2023 Reading Challenges

 Tis past that time of year to get up my reading challenges...The best kind of challenge for me is a short month or two with no prompts. I can then focus on mood reading. But I do like to think about what kinds of books I read and get some prompts to help me focus and diversify from time to time and reading challenges with prompts fit that bill.

Book Challenge by Erin 18.0 is a private Facebook bookclub hosted twice a year. Anyone can signup. First round is January through April. I tried to pick books I own so I can work on that TBR own pile this year a bit more.

1. Prime Number <1000: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

2. Book with an unusual narrator: Watership Down by Richard Adams

3. Title with 1st letter of your first name (H): Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

4. Heart or love in the title: The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

5. Set in small town or rural setting: The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

6. Goodreads award winner: (history & biography) The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold 

7. Black or white in the title: Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine by Olivia Campbell

8. Author with 3 names: The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky

9. Book set in Australia or by an Australian author: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

10. Freebie: The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

Build Your Library Reading Challenge 2023

I'm not sure exactly which books I'm going to read for this....I already know I'll never read 40 books for this. But I'm using it as a good way to diversify and get ideas for some more nonfiction and nature-related fiction.

I Read Horror Year-round Challenge 2023 hosted by Michelle at Castle Macabre

Not sure on this one quite yet...will update as I pick. There are various levels to pick from but I always go for bucks, even though I rarely complete this one.

Fairy-tale retelling:

Zombies, witches, vampires, or werewolves: Probably Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. I have not yet read this series and I've been meaning to for a long time now.

Book by BIPOC author: Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones. It has a tentative release date for this year! I'm hoping!

Title with dead, blood, or bone

Something by Poe

Set in the past: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Horrific cover

Folk horror

Winter theme or cover: Snow by Ronald Malfi

Black, red, or white cover: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Written by a woman: Darkly: Black History and America's Gothic Soul by Leila Taylor

Debut horror

1000 Books Before You Die--Banned Books 2023 Challenge hosted by Michelle at Gather Together and Read

First quarter is The Night Trilogy by Elie Wiesel. January will be Night. February is Dawn and March will finish with The Accident.

Second quarter will focus on Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Third quarter- The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. I have already read this one. And while I liked it, I didn't love it enough to reread. So I plan on reading another of her books on my TBR.

Fourth quarter- Beloved by Toni Morrison. Also read this one a few years ago but I really enjoyed it and it's short so I plan on rereading.

I joined StoryGraph a couple of years ago. It's a great site to keep track of my personal reading challenges. They also host their own reading challenges every year. The one I joined is StoryGraph Reads the World 2023.

Argentina: Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrrica

Colombia: Either Love in the Time of Cholera or 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Cuba: Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire

Italy: From Scratch by Tembi Locke

Nigeria: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Norway: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Pakistan: Either The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood or The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

South Africa: Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

Syria: Others Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Trinidad & Tobago: Trinidad Noir: The Classics edited by Earl Lovelace & Robert Antoni

Whew! Should keep my reading interesting!

1000 Books Project: Non-fiction 2020 Sign-up

Michelle over at Gather Together and Read is hosting a reading challenge based on the book 1000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List by James Mustich. (The previous link links to Mustich's website where he has added all of the books and small blurbs about why he chose them. It's pretty cool!) This year she is focusing on non-fiction.

Here are the books: 4 spread out three months each:

• First Quarter (Jan, Feb, March) - The Histories, Herodotus  Reading/Discussion schedule
• Second Quarter (April, May, June) - The Sagas of Icelanders (preface by Jane Smiley) Reading/Discussion Schedule
• Third Quarter (July, Aug, Sept) - In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (in honor of Banned Books Week in September.)
• Fourth Quarter (Oct, Nov, Dec) - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown (in honor of National American Indian Heritage Month in November.)

I picked up the book from the library a few months ago and remember thinking it was a really well-rounded list. I even took the time to copy down ones I hadn't read or heard of before so I could get to them one day! So when Michelle posted the challenge I knew this was one I couldn't miss!

