Can you believe it? It’s time for 20 Books of Summer Winter with Cathy @746 Books once again! It only feels like yesterday that I put together my 2022 list with so much anticipation.
Cathy’s call to arms “Do you fancy getting 20 books off your TBR in three months?” is especially appealing this time. We will be moving/downsizing in the next couple of months now that B22 and his GF have found their own place and are moving out. It’s time to get serious about the TBR and which books to keep and which ones to pass on.
As per usual, I reserve the right to swap books out, change my mind or abandon books any time between Thursday 1st June and Friday 1st September. I will also attempt to remember books for the various reading challenges that occur over our winter months.
- The Hero of This Book | Elizabeth McCracken
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll (Reading the Meow)
- Another Day in the Colony | Chelsea Watego
- Trespasses | Louise Kennedy
- Misunderstanding in Moscow | Simone de Beauvoir
- Pietr the Latvian | Georges Simenon (Paris in July)
- Giovanni’s Room | James Baldwin (Paris in July)
- A Girl’s Story | Annie Ernaux (Paris in July)
- Maigret’s Memories | Georges Simenon (Paris in July)
- Wifedom | Anna Funder
- What You Are Looking For is in the Library | Michiko Aoyama
- Birnam Wood | Eleanor Catton
- Anam | André Dao (August book group book)
- The Visitors | Jane Harrison
- August Blue | Deborah Levy
- The Trouble with Happiness | Tove Ditlevsen
- All Our Yesterdays | Natalie Ginzburg
- This Other Eden | Paul Harding
- Dust Tracks on a Road | Zora Neale Hurston
- Austen in August TBA
Are you joining in 20 Books this year? Or 15 or 10?
Have you read any of the titles on my list?
#20booksofsummer23
| This post was written on the traditional land of the Wangal clan, one of the 29 clans of the Eora Nation within the Sydney basin. This Reading Life acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are our first storytellers, and the traditional custodians of the lands, seas, and skies on which we live and work. |
This Reading Life 
So thrilled so see Alice picked for reading the meow! Maigret should be fun to read for Paris in July and your mention of Annie Ernaux reminded me of one I still have waiting on my TBR!
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I would have loved to fit in The Master ans Margarita but knew it wasn’t realistic at the moment and somehow I have gone through 55 years without reading Alice! Time to rectify that I feel 🙂
I have a few Ernaux’s on my TBR, I picked the slimmest one to start with.
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Excellent list. I’ve read Another Day in the Colony and The Outsider (in French! at school) out of your list. And Middlemarch of course. Have fun. Finally managed to make my pile this week myself!
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Thanks Liz – it is a fun putting these lists together! I wonder if those of us in the southern hemisphere, planning for winter, chose our books differently to those planning to read over summer…?
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Thanks for joining in again Brona! I loved Birnam Wood, and despite its size I raced through it. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on the Simenon, Trespasses and August Blue. I enjoyed Funder’s Stasiland, so Wifedom also appeals. Good luck!
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Birnum Wood is getting a lot of love, and I certainly enjoyed The Luminaries, so I have high hopes for it.
Thanks for hosting once again Cathy – this event brings so many of together talking books – it’s a great thing you have done 🙂
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Aw thanks Brona, what a lovely thing to say 🙂
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Great list! I’ve only read Middlemarch and Alice in Wonderland, but I have a novel by Claire G Coleman on my summer list as well (The Old Lie). And I’ve been hearing very good things about Birnam Wood as well!
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Thanks Lou, still deciding if I can fit a reread of Middlemarch in or not. A lot will depend on the timing of our impending move.
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I really enjoy Deborah Levy but I’ve not read August Blue so I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts. I have the Ginzburg in the TBR, I admire you adding a bit of a chunkster to the challenge (and Middlemarch too! )
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Hot Milk is one of those books that regularly pops into my mind at odd times, so I was very excited to get an ARC of August Blue.
Everyone has told me so far that they have raced through Birnum Wood despite it’s length. Wifedom is also pretty chunky. I suspect Another Day in the Colony make take a while too as I absorb its message. And who knows what my next spin or book group books might be!
