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Annabel from AnnaBookBel carries on the work started by Cathy of 746 Books . You can read her kick-off post here.

Phew. By the skin of my teeth–I finished the last book of my 20 at 6pm yesterday. A month ago, I said “I should finish by the end of the month with some wiggle room.” Not a lot of wiggle room, it seems. But at least I didn’t have to stay up to midnight to finish. Even better, I’ve written about fifteen of them. I think that might be my best number in the years I’ve done this challenge–hopefully I can nail the other 5 within a week. All in all…this has been a big success. Thanks to AnnaBookBel for doing this again.

On a semi-related front, but I read six of my Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer 2026 to-Read List (That Aren’t on My 20 Books Challenge) list, too. It’s not the best I could’ve done there–but I’ll take it.

This summer, my 20 were:

✔ 1. The Devils by Joe Abercrombie (My post about it)
✔ 2. Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett (My post about it)
✔ 3. Eyes of Empire by JCM Berne (My post about it)
✔ 4. Cold Iron Task by James Butcher
✔ 5. Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
✔ 6. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (My post about it)
✔ 7. Detained: A boy’s journal of survival and resilience by D. Esperanza and Gerardo Iván Morales (My post about it)
✔ 8. What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack (My post about it)
✔ 9. Killer Vibes by Jack Friday (My post about it)
✔ 10. Manitou by Glen Gabel (My post about it)		 11. Wool by Hugh Howey
✔ 12. Eternal Blades by Vlad V. Imakaev (My post about it)
✔ 13. First Mage on the Moon by Cameron Johnston (My post about it)
✔ 14. Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
✔ 15. The Shadow Carver by Nadine Matheson (My post about it)
✔ 16. Squeaky Clean by Callum McSorley (My post about it)
✔ 17. Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto (My post about it)
✔ 18. Crownfall by Michael Vadney (My post about it)
✔ 19. We Be Dragons by Michael Weitz (My post about it)
✔ 20. Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by Django Wexler

How has your summer reading been? If you took part in this, how’d it go? Or if you just had a “we’ll see what comes” plan, how did that work out for you?

20 Books of Summer '26 Chart August Check-in