Books in categories I might have missed without the reading challenge – dual timeline; based on a true story; written in a foreign language; short stories; blockbuster movie and unreliable narrator; novella by an author I had not read before; crime thriller; set in a country not my own; chosen for me; audiobook; non-fiction; poetry; biography; humour; graphic novel that was a library book
STOP PRESS June 2019: My Reading Challenge has now been completed…
I’m not a great believer in making resolutions on New Year’s Day – any day will do. So in late January 2017 I decided to “sign up” for the Reading Challenge on Shaz’s Jera’s Jamboree blog. It’s a way of getting out of your comfort zone of always reading the same sorts of books.
As I never stick to the rules I adapted the challenge, making it both more difficult and less difficult for myself. The challenge has six sections and you are asked to tick off ONE sort of book from each section – but I planned to tick EVERY box in each section.
But as I had already been trying to read outside my comfort zone, I also ticked off the books I had read in 2016, where they fitted the categories. Please don’t call me a cheat – this is my own idea of great fun!
Click on the image to go to Shaz’s blog post and download the challenge for yourself…
Below I have been recording my progress in the Reading Challenge, which I finally completed in June 2019. I will continue to update this, using bold italic for the books I have already read and including notes of what I still plan to read in some categories, despite having already “ticked the boxes”.
LIST ONE
A political biography of Aneurin Bevan
A biography/memoir
UPDATE June 14, 2019
– Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds: Nye: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan
I don’t read biographies, but as it was the 70th anniversary of Britain’s National Health Service in 2018, I started reading this book about its founder. I didn’t finish reading it until June 2019.
I must also tackle Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Both books are from my husband’s bookshelf.
A book based on a true story
UPDATE February 19, 2018
– Emma Donoghue: Room (see my review here)
Very loosely based on the case of Elizabeth Fritzl, held captive for 24 years and abused by her father, who gave birth to seven children by him.
A nonfiction book
UPDATE April 14, 2017
– Paul Strathern: Mendeleyev’s Dream, The Quest for the Elements (see my review here)
Persephone retold
A book based on a fairy tale
– Vera Nazarian: Cobweb Bride
Based loosely on the Persephone myth.
UPDATE August 31, 2019
– Jess Kidd: Things in Jars
The mermaid is reinterpreted as a merrow, a magical creature who affects the weather and is the target of Victorian specimen-hunters 9see the Guardian review here.
A Young Adult book
– Shalini Boland: Hidden
Vampire romance.
UPDATE January 28, 2017
– Anne Fine: The Tulip Touch
Actually this is a children’s novel about a child’s friendship, raising questions of morality and accountability and exploring the question of nature versus nurture. But I’m sure it would suit all ages and I enjoyed it. It won the 1996 children’s book Whitbread Award.
A science fiction book
– M Suddain: Hunters and Collectors
Space travel, murder and restaurant reviews.
UPDATE March 3, 2017
– Chris Beckett: Dark Eden
– Chris Beckett: Mother of Eden
– Chris Beckett: Daughter of Eden
I found I had Dark Eden on my Kindle and liked it so much I read the whole trilogy (see my review here)
UPDATE March 8, 2017
– Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (see my review here)
A life-changer?
A crime/thriller book
– Graham Greene: Brighton Rock
A modern classic about a minor mobster in 1930s Brighton.
UPDATE May 7, 2017
– Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep (see my review here)
UPDATE August 13, 2018
– Andrea Camilleri: The Shape of Water I had seen only one episode of Inspector Montalbano on TV, but enjoyed this book, which had a feel of American hard-boiled detective novels, but with a distinctive Italian flavour. I could quite easily read another.
UPDATE September 8, 2019
– Erich Kastner: Emil and the Detectives
A book much-praised by many writers as one of their favourites, this 1929 children’s story set in Berlin can be read in one sitting. In a way it reminds me of Just William and his gang.
A book of poetry
UPDATE March 15, 2017
– Seamus Heaney: New Selected Poems 1966-1987 (see my review here)
LIST TWO
A book someone tells you ‘changed my life’
UPDATE December 2, 2018
– Helen Macdonald: H is for Hawk
I had read many reviews of this book, which is about falconry and grief. It’s insightful, but I don’t think it quite changed my life.