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Lovely list! I have read the Simenon, the de Beauvoir, the Camus and the Ernaux (I sense a theme there!) – happy reading!
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I have come to love reading French books during July, so I’ve stacked my list with plenty of options 🙂
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I’ve read Alice, The Outsider, and Middlemarch. All classics for a reason! Have fun with these and whatever else makes its way onto your list. I’ve set a modest goal of 10 and hope I’ll succeed better with the challenge than I did last time. (I know it’s fine to switch books out, but these are for some goals I’d like to get a bit further on.)
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My goal is to read more of my TBR, so everything on this list is currently lurking on one of my bookshelves. Good luck with your 10 and your summer reading goals.
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Nice range and variety, Brona. I’ve got the Eliot on my list too, though I shall be taking it at my own pace of course. I keep intending to reread The Annotated Alice but never quite lifting it down from the shelf, and the Camus I want to revisit sometime too. I’d love to read some Austen, but it won’t be a reread, more likely something from the juvenilia.
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Somehow I have gone my entire life without reading Alice (actually I know why – as a child I detested talking animal stories). I figure it’s time to give it one last try.
I collected annotated versions of all the Austens a few years back, so far I’ve only read 2 of them. It’s just a matter of deciding which one I’m in the mood for when August rolls around.
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That’s a great choice for Reading the Meow! I loved Middlemarch and have enjoyed other books by Georges Simenon, although I haven’t read those particular two. Good luck!
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I love reading Simenon in July – it’s something I look forward to every year now. I don’t know what I will do when I finally read them all!
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I’m not doing it, I think because it’s 20 books and I already feel like enough of my reading is prescribed with my projects and the few other challenges I pick up. Of your list, I have only read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Middlemarch, but I have Birnam Wood on my pile and should be reading it soon, maybe even this summer. It must be funny to be reading 20 books of Summer in your winter. I often wonder if people pick summerlike books for their challenge, but it wouldn’t really apply to you.
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Your comment made me pause Kay. Would my list look different if I was planning a summer reading list? Events like Paris in July and Indigenous Reading Week and Austen in August have their specific times, so they would appear on this list even if I lived in the northern hemisphere. But if I was making a list that actually included our southern summer months, I might choose very differently.
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Yes, that’s what I mean. I think that some of the people up here are likely choosing light things for summer reading.
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I also prefer a lighter read in summer, but not sure if it’s a summer thing or the fact that our summer coincides with the crazy busyness of Christmas & New Year!
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I always thought it was the heat, beach reads!
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You should sponsor 20 Books of Winter during your winter or 20 Books of Summer during your summer to see what happens. Just kidding.
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A nicely varied list! I’ve enjoyed lots of Maigrets, but haven’t read Maigret’s Memories. Pietr the Latvian was interesting in being the first, though perhaps not as good as the later ones became. I’ve just finished Birnam Wood and loved it – certainly one of the books of the year for me! And I enjoyed Trespasses. Haven’t read any of your others – I hope they all turn out to be great reads for you!
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I’ve just finished Fire Rush also shortlisted for this years Women’s Prize – and so far it is my pick to winner the prize. But of course I haven’t read Trespasses yet, which sounds like it could also be a strong contender.
I thoroughly enjoyed Catton’s The Luminaries, so looking forward to Birnum Wood, although I’ve been told they’re very different.
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Good list! #2 & #3 are on my TBR, but not necessarily for summer. I’ll read them when I get up the list at the library. Enjoy your winter’s reading. If interested (no pressure) here’s my post: https://hopewellslibraryoflife.wordpress.com/2023/05/12/20-books-of-summer-2023/
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I’m hoping to read Trespasses before the winner of the Women’s Prize is announced, but I will be pushing it I think. I’ve gone my whole life without reading Alice, so it feels a bit like a missing piece in my reading history. Time to go down the rabbit hole!
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You’ve got some excellent books on your list, Brona! I loved All Our Yesterdays, The Trouble With Happiness and Trespasses, and the Camus is excellent too. The Maigrets will work well as palate cleansers, as will Alice, and I like the fact that you’ve thought ahead to cover other reading events. Enjoy your winter reading – you’ve got a great mix of books there!
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