Goodbye to 20 Books of Summer ’22
And just like that, that’s it for another year – 20 Books of Summer ends tomorrow and what a blast it’s been.
Although I didn’t finish my challenge this year I am still counting it as a win.
I read and review 11 of my initial 15 choices and 3 of my additional 5, so I’ve reviewed 14 in total. On top of that, I’ve read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry but haven’t reviewed it and am halfway through Veronica by Mary Gaitskill. So, I kind of, almost, sort of completed 15 books of summer, right?
The reason I’m calling this year a win is because, on top of those 15 books, I read another 10 books over the course of the summer! I’ve quite surprised myself with the amount of reading I managed, so I’m not going to worry too much about the challenge not being complete.
What’s the point in having slack challenge rules if you can’t apply them to yourself?!
It’s been heartening to see so many of you completing your challenge over the last week or so. Over 100 of you wonderful people took part and thank you all for making it a great summer.
So, how did you all do? No matter what the outcome, I hope you all enjoyed taking part. It’s a really important part of my reading year and helps me focus and knock some books off the 746, so, all being well, I’ll see you all again next year!
Cathy746books View All →
I am a 40 something book buying addict trying to reduce the backlog one book at a time!
746books.com 
I completed my 20 Book Challenge and have now started a 15 Book Christmas-themed book challenge! Thank you for hosting this summer challenge! I hope to join you again next year if you host again.
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I love it! Enjoy those Christmas reads 🙂
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Thanks for organising this again, Cathy! Congrats on your c.15 books!
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Thanks Laura!
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Well done to you too! Reading so much is a win. I read 36 books in total over the three months, including the full 20 from my pre-2022 TBR that I pledged. It’s been good fun. Thanks for hosting yet again, here’s to 2023’s Books of Summer!
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That’s amazing – 36 books? Well done!
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Well done on your win! I totally agree that it should count 🙂 I am way behind on my challenge – I’m hoping to finish my ninth of the fifteen books tonight, and I’ve only reviewed six of them. I did read a few others but they were all rereads, so I’m not sure it counts! Still, I’ve had a nice summer, and a lovely time reading everyone else’s posts, which I think counts as a win as far as I am concerned.
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Absolutely! As long as you’ve enjoyed it, that’s all that matters.
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Congratulations Cathy you definitely completed it! Thanks for hosting again and see you next summer! x
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Thanks Nicki – definitely no 900 page chunksters on next years list 🙂
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I managed 17 out of 20, which I am also taking as a win :).
I wrote a final round up here: https://sconesandchaiseslongues.blogspot.com/2022/08/20-books-of-summer-2022-final-thoughts.html
My books turned out to be a really mixed bag this summer, with some outstanding gems and some real (for me at least) duds.
Thank you so much for once again organising this, and here’s to summer 2023!
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17 out of 20 is good going Rosemary – thanks so much for taking part again this year!
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I have reviewed exactly 20 books since June 1, so I guess that counts.
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It does indeed Tony!
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It is always the highlight of my Summer so thank you again for hosting and doing such a wonderful job of getting us all focused on our reading with this fabulous challenge!! x
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A pleasure!
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wow, that is a lot of reading! I’ve got one more review to go which will be tomorrow and then I’ve done it, even though I only went for 10, I still feel like a winner!
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Absolutely Jane, I think I should have just gone for 10 this year!
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I think you did a fabulous job of your challenge. I call mine a win too – it helped me read some of my OWN books, which is wonderful! I’m reading the last one now and it’s one I’ve had on my shelf since 2017.
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See, that’s why I always keep coming back and doing it again. It’s a great way to get books you’ve been meaning to read for ages off the TBR!
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Well done on reading so much yourself – especially Lonesome Dove (what did you think of it??). I completed my 20 as I had some unexpected reading time, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a more relaxed list than last year when I tried to dedicate a month to social justice reads, and I didn’t read any Viragos, though I am reading one now. My project page is here: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/about/20-books-of-summer/ I appear to have read 47 books over the three months!
This is such a highlight of my reading year and I’ve very much enjoyed doing my 20 and seeing how other people are doing.
