We’ve crossed over into September, so it’s time to check on how I did with my 10 Books of Summer list (Challenge hosted by Cathy of 746 Books). I think of this as a way to knock off some books from other challenges and reading projects, and it worked pretty well for that, although I did not stick very closely to my original list at all.
My original list:
- Grimbold’s Other World by Nicholas Stuart Gray for Reading the Meow
- The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge for Nonfiction Reader
- Savor by Fatima Ali for Nonfiction Reader
- All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley for Nonfiction Reader
- Momo by Michael Ende for Summer in Other Languages
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert for Summer in Other Languages
- Eva Luna by Isabel Allende for StoryGraph Reads the World
- Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje for StoryGraph Reads the World
- Well That Was Unexpected by Jesse Q Suntano for StoryGraph Reads the World
What I actually read:
- Dewey for Reading the Meow
- American Nations for Nonfiction Reader
- All the Beauty in the World for Nonfiction Reader
- Chartres for Nonfiction Reader
- The Brain that Changes Itself for Nonfiction Reader
- Well That Was Unexpected for StoryGraph Reads the World
- Moominland Midwinter and 5 other Moomin books for Moomin Week and Women in Translation
- Madame Bovary for Summer in Other Languages (review pending)
I think I’ll always remember this as the summer I managed to read Madame Bovary in French — I had to put aside my other goal of reading a book in German for the time being, in order to focus on one foreign language at a time. Really pleased that I managed that, even though it was such a downer that I had to balance it out with lots of Moomin books. If I count all of those, I did make it to 10 books! Regardless of the numbers I did have some great reading this summer, and that’s what matters.
How was your summer reading this year?
I have been busy camping this summer, but my style of camping involves a lot of reading, and now I am catching up on blog hopping. Your comments on The Brain That Changes Itself have me intrigued. Your mention of Momo has caught my eye – that has been on my TBR for many years but I’ll be looking for an English copy 🙂
The Brain that Changes Itself is fascinating. A must read for anyone interested in how our brain works (which I would think should be everyone.)
Congrats again on madame Bovary.
For once, I did stick quite a bit to my original list, very unusual for me lol.
https://wordsandpeace.com/2024/09/04/20-books-of-summer-2024-final-update/
Good job! I guess I did manage about half of mine.
Grimbold’s Other World is a good one. I hope you get to it at some point.
I started reading Grimbold, but I found there was not enough cat for Reading the Meow, at least in the initial chapters. I’ll get to it another time.
Glad you managed to read some of your original choices. I never got to all of mine either. Well done on reading Madame Bovary in the original. I read the translated version for a course I took once and am glad you had the Moomins to get you through!
Yes, I was too. 😀
I’m impressed with your persevering with the Flaubert, Lory, even though you may have been distracted by your trips to Moominvalley! As you may already know I completed my 20, but am close to finishing What’s Bred in the Bone which might have been my 21st if other things hadn’t taken priority. 🙂
I’m not too bothered about the numbers myself. Glad you had a good reading summer too!
Well done on Madame Bovary – I read it in English at a time when I probably could have still read it in French, which annoyed me. And on your Books of Summer. I did my 20 Books, just, but at the expense of my August NetGalley books and my blog posts (I am currently alternating old and new ones to see if I can catch up!).
I can’t do too many advance review copies, it stresses me out. I have one now I’ve absolutely promised to review, so that has to be the priority — other challenges must wait.
Hi Lory, how wonderful that you were able to read Madame Bovary in French! I only managed to finish reading 5 of my 10 Books of Summer, but I did enjoy all of them.
Blessings, Jessica 💌
That’s a good result then, in my opinion!