20 Books of Summer

Cathy over at 746 Books is hosting her annual 20 Books of Summer Challenge, wherein participants attempt to read 20 (or 15 or 10 or basically any number you like) books between June 1 and September 4.  I’ve followed along with this challenge before but have never “officially” joined in so…  here we go!

For my 20 books (links to GoodReads) –

• I’ve started a new fantasy series – the Codex Alera books by Jim Butcher.  I’ve already read the first book, and by the end of summer am hoping to read books 2-4 (there are six total, I believe).
• I’m still trying to read (or reread) books off my own shelves.  By September, I’m aiming to read
  • Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter, and its sequel, A Girl of the Limberlost
  • Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, and ITS sequel, Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague (there are two more “Misty” books, but my guess is that they won’t happen until the fall)
• I am also still working my way through Agatha Christie’s delightful mysteries.  Upcoming are Crooked House, They Came to Baghdad, and Destination Unknown
• In the random-books-off-the-TBR category we have –
  • The Ransom by Grace Livingston Hill
  • The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
  • Life or Death by Michael Robotham
  • The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
  • The Fold by Peter Clines
  • On the Fence by Kasie West
  • The Mistake I Made by Paula Daly
  • Money in the Bank by P.G. Wodehouse
  • My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
  • The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson

Okay, gosh, I’m already scared.  There are some beefy books on this list!!!  But these are personal goals, right??  So we will see how things go!  I also reserve the right to DNF any of those random books…  I sometimes start books from the TBR, but if they don’t engage me in the first 80-100 pages, I’m not afraid to send them off unread!  This actually part of the reason I don’t usually do these challenges where I list off my future reads.  What if I change my mind??  But then I thought, “What happens if I change my mind?  It’s not like Cathy is going to send the 20 Books of Summer police after me!”  (Right??)  So if a book doesn’t strike my fancy, I’ll replace the title with something else new and exciting, and let you all know about the update!

I’m currently in the middle of another hefty book, House of Thieves by Charles Belfoure, but I am hoping to be at least most of the way through it by Wednesday, when the challenge officially begins!

Right now, I’m way behind on reviews, so it’s possible that I may get more of these books read than I will reviewed, as I like to review books in the order I finish them, but I’m hoping to at least give a little shout-out whenever one gets checked off!

Cathy is using #20booksofsummer for Twitter updates.  I’m quite dreadful at Twitter, but I’ll see what I can do.  Not sure if anyone else is on Instagram??  I may incorporate the hashtag into some updates there as well.  (On Twitter, I’m PopcornandBooks, and on Instagram I’m PopcornandBooks15.)

Hope to see some of you reading along this summer as well.  Best of luck!!