It is always a happy time of year when what must be one of everyone’s favourite book events – 20 Books of Summer ’21, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books – comes around. There is lots of fun to be had thinking about what you will read while (hopefully!) spending some of it sitting in the sun, with a cool drink to hand, taking some time out, whether or not those books are actually going in a suitcase this year…
As ever, the rules are simple:
One summer.
Three months.
93 Days.
20 books.
Are you in?
I am! But… this year I am signing up for 10 Books of Summer ’21. I have to admit that last year felt like a bit of a rush and this year is also the first one for a while that I haven’t set up a Reading Challenge on Goodreads. I usually read around 40 books a year, so 20 over one summer was perhaps going to be a stretch! And I find I want to spend time with books at the moment, or read longer things that might take me a couple of weeks to get through, to savour and enjoy and generally just noodle around without too much of a deadline.
Cathy often claims she is the least strict host of all the book challenges so it is possible to change the number of books you read, swap things in or out and move them around, do the full 20, or 15, or 10. It is the perfect summer vibe – anything goes!
So with the proviso that this all might change, here is my list for 10 Books of Summer ’21!
- Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet (Tinder Press)
- Richard Smyth – An Indifference of Birds (Uniformbooks)
- A. Naji Bakhti – Between Beirut and the Moon (Influx Press)
- Chiew-Siah Tei – Little Hut of Leaping Fishes (Picador)
- David Wharton – Finer Things (Sandstone Press)
- Sayaka Murata – Earthlings (Granta)
- Qissat: Short Stories by Palestinian Women (Telegram Books)
- Cho Nam-Joo – Kim Jiyong, Born 1982 (Scribner)
- Jeff Young – Ghost Town (Little Toller)
- Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half (Dialogue Books)
Three of the books on the list will work for Women in Translation month in August as well and there are a few independent publishers too, as I wanted to continue with the #ReadIndies theme from earlier in the year.
So is there anything on my list that grabs your eye, or anything you have already read? What are you planning to read this summer – and will you be taking part in 20 Books of Summer ’21 – or 15 or 10? Whatever you choose, good luck and happy summer reading!
