It’s my seventh year in a row participating in Cathy’s 20 Books of Summer challenge, which starts on 1 June and runs through the 1st of September.
In most previous years I have chosen a theme.
2018: Books by women
2019: Fauna
2020: Food
2021: Colours
2022: Flora
Last year was a grab bag, but about a third of my choices were foodie again. I love picking the books for a themed challenge, but when it comes to actually reading them, I often get bored reading around the same topic, even if I had ensured a variety of fiction/nonfiction, author style, etc.
So this year the plan is simply to read hardback books that I own. I have at least 80–100 options, across genres and of all lengths; review copies, set-aside books and rereads are all possible. I fancy curating a blend of recent acquisitions and long-time shelf sitters. By the end of August I can decide whether they’re keepers or I want to pass them along to make room for others; the width of 20 hardbacks should be significant!
You’ll see options on shelves dotted all around the house:
-
- Miscellaneous on bedroom shelves
-
- Biographies
-
- Bedside table
-
- Classics (mix of read/unread)
-
- Shelf of unread hardbacks
-
- Foodie lit shelf with a few options
-
- Three shelves: review copies; set-aside; to reread
-
- Life writing case with one shelf of unread hardbacks
Here’s a tentative list of 20 hardbacks that are catching my eye right now – but I reserve the right to change my mind and ditch any or all of them in favour of other books that appeal more at the time!
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (Free from a neighbour) – There was a lot of buzz about this a few years ago and I intended to read it right away but didn’t for whatever reason. My impression is of a literary novel that turns into a domestic thriller.
Cheri by Jo Ann Beard (New, Hungerford Bookshop with birthday voucher last year) – Cathy spoke very highly of this during Novellas in November. I daresay I’ll be grateful for one very short option over the summer. I wish more of my hardbacks were so slender!
The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman (Secondhand, Awesomebooks.com) – This would be my one reread of the challenge. I’ve read all but one of Beauman’s novels and this is the one I remember most fondly. Zany historical fiction with a fantasy twist.
A Perfect Arrangement by Suzanne Berne (Secondhand, Community Furniture Project) – I don’t know anything about this but I’m expecting it to be, like her Women’s Prize winner, A Crime in the Neighborhood, light yet substantial and quietly gripping.
What I Thought I Knew by Alice Eve Cohen (Secondhand, Amazon with gift money) – I loved her 2015 memoir, The Year My Mother Came Back, so much that I sought out her previous one … but it has sat on the shelf unread for years.
On Trying to Keep Still by Jenny Diski (Secondhand, Awesomebooks.com) – I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Diski so far. This is a book of travel essays.
Girlhood by Melissa Febos (New, Christmas gift last year) – I was so impressed by her latest essay collection, Body Work, that I knew I had to read everything else she’s written. This previous collection mixes memoir and feminist social history.
Maurice by E.M. Forster (Secondhand, Wonder Book and Video?) – I’ve owned this for so long that I can’t remember when and where I got it, but I’m guessing it came from the used bookstore where I worked in college. My only major Forster work still unread.
The Museum of Whales You Will Never See by A. Kendra Greene (Secondhand, Bas Books & Home) – More essays to slake the desire for armchair travel. This one’s set entirely in Iceland and is all about quirky museum collections.
Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay (Secondhand, Christmas gift last year) – I’ll read anything Hay writes. This will be my third novel from her.
The Earthquake Bird by Susanna Jones (Secondhand, Hay-on-Wye in 2020) – Doesn’t feel like I bought it ages ago, but nearly four years have passed. I thought her When Nights Were Cold (historical fiction about women’s mountaineering) was fantastic in 2013.
The Memoir Club by Laura Kalpakian (Secondhand, 2nd & Charles) – I’ve long wanted to try this author and finally found one of her books on a clearance shelf in December. I’m expecting slightly fluffy fun à la Elizabeth Berg et al., perfect for summer.
