Summer Reading Challenge Update

I’ve been writing this post in my mind for awhile, so I’m not waiting for the official end of the month. This year’s challenge is not looking so great… so far. I know that in previous years I was also in a “panic” around that July mark, but I’ve always managed to complete the challenge, thanks to its great lenient accommodating rules. I’ll probably tweak my choices soon but I need to clarify the situation first and confess to my mistakes.

By the end of May I’ve selected 20 perfectly fine books, but that was all without counting that I was already reading around 5 more books… and that I had no plan to let them go. To this day I still have 2 books on my nightstand, that I’d started before the start of the challenge. One of them, Ross Gay’s Book of Delights, I have no intention to complete before fall because I’m reading 1 delight every few days. But the other is a tough love. It’s science fiction, not my comfort zone, but with challenging ideas I would hate to quit altogether. One solution: I will just re-integrate this one, Exhalation by Ted Chiang into the official 20 list. And then proceed to drop Lawrence Ellsworth, The Three Mystic Heirs (#20)… because right now it’s too hot for convoluted plots.

Other “mistake” (sorry not sorry), I have chosen an epic Stephen King for this year: It. I don’t regret it at all, but… guys… it’s 1200 pages, and even if it’s addictive I’m not even at 30% yet! It ought to count double or something. So, I should probably compensate by picking more graphic novels. I had left room for 2 of them (which are read, but not reviewed), I’ll most certainly add a third, all the more as one of the graphic book I read is a two-parter. I am in the queue at the library for the second part, and I’ll drop anything unappealing when I’ll have it in hand.

Read

• 5. Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi
• 10. Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant
• 17. Graphic novel #2 – Madeleine Résistante T1
• 18. Graphic novel #1 – Magali Le Huche, Nowhere Girl

Reading

• 15. The PLAN: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius by Kendra Adachi
• 6. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
• 8. Beatrice And Her Son by Arthur Schnitzler
• 12. It by Stephen King
• 20. Exhalation

That leaves me 11 books for a little more than 2 months… which is doable if I manage to finish a few current books soon. Well if I don’t, I’ll blame it all on It, of course. That thing is evil…

What about your summer reading plans and challenges? Is it going well or veering off track? At any case, enjoy whatever you’re reading!