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Goodbye to 20 Books of Summer 2026 #20BOS26
And just like that, that is it for another year! 20 Books of Summer ends today and it’s been one of my smoothest and most enjoyable years to date. I completed my 20 Books with a few days to spare, and...
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No 186 Light Years by James Salter: Book 20 of #20BOS26
I had deliberately left Light Years until the end of my 20 Books of Summer challenge, convinced that I was going to struggle with it. I had heard enough about James Salter’s novel to expect a...
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No 197 February House by Sherill Tippins: Book 19 of #20BOS26
Having previously explored the long-running artists’ community of the Chelsea Hotel in Inside the Dream Palace, Sherill Tippins turns her attention in February House to a much shorter-lived experiment...
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Dusk by Robbie Arnott: Book 18 of #20BOS26
This is the third Robbie Arnott book I have read and each time I read one, it makes my ‘books of the year’ list – Flames in 2019, Limberlost in 2022 – and this year will be no different. There are few...
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Small Comfort by Ia Genberg, translated by Kira Josefsson: Book 17 of #20BOS26
I’ve been meaning to get to more of Ia Genberg’s work ever since The Details made such a strong impression, so I figured that Women In Translation Month was as good a time as any. This collection of...
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No 188 Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark: Book 16 of #20BOS26
Loitering With Intent is the cleverest Muriel Spark I’ve read so far — playful and sharp — though it might not be the most accessible entry point for a first-time reader. Set in late-1940s London, it...
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The Boy From the Sea by Garrett Carr: Book 15 of #20BOS26
Garrett Carr’s debut adult novel is big-hearted and welcoming, opening with a collective voice that immediately sets the tone for the rest of the novel. We were a hardy people, raised facing the...
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No 189 The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch: Book 14 of #20BOS26 #irismurdoch26
As with previous Murdoch’s I’ve read during my Year with Iris Murdoch, it took me a while to get into the swing of The Nice and the Good. Once I did, though, it became highly entertaining. It’s very...
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No 190 The Book of Revelation by Rupert Thomson: Book 13 of #20BOS26
So, this is my first book swap of this year’s 20 Books challenge! I just wasn’t getting into The Flamethrowers and the more I tried the less inclined I got, so I decided to swap it for another book in...
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The Silver Book by Olivia Laing: Book 12 of #20BOS26
Having read some of Olivia Laing’s nonfiction, I was keen to read The Silver Book and see how she handles fiction. I’m glad I did as this is an atmospheric novel that mixes queer romance with a touch...
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A Room Above A Shop by Anthony Shapland: Book 11 of #20BOS26
I’d seen a lot of warm appreciation for A Room Above A Shop in the blogosphere and anticipated that I was in for a treat. This short, poetic novel didn’t disappoint. Set in the late 1980s in the...
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20 Books of Summer ’26: The Half-way Check-in!
And just like that, we are exactly halfway through this year’s 20 Books of Summer Challenge. Where is the time going? How is everyone doing? I am actually doing quite well. I have read 12 of my books...
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Walter Benjamin Stares At The Sea by C.D. Rose: Book 10 of #20BOS26
One of my top reads of last year was CD Rose’s wonderful novel We Live Here Now and based on that I wanted to try this collection of linked short stories and I’m so glad I picked it up – this is a...
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No 191 The Life and Work of Harold Pinter by Michael Billington: Book 9 of...
I’ve long been fascinated by Harold Pinter’s plays – that unique mix of menace, comedy, and pregnant pauses – and this book has been languishing on my shelves for years so 20 Books of Summer seemed...
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The Old Fire by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins: Book...
My eighth Book of Summer is The Old Fire by French-Korean author Elisa Shua Dusapin so I am also reading it for Emma’s Paris in July challenge. The story follows Agathe, a screenwriter living in New...
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The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley: Book 6 of #20BOS26
Gwendoline Riley has long been one of those writers whose work I admire thanks to her sharp, economical prose that cuts right to the bone of modern relationships and personal disappointments. In The...
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The Language of Birds by Jill Dawson: Book 5 of #20BOS26
Jill Dawson’s The Language of Birds is a fictionalised retelling of the notorious Lord Lucan murder case, but with a welcome shift in focus. Rather than lingering on the aristocratic fugitive or the...
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London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe: Book 4 of #20BOS26
Patrick Radden Keefe’s London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth is a gripping nonfiction account of the 2019 death of nineteen-year-old Zac Brettler, who...
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F by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Carol Brown Janeaway: Book 3 of #20BOS26
Daniel Kehlmann is one of my favourite contemporary authors. This is the fifth of his novels I have read, along with Me & Kaminski, Fame, Tyll and You Should Have Left. I love the sharp...
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No 194 Election by Tom Perrotta: Book 2 of #20BOS26
Tom Perrotta’s Election is one of those novels that feels deceptively slight but still manages to say a lot about ambition, loneliness, and the stories people tell themselves in order to get through...
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