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I adored Lonesome Dove, so much so that I can’t get my head together to write a cohesive review. Next week for sure. 47 books though?? That’s amazing!
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Well done, great you enjoyed so much, and thanks for the great incentive to read read read! 🙌☀️📚
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My pleasure! Thanks so much for joining in!
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Thank you for hosting this again Cathy. Sorry I didn’t manage to join this year but I did read Lonesome Dove.
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Well done Cathy. Sorry I didn’t take part this year. But I did read Lonesome Dove.
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Wow that’s really well done. Congratulations! I had only gone in for 10 books for my challenge, read and reviewed 9 of those and am little over half way into book 10. Over three months I think I’ve read about 26 books which is not bad considering I’ve been in an almost headless-chicken state with most things, reading or work🙂🐔
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Well done!! As long as you enjoyed what you read, that’s all that matters!!
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I managed to read 19 of my 20 books and am halfway through my last one – I could probably have finished in time, but didn’t want to rush through it. It’s a bit annoying to get so close, but I’m still happy with that result! Thanks for hosting this again.
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Oh it’s still summer for a wee while longer so you have definitely made it a win!
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That definitely sounds like a win! Thanks as always for torturing us – oops, I mean, for hosting the challenge! 😉
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I read and reviewed 13/20 of the books on my original TBR but like you I also finished several other books so while I didn’t read the full 20 I’m still counting it as a win as well.
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Honestly? Anything over 50% is a pretty good attempt I say! Thanks for joining in 🙂
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Thank you for hosting again. I always look forward to this challenge every year.
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I took this year off, but think I will be back next year. Great job. Lonesome Dove is impressive! I’m also working on longer books this year – Brothers Karamazov, and then Tomb of Sand.
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It’s funny because Lonesome Dove was a quicker read for me than some of my much shorter books. So entertaining. Look forward to hearing what you think about Tomb of Sand – sounds intriguing.
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Thanks for hosting this–I like pushing myself the way this makes me.
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15 for me… but waaaaay behind in the reviews. Thanks again for organising. It’s a great way to discover long-forgotten books in the TBR!
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Definitely!
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Thank you for being our hostess with the mostest once again Cathy. I almost made it – 19 books.
Your challenge motivates me to keep reading, despite distractions – so thank you again!
https://bronasbooks.com/2022/09/01/goodbye-to-20-books-of-winter-2022/
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19 is SO good, definitely a win Brona. Thanks for taking part x
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The Little Princess, The Lord of the Rings,, an Aldous Huxley and an early SF title by Muriel Jaeger is all I managed to complete from my list of ten though I’m still working my way through some Gogol and Mervyn Peake.
On the plus side – well, any and all reading is a plus, isn’t it – I also read and reviewed twelve other titles, so I’m grateful for your challenge for giving me something to aim for, plus an opportunity to see what others have got through! Thank you so much for continuing this meme, Cathy, it clearly has meant and continues to mean a lot for many blogging readers.
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Thanks Chris, that’s really nice of you to say 🙂
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I said I’d read and review at least 10 books, and I read and reviewed… SIXTEEN! I’m proud of myself.
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I said I’d read and review at least 10 books, and I actually read and reviewed… wait for it… SIXTEEN!!!! I’m so proud of myself!
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That’s fantastic! Well done x
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I read more than 20, but I didn’t finish my actual TBR. I read 12 of my 20.
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Still a win in my book!
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Thanks. I feel like it’s mostly a win for me. 🙂
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You definitely can count this as a win!
I had 15 books on my list of which I read 9. I abandoned two and swapped them for different titles which I read so ended up with 11 which is one more than I expected.
It was good fun – I purposefully chose books that would take me around the world so I went around three Celtic countries, popped over to Belgium, winged my way to Africa and even got as far as Australia and New Zealand. Plenty of airmiles!
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Fantastic literary travels Karen, thanks so much for taking part.
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If you finish a book but don’t review it, that definitely counts! And you’ve read 10 additional books, so you’ve blasted the 20 book challenge. Well done!