Frightfall Readathon

I enjoy seeing what others are reading especially during Halloween time! So I'm signing up for another reading challenge for the month of October. Michelle over at Seasons of Reading is hosting the Frightfall readathon from October 1-31st with a couple of mini readathons this weekend and that last couple of days of October.

I have a large TBR pile to pull from so I'll see what this next month brings!

• The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. I'm about halfway through and will definitely finish this one soon.
• Heaven's Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal by Jack Kelly. I heard about this one on the Book Riot podcast and thought it would fit for some true crime and history in October.
• NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. I want to listen to it since it's narrated by the great Kate Mulgrew.
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I need a good witch story this month.
• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz.
• The Ruins by Scott Smith. This one sounds terrifying.
• The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey. It also was nominated for the Printz award!
• The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero
• The Witches by Stacy Schiff. I started this last year but didn't finish it. I'm thinking I'll keep going this month.
• Black Water Rising by Attica Locke. I enjoyed her other murder/mystery. And here this one is just as good.
• Ghost Story by Peter Straub. I hear it's classic.
• Penpal by Dathan Auerbach. It was funded by Kickstarter and here it's a very terrifying book.
• Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward. This is a fitting book for October....
• Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. I'm a hundred pages or so in the book and it's different. It's a slow burn to the mystery I'm sure. But I've enjoyed her other two books so I'm sticking it out and hoping for the payoff.
• Fledgling: A Novel by Octavia Butler
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

I'm sure there are more...Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes will probably also be on the list.

A shout out for his Halloween Tree book written for children. I just read this one with DS and he loved it! He's a fantastic writer and it was just a pleasure.

Week-in-Review and 30-in-September Update

I'm really enjoying the book a day in September. I enjoy picking out my book for the day and setting out time to sit down and read. It's been a fun challenge! There were a couple of days that I had to stay up a bit too late to finish but overall I've been getting them done with time to spare for a few other books I'm reading as well.

I've been enjoying the cooler nights the last week or two. G and I have been taking some walks at night and talking. We've had some fun conversations.

Books Finished:

A book a day for my challenge and The Book on the Taboo of Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts. I read this one over the summer with my friend. We do a little philosophy club together and this was our pick for the last few months. There were some interesting ideas on how to see ourselves as totally apart of nature and not separate from it. There were some nuggets of great insight. But overall it was a bit wordy and out of touch with pragmatically how the world is and not how we want it to be.

Books I'm Currently Reading:

• The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas-- a great YA mystery.
• Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl--It's weird but good!
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters--it's been awhile since I've read a good historical fiction novel with some creepy elements. Probably the last one was The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

Books Acquired:

• Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching by Paula J. Giddings for my Kindle
• X-Files: Cold Cases by Audible
• Emma by Jane Austen from Audible
• Heresy by S.J. Parris for my Kindle

Listening to:

• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Spooked--a podcast put on by Snap Judgment

Watching:

I finally finished up The Alienist. I really enjoyed that show. Characters and world-building were fantastic. Caught up on Castle Rock! OMG only one episode left. The Sinner is getting good too. The WNBA finals are this week so I know I'll be watching those games. Making It finished up its season. What a fun show. I'm going to miss Amy and Nick and all the makers on the show.

Making:

I've been trying to cook more at home and last week I did really well. I made grilled salmon and fish tacos and one-pan chicken thighs with potatoes. Overall, it's been a good week. So yay me! This week will be leftover tacos, spaghetti and homemade meatballs! 

I also have plans to make chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes and start on my crocheting project for f-bombs!

image source

I don't know if it'll look exactly like this but I'm hoping something similar! I want to make a few of these for stocking stuffers and friend gifts--so my one friend who reads my blog may see this...surprise! But hopefully not...

Looking Forward to:

G has his school fundraiser carnival this Friday so he's very excited about that! I'm also looking forward to Fall. The Pumpkin Harvest beers from Blue Moon are out and I just love those so much. Pumpkin cookies and soon I'll be making chilis and soups and stews. We also just put up most of Halloween decorations cuz after Labor Day it's unofficially fall for me and that means Halloween.

