Spell it out for Summer reading challenge (LBE)

I normally do posts about the reading challenges I participate in as part of my Monday posts, but since this one is so long, I thought I'd post it on its own. Anyway...

The reading challenge for July and August on one of the groups I'm a member of over on Goodreads was to pick a word - or a couple of words - from a list of words to do with Summer, and read books to spell out the words.

I picked "sand castle" to do at first, but quickly added more words; partially just because I could, and partially because I was reading books that worked for the letters, so figured I might as well. In the end I ended up just trying to do as many of the words as I could.

Bearing in mind, I also had a personal Summer reading goal of attempting to make a dent in my to-read list by reading as many as I could of the books that have been sat on my Kindle for a while, since some of the eBooks I have are ones I got when I first got my original Kindle a couple of years ago. I figured, since a lot of those are shorter books, I could increase my chances at getting the letters for all the words, while also managing to read a large number of the books I've had copies of for anything up to two and a half years. Not all were books I've had for a while though. Some were newer ones by authors of the books I've had copies of for ages, others were just newer books in general. But a large chunk of the books I used for this challenge are ones I've at least had on my to-read list for several months - longer in many cases. A large number of them are really short books too, though not all; some are quite long, like "American Gods" which is a little over 600 pages.

Anyway, here are the words, and the books I read to spell them out:

Sand castle:
S ~ The Secret Of The Old clock (Nancy Drew, #1) by Carolyn Keene
A ~ A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
N ~ Never Ending Bad Day (Lady Jenniviere's Quill, #4) by Lady Jenniviere
D ~ Dog On The Highway (Ant and Cleo, #5) by Dominic Green

C ~ Claudia And The New Girl (The Baby-Sitters Club, #12) by Ann M. Martin
A ~ American Gods (American Gods, #1) by Neil Gaiman
S ~ The Shiny House by Trevor Mountney
T ~ The Hidden Staircase (Nancy Drew, #2) by Carolyn Keene
L ~ Long Ago And Far Away by Rosemary J. Peel
E ~ Evolution (E, #2) by Kate Wrath

Fireworks:
F ~ Flat Cats by Rosemary J. Peel
I ~ The Invasion of the Pumpkin People by Steven Tuttle
R ~ Rangeela Finds a Home -Story 1 in the Rangeela Tales Series by Gita V. Reddy
E ~ Eden (E, #3) by Kate Wrath
W ~ Wolfie Goes to Town by Lucas Hosby
O ~ The Old Mansion by Walter Lazo
R ~ Rangeela Flies Away -Story 2 in the Rangeela Tales Series by Gita V. Reddy
K ~ Kristy And The Snobs (The Baby-Sitters Club, #11) by Ann M. Martin
S ~ Santa's Silliness Syndrome by Jackie Small

Sun:
S ~ The Silver Shawl (Mrs. Meade Mysteries #1) by Elisabeth Grace Foley
U ~ Uh-oh... We turned our brother into a Zombie? by K.B. Miller
N ~ Norbert (Norbert the Horse, #1) by James Sutherland

Ocean:
O ~ Oh Henry! by Harold Wilson
C ~ The Cry Bear by Rosemary J. Peel
E ~ Emily Of new Moon (Emily Of New Moon, #1) by L. M. Montgomery
A ~ Anansi Boys (American Gods, #2) by Neil Gaiman
N ~ Norbert's Summer Holiday (Norbert the Horse, #2) by James Sutherland

Beach:
B ~ The Blackbird That Couldn't Sing by Rosemary J. Peel
E ~ Emily Climbs (Emily Of New Moon, #2) by L. M. Montgomery
A ~ Alfie Goes To Uni by Rosemary J. Peel
C ~ The Competition by Rosemary J. Peel
H ~ Holiday Blues by Rosemary J. Peel

Surf:
S ~ The Special Fairy by Jackie Small
U ~ Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit by Joel Chandler Harris
R ~ The Reaper by Rich Feitelberg
F ~ Fluff Gang Tales by Rosemary J. Peel

Sand:
S ~ The Shy Toad by Jackie Small
A ~ The Adventures of Tamisin by Madeline Reynolds
N ~ Norbert to the Rescue! (Norbert the Horse, #4) by James Sutherland
D ~ The Dark Shadow of Spring (The Young Sorcerers Guild, #1) by G.L. Breedon