I need to do my round up post. I finished and reviewed 9 from my list of 10 (2 of them swaps) and am about 30 pages from finishing book 10. I also read and reviewed 4 other books during the challenge (2 new purchases, 2 library books). I’m really pleased with that total because I’ve been struggling to read lately. Short story collections definitely helped me out this year.
I’ll be back next year and might even up my target!
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I could’ve done with a few other short story collections Jan – something to think about when I’m planning next year!
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Congrats on a great challenge! I enjoyed my first year of participating. I managed to read 12 out of 20, which I’m happy about because I filled my challenge with only backlist books. AND I had a ton of ARCs to get through this summer, as well. Now I’m ready for fall!
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12 is good! Well done and thanks so much for taking part for the first time 🙂
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I selected 32 books to choose from that contained Summer in the title. I read 20 of them, so SUCCESS! Thanks for hosting once again, Cathy.
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Well done Carla, I like your strategy and might adopt it next year!
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This is the only year I wasn’t scrambling. Thanks Cathy.
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Somewhere in the world it must still be 1st September, so I technically posted my overview of my 20 books on time. I surprised myself and very nearly read the whole of 20 books in one format or another, though not necessarily the ones I started out with. Thank you for the challenge!
https://marketgardenreader.wordpress.com/2022/09/02/20-books-of-summer-2022-summary
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My challenge is complete and I’m very happy to have more or less read 20 books and posted my update on what may still be 1st September, somewhere in the world. Thank you for the challenge!
https://marketgardenreader.wordpress.com/2022/09/02/20-books-of-summer-2022-summary
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Excellent! Well done and thanks so much for taking part.
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Well done, Cathy and thanks for hosting! I read 10 of my 20 books. It’s sticking to a reading list I find difficult – not the actual reading!
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Well at least you got half of them read Margaret! Making the list is fun but sticking to it? Not so much…
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Well done!
It’s a relief to see I’m not the only reading a whole bunch of books that were not on my original chart, lol.
https://wordsandpeace.com/2022/09/02/20-books-of-summer-2022-its-a-wrap/
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I think everyone who takes part swaps out at least one or two books throughout the challenge!
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This was so great Cathy – thank you so much for hosting it! It was really fun to see what other people were reading and I have added so many books to my TBR. Also loved seeing the photos of your travels, what an amazing summer for your family. Good job reading so much even while also traveling and all! Can’t wait to read what you have to say about Lonesome Dove.
I have read 16 of my 20 and I plan to read the last four between now and September 22nd … having switched to solar/”real” summer a few weeks ago when I realized there was no way I could read everything I had left before August 31st 🙂 I’ve read some books I wouldn’t have otherwise picked up and it’s just been a great challenge to actually make a plan and stick to it!
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Sounds like a win Andrea, I’m really glad that you enjoyed taking part x
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Well done on reading so much, especially with how busy you’ve been. The same as you I reached my goal of 10 books for the challenge, with 6 books from my list and another 4 extra books.
Thank you for hosting again this year and I look forward to next year. 😊
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Thanks for taking part Jessica!
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Well done! I didn’t read and review all 20 of my picks but I did read a lot this summer and I read some titles that had been on my list for a long time that I might not have otherwise, so I’m counting it all as a success!
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That sounds like a win to me Karissa!
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Definitely a win Cathy – congratulations 🙂
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Thanks!
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Hi Cathy – Great job! I didn’t read 20 books but I read 14 and consider that a win!
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14 is great! Well done and thanks again for taking part.
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I read 15 from my list of 20, and reviewed about six of those, so I’m very happy with my summer reading! Two favorites were Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles and John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. I was also motivated to read a few books that were sitting on my shelves, including one that just won a Hugo Award by NK Jemisin. So it was all in all a great summer of reading. Thanks as always for hosting this challenge!
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I’m rather later with my wrap up, but pleased to say I read all 20 books even though I swapped some.
https://adarngoodread.blogspot.com/2022/09/20-books-of-summer-winter-2022-wrap-up.html
Thanks for hosting this challenge. Looking forward to next year.
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Well done Yvonne! Thanks for joining in.
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