Summer Reading Challenge 2020 @ Messy Middle

I will get as many as I can for this one.

It will start on June 1 and run through August 18, 2020. To enter, read seven books from 25 categories.

What is different?

• Pandemic, anyone? For some you’ve already been reading extra, for others, the past few months have dinged your ability to concentrate and read.
• You may have less access to libraries.
• So, you might need this challenge more than ever to get your reading mojo back. BUT you might have less access to libraries and may need to borrow books from friends and family.
• In recognition of the graduations and weddings that were planned and the medical personnel impacted, students, teachers, and parents doing school different, and those in isolation who had a very different than expected first half of the year we have four “COVID-19 Special Categories.”

What is the same?

• Many categories will be similar because reading is reading. But you will notice a few new gems
• Counting a book of more than 700 pages as two books.
• Choosing a penalty book within the first week of the year. A penalty book or category you declare I will read or be penalized. The last two summers I have selected a penalty book and it worked! I read books I’d been meaning to read for ages and I am all the richer for reading them. This year Abigail Adams by Woody Holton is my penalty book. Can I tell you how many years I’ve meant to read this book?! This is the summer!
• Like last year, if you do not read your “penalty” book, you will subtract two books from your total.

What’s in it for you?

• All who comment on August 18-21st with the names of the books they read will be entered to win one of ten $10 Amazon gift cards.

Drumroll . . . here are the categories!

In recognition of the graduations, weddings, medical personnel, and those in isolation who had a very different than expected first half of the year we have four COVID-19 Special Categories:

1. A book with either something old, something new, something borrowed, or something blue: 13 Little Blue Envelopes--Maureen Johnson
2. A book with a nurse, doctor, or other medical personnel: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires--Grady Hendrix
3. A book with a teacher, student, or classroom: Wilder Girls--Rory Power
4. A book about a pandemic or outbreak: The Passage--Justin Cronin

In Recognition of the Joy of reading:

1. A Biography: Maya Lin: Thinking With Her Hands--Susan Goldman Rubin
2. A book I already own: 2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas--Marie-Helene Bertino
3. A book a friend recommended: The Lost Vintage--Ann Mah
4. A Young Adult book (YA): Rani Patel in Full Effect--Sonia Patel
5. A book with a great cover: Sunset Beach--Mary Kay Andrews
6. A book of poetry: The Complete Poems of John Keats
7. A memoir or autobiography: The Liars' Club--Mary Karr
8. A graphic novel: Spinning--Tillie Walden
9. A book for professional development (loosely defined): I Really Needed This Today--Hoda Kotb
10. A book longer than 700 pages (counts as two books): The Brontes--Juliet Barker
11. A book with a verb in the title: Driving With the Top Down--Beth Harbison
12. A play: Fences--August Wilson
13. A book about a country or culture you have never visited: Tigress--Jennifer Blake
14. A book about history: Dead Wake--Erik Larson
15. A book that won an award: Boy Meets Boy--David Levithan
16. A classic: Twelfth Night--William Shakespeare
17. A novel: Kindred--Octavia E. Butler
18. An audiobook: Pure Joy--Danielle Steel
19. A book with an animal: Murder, She Barked--Krista Davis
20. A book less than 100 pages: We Should All Be Feminists--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
21. A book you want to discuss with others: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything--Janelle Brown

My Penalty Book: The Garden of Small Beginnings--Abbi Waxman

25 books (+ penalty book) completed on July 29