part. My thanks to the Neverending NetGalley team for organising the challenge once again.