I also found a web post on the subject here and realised I had already read several of the books. I will seek out some of the others.
The Plague in 14th century Devon
A book recommended by someone in your network
– Karen Maitland: The Plague Charmer (recommended on Jera’s Jamboree, here)
UPDATE May 16, 2017
– Lisa Thompson: The Goldfish Boy (see my review here)
(recommended on Jera’s Jamboree, here)
UPDATE January 13, 2018
– Rowan Coleman: The Summer of Impossible Things (recommended on Jera’s Jamboree here)
UPDATE June 19, 2018
– Robert Dinsdale: The Toymakers (recommended on Jera’s Jamboree here)
UPDATE November 27, 2018
– Jean M Auel: The Clan of the Cave Bear (recommended by Sue, my friend and colleague in the Highways department at Cardiff Council). I enjoyed it so much that I have now picked up the second novel in the Earth’s Children series, about a Cro-Magnon girl brought up in a clan of Neanderthals. See Jean M Auel’s website here
UPDATE June 10, 2019
– Naomi Novik: Uprooted
(recommended on Jera’s Jamboree here
UPDATE December 25, 2019
– Gita Trelease: Enchantée
“A compellingly beautiful tale of magic, intrigue and deception, set against the backdrop of 18th-century Paris on the cusp of revolution” (recommended on Jera’s Jamboree here.
A book chosen for you
– Lynne Truss: The Lunar Cats
A rarity for me these days, this was a genuine hardback book. I consider it was “chosen” for me because a friend of mine at work, another sub-editor, said she had a copy to review and didn’t want it, so gave it to me, as I had heard about it and was interested.
Obviously we were both familiar with the author’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves, but this is “a nail-biting tale of good versus evil involving one man, his dog and a group of 18th-century amateur scientific pioneers who just happen to be cats”. I was intrigued, having heard of the real Lunar Men of Birmingham who met every month to discuss science, engineering, philosophy and inventions (see my review here)
LIST THREE
The life of a pest catcher in near-future South Africa
A book with one word in the title
– Ania Ahlborn: Seed
Family horror in Louisiana.
– Shalini Boland: Hidden
Vampire romance.
– Martin Stewart: Riverkeep
Young Wulliam goes on a journey along the treacherous river to save his father’s life or soul from a monster.
UPDATE April 25, 2017
– Charlotte Bronte: Shirley (see my review here)
UPDATE September 8, 2018
– Henrietta Rose-Innes: Nineveh
A humane pest controller is employed to get rid of an infestation of beetles in a luxury apartment development and ponders her relationship with her father as well as issues of inequality on the outskirts of Cape Town.
UPDATE June 10, 2019
– Naomi Novik: Uprooted
(recommended on Jera’s Jamboree here
UPDATE December 25, 2019
– Gita Trelease: Enchantée
“A compellingly beautiful tale of magic, intrigue and deception, set against the backdrop of 18th-century Paris on the cusp of revolution” (recommended on Jera’s Jamboree here.
A book with a colour in the title
– Christina Courtenay: The Scarlet Kimono
Early 17th century England and Japan – a girl stows away and ends up falling in love with a samurai.
A book with a number in the title
UPDATE March 8, 2017
– Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (see my review here)
Green is the cover…
A book with a predominantly green cover
– Sarah Perry: The Essex Serpent
Science v religion – and kinds of love – in an 1890s Essex backwater (see M John Harrison’s review in the Guardian here)
LIST FOUR
A book set in a country that is not your birth country
– Christina Courtenay: The Scarlet Kimono
Japan.
– Lian Hearn: Across the Nightingale Floor
Also Japan, with a touch of added magic.
UPDATE September 8, 2018
– Henrietta Rose-Innes: Nineveh
A humane pest controller is employed to get rid of an infestation of beetles in a luxury apartment development and ponders her relationship with her father as well as issues of inequality on the outskirts of Cape Town.
A book translated to English
I already have Dumas: The Three Musketeers (translated from French) on my Kindle but – although I love the characters – I am finding that one hard to read as it is so long!
UPDATE August 13, 2018
– Andrea Camilleri: The Shape of Water – one of the translations suggested by thelittlebookowl here.