City of the Mind by Penelope Lively (Secondhand, French LFL) – My most recent acquisition; why not get to it right away? Besides, Lively is one of four authors on this list (the others are Diski, Forster and Hay) by whom I own two or more unread books.
Home/Land by Rebecca Mead (Review copy) – An Anglo-American memoir should be right up my street. I don’t know why I’ve let this one sit around for ages.
A House Full of Daughters by Juliet Nicolson (Free from a neighbour) – A family memoir about Vita Sackville-West’s clan. I don’t often read biographical stuff (as opposed to straight autobiographies), so this is a good excuse.
Nine Inches by Tom Perrotta (Free from a neighbour) – Short stories of blue-collar America. I used to love Perrotta and have read most of his books. Maybe I’ll find him a little macho these days, though.
The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud (Signed copy won in a Faber Instagram giveaway) – I loved her debut novel, Love after Love, but have been daunted by the length of this follow-up, which I know to contain multiple POVs and patois.
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly (Review copy) – A quirky novel about queer siblings and their oddball family in New Zealand. I started it in April but haven’t made much of a dent, so this is my strategy for getting back into it.
All Things Are Too Small by Becca Rothfeld (Review copy) – Cultural criticism from the Washington Post’s in-house nonfiction book reviewer, a philosophy PhD candidate. I’ve sampled the first few pages so far.
Company by Shannon Sanders (Review copy) – Linked short stories about the members of one extended Black family. I got partway through one story earlier in the month but it’s time to get back into it in earnest.
What do you make of my list? See any other hardback options in the photos that I should prioritize instead?
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Exciting! I love themes but I also love being able to just make a dent in the stacks, and stipulating that they should be already-owned hardbacks gives you enough structure to not get overwhelmed. I don’t think I’ve read any of these, but will be especially interested in your thoughts on Maurice (I’ve read all of Forster’s other novels) and The Teleportation Accident.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was tempted by your one-word-title theme but didn’t want to copy (I think 5 of my picks happen to adhere, though).
LikeLike
Copy away whenever you like! (It was virtually the only thing I could think of that you hadn’t covered already with flora, fauna, colours, etc., and that also seemed to provide the necessary breadth.)
LikeLike
Goodness, I know almost none of these! As you know, I don’t like themed reading, but the idea of getting to grips with unread hardbacks on the shelves is a good one. I might copy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A common element but no theme this time! We book hoarders always need an excuse to prioritize things from our own shelves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha, the only one I’ve read of these is Maurice! Not his best, IMO – more important historically than as a novel.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, ok, so like The Well of Loneliness (which I’ve not read) in that respect? If I find it dull, I can just skim to the end and pass it on but be glad I experienced it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not sure as I haven’t read Well myself – I always thought this was the case but one of my students read it and loved it – so I need to give it a read! I’d compare Maurice to something like George Moore’s Esther Waters.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve read several of these including Maurice (disappointing) and the Juliet Nicholson.
I recently gave a rare (for me) 5 stars to My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead which I much preferred to Home/Land. Really good writer though.
I saw Charles Dickens by Claire Tomalin lurking on your shelves. Tomalin is a fantastic biographer and this is a brilliant life of Dickens but needs a certain commitment!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it was my love for My Life in Middlemarch, as well as the Anglo-American theme, that drew me to Mead’s latest.
That biography area is a mixture of read and unread books, so I have actually read the Dickens biog. and it is wonderful. I love Tomalin’s work.
LikeLike
I’m not familiar with any in your pile above, but looking around your shelves Venomous Lumpsucker calls out to me (Eleanor loved it I think).
LikeLiked by 1 person
She did! I tried the first few pages when my review copy arrived but didn’t get hooked in. One day I’ll try again.
LikeLike
Your strategy sounds like a good one. I read the Berne and the Hay too long ago to have much of an opinion on either but the Diski has stayed with me. Looking forward to reading Cheri and I like the sound of Home/Land. Good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve not read a bad book by Hay (or Diski) yet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have only read Maurice from your list.
