Or, to put it another way: 13 Books of Summer – Victory Lap! Here I am with a very late wrap-up of 20 Books of Summer – always a highlight of my summer, regardless of whether I manage all my books or not. (Usually not). In fact, the only year I’ve ever managed the challenge in its entirety is 2020, in which I had two weeks at home decorating my flat when I was meant to be on holiday, and spent it all listening to audiobooks. In hindsight, the ridiculous length of Kate Morton’s The Distant Hours meant it was going to eat up quite a lot of my commutes, and it wasn’t a very sensible choice. (The same could probably be said of The Three Musketeers – but since I’m enjoying that so much more, it hasn’t bothered me).

Normally I try to stick to my list, but this year I chopped and changed a lot, and started lots of books that I then put down. For instance, I started Sankofa, but put it down within a few chapters. I think it is the type of book I might very much enjoy in the right frame of mind, but I found the first-person narrator very irritating on this occasion, so I decided not to persevere with it right now. Likewise, I enjoyed The Martian so much that I would like to read Project Hail Mary at some point, but it didn’t feel like the right book for the moment. (I am starting to wonder if Andy Weir was a one-book wonder, at least for me – I couldn’t get into Artemis either – but I’ll give this one more go before I give up). I did read some of Mannanan’s Cloak: An Anthology of Manx Literature, but it was much more academic than I’d expected – looking at the evolution of Manx literature over the centuries and its relationship to Scottish and Irish Gaelic, as well as to Old Norse. I liked what I read, but it’s not really the type of thing to race through in a couple of sittings while on holiday! I expect I will read it in dribs and drabs, and finish it eventually.

The highlights of the summer are very easy to pick out – Stormy Petrel by Mary Stewart, The Killings at Badgers Drift by Caroline Graham, and Passing by Nella Larsen. If I’d finished in time, The Light Ages by Seb Falk would probably be added to the list – but I didn’t quite manage (and in fact I still have about an hour left), so I suppose it could still disappoint me horribly. It seems unlikely, though. I’m enjoying it very much. I did reread childhood favourite The Big Six as well – one of the Swallows and Amazons books – which is Arthur Ransome’s go at writing a detective story. It was almost certainly the first mystery I ever read. Returning to it as an adult who has read very, very many, I was impressed with how seriously he took it. It was written in 1940, once the series was already a hit, and in an era when almost any children’s adventure story or any detective story would have done well – but he definitely didn’t phone it in. It’s a properly intact mystery, with clues and investigations and the setting of traps to catch the culprit; the setting is well-realised; the investigation proceeds from the personalities of the characters in the book, rather than simply being a puzzle. It’s just that instead of solving a murder, the characters are trying to work out who’s been casting off boats and risking damage to them.

Can’t find a picture of my edition anywhere, but I like this one, which uses one of Ransome’s in-text illustrations.

The reading lowlight of the summer came right at the start. The first 50 pages of The Happy Return, by CS Forester, epitomise the worst aspects of that era of adventure stories (except for the sexism, since there weren’t any women in it, for which I was very relieved) – gratuitously violent and racist, with a completely flat point of view character into the bargain. At this point I DNF’d it. On the bright side, I have now seen the first few episodes of Hornblower and it is everything I wanted the books to be. It starts with the prequels, when he’s a midshipman. These novels were written much later, and by all accounts have aged much better, so I am still planning to read them once I’ve got the taste of this one out of my mouth. As far as I can tell, the writers of the television programme essentially cherry-picked the most interesting chapters and strung them together into what is basically a new story. Would this irritate me immensely if it were a favourite series? Of course! As a viewer rather than a reader, though, I am glad they’ve taken this approach.

The first of the filmed adaptations.

While I love the experience of (mostly) deciding what I want to read in advance over the summer, it also makes me grateful when autumn rolls around and I have total reading freedom once again. I’ve just finished The Midwich Cuckoos, I’m reading and thoroughly enjoying All the King’s Men, and next up, I have A Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff – which I will have to start soon, since I plan to enjoy it over a fortnight in September. I’ve had a good time doing 20 Books of Summer and I’m enjoying reading everyone’s wrap-ups (you’ve all done much better than me!). Thanks to Cathy for organising this again – see you all this time next year, I hope!