Summer Reading Challenge 2021 @Messy Middle

 I'll be doing this one again, getting as many books as I can. 

It will start on June 1  and run through August 13, 2021. To enter, read seven books from 25 categories.

What is different?

• A few new categories
• No COVID focus this year 
• A nod to the Olympics

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 challenge. A penalty book or category is one you declare to yourself I will read or be penalized. The last three summers I have selected a penalty book and it worked! 
• Like previous years, 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 between August 12-15th 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!

1. A Biography: Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan--Howard Sounes
2. A book I already own: Chamomile Mourning--Laura Childs
3. A book a friend recommended: Calico Joe--John Grisham
4. A Young Adult book (YA): Kissed--Cameron Dokey
5. A book with a great cover: Ties That Tether--Jane Igharo
6. A book of poetry: An American Sunrise--Joy Harjo
7. A memoir or autobiography: To Love and Let Go--Rachel Brathen
8. A graphic novel: Check, Please!: Hockey--Ngozi Ukazu
9. A book for professional development (loosely defined): Feng-Shui--Ernest J. Eitel
10. A book longer than 700 pages (counts as two books): Atlas Shrugged--Ayn Rand
11. A book with a verb in the title: Everybody Fights--Kim and Penn Holderness
12. A play: Medea and Other Plays--Euripides (reread)
13. A book about a country or culture you have never visited: Elizabethan Lover--Barbara Cartland
14. A book about history: Isaac's Storm--Erik Larson
15. A book that won an award: Olive Kitteridge--Elizabeth Strout
16. A book by someone with a different view point than you: Making the Cut--Jillian Michaels
17. A mystery: Fortune and Glory--Janet Evanovich
18. A classic: The Secret Garden--Frances Hodgson Burnett
19. A novel: The Cider House Rules--John Irving
20. An audiobook: Forget Me Not--Ellie Terry
21. A book with an animal: A Street Cat Named Bob--James Bowen
22. A book less than 100 pages: The Corona Chronicles--Terrance T. Toth
23. A book you want to discuss with others: The Roommate--Rosie Danan
24. A book you read as a child: On the Banks of Plum Creek--Laura Ingalls Wilder

In honor of the Olympics and because my first “sports injury” was inspired by the Olympics:

• A book involving the Olympics, sports, or Japan: Geisha, a Life--Mineko Iwasaki

My Penalty Book: The History of Emily Montague--Frances Brooke

25 Books (+ penalty book) completed on July 24