It’s the last day of winter here in Australia (hooray!!), so that means it’s time to recap my efforts trying to complete this year’s #20booksofsummer/winter challenge.
This is the sixth year of participating in this annual event, which is co-ordinated by Cathy, who blogs at 746 Books.
The idea is to read 20 books (or a nominated amount less than this) from your TBR between 1 June and 1 September. Last year, I managed to complete it successfully, but this year was a different story!
In fact, at one point I thought I would be lucky to finish eight books in total. I actually considered abandoning the whole thing. I had too much other stuff going on and wasn’t in the right frame of mind.
But then I regained my reading mojo, made a stab at trying to get back on track and ended up reading a grand total of 15 books.
Of my original list, I read only eight books; the remainder were swapped in based on my mood at the time of reading.
Unfortunately, I am seriously behind on the reviewing front, but I hope to rectify that as soon as I can. In the meantime, here’s what I read, arranged in alphabetical order by author’s surname (hyperlinks, as ever, take you to my full review):
- ‘A Woman’ by Sibilla Aleramo (memoir/translated non-fiction; Italian)
- ‘The Sheltering Sky’ by Paul Bowles (literary fiction; American)
- ‘Assembly’ by Natasha Brown (literary fiction; British)
- ‘Don’t Make a Fuss: It’s Only the Claremont Serial Killer’ by Wendy Davis (memoir/true crime; Australian)
- ‘Whipbird’ by Robert Drewe (literary fiction; Australian)
- ‘Am I Black Enough for You? 10 Years On’ by Anita Heiss (memoir; Australian/First Nations)
- ‘One Day I’ll Remember This’ by Helen Garner (memoir; Australian)
- ‘Benevolence’ by Julie Janson (historical fiction; Australian/First Nations)
- ‘My Brother Jack’ by George Johnston (literary fiction; Australian)
- ‘Midwinter Break’ by Bernard McLaverty (literary fiction; Irish)
- ‘On Helen Garner’ by Sean O’Beirne (essay; Australian)
- ‘England, Your England’ by George Orwell (essays; British)
- ‘Son of Sin’ by Omar Sakr (literary fiction; Australian)
- ‘The Sawdust House’ by David Whish-Wilson (historical fiction; Australian)
- ‘Braised Pork’ by An Yu (literary fiction; Chinese)
As you can see, I read a fairly mixed bag, albeit dominated by Australian writers, but the standout was by an Irish writer — Bernard McLaverty’s Midwinter Break really hit the spot when I read it last weekend. But, to be fair, I didn’t read a dud all winter and would recommend everything listed here.
Thanks again to Cathy for hosting.
Did you take part in #20BooksOfSummer? How did you do? Care to share your favourite read of the summer (or winter)?
Reading Matters 
Well done, Kim! I should like to read some more Australian fiction and will add some of yours to my wishlist. I cheat terribly on this challenge, but all of my twenty bar one book group pick did come from my TBR, and apart from my WITMonth choices were all chosen by whim – which works for me – and that’s 19+1 books from my TBR sorted.
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Well, I did sneak in some short books so that always helps! Reading by whim is my default position so I heartily endorse this style of reading.
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And why not!
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It looks like you read some terrific books, don’t beat yourself up about not reviewing them, if Life Gets in The Way, that’s what happens!
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I do review everything I read so I will get around to it eventually. And luckily I put sticky notes all over my books so I can find quotes I like so writing reviews weeks / months after reading isn’t too much of a stretch.
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That’s the difference between a professional journalist writing reviews, and an amateur like me!
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Um, when it comes to reviews I’m an amateur too. ☺️
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No you’re not!
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You did really well! Glad to hear that your mojo came back towards the end. I’ll still be reviewing into September as well.
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I might have to resort to mini reviews, but they will get done eventually !
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Congratulations! I think my favourite read of the summer was Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.
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What a great title! I must go and check out your review.
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Looks like a wonderful mix, Kimbofo. I’ve read a few of those and want to read a few more.
I hope you are ok? Just busy and distracted?
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Yes, all good. Still adjusting to new job and return of the Other Half so it’s been busy and I’ve been exhausted! I did manage to read a good mix of fiction and non-fiction and enjoyed all of it.
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Great Kimbofo … just the usual ups and downs of coping with change then!
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