Another Summer Reading Challenge completed! This was my seventh year of participating, and it's my favorite challenge next to the November Nonfiction Challenge. In previous years I chose to wait until the fall equinox rather than Labor Day to wrap things up, giving myself a few extra weeks. But this year, I decided to stop and get this posted before we head out on another camping trip.
As always, I chose 20 books with a mix of new releases and backlist titles. I gave up on seven, but subbed in nine (some for book club, as well as a few audio choices). I read eighteen in all, which is one more than last year (and in less time!). Four of the books were over 400 pages, and one of those was over 1000 pages!
Completed for 2026
I won't link to each review (I've already done so on my monthly summaries), but here are the final ratings:
Two 5-star books
Four 4.5-star books
Nine 4-star books
Three 3-star books
Below are my original picks. I'm still planning to read Land, Love by the Book, Life: A Love Story, and All the Broken Places, but maybe not until the end of the year. I'm ready to spend the next two months reading mysteries.
I loved doing this challenge when I was working in the schools. I'd spend hours making lists of what I wanted to read when I had more time to read. Two on your list that I'm the most curious about are Mad Mabel and Dolly All the Time.
ReplyDeleteDeb, isn't it fun to make lists of books we want to read? The two books you mention are two of my favorites this year. Totally unexpected!
DeleteGreat job, Les! You did very well and read a lot. I'll be interested in hearing what mysteries you select to try for the fall. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kay. It was a fun summer of good reading. No list of mysteries this year. I'll keep it a mystery. ;) Currently re-reading Faithful Place by Tana French.
DeleteI love this challenge, too. It's no-stress and it's so much fun to see what people read over the summer. I really didn't follow the list that I intended to read!
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun one, isn't it Helen? I'm enjoying a switch over to mysteries & thrillers, and will have fun putting together my list for Nonfiction November in the coming weeks. I do love a good list/plan!
DeleteLes, you did very well with the reading. I have only read five from your books here but have several on my long to-read list. As summer is not officially over yet I hope to get at least one more from my list read. We will see.
ReplyDeleteTina, it was a fun summer of reading! Now I'm focusing on mysteries, although since we've been camping, I've hardly read much of my current book (Faithful Place by Tana French).
DeleteFaithful Place was my first Tana French book. I was at Barnes and Noble, it was displayed as a new release and I like the Dublin setting and sound of the plot.
DeleteOnly after reading it and recommending to Doug did I see it was book 3! I've done that on several series...
Tina, the nice thing about the Dublin Murder Squad books is that they really don't need to be read in order. There's just an overlapping of main characters.
DeleteWell done! That is a such a nice mix of books and I see several that I loved. On to fall...
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, it was such a good summer of new releases! Lots of winners.
DeleteYou read a lot of books this summer! Congrats on knocking these off. On your list I have read 11 of them ... so it's nice to dovetail on some of them. It's fun making reading lists ... and I'm consider whether to make a fall one ...
ReplyDeleteSusan, it was a fun summer for reading, that's for sure! I'm not making a fall list, but I have a big stack of mysteries & thrillers that I'm focusing on unti November when Nonfiction November begins. I'll have a list for that challenge.
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