30 Books in September Challenge:

Day 4: All's Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson. This was a very cute graphic novel story on the anxieties and fears of starting middle school. I had a hard time with the parenting in this one but I know that wasn't the point so I tried to overlook that. Overall it's a great read.

Day 5: The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang. I loved this young adult graphic novel. The prince secretly loves to dress in women's clothing and he hires a young seamstress to make his clothes for him and to keep his secret.

Day 6: The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz. Some good principles to live by but he lost me in his metaphors and anecdotes.

Day 7: The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. I had to read this way too fast so I'll be going back over all the things she wrote about. She's great.

Day 8: Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. I've been wanting to read this one for along time. I'm so glad I finally picked it up for my challenge. Loved it!

Day 9: How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial by Daryl Cunningham. This was a non-fiction graphic novel. It's not bad. Wasn't my favorite but I liked the sentiment.

30 in September!

A challenge has been issued! My wonderful blogging friend Stacy over at Stacy's Books has challenged me to read 30 books in September, a book for each day. She did this last year and I had so much fun cheering her on that I told her I'd be up for it the next year. Well, the time has come. I will be sticking to very small books, like all of G's books I could gather up from his bookshelves...and graphic novels from the library! Never fear, I did throw in some short classics like Animal Farm and The Pearl. But for the most part I'm sticking to the small stuff and see how I do. If I manage all right I hope to up the ante next year!

I also am going out of town a couple of weekends in September so I will have to be extra vigilant!

 So without further adieu here is my list in picture form. I do have more than 30 pictured but I wanted to have options! I also may do a few on my Kindle...

Nala couldn't resist helping me out with my piles! And another kitty to round it all out!

I will try to do regular updates but I can't ever be sure. But wish me luck and Stacy too and whoever else is crazy enough to join us!

Week-in-Review August 20, 2018

Where did the summer go? I mean there is still 5 weeks left til the official start of autumn but once the kiddos hit school, it all changes. Summer isn't quite the same with school back in session. G was really nervous about starting but we went to his back to school night and he had a blast. He loved seeing his new classroom and meeting his teacher and seeing all his buddies from last year. He was excited all weekend long to be heading back to school.

It's bittersweet. G is getting older so we can hang out and do a lot more stuff together. This was the first summer he actually enjoyed our hikes together. We did our last one together Monday and it was challenging and very hot but he stuck with it and told me it was one of his favorite hikes. So yeah it's a bittersweet time. I wish we had a few more weeks to just hang out and be together. It's enjoying these tiny moments together and keeping them with me.

Zoo day for DH's work family summer party!

Our last hike together before school started

Last big water park shin dig!

What!? G in 4th!!!

First book to read for Bout of Books!

Finished:

I'm Fine and Other Lies by Whitney Cummings (listened to audiobook)

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Watched:

Finished up Killing Eve. Whoa! That was a good show. Weird and awkward and funny along with some action. Caught up on The Sinner season 2, Castle Rock, and Sharp Objects.

Netflix just released To All the Boys I've Loved Before and I watched that with DH. Super cute. I loved it! I want to read the trilogy now. It was a little cheesy but overall a well-done production. I hope it goes viral and gets watched a lot. I'd love to see the next two in the series also made into movies.

I Kill Giants was also a very poignant coming-of-age movie. Though, A Monster Calls was done a lot better it was still a great movie to see and that little actress is gonna go places.

And if you want creepy and disturbing I watched The Gift with Jason Bateman and Joel Edgerton.

Listening to:

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. So good. Over half way through.

Making:

I've been grilling brats and chicken all week. I've been trying to get full use out of our grill this summer.

Looking forward to:

Heading out of town with a friend. We're doing a little expat reunion for all of us who were in Japan together a few years ago. It's been three years since I've seen one of them. It should be a great weekend.

Challenges:

I'm participating in Bout of Books this week.

September I'll be joining Stacy from Stacy's Books to read one book every day in September. I'm choosing a lot of kids book and graphic novels. But it'll be fun to try and focus and get as many in as I can.

Yay to Fall! I can now officially look forward to it!

Spring Into Horror Read-a-thon Finale

I lagged the last week and a half but overall, I did really well. I was in the mood and I listened to and read some really great stuff. Thanks to Michelle for hosting!

I finished:

1. The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marcano-Lesnevich

2. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara. I was so ecstatic when they arrested a suspect!

3. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

4. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Still waiting to be reviewed:

5. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

6. Final Girls by Riley Sager

Ones I started but didn't finish but hope to soon:

1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson-- it's a little less thriller and more profiling of humans...still good but not quite what I was looking for so I never desired to pick it up again. But I want to finish since it's a good book but for different reasons.

2. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. It's her most famous short story. I wanted to finish Hill House before I read this one...

3. The Ruins by Scott Smith-- I started this one but got sidetracked with a few other non-horror books. It's good and look forward to finishing it when I start horror again in September.

4. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson...Also really good but it's a more in-depth book I'll need to plan for.

2018 Spring Into Horror Readathon!

This is a month long readathon from April 1-30 that focuses on all things horror! It's hosted by Michelle over at Seasons of Reading. Check it out and sign up. And be prepared to be scared!

Some ideas I have for April are The Ruins by Scott Smith, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson, Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti. I may get to a few mysteries as well!

*pic taken from Goodreads.com

2017 Reading Challenges: The Classics Club

Source

I need to do this. I've bought so many classics over the years but I haven't decided to just sit and read them.

Click on the Classics Club to find out about all the rules and how to join up. Basically I pick at least 50 classics to read over 5 years. I'm picking my list based on what I already own and then I will go on from there. There are also re-reads on my list because it's time.

So in no particular order....

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read this in junior high and I loved it. So it's definitely time for a re-read.
Completed April 2017

2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. This will also be a re-read. But I've never read the full unabridged version. I got the abridged version as a gift when I was in elementary school and enjoyed it but never got around to the full version.

3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Russian classic and I've been told this is one of the best literary novels period.

4. The Odyssey by Homer. I've read parts in school but never the whole thing.

5. The Iliad by Homer.

6. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. The one full novel I have never been able to finish. But it's her most mature work and I need to get 'er done.

7. 1984 by George Orwell. I've been meaning to read it forever. Our culture entangles so much from this story. It's about time I get to it.

8. Animal Farm by George Orwell. It's short and pretty straight-forward so I shouldn't have any trouble.... Completed September of 2018

9. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I also read this in high school. I didn't understand it and so I didn't like it. I've grown a lot since then and would love to reread it under a new light.

10. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.

11. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

12. Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Spanish hasn't changed as much as English since Cervantes wrote this book. I know a little Spanish and if I'm up to it, I may try this one in Spanish....

13. Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. I've been wanting to read this since I saw the movie back in the day.

14. A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I feel like 1984 and this one go hand-in-hand.

15. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence.

16. Common Sense by Thomas Paine.

17. The Stranger by Albert Camus.

18. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

19. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. I bought an annotated version to help me out even!

20. The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois.

21. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas by Frederick Douglas.

22. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. Completed August of 2018

23. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

24. A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstencraft.

25. The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

26. Journal of a Solitude by Mary Sarton.

27. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvior.

28. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

29. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

30. The Epic of Gilgamesh.

31. Middlemarch by George Eliot.

32. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

33. Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

34. The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer.

35. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

36. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

37. Ulysses by James Joyce.

38. Sophie's Choice by William Styron

39. Richard III by William Shakespeare.

40. Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

41. The Pilgrim's Progress  by John Bunyan.

42. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.

43. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

44. Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino

45. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

46. The Trial by Franz Kafka.

47. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

48. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin.

49. If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino.

50. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

51. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

52. I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

53. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

54. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

My goal is to finish this list by January of 2022...whoa...that seems so faraway!