For book lovers, at least for those of us who follow book blogs, 20 Books of Summer, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books, heralds the start of summer. The last time I tried to participate was in 2019. Things…didn’t go well. And then there were two summers that went–wait, where did they go?
I’ve been longing to get back into blogging and reviewing. This happens every so often and usually it doesn’t work out. I read and read but don’t stop to review. But this summer I want to deliberately slow things down a bit.
So I pulled a stack of books from my shelves, some titles I’m interested in reading sooner rather than later. My plan is to read and review ten books this summer…or maybe more? I’ve got books on my Kindle as well, and I ordered some books before I decided to join the challenge, so some of those may end up being part of what I read and review over the next three months. It feels like I’m letting myself off easy, in a way. Ten book reviews over three months isn’t much–I know many of you still review regularly and manage more than that–but I’ve honestly never been great at reviewing what I read. I’ve mentioned before that I have lots of half-finished reviews just sitting on my Google drive. But over the last year especially I’ve been hanging out a lot on Goodreads, and there I found so many great, new-to-me reviewers, and it’s sort of renewed my spirit. We’ll see.
Three books in my stack are re-reads: Geek Love, The Stone Diaries, and Crow Lake. I’ve been really into re-reading lately, so those are three books I’ll definitely read. I’ve already started Piranesi (is that cheating? please tell me that’s not cheating), so unless it becomes a DNF for me, then that’s likely to go on the list. (Susanna Clark’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell was one of the first reviews I posted on this blog, back in 2009. Gulp.) that’s four, which only leaves six more! I think I’m also most likely to get to The Wave in the Mind and I Came All This Way to Meet Me because I can’t resist books on writing. So that leaves four! Which four will they be? Which would you recommend?
Happy reading!
The Evening Reader 
Of your pile I’ve read Geek Love, The Stone Diaries and The Mezzanine and really enjoyed them all. You’ve some great choices here Priscilla, hope you enjoy the reading.
I loved The Nickel Boys, Americanah, and Song of Solomon. I’d put those in my stack! Good luck with reviewing. As you know, I’m a fan of the short review! It really takes the pressure off of me when it comes to reviewing, which I don’t love doing either.
Thanks, Cathy. I am really looking forward to it!
Laila, Song of Solomon is my top choice of those three right now. But I know I can’t go wrong with any of them! I only wish I could write short reviews. I am too long winded for that!