Will be interested to see how you get on with the Perrotta – I also used to love him but the last two I’ve read I really haven’t enjoyed – I thought his female characters were hugely out of touch.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know what you mean: he’s gone off the boil/out of fashion a bit.
LikeLike
The only one I’ve read is Maurice and agree with Laura above that it’s more important historically than a brilliant novel, but I still enjoyed it (and the film). Have a happy summer of reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So funny that that’s the one book most people know. Maybe watching the film is the better strategy! We’ll see how I get on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve read and enjoyed the Juliet Nicholson. None of the others are familiar. I’ve just got back from Hay with a grand total of – wait for it – 3 books! Only another 7 to find:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember on my first trip to Hay (2004) I was so overwhelmed that I only bought 1 book, and a silly book of literary trivia questions at that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Had fun looking at all your pics! Perhaps because I’d already been warned about Maurice so many times, I was surprised to like it just fine (I think I read it for a challenge too). Love the idea of choosing just “hard cover”, btw, it’s so obvious, now that you’ve done it, but I wouldn’t’ve thought of it. There aren’t any in your stack that overlap (other than with simply interest and, well, you know I’m jelly of your Persaud…you MUST read it whilst it’s new lol but I could never say that cuz I let them languish all the time myself); none on my shelves though. (The Lively I once owned and I enjoyed it!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I consider myself duly warned about Maurice! So now if I do like it, that will be a pleasant surprise. You’re right, I should read the Persaud while it’s fresh. It’s the longest book on the stack; maybe I should pair it with Cheri as the shortest. I’ve already disobeyed the list by picking up Marge Piercy’s Sleeping with Cats in hardback for the ‘Reading the Meow’ challenge next month, which means I get to ditch one from the pile. Except I don’t want to lose any of them…
LikeLike
How many pages is it? We could buddy read with different books but same/ish page counts. lol
So now it’s the 21 Books of Summer Project. Or, you could donate an extra to someone who’s having trouble finishing at the end of the summer?
LikeLike
And today I bought a used hardback copy of Michael Cunningham’s Specimen Days for £1 at a charity shop and want to read it right away, so I should ditch two! (I guess I can still read but not review them.)
Boysie Singh is 537 pages in the Faber hardback.
LikeLike
That’s as good a plan as any especially since it will give you more bookshelf space to fill with new acquisitions 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
My thoughts exactly 😉
LikeLike
I like your laid back plan for this laid back challenge. I’m hoping to make a dent in my home shelves as well – trying for about 10 of my own books and 10 library books.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s an excellent plan! I didn’t allow myself any library reads (but I know I’ll read from the library through the summer anyway).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am only familiar with Maurice, and that’s from the movie. I am a bit familiar with several of the authors, though, Forster, Hay, Lively, and Perotta.
LikeLiked by 1 person
These are definitely more obscure selections from all of those authors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m also planning to use the 20 books to put a dent into my stacks of owned and unread books. Focusing on hardcovers is a good idea!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m pretty good at picking up random paperbacks for challenges, but the hardbacks often get ignored. Thus my one simple rule!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great list, Rebecca. The only one I have is The Museum of Whales You Will Never See and I have a couple of Diski around somewhere that I have not read yet
LikeLiked by 1 person
She’s great, I think you’ll enjoy her writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a fantastic and quite massive pile! You know I loved Cheri and I’ve also liked the Perotta I’ve read in the past. Enjoy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It does look like a lot all stacked up there, doesn’t it?! I think hardbacks always look heftier than paperbacks anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] Rebecca at Bookish Beck […]
LikeLike
The Museum of Whales is really good and you should prioritise that Maurice as I’ve seen him in slim paperback form before now so you’ll definitely gain some quick space there! A great idea and I hope you enjoy your reads!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll definitely try to read those two. I think you’re the only person I know who’s read The Museum of Whales!
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] I managed to read and review all 20 books by yesterday. Only eight of the books I earmarked in my plans (plus two more that were DNFs) made it into my final stacks, but I don’t really consider that a […]
LikeLike