Picnic:
P ~ Paradise Park by Iris Gower
I ~ Ice Gods by Helen Scott Taylor
C ~ Costumes (Lady Jenniviere's Quill, #6) by Lady Jenniviere
N ~ Noble Sacrifice (Pathfinder Tales) by Richard Ford
I ~ The Island (The Island, #1) by Jen Minkman
C ~ Cosmic Camel by Emma Laybourn

BBQ:
B ~ Bongo Goes To School by Lucas Hosby
B ~ The Bird Who Wanted To Nest In The Clouds by Jackie Small
Q ~ Emily's Quest (Emily Of New Moon, #3) by L. M. Montgomery

Grill:
G ~ Get Well Before It Gets You: Learning the importance of community (Lady Jenniviere's Quill, #7) by Lady Jenniviere
R ~ Rangeela and the Bully -Story 3 in the Rangeela Tales Series by Gita V. Reddy
I ~ Igglepop by Shaun Allan
L ~ The Last Fight of the Dwarves by Walter Lazo
L ~ The Lost Pathfinder (Pathfinder Tales) by Dave Gross

Lemonade:
L ~ The Legend of ELPanda Paws by M. C. Arvanitis
E ~ Earth Giant by Rosemary J. Peel
M ~ The Magic Colouring Book by Jackie Small
O ~ One Thousand Lollipops by Emma Laybourn
N ~ Norbert's Spooky Night (Norbert the Horse, #5) by James Sutherland
A ~ And What Do You Want For Christmas? by Rosemary J. Peel
D ~ Dralin (Dralin #1) by John H. Carroll
E ~ The Elephant's First Day of School by Jackie Small

Iced tea:
I ~ I Can't See You by Emma Laybourn
C ~ Christmas with Norbert (Norbert the Horse, #3) by James Sutherland
E ~ Ebudae (Dralin #2) by John H. Carroll
D ~ The Deep (The Island #3) by Jen Minkman

T ~ They're Not Real, Grandma by Rosemary J. Peel
E ~ Eye of Dominion (Labyrinth of Labyrinths, #2) by David M. Staniforth
A ~ A Squirrel Called Cyril by Rosemary J. Peel

Smores:
S ~ The Slow Tortoise by Jackie Small
M ~ The Magnificent Rainbow by Jackie Small
O ~ Of Mice and Mobiles by Shaun Allan
R ~ Rangeela Says No to Adventure -Story 4 in the Rangeela Tales Series by Gita V.Reddy
E ~ The Emo Bunny That Should by John H. Carroll
S ~ Summer's Cauldron (Young Sorcerers Guild, #2) by G.L. Breedon

Pool:
P ~ The Perfectinians: A New World. A New Species by Jackie Small
O ~ Once There Were Lions by Roger Hurn
O ~ The Old Man & The Monkey by George Polley
L ~ Little Foxes by Michael Morpurgo

Flip flops:
F ~ The Fluff Gang And The New Neighbour by Rosemary J. Peel
L ~ Lord of Penance (Pathfinder Tales) by Richard Lee Byers
I ~ It's just a job by Walter Lazo
P ~ Pretty As A Picture by Rosemary J Peel

F ~ The Forgotten Toy Soldier by Liz Armond
L ~ The Leaf Pendant by C. Hollis Gunter
O ~ The Old Lady by Sean Sullivan
P ~ PC Mouse by Rosemary J. Peel
S ~ Southern Fried Wiccan by S.P. Sipal

Boardwalk:
B ~ Bianca by Rosemary J. Peel
O ~ Of Ants and Dinosaurs by Liu Cixin
A ~ A Prickly Problem by Rosemary J. Peel
R ~ Rojuun (Willden #1) by John H. Carroll
D ~ The Dream Catcher (Journey into the Realm, #4) by Markelle Grabo
W ~ The Wizard of Time (Wizard of Time, #1) by G.L. Breedon
A ~ Anilyia (Willden #2) by John H. Carroll
L ~ The Library: The Complete Series by Amy Cross
K ~ Kethril (Willden #3) by John H. Carroll

If you're wondering... Yes, those were all the words on the list. Plus, I did make a nice dent in my "to-read" pile. So, all in all, a pretty good couple of months work there, if I do say so myself.

It looks like so many books when you see them all listed like this... Hmmm... I really do read a lot, don't I?

Well, I have to... How else will I have any chance of reading all the books on my "to-read" list?

Besides, I make other authors happy when I buy and read their books, which has to be a good thing, right?