I’m really excited to see Cathy at 746 is once again hosting the 20 Books of Summer. I didn’t participate last year but I’m in the mood for a reading challenge and think this will be tons of fun.

I’m going for the 10 Books of Summer and my focus will be on my shelf sitters. I used to keep track of the date I added a book to my shelf but now I rely on books that are towards the back of my double-stacked shelves! ha…

Here is my pile of possibilities:

The Perfect Nanny by Leïla Slimani; translated by Sam Taylor. I remember this one was quite a popular read several years ago.

Mendocino and Other Stories by Ann Packer. A book I’m pretty sure I bought after I read her bestselling novel, the Dive from Clausen’s Pier.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Wolves, woods and cold climate. I think that’s perfect for the upcoming hot months!

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve. It’s been a long time since I’ve read anything by this author and I have several of her books on my stacks.

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. The story of two sisters growing up under the care of a grandmother and aunts.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin. I’ve been meaning to read this forever. I’ve heard it’s wonderful.

Innocence by Penelope Fitzgerald. A novel about a young woman’s love affair set in Italy after WWII.

Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim. A vulnerable young woman, a dashing widower and an isolated country home.

Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Set in India in the 1920s and about the life of a woman trying to buck social constraints. I am almost positive I bought this book for a book group read selection back in the 90s!

Syllabus by Lynda Barry. I’ve enjoyed several of her books and think this will be a great book to spark creativity.

I’ve got quite the variety of books and yes, most are relatively short books so I hope to make a dent of my piles. Are you joining in the summer reading challenge? Have you read any of these books? Let me know if there’s one I should move to the top of the pile!

Time for a monthly recap! I hope you’ve all been doing well and I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit absent around here and blogland.

May has been challenging. I’ve had some work issues that took up a lot of time and energy. My father-in-law has been in and out of the hospital. Then I was hoping to finally have a vacation and my plans fell through.

Still there have been some really good moments. For example, I celebrated my birthday last week so there were a lot of books and cheesecake. I’ll probably have to do two blog posts just on the books I’ve received throughout the month!

My reading was a bit slow but I did finish four books: Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley, The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor, Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli, and Detective Inspector Huss by Helen Torsten.

My favorite by far was Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley. What an impressive debut novel.

Going in to June I’m carrying over a couple of books, one is The Radium Girls by Kate Moore, which is blowing me away! I’m also excited to join in Cathy’s 20 Books of Summer reading project. I’m going for the 10 books challenge and will tell you more about that in my next post. June also happens to be my bloggiversary. Surely that means more books right?

Not only that but I’m also taking a week off starting next week so I cannot wait. I’m so tired and just want to spend some quality time reading and relaxing. Here’s to a great start to the summer. Hope you are all doing well and would love to hear if you’ve got any summer reading plans.