The truly excellent podcast Books on the Nightstand sadly came to an end on 7 July this year, but hosts Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness kindly left us with one last Summer Book Bingo.

Yes, I know it’s 5 September, which seems like an odd time to announce a summer reading challenge. The thing is, the official challenge runs from 30 May through 5 September, but I had a busy summer so I decided my own personal book bingo would run from 5 September until the end of the year. (Ann and Michael encouraged their listeners to make rules that suit them!)

To play Books on the Nightstand Book Bingo, you simply go to tinyurl.com/BOTNSBingo2016 and hit refresh to get a brand new card. Here’s my card:

There are some great categories here (“mentioned on the Gilmore Girls”!), and some odd ones (“with a family member in the title”), and some challenging ones – can anyone recommend a good “mental health memoir” that I’d like? Or a book “with a main character over 60”?

I’ve made a start with the category “has a place name in the title” by reading Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. And I’m excited about dipping back into popular science.

Did you take part in the Books on the Nightstand Book Bingo this year? Are you still taking part? Did it help you discover books you wouldn’t have read otherwise?

I’m looking forward to using the book bingo as a prompt for choosing which books to read over the next few months.