Bookish Books Reading Challenge

I think reading challenges are a lot of fun, but I've learned over the years that if I want to stick with it for the entire year and actually finish, my limit is one. So, last month I started trying to figure out which reading challenge I wanted to sign up for this year...if any. 

I love Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge, but having participated in that one for the past two years, I felt like I needed a change. And Stacey @ Unruly Reader has once again come up with an enticing Reading Bingo for 2023--and I do love filling in those squares!--so I was seriously considering committing to that one. 

But then I saw that Susan @ Bloggin' 'bout Books is going to host a Bookish Books Reading Challenge this year and I knew that's the one I want to do. Because I love reading books about books, bookish people, bookstores, authors, etc. And I already have a list of at least twenty bookish books on my TBR list that I want to read this year, so it feels like the perfect fit for me. If it sounds like the right kind of reading challenge for you, I hope you join in, too. 

Here are just some of the books I'm planning (hoping!) to read for this challenge this year:

• The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson
• The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick
• The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson
• The Library by Bella Osborne
• The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
• The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes
• The Bookshop of Secrets by Mollie Rushmeyer
• The Book Lover by Maryann McFadden 
• The Blackout Book Club by Amy Lynn Green
• Camino Island by John Grisham

There are many, many more...but we'll see how I do at getting these read first. And if you know of any amazing bookish books I should add to this list, please let me know! 

Happy Reading!

A Tale of Two Challenges...

Here's what you need to know about me and reading challenges--I love the idea of them and I always start out with great enthusiasm, but some time around June, my enthusiasm begins to peter out, and I usually end up with a list of books I no longer want to read or review. Which then causes me unnecessary stress... and unwanted bookish guilt, too. So last year, I didn't sign up for any reading challenges. And it was nice. But part of me also missed joining in the reading challenge fun with everyone else.

So this year, I'm signing up for not one, but two reading challenges:  The Backlist Reader Challenge and the Back to the Classics 2019 Challenge. Why these two? Because I've done each of them before and they're a lot of fun, and also because the books on my TBR list that I was already planning on reading this year happen to count for both challenges.

It's bookish serendipity at its best!

(You'll have to wait and see if I'm able to finish either of these challenges, or if I end up quitting halfway through the year...again.)

Here are the main things you need to know about these two awesome reading challenges:

The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019

Hosted by Lark at The Bookwyrm's Hoard

The Rules:

1. Choose and read books published before 2018 that are either already on your TBR shelf at home or on your want-to-read list. (I'm going to focus on the books I already own.)
2. Sign up and set your own reading goal. (I like that I have the freedom to read as many or as few books as I want to with this challenge!)
3. Review the books you read and link your posts back to Lark's blog.

Easy right? Plus, it tackles that ever-growing pesky TBR pile we all seem to have.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2019

Hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate

Here are the categories for this year's challenge...and the authors I hope to read for each.

1. 19th Century Classic.  (Elizabeth Gaskell)
2. 20th Century Classic.   (Angela Thirkell)
3. Classic by a Woman Author  (Willa Cather)
4. Classic in Translation
5. Classic Comic Novel   (Georgette Heyer)
6. Classic Tragic Novel   (Thomas Hardy)
7. Very Long Classic   (Anthony Trollope)
8. Classic Novella   (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
9. Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean)
10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania
11. Classic From a Place You've Lived   (Luke Short)
12. Classic Play   (Shakespeare)

Complete either six, nine, or all twelve categories. Sounds fun right? You should join in!

(As you can see, I'm shooting for 9 of the 12 categories because I already own books by those authors.)

Wish me luck...and Happy Reading!

Giving up!

First of all you should know that I'm a huge fan of reading bingo:  I love finding books that fit each category, and filling in each and every square. And for the past couple of years Stacey at Unruly Reader has created a super fun book bingo card. And I've always gone for blackout. Until this year. With six categories left to fill on my card, I'm officially giving up. No book bingo blackout for me in 2017. I know there's still time before the end of the year, and that I could probably push and get it done, but frankly, I'm running out of steam. And there are other books I'd rather read more.

