
Congrats for making it to the end of the Summer Reading Challenge 2022! As I sat down to work on the list of books I read this summer, I am so proud of us and of this challenge. Thanks to this challenge, every summer I read several books that I simply would not have read without this nudge of this challenge. I imagine it’s the same for you.
Three things to know for me this summer:
1. I am embarrassed to say I only read one novel.
2. Thanks to the “Penalty Book” category, for the fifth summer I read a book I have been meaning to read for ages! Go penalty books! Unfortunately, for the first time, my penalty book was a massive disappointment.
3. Summer reading makes me happy.
So, how did The Summer Reading Challenge go for you? Remember, in The Summer Reading Challenge the goal is to read seven books between June 1 and August 12th. Comment below and you are entered for one of ten $10 Amazon gift cards. Even if you didn’t read seven books, still share what you read! This isn’t really a contest so much as a chance to share and a chance to see how many books we read collectively.
I’m going to put the categories here if you want to cut and paste them into the comments. Also feel free to just list books, whatever works for you.
—Read Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood by Gary Paulsen.
—A Biography or about history
—A book you already own
—A book you’ve been wanting to reread
—A book a friend recommended
—A Young Adult book (YA)
—A book with a great cover
—A book of poetry
—A memoir or autobiography
—A graphic novel
—A book for professional development (loosely defined)
—A book longer than 700 pages (counts as two books)
—A book with a verb in the title
—A play
—A book about a country or culture you have never visited
—A book with the number 7 in the title or subtitle (in honor of this being the 7th anniversary)
—A book that won an award
—A book by someone with a different view point than you recommended you read
—A mystery
—A classic
—An audiobook
—A book with an animal
—A book less than 100 pages
—A book you want to discuss with others
—A book you read as a child
Penalty book (subtract two books if you didn’t read this book)
Amy’s books with a five star rating (you don’t have to do this!)
Read Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhoodby Gary Paulsen: Reread it this summer. Still love his writing and ability to craft a story in an unexpected way, in this case a memoir in the style of a YA book. (5 stars)
A Biography or about history: Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard (5 stars)
A book with a great cover: Becoming More Fruitful by me :) . . . it will be out on Tuesday! (5 stars and a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and love)
A memoir or autobiography: Gehrig and the Babe: The Friendship and the Feud by Tony Castro (4 stars)
A graphic novel: Discipline by Dash Shaw (3 stars)
A book for professional development (loosely defined): Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity by Saundra Dalton-Smith (4 stars)
A book longer than 700 pages (counts as two books): Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan by Edmund Morris (History gets 4 stars, fake story teller named after the author? Negative 5 stars!!! Do not read this book; it was too confusing to sort out what was actual history and what was Fake Edmund’s life. Hard pass.)
A book about a country or culture you have never visited: River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard (4 stars)
A book with the number 7 in the title or subtitle (in honor of this being the 7th anniversary): I started a book with a 7 in the title but I’m not even going to tell you what it was to not be cruel to the author. Don’t waste your time. (2 stars, which is more than Edmund Morris got!!!)
A book that won an award: The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green won the Goodreads Choice winner for Nonfiction 2021 (He gave a 5 star rating to at the end of each essay to the subject, thus my hat tip with my 5 star rating, 4 stars)
A mystery: The Last Flight by Julie Clark (fun, light read, 5 stars)
An audiobook: The Lord Is My Courage: Stepping Through the Shadows of Fear Toward the Voice of Love by KJ Ramsey (5 stars)
A book less than 100 pages: The Self-Aware Leader by John C. Maxwell (Technically more than 100 pages, but that’s because if you choose a small cover and paper, you make a short book long :). If this were “typical” size? Less than 100 pages) (4 stars)
A book you want to discuss with others: Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers by Chip Heath and Karla Starr (5 stars and one exclamation point!)
Penalty book: Dutch: A memoir of Ronald Reagan (I read about 30 pages of notes to clear the 700 page goal too)
You can see I didn’t read in every category.
I come back to this not being a contest, if you read four books and that was your goal, great! I just find that I’m more likely to accomplish my goals if I tell people what they are. I would not have read the short book or the graphic novel and I’m 99% sure I would still be intending to read Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan by Edmund Morris. Thanks to you, I read all of them and can move on from Dutch once and for all times.
All who comment between August 11-15th with the names of the books they read will be entered to win one of ten $10 Amazon gift cards. To enter, leave a comment on this post.
I can’t wait to see what you’ve been reading. I’ll pick winners on Monday so you have several days to leave a comment.
Thank you for joining in!
Amy
P.S. I need to read more novels in 2023. Can you believe I only read one this summer? That is pathetic :)
P.P.S. In preparing my list I enjoyed looking over what I read last summer and thought you might like to see what you read. If you left a comment last summer, you can reread what you read here.