When Cathy of 746 books announced last year that she would not be hosting 20 Books of Summer this year after ten successful years, Emma of Words and Peace and Annabel of AnnaBookBel both volunteered to take it on. Though I have sworn off doing too many reading challenges this year, I couldn’t resist joining in with the large and enthusiastic crowd of participants, by making at least an aspirational list.
As well as keeping up with the Jane Austen 2025 readalong, I’d like to coordinate with some other upcoming events that I enjoy – Reading the Meow, Paris in July, and Women in Translation. As you’ll see, the bulk of my list falls into the latter category, as I found so many tempting possibilities when I started looking, including some that count for other challenges too.
- Emma by Jane Austen – Reading Austen 2025
- The Abandoned by Paul Gallico – Reading the Meow
- Wildwitch: Wildfire by Lena Kaaberbol – Reading the Meow, Women in Translation
- The Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais – Paris in July, Women in Translation
- The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa – Women in Translation Month
- Eva Luna by Isabel Allende – Women in Translation Month
- Letters from Tove by Tove Jansson – Women in Translation Month
- Bird Cottage by Eva Meijer – Women in Translation Month
- The Shamer’s Daughter by Lene Kaaberbol – Women in Translation Month
- The Ingenious Language by Andrea Marcolongo – Women in Translation Month
As a bonus book, there’s Une rose seule (A Single Rose) by Muriel Barbery, which I plan to read with Emma, who for the past several summers has kindly set up a Discord discussion group for those who’d like to read and discuss a book together in French. Reading it in translation would also be a great option for August. After last year’s magnificent but dense and depressing classic, Madame Bovary, we’ve chosen something short, lyrical, and contemporary: Une rose seule (A Single Rose) by Muriel Barbery. I hope you’ll be tempted to consider joining us.
What’s on your summer reading list?
An interesting list – happy reading!
I’ve only read Emma of these, although my book group read the Hedgehog book by Barbery for my book group. I never quite finish my *planned* 20 Books but I enjoy making the list.
I visited Jane Austen’s grave in Winchester last month with my mother. I also enjoyed the dramatization of Miss Austen by Gill Hornby that was just shown on PBS. I would recommend the book first (I used to have a button that said, “No, but I read the book.” I should have another that says, “Read the book first!”).
Constance
Nice list and excellent challenge-overlapping! I hope you enjoy them all.