As weird as 2020 was, I was feeling like 2021 would be an even harder year to pull off our annual Summer Reading Challenge, but my family was committed to keeping up the tradition. We’ve made some changes again this year to reflect a busier season. We also changed up our incentive system. In the past, the “reward” for finishing was higher for the first person done than for the second or the third person. This was a dis-incentive for the person who read the least/slowest. And that person, year after year, would just give up. So this year, the “prize” for completion is the same for everyone. We all feel much better about that.
Our Summer Reading kicked off Monday May 31st and will end on July 31 – 62days of reading. Here are the details for 2021. (You can read about past years here.)
Family Reading Challenge
This summer we are each choosing 2 books for each of the other members of the household to read for a total of 4 books each. Then each of us is also choosing a personal reading selection. The only stipulation was that picture books would not count. But anything else – graphic novel, a re-read, a new book, one that’s been languishing on a TBR pile – was fine.
I will be reading one TBR book (Enchanted, selected at random) and one favorite (Alien Nation, also picked at random) chosen by my teen. My husband chose Star Trek Picard: The Dark Veil and the new book by Stacey Abrams, While Justice Sleeps, for me to read. My personal choice book will be Star Trek Discovery: Wonderlands which just released in May.
For my teen I chose Kill the Queen, a favorite from 2018. I also gave him some YA books to choose from, and he picked The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. He’s enjoyed some of her other books in the past, plus he enjoyed the Westing Game feel of the description. My husband chose the first Orphan X book as well as The Gray Man, two thrillers, for my son to read. Then my son chose Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening, an old favorite, for his personal choice book.
For my husband, I chose Alien in the House which is his next book in the Kitty Katt-Martini/Touched by an Alien series that I adore. He usually gets one of those each year. This is one of my most favorite books in the series, so I am eager to have him read this one. I also chose The Blacksmith Queen for him. It’s a favorite from 2019 AND 2020 for me. I hope he gets a kick out of them. My teen chose the latest Baldacci book, A Gambling Man, for my husband to read this summer as well as Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason. Then my husband picked up one of my favorite John Scalzi novels, Redshirts, as his personal choice for the challenge.
#Bookaday
I have been doing the Bookaday summer challenge for 6 or 8 years now, but that was when I was off for the summers. I’m actually starting a full time job this summer, so I’ll be happy to stay on top of my ARC reading and the five books I have for the challenge. Therefore, I won’t be doing #bookaday this year.
ARCs
Speaking of ARCs, I have over 60 review books to read between now and the rest of the year, many of them releasing this summer. Here are some of the ones I’ll be reading and discussing in the coming months. And while there are other books I’d like to get to as well, the ARCs are my priority. We’ll see how many I get to!
