20 Books of Summer 2026

The 20 Books of Summer challenge runs from June 1 - August 31, so at this point it is nearly 1/3 over. However, even though I wasn't going to sign up this year I have decided to jump in with a modified approach. AnnaBookBel is once again hosting this lovely event and she says there aren't really rules, so I can't be breaking them. 

This is my plan -- I am making a list of 20 kinds of books I am going to read this summer and will fill in what I read for each type as I go. Every year I make a list of 20 specific books and almost never read any of them -- I am too busy reading 20 books I didn't put on my list. Perhaps this will be more successful. 

1. One book from my Classics Club list
   
   Two books from my Readers' Advisory Reading List
   
   
2.  --
3.  --
   
   Two books published within the last 12 months
   
   
4. --
5. --
   
   Five works of non-fiction -- maybe from my Nonfiction November TBR list
   
   
6. Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better by David Epstein (June)
7. Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction by Tracy Kidder & Richard Todd (June)
8. --
9. --
10. --
    
    Six books from the series I am trying to make progress on in 2026 
    
    
11. Breaking the Mould by Victoria Hamilton (June)
12. State Fair by Earlene Fowler (June)
13. Buried in Books by Kate Carlisle (June)
14. --
15. --
16. --
    
    Four wildcards -- can be anything from my TBR lists --bonus points if it is a book I already own
    
    
17. The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict (June)
18. The Lamorna Wink by Martha Grimes (June)
19. --
20. --

Every Day I Read

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books 

by Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shanna Tan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars (really 3.5)

From the subtitle I was expecting this to be a "tips-and-tricks" book with ideas for enriching your reading life. Had I read the blurb I would have known better. It is actually a collection of very short essays each of which considers a specific aspect of the author's reading life. She talks about the joys and challenges in her reading life and in most essays discusses specific books that she has read that connect for her to the topic being addressed. 

The author is a young Korean woman and a voracious reader. I was charmed and fascinated by this intimate glimpse into her daily life and her views on the books she has read. I was also challenged to consider my own views on the various topics she covers. Reading multiple books at a time; reading "difficult" books; not finishing a book you started; and visiting the library were some of my favorite of her topics.

She is a collector of quotes--I was also when I was young but have fallen out of the habit. Her expanation of what she gets out of the collecting habit has inspired me to go back to it myself. I was also inspired to add quite a few titles to my TBR list.

Here are some of the quotes that spoke to me:

• "...reading isn't about remembrance but the change that can come from reading a book." (p. 23)
• "And when I see a particularly insightful quote, I sigh in relief. If I hadn't come across this nugget of wisdom, life might have turned out to be completely different." (p. 78)
• "I imagine a line of writers holding hands across time and space, If we can understand how the books are connected, we can read with greater depth." (p. 113)
• "When reading difficult books, have trust in the process and keep going. You'll come to realize no book is too difficult." (p. 197)

This book wasn't what I expected it to be, but it was a fascinating look into the mind and life of a woman living in Korea and finding meaning and guidance in her reading.

May Book Report

May 2026, Hog Back Mountain, Vt.

I finished 9 books last month.

Two quotes from this month's reading:

“Because love is vast. Abundant. Infinite, in fact. And the secret is this: love begets love. The more you love, the more love you have to give.” ― Molly Roden Winter, More

“Never marry a man you wouldn’t want to be divorced from." ― Nora Ephron, I Feel Bad About My Neck 

Here are the books I finished in May 2026: 

1. More: A Memoir of an Open Marriage by Molly Roden Winter (4-stars)

2. The Power in the Middle by Elizabeth O'Brien (4-stars)

3. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron (4-stars)

4. The Operator by Gretchen Berg (4-stars)

5. Tumbling Blocks by Earlean Fowler (3-stars)

6. Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire (3-stars)

7. Patterns in the Sand by Sally Goldenbaum (4-stars)

8. False Scent by Ngaio Marsh (4-stars)

9. My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley (3-stars)

I have also been browsing my way through 1000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich. I haven't read as many of them as I would have expected, but have found several so far that I want to read. My Dog Tulip was a suggestion from there. 

April Book Report

April 2026, Concord, NH

I finished 11 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“Within three years, Anglo-American troops had almost emptied the region of Acadian inhabitants, seemingly annihilating a colonial society whose origins predated those of Plymouth and Jamestown. It was an “upheaval” that struck even some of its perpetrators as 'sumthing shocking.'" ― Christopher Hodson, The Acadian Diaspora

 

Here are the books I finished in April 2026: 

1. Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh (3-stars)

2. Hand in Glove by Ngaio Marsh (3-stars)

3. Family Trees: A History of Genealogy in America by Francois Weil (3-stars)

4. The Quiche and the Dead by Kirsten Weiss (3-stars)

5. Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovich (audio, 4-stars)

6. The Stargazey by Martha Grimes (4-stars)

7. The Acadian Diaspora by Christopher Hodson (4-stars)

8. Miss Julia Paints the Town by Ann B. Ross (3-stars)

9. Give Me a Word: The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year by Christine Valters Paintner (4-stars)

10. Once Upon a Spine by Kate Carlisle (3-stars)

11. Mistletoe Man by Susan Albert Wittig (3-stars)

26 Questions in 2026 (#10)

To kick off the new year the Classics Club posted a list of 26 questions designed to help members consider their relationship with reading classics. I plan to answer one question every few weeks throughout 2026. 

#10 -Favourite movie or TV adaption of a classic?

The adaptation that immediately comes to mind as a favorite is the Hitchcock film based on Rebecca.

Released in 1940 the movie start Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier. It is gothic, and creepy, and dream-like, as is the novel, and the twists and turns of the plot are brilliantly depicted in the cinematography. The film got eleven academy award nominations, the most of any film that year, and won both Best Picture and Best Cinematography. 

