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!

Happy New Year! End of Year Faves

 It was a lovely Christmas break. We all took time off, enjoyed each other's company, stayed in and watched movies, played games, put together puzzles, and ate too much food. It went by too fast but it was lovely.

Shadow and Nala got in on the Christmas spirit. And my friend Bethany stopped by on New Year's Eve for a game and fun times with my little family. We played an escape room game we got for Christmas and we survived and solved the puzzles! Whew. It was a fun way to ring in 2023!

Now on to looking back at some of my favorites from 2022. I didn't read as many books as I had hoped for but I still read some great ones last year...let's see...

My favorite series was The Expanse by James S.A. Correy. I'd been meaning to read the whole series for a few years and I finally did it last year! So worth the wait. It'll definitely be a reread eventually.

I reread my second favorite Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice and it was better than I remembered! I have plans on rereading my favorite Austen this year Persuasion.

I even delved into more romance this year due to Bridgerton's second season coming out. I listened to the first four books in like two weeks back in April. Pretty fun. I plan to get to the rest eventually probably spring/summer again.

I loved reading Six Crimson Crowns by Elizabeth Lim with G. It was a beautiful retelling that takes place in Japan's past. A love story and a family story all in one.

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive by Philipp Dettmer was my favorite science read of the year. Simplish enough to grasp some basic concepts and the drawings are amazing and fun.

People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn was the memoir and culturally critical book that haunted me the most. It's a searing look into our society's narrative around Jews and their history.

TV: I loved Bridgerton season two, Wednesday, The Midnight Club, and Slow Horses.

Movies: So many but Fire of Love was my favorite documentary. Turning Red my favorite kid's movie. Banshees of Inisherin was a beautiful movie on grief and loneliness and friendship in a very small town. Everything Everywhere All at Once was one of the trippiest movies I've ever seen but also so visually stimulating and heartfelt. I was floored. Definitely my top movie for the year. Black Phone and The Innocents were definitely my top horror for the year as well.

Overall, it was a pretty good year. I can't complain. Looking forward to new books, movies, and travel!

Joining up with Deb from Readerbuzz and her Sunday Salon.