The 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge is hosted by Cathy from 746 Books, and at the beginning of the summer I took on the full challenge of reading 20 books from June 3rd to September 3rd. The following is my final update on my progress.

Reading List

• DEW ANGELS BY MELANIE SCHWAPP
• IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES BY JULIA ALVAREZ
• NORTHANGER ABBEY BY JANE AUSTEN
• THE EYES OF THE DRAGON BY STEPHEN KING
• THE LAKE BY BANANA YOSHIMOTO
• THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE BY NEIL GAIMAN
• MELMOTH BY SARAH PERRY
• THE GIRL WHO SMILED BEADS BY CLEMANTINE WAMARIYA
• THE CLOCKMAKER’S DAUGHTER BY KATE MORTON
• THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN
• THE TWO TOWERS BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN
• SERPENT’S KISS BY MELISSA DE LA CRUZ
• THE OBELISK GATE BY N.K. JEMISIN
• VILLETTE BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË
• PEOPLE OF THE BOOK BY GERALDINE BROOKS
• PICKLE’S PROGRESS BY MARCIA BUTLER
• NYXIA BY SCOTT REINTGEN
• THE BONE CURSE BY CARRIE RUBIN
• EVER ALICE BY H.J. RAMSAY
• THE ALEHOUSE AT THE END OF THE WORLD BY STEVAN ALLRED

Books Read in june: 2

PICKLE’S PROGRESS BY MARCIA BUTLER

Read my review here.

IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES BY JULIA ALVAREZ

Read my thoughts on this book here.

Books Read In July: 3

THE LAKE BY BANANA YOSHIMOTO

NORTHANGER ABBEY BY JANE AUSTEN

THE EYES OF THE DRAGON BY STEPHEN KING

Read my thoughts on these books here.

Books Read In August: 4

NYXIA BY SCOTT REINTGEN

Read my review here.

EVER ALICE BY H.J. RAMSAY

Read my review here.

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE BY NEIL GAIMAN

This book brought back all of the wondrous, horrifying, suppositious, imaginative feelings that flooded my psyche when I first read Coraline – with just a tad bit more spine-tingling and hair-raising which I attribute to the larger cast of characters/people to care about. And just like Coraline, this is a story I will read again and again.

“I liked myths. They weren’t adult stories and they weren’t children stories. They were better than than that. They just were. Adult stories never made sense, and they were slow to start. They made me feel like there were secrets, Masonic, mythic secrets, to adulthood. Why didn’t adults want to read about Narnia, about secret islands and smugglers and dangerous fairies?”

SERPENT’S KISS BY MELISSA DE LA CRUZ

Like I said in my August Wrap-Up, this follow-up to Witches of East End did not have the same magical effect on me. It moved too slowly, and the final pages of the book moved so quickly that the characters lost their voices and the story became an abrupt lead-in to the next book rather than a smooth transition from part two to part three.

Unfinished Books: 1

MELMOTH BY SARAH PERRY

Filing this on my DNF shelf. Read my review to see why this book was not for me.

Total Books Read: 9

How dismal. Although I did read a couple of books that weren’t on my #20booksofsummer reading list, I hoped to read at least half of the ones that were – fail.

To end this challenge on a good note, I will say that I re-read two books that I wanted to (Northanger Abbey and The Eyes of the Dragon), as well as knocked off a couple of ebooks that I have had forever (Pickle’s Progress and Nyxia). I read most of these books from the comfort of camp and/or the lakeside beach, so I’m choosing to look back on this summer of reading with rose colored glasses, and am looking forward to taking on this challenge in 2020.

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Thank you to Cathy from 746 Books for hosting the #20booksofsummer reading challenge, and to those participants (and non-participants) who discussed books with me and encouraged me here and on Twitter. I will get to as many of your wrap-up posts as I can. Cheers to a successful summer (however you define that), and cheers to a new season of reading.

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