26 Questions in 2026 (#9)

To kick off the new year the Classics Club posted a list of 26 questions designed to help members consider their relationship with reading classics. I plan to answer one question every few weeks throughout 2026. 

 #9 - Least favorite classic? Why?

Hands down, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. 

The 'why' is in the post from when I read it. 

26 Questions in 2026 (#8)

To kick off the new year the Classics Club posted a list of 26 questions designed to help members consider their relationship with reading classics. I plan to answer one question every few weeks throughout 2026. 

 #8 Which classic is your most memorable classic to date? Why?

Considering only the classics that I read specifically for classics club, two titles stand out as most memorable: Lonesome Dove and The French Lieutenant's Woman.

Both novels were books I had known about for a long time and thought I knew what they would be. They both turned out to be quite different, and much more fabulous, than I expected. 

March Book Report

Birthday flowers, 2026

I finished 12 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“It is fruitless to search for the characteristics of an “American” identity, because each nation has its own notion of what being American should mean.”
           ― Colin Woodard, American Nations

Here are the books I finished in March 2026: 

1. Suede to Rest by Diane Vallere (3-stars)
2. No Grater Danger by Victoria Hamilton (3-stars)
3. Delectable Mountains by Earlene Fowler (4-stars)
4. The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller (4-stars)
5. How to Calm Your Mind by Chris Bailey (3-stars)
6. Oranges by John McPhee (audiobook, 3-stars)
7. American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard (5-stars)
8. The Family Tree Problem Solver by Marsha Hoffman Rising (4-stars)
9. The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear (4-stars)
10. Dead Water by Ngaio Marsh (4-stars)
11. Death by Cashmere by Sally Goldenbaum (4-stars)
12. Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh (3-stars)

I got an e-reader for my birthday which has led to a Ngaio March binge which I am thoroughly enjoying.

26 Questions in 2026 (#6 and #7)

 To kick off the new year the Classics Club posted a list of 26 questions designed to help members consider their relationship with reading classics. I plan to answer one question every few weeks throughout 2026. 

#6 - First classic you ever read?
#7 - Favorite children's classic?

The first classic I read for Classics Club was the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I participated in a read-along for this book, which was probably a good thing because I didn't love this book and that might have been the end of my club activity if I hadn't had the read-along to keep me going. 

The first classic I ever read was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I wrote about my experience with it in 2013 in a meme about re-reading. 

Little Women is also my favorite children's classic. I am also fond of Alice in Wonderland, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle in Time by Ursula K. Le Guin, and Eloise by Kay Thompson.

When I was a kid I loved the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett, the Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren, and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books by Betty MacDonald.  I haven't read any of these since I was actually a kid, however, so I don't know if they hold up. 

February Book Report

My partner's new hobby ❤

I finished 7 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“Both described at the same time how it was always March there and always Monday, and then they understood that José Arcadio Buendía was not as crazy as the family said, but that he was the only one who had enough lucidity to sense the truth of the fact that time also stumbled and had accidents and could therefore splinter and leave an eternalized fragment in a room.” ― Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Here are the books I finished in February 2026: 

1. Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews (3-stars)
2. Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie (4-stars)
3. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez  (audiobook, 4-stars)
4. The Case has Altered by Martha Grimes (4-stars)
5. Scrap Quilts from Crumbs, Strips, and Strings by Emily Bailey (3-stars)
6. Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer by Ragnar Jonasson (3-stars)
7. Lavender Lies by Susan Whittig Albert (3-stars)
   

This looks like a mystery-heavy month, but I am also reading a history book and a book about genealogical research which has provided a nice balance for my reading.  I do need to focus more on the mystery series that I identified for making progress on. I put in a bunch of library requests for those titles spread out over the next several months so that should help. 

26 Questions in 2026 (#5)

To kick off the new year the Classics Club posted a list of 26 questions designed to help members consider their relationship with reading classics. I plan to answer one question every few weeks throughout 2026. 

 #5 - If you could explore one author’s literary career from first publication to last — meaning you have never read this author and want to explore him or her by reading what s/he wrote in order of publication — who would you explore? Obviously this should be an author you haven’t yet read, since you can’t do this experiment on an author you’re already familiar with. 🙂 Or, which author’s work you are familiar with might it have been fun to approach this way?

I love this idea but I have not been able to come up with an author that I want to do this with whose work I haven't already read most of. I am definitely a completist, when I find an author I like I keep reading their work until I am out of books. I have finished (or very nearly finished) the works of Willa Cather, Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Robertson Davies, Colson Whitehead, and Margaret Atwood. Until I read one of their books though, I don't know if I am interested enough to read the whole oeuvre. 

I did do this once with a poet -- Jane Kenyon and I enjoyed the experience. I read a biography of her along with the poetry and essays in order of publication. 

One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred Years of Solitude 

by Gabriel García Márquez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to this narrated by John Lee which was an excellent choice because there were a lot of Spanish words that I would have stumbled over, including many very similar names. Lee did an excellent job of making the different names clear. He also has a beautiful voice. 

I read this book when I was in college and did not like it at all. Since then I listened to Love in the Time of Cholera which I did enjoy. That inspired me to give this another try and I am glad I did. 

The story is set in the mythical town of Macondo and tells the story of the Buendia family which is intricately intertwined with the history of the town. It starts with this memorable line: 

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice...”

Then weaves through time and various versions of reality to spin a tale of beauty and suffering and love. 

“Wherever they might be they always remember that the past was a lie, that memory has no return, that every spring gone by could never be recovered, and that the wildest and most tenacious love was an ephemeral truth in the end." 

This book is on my Classics Club list.