20 Books of Summer 2022: Wrap Up

All-in-all, this wasn’t my worst attempt at the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge hosted by Cathy at 746 Books.

Books Reviewed

1. A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
2. Dune by Frank Herbert
3. The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan
4. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
5. Sphere by Michael Crichton
6. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
7. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

Of these, Dune and The Invisible Circus are the two I’m most relieved to have off my queue. I’ve been trying to finish Dune since high school. As for The Invisible Circus, it landed in the DNF pile a few times, but I kept it around on account of how much I loved the first chapter. I couldn’t get rid of it before knowing the ending. It was a risk to put two hard-to-finish books on my summer queue, and they slowed me down considerably, but I’m enormously pleased to have finished both.

Books Read / Future Reviews

1. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
2. The Appointment by Herta Müller
3. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin
4. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
5. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

I’ve had this blog for a decade now and never blogged as regularly as I wanted. Sometimes it’s because a book doesn’t resonate and sometimes it’s because I don’t find the time. I’ve devised so many schedules over the years, but now I want to aim for one review per week. Most of my previous plans involved 2+ posts a week, and once I (inevitably) started to miss my self-imposed deadlines, it got harder and harder to come back. I never aimed for only one because that seemed so low compared to the prolific bloggers I admire. But this is supposed to be a fun little hobby; it’s best to leave comparisons out of it.

Still Reading

1. Burmese Days by George Orwell
2. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
3. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
4. Human Acts by Han Kang
5. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
6. Super-Cannes by J.G. Ballard

I know my fellow bloggers have strong feelings about reading books one at a time or jumping between titles. Despite being someone who is terrible at remembering names, I’ve never had trouble reading multiple stories. I read more this way. If I only read one at a time, I might see it on the table and think “I’m not in the mood for that now,” but it’s easy to pick up a book when there are several to choose from. I try not to let books sit too long; if I do, I’ll reread a few chapters.

Unread

1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
2. The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming-Yi

I thought Sense and Sensibility was a much shorter book than it is. Early on, I decided it was either it or Dune, and I picked Dune. The Stolen Bicycle is still in my queue, but the reviews I read made it sound like a very slow read, which is why I decided to save it for last.