Today I’m giving an update on my 15 Books of Summer Reading Challenge that I am participating in with Emma at Words and Peace and Annabel @ AnnaBookBel. 

I originally made a list of 15 books I planned to read this summer, but later dropped that down to 10.

After I posted the blog post I decided to drop the list down to 10 because my summer was looking busy with some health things going on with myself, my husband, and my elderly parents.

At this point though, it looks like I should squeak out 12 books and one audiobook before all is said and done on August 28.

I made some substitutions and tossed some books from this list altogether, not because they were bad (in most cases), but because I am a mood reader and they didn’t fit my mood this summer.

First, my original list:

Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh

Between Sound and Sea by Amanda Cox

The Clue in the Diary by Carolyn Keene

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

The Inimitable Jeeves by PG Woodhouse

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

Spill the Jackpot by Erle Stanley Gardner

‘Tis Herself by Maureen O’Hara

Death In A Budapest Butterfly by Julia Buckley

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonassen

But First Murder by Bee Littlefield

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

Britt-Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman

A Midnight Dance by Joanna Davidson Politano

The Unlikely Yarn of The Dragon Lady by Sharon J. Mondragon

Now what I have read so far this summer:

All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot

The Wishing Well by Mildred Wirt

A Midnight Dance by Joanna Davidson Politano

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

The Clue in the Diary by Carolyn Keene

The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Spill the Jackpot by Erle Stanley Gardner

Killer in the Kitchen (A Murder She Wrote book) by Donald Bain

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

I am almost done with Dave Barry is Not Taking This Sitting Down by Dave Barry and will probably finish Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse before the end of the month. I’d love to say I’ll also finish The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson but. . .. oh gosh this book is so boring. Gah! I don’t know if I can get through it. I’m trying because my husband liked it and told me to read it. God bless, him for liking it, but I am seriously struggling.

I also plan to finish The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady by Sharon J. Mondragon on audiobook before the end of the month.

What I will have to decide at the end of the month is if I am going to move the books I didn’t read to my Autumn TBR, and I might do that for a couple of them. As for the others, I might not read them at all because a couple of them I tried and could not get into (The Summer of Yes being one of them).

There is a questionairre on the host blogs about what we read so far so . . .

1. Which book surprised you the most this month? The Scarlet Pimpernel suprised me the most because I thought it was going to be written in very old language and just not be very good. It was much better than I expected!
   
2. If your July reading experience was a weather forecast,
   what would it be and why?
   My July reading experience was a mix of sunny days and dark confusing nights (looking at you for that last one, Spill the Jackpot!)
3. Name a setting from your July books where you’d love (or hate)
   to take a summer vacation. I hated the inn in The Pale Horse. It was creepy and I didn’t enjoy the occult stuff the women did there.
   
4. If you could turn one book into a summer festival,
   I would turn The Scarlet Pimpernel into masquarade ball where everyone has to guess who the real Scarlet Pimpernel is.

If you do reading challenges, how are you doing this summer on your challenges? If you don’t do challenges, have you read anything interesting lately?

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Lisa R. Howeler is a blogger, homeschool mom, and writes cozy mysteries.

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.