Pumpkin spice season is officially upon us, which means it’s time for the Carterhaugh Summer Reading Challenge wrap up! 

(Click here to read our midway point update with the other half of the book write-ups!)

We have absolutely loved reading your responses to our challenges over on our Patreon this summer. You gave us a TON of new, wonderful books to check out, and continually inspired both us and your fellow readers. Thank you for joining us this year!

As promised, we do have a winner for our book-themed care package… but first, here are our final wrap ups!

Sara’s Finale –

I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d completed the challenge until today when I checked the categories list because 1) I’m god-awful at intentionally reading to the challenge and 2) I cannot convey in human words how insane the last 2 months have been at Carterhaugh, especially the last month. I think I’ve been home maybe a week out of the last 30 days? Madness.

But I’m a prolific reader, and between sheer numbers and a little bit of strategy, I’m delighted to say: mission accomplished. 

Here’s how I did it:

A Book from the 1920s
My most strategic, and very last, read for the challenge was Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, originally published in 1926. When Brittany and I stayed in London for an extra day at the end of our Enchanted England tour, we met up with Terri Windling, and after a museum + lunch, we wandered over to Hatchard’s bookstore, the oldest bookstore in London. And what should we find upon entering but a bunch of absolutely gorgeous special editions of Lolly Willowes, right in front by the cash register. Everyone and their mother has been telling me to read this, and then Terri was like “YOU HAVE TO READ THIS,” and who am I to deny both Terri Windling and everyone’s mother? (Plus, I was pretty sure I hadn’t yet read a book from the 1920s since June.) And of course, it was lovely (and subversive, witchy, and radical) – listen to Terri and read it!

A Book You’ve Seen Referenced in Another Novel 
My other strategic pick was Down Below by Leonora Carrington. In update #1 earlier this summer, I mentioned that I was in the middle of reading Alchemy of a Blackbird by Claire McMillan, a historical fiction novel that follows surrealist painter Remedios Varo as she flees Nazi-occupied France and rebuilds her life in Mexico, using tarot as a guiding influence in her art and life. I also said that I was really hoping to see a bit more about her friendship with fellow surrealist artist Leonora Carrington later in the book, which did indeed materialize. In particular, there were mentions of the book that Carrington wrote about her deeply harrowing experiences fleeing from the Nazis, the arrest of her partner Max Ernst, her escape into Spain, followed by assault and a stint in an asylum when she suffered a severe psychotic break. Down Below largely recounts what she remembers while suffering that psychotic break, creating a narrative that is both true to her memories but also deeply surreal, dream-like, and illogical. It’s an incredibly unique and important narrative, but I can’t say that I recommend reading it unless you have the context and are up for a challenging read. 

A Book from a Genre You Do Not Read
I thought I was going to read something in horror for this challenge, but I didn’t want to 😂Apparently, I would literally rather read a book on personal finance, which I have never done before in my life. But I actually liked Beyond Getting By by Holly Trantham, a book that I picked up after getting aggressively served videos from The Financial Diet channel on YouTube. I’ve really been enjoying their takes on pop culture and money, as well as their “Just Getting Good” series of interviews with women over 50, and this book had a very similar vibe and solid insights. It’s very much the antithesis of “bro finance,” instead offering something grounding and surprisingly chill for personal finance.  

A Book You Already Own but Haven’t Read Yet
So I’ve been meaning to read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley for, like, ten years, but it just kept slipping through the cracks. I’m glad I finally did, but also, when I finished, I was like “WTF did I just read?” and then spewed a summary all over my husband at 11:37 PM because I had to vent my feelings. I still can’t decide how I feel? There are so many things about it that I love – the writing was beautiful, the historical fantasy setting in London and Japan was well-researched and intensely atmospheric, the characterization was (mostly) very subtle and compelling. But also I am very unhappy about the fate of the wildly charming mechanical octopus, and I just don’t feel sympathetic toward one of the main characters AT ALL by the end of the novel, and I think I’m supposed to? Someone save me from all my feelings!!

A Beach Read
After reading The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware earlier this summer, I went on a bit of a thriller bender, culminating in reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, generally considered to be one of the best, most genre-defining thrillers of the 21st-century. It was wild. I went from going “oh no, he’s evil and terrible!” to “oh, no, she’s evil and terrible!” and then “WTF ARE THESE PEOPLE EVEN DOING, SOMEONE SEND HELP.” I don’t think I have the constitution to read more than a couple thrillers a year – your girl simply does not need more adrenaline in her body – but Gone Girl was an extremely compelling, bingeable, and very fun (in a horrifying way?) read. 

A Feminist Fairy-Tale Retelling
We read How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann for our book club (seriously, if you’re still reading this, JOIN OUR BOOK CLUB, it’s a delight, and we have something extra special coming in November), and we had such a fun time talking about this one. The premise is bonkers and wonderful: five fairy-tale protagonists join a trauma support group where they tell each other their own stories, with strong throughlines of media insanity, narrative agency (or the lack thereof), and memory. Absolutely loved this, especially the Bluebeard and Cinderella stories stories. I did struggle a bit with the Little Red Riding Hood section and character because it hit my own personal abjection buttons, but it was still definitely worth it.

A Book in Translation
As many of you have probably noticed by now, I love anime and watch quite a bit. One of my all-time favorites is Komi Can’t Communicate, which is about a girl with extreme social anxiety and shyness who desperately wants to make friends (with both humans and cats). Her classmate Tadano notices her anxiety/ unholy terror and vows to help her make 100 friends, but it’s very challenging because their school is full of very, er, extreme personalities. It’s 98% wholesome as hell and 2% extremely cringe anime nonsense which I do my best to black out for, and it’s become pretty much my ultimate comfort show. I have watched it approximately 437 times, and so I decided I should probably read the manga it’s based on. So for this challenge category, I read Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 1 by Tomohito Oda (and also several of the following volumes.) It was extremely adorable, and I will definitely be reading the entire series, especially since it covers plot that goes far beyond what the anime covers.

And here’s Brittany’s finale –

Friends, I have failed you yet again, despite my earlier confidence, ending our challenge just TWO BOOKS SHY of completion. Sadly, I did not get a chance to re-read my” Favorite Book” or, strangely, “A Book in Translation” – I love reading books in translation!! WHAT HAPPENED?? Bah! Well, as Sara noted, it has been an incredibly busy time for Carterhaugh, and it was a very hard summer for me personally too, as many of you know. Despite all that, I did get very close and, as we’re always saying, this challenge is meant to be FUN, and I did have a lot of fun! 

A Book that Centers Food
For this challenge, I’m going with our August book club book The Mystery of the Bitten Peach by Cecilia Tan – the “bitten peach” of the title is technically a sculpture in the story, but it’s discussed as an actual peach you can bite in the folklore that inspires/spawns from the piece, so I think it counts. I’m not big on food books, not gonna lie, so I was happy to have anything to even stretch to count for this one!

A Ghost Story 
I’m still processing how I feel about The Door in Penrose Forest by Sean David Robinson. In many ways, it checked SO many boxes for me – I mean, it’s full of ‘is it magic or is it science’ mysteries, maybe ghosts, a seemingly magical cat, academics as main characters, butterflies, a forgotten journal, and strange doors in the forest! At the same time though, it was also full of glaring plot holes, a very frustrating main character, and several strangely… off? word choices throughout that I just couldn’t shake as well as I wanted to. So I remain torn on this one. I’m torn on putting it into this category too, but I think, ultimately, it’s very much a ghost story… I’d even say it’s a ghost story in a few different ways when it comes down to it, so I ultimately think it belongs here.  

A Book You Already Own but Haven’t Read Yet
I know, I know, everybody read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline a million years ago at this point, but I never got around to it! So this is my answer to this challenge. I actually listened to this one as an audiobook, and I’m so glad I did. I really enjoy Wil Wheaton as a narrator, and I suspect the obvious issues with the book (and especially the protagonist, which have been discussed at length all over the place at this point) would have been much harder to grapple with and move on from if I were just reading it on my own. Having Wheaton’s half self-depricating/half snarky voice throughout really sold it though. I went in knowing about the issues, recognizing the issues for myself as I listened, and yet still wound up really enjoying it overall. It’s very much a product of a specific time. Now, do I try the second one? I know it’s quite polarizing… any thoughts?   

A Feminist Fairy-Tale Retelling
Sara already wrote about this one above, but How To Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann really was brilliant, and I’m so glad she was like “you have to read this.” The bits about reality television and narrative expectations all tied up with fairy tales were all just so spot on and fascinating to me. I’m still thinking about an enormous number of plot points, character details, and even tiny, almost throw away lines from this text… it’s definitely one that’s going to stay with me for a while. 

A Book with a Cat in It
I think I have to name check our June book club pick Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett for this challenge because Greebo is one of my absolute favorite aspects of this absolutely delightful book. The part of the story where he is in human form makes me CACKLE with delight every time, but my favorite moment is actually when he rids the poor villagers of the “mouse with wings on,” despite its completely unacceptable attempts to transform back into a bitey man or some such nonsense :P. The way it’s written just fills me with cat-lover joy. I will note that The Door in Penrose Forest would also fit for this category, as it also features a MOST excellent cat!

Okay. Next year will be my year to finish the challenge… I’m calling it now!

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the winner of the challenge!! Our winner for 2026 is Shannon Bernardo!! Congratulations, Shannon!! Look for an email from us very soon, and, again, THANK YOU to everyone who participated this year (there were so many of you!!) We hope you enjoyed the challenge as much as we did.

What was your favorite read of the summer? Tell us in the comments! We always LOVE to add to our TBR piles. 

P.S. Enjoyed the summer reading challenge? You will LOVE our Patreon-based book club! It’s been going strong for 80 months straight (that’s over 6.5 years!?) and our 81st book is Sophie Keetch’s truly excellent, atmospheric, feminist King Arthur retelling Morgan Is My Name. And then in November, #82 is A House of Perfect Safety by our friend and AMAZING author Virginia M. Mohlere…and she’ll be joining us LIVE to talk about it! It’s being billed as “a fae novella of care-taking and justice seeking, with a magical house, a binding Pact, and a sincere love of trees.” What more can we say? Join us to talk about Morgan Le Fay and chat with Virginia about her stunning novella!