Here's the card I started off with:

And the books I read that fill the 19 categories I did manage to complete:

POP PSYCHOLOGY:  Aim True by Kathryn Budig

OUTLAW:  Surviving Home by A. American

DOOM AND GLOOM:  Lights Out by Ted Koppel

WATER:  Spring Tide by Cilla and Rolf Borjlind

THE JOURNEY:  God Grew Tired of Us by John Bul Dau

A BOOK I OWN:  Dance Night by Dawn Powell

HIGHBROW:  The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

WHERE I GREW UP:  Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall

CREATIVITY: Good Mail Day: A Primer For Making Eye-Popping Postal Art 

by Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee G. Wheeler

GUILTY PLEASURE: The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires by Molly Harper

ASSIGNED READING: The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller

ESCAPE: I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali

BOOKSTORE DISCOVERY: Thirteen Days to Midnight by Patrick Carman

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS: The Semester of Our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn

AUTHOR'S NAME BEGINS WITH M: Arrowood by Laura McHugh

BEST IN CLASS: Lost by Michael Robotham

THE OUTDOORS: My Last Continent by Midge Raymond

HOT: The Definition of Wind by Ellen Block

UP IN THE AIR: The Immortal Circus by A.R. Kahler

And here are the six categories that will remain unread by me this year:

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE:

(Even though I own Russell Mean's autobiography Where White Men Fear To Tread, 

which has been sitting on my shelf for years and years waiting to be read.)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS FICTION PRIZE:

(Even though I found and bought a copy of Marilynne Robinson's Lila at a library 

book sale just for this bingo category; it now sits in my room also waiting to be read.)

BOOMER LIT:

(I never had a book in mind for this category.)

ASIA:

(This category should've been an easy one for me seeing how much I love 

Haruki Murakami and other Japanese writers, but...)

BAD TITLE:

(This also sounds deceptively easy...but every book I attempted to read 

that fit the category ended up being too bad to finish. So...)

MID-CENTURY MODERN:

(Didn't even try!)

There you have it. My 2017 reading bingo journey. I did enjoy the books I read. And I had fun! And that's all that matters, right? Maybe next year I'll try for blackout again. Until then...

Happy Reading!

A bookish new year...

I've been thinking about what I hope to accomplish over the next twelve months, and what new adventures I'd like to embark on in 2017--from writing a novel, to trying something new every week, to possibly getting another stamp in my passport. But while setting New Year's goals and resolutions can be a little intimidating, deciding what my 2017 bookish goals will be is easy. See, I already have a list of books I want to read this year; a list that seems to grow with every book review I read. It's full of classics and other, more contemporary, works that I've been meaning to read for years, along with some recent non-fiction books, new authors, old favorites, unfinished series, unread books on my TBR shelf, and more books than I want to admit recommended to me by Goodreads. So, I have plenty to read in 2017. The only problem is that I'm easily distracted by the myriad of books I find at the library or in bookstores. Which is why I decided to sign up for the Backlist Reader Challenge.

Hosted by Lark at The Bookwyrm's Hoard, "the Backlist Reader Challenge is a year-long challenge for all those older books that have been piling up on your TBR pile and list--not just the ones you own, but the ones you've been wanting to read for awhile now."  The great thing about this challenge is that I can set my own goal and choose whatever books I want to read from my own TBR list. Which makes it a perfect challenge for me; so, even though I originally wasn't going to sign up for any reading challenges this year, I just couldn't resist this one.

My tentative goal:  10 books -- 5 that have been sitting on my TBR shelf for more than a year, and 5 that have been on my To Read list even longer than that.  And what are those books?

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Dance Night by Dawn Powell

Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym

Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Wash This Blood Clean From My Hands by Fred Vargas

Ghost Song by Sarah Rayne

Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian

We Hear the Dead by Dianne K. Salerni

The Secret History by Donna Tartt 

The Radleys by Matt Haig

(With one alternate in case my mood changes:  An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd)

Happy Reading!

(And Happy New Year!!)

A bookish new year...

I originally intended on making no bookish goals this year; instead I dreamed of being a free-range reader, choosing my books solely according to whim and whimsy. No lists, no commitments, no book clubs, no challenges, nothing. Just free reading.

But then I saw the Reading England 2016 Challenge hosted by Behold the Stars, and it sounded like fun, and there are books that I want to read this year that I knew would fit this challenge perfectly; so, I found myself discarding my original plan and signing up without a second thought. It's a straight-forward challenge: read a different book for every county in England. Only there are 4 levels to choose from, so if you don't want to read 39 books you don't have to. I'm shooting for Level 2: 4-6 counties. I've already started reading my first book: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which is set in London. It's one of my favorite children's books and a great first read of 2016.

Then, because I found myself in a book challenge kind of mood I signed up for the Reading New England Challenge hosted by Lory at Emerald City Books as well. For this challenge I'm hoping to complete the Six State Challenge: read at least one book that represents each New England state. I'm a little worried about finding a book set in Rhode Island, but the other states should be fairly easy. Between these two challenges I should be very well-traveled by the end of 2016.

Happy Reading!

(And Happy New Year!)