Cathy at Cathy 746 has a yearly challenge to read twenty books over the summer months starting on 1 June 2016 and running until 5 September 2016, and I’ve decided to join her.
As I’m competitive I signed up for the full twenty. My personal challenge is to read these twenty books from my bookshelf, physical books that I already own before the end of the challenge. I’m on book nine at the moment (although only up to review number five) and as I only chose the first ten books at the start, I promised I’d add the second set half way through the challenge – so here we are books eleven to twenty!
The Narrow Bed by Sophie Hannah
They Did It With Love by Kate Morgenroth
Standing In The Shadows by Jon Stasiak
Did She Kill Him? by Kate Colquhoun
The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
Tea by the Nursery Fire by Noel Streatfeild
The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
I have been joining Cathy by tweeting my way through the challenge using the hashtag #20booksofsummer. Each of my posts for this challenge have the logo and the number of the book attached.
Like last year there is a master page linking the titles to my reviews as they are posted.
So what do you think of the second half of my choices? Do you have any suggestions on where I should start or perhaps you think some of these need to be put back on the shelf and forgotten about? All comments welcomed!
Cleopatra Loves Books 
Did She Kill Him? Good choice! Kate Colquhoun is a great writer and has produced a detailed and fascinating account of the Florence Maybrick case. I think you’re going to enjoy this!
LikeLike
I think I will too – this was my only cheat as I said I’d only include books I owned on the 1st June, this one was a birthday present though and I’m keen to read it sooner rather than later.
LikeLike
The physicality of your books to read intrigues me, I’m guessing from the photograph they look to range from say 200/250 to 400/450 pages or put another way say 40,000 to 90,000 words? Does size have any influence on which you read and when?
LikeLike
You estimated well from the picture – the shortest is 244 pages, the longest 450 pages. I have to admit I’ve chosen a mixture of lengths because I prefer to read longer books at the weekend when I have more time and shorter ones during the week but it doesn’t always go to plan!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice selection. I loved Catton’s The Luninaries, and The Rehearsal is in my TBR pile too. Interested to see what you think of it. I’m sure it will be very different.
LikeLike
I didn’t read The Luninaries, and have had this one on my bookshelf for quite some time which I’ve put off due to mixed reviews, we’ll have to see what my verdict is.
LikeLike
The Narrow Bed has been on my bookshelf for months now! Looking forward to hearing what you think. Reconstructing Amelia is my favourite of this pile.
LikeLike
I love Sophie Hannah’s books and have read all the Culver Valley books so very much looking forward to getting around to reading this one which I bought a while back. I’m intrigued by Reconstructing Amelia as I remember a number of great reviews when it was first published.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I also still have A Game for all the family to read as well so I’ve fallen behind a little bit! But I love her books. I tried to book out a few days from reviewing to catch up on some of my bookshelf but it doesn’t seem to have happened! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I adored A Game For All The Family. I know what you mean, even though I thought I had a plan for this challenge I’ve still fallen behind 😏
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are progressing well! I’m far behind on my 20 books (both in terms of reading and reviewing). Others just keep sneaking in when I’m not looking… or else I chose the ‘wrong ones’ to start with?
LikeLike
Not really so well when I have no free time coming up but thank you – I do believe I’ll get past the first ten so this selection gives me a few to chose from.
LikeLike
How lovely to see Noel Streatfeild on your list! I’d not heard of Tea by the Nursery Fire before. Looking forward to your review of that one.
LikeLike
I read Noel Streatfeild’s The Whicharts last year for the challenge and found this copy in a sale and couldn’t resist adding it in for this year. I was such a big fan of this author as a child…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me, too.
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
i can recommend the Roger Ackroyd book first of all. Christie is always lovely. I’ve also read Reconstructing Amelia – good one. And They Did It With Love. Enjoy!
LikeLike
I searched for the Roger Ackroyd book for an absolute age as I like to re-read these Christie books so he had to make the list. Thanks for the thumbs up on the other two!
LikeLike
You’re doing well with that challenge, Cleo! And I really like the choices you have there for the rest of the challenge. I think you’ll like The Chemistry of Death – it’s the start of a solid series. And I’d love to read the Catton myself.
LikeLike
I’m not sure I’m doing well but I’m steadily working my way through and I’m fairly confident of passing the 10 mark! I read Stone Bruises by this author which led me to this one – looking forward to finally enjoying it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve only read one of these, Reconstructing Amelia, which I enjoyed. A good story about the secret lives of teenagers! Happy summer reading!
LikeLike
Thank you – Reconstructing Amelia seems to be a popular choice so I’m glad I added it to my list.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed Reconstructing Amelia, and I’m always on board for a Sophie Hannah book. I definitely want to know more about the other titles, too. Thanks for sharing!
LikeLike
Simon Beckett is a fantastic writer so be warned: as soon as you have finished this one you will immediately want to read all his other books as well. And you will not regret it!
LikeLike
Haha, I bought this one after being so impressed with Stone Bruises a couple of years back – can’t wait to read this one now 🙂
LikeLike
I haven’t read any of your choices, but I’ve got Reconstructing Amelia on my Kindle. I hope it’s as good as people say. Happy reading! =)
LikeLike
You’re doing great! I’ve more or less abandoned the whole thing now, due to not having been reading for weeks and abandoning three of my choices already! I’m interested to hear what you make of the Catton – I loved The Luminaries and would like to try The Rehearsal myself sometime… if it’s good…
LikeLike
Well… I’m still going 😏 The Rehearsal has been on my shelf for ages and I’m intrigued to see what it has in store for me.
LikeLike
How fun! It sounds like you won’t have any trouble completing this challenge.
LikeLike
I enjoyed The Rehearsal, but for some reason I’ve been off put by the idea of The Luminaries. I think she can be a little too tricksy, well that was what I felt with The Rehearsal, but because it had a light touch I stayed with it. I have The Luminaries on The Kindle TBR, where it has been for a good year or so, elbowed out by other more urgent reads. You know how it is, one’s book intentions are always bigger than the reading time available…
LikeLike
I wasn’t too keen on the sound of The Luminaries either although I can’t actually say why – I’m interested to see what I make of The Rehearsal I do know indeed with the massive backlog that are sat on my bookshelves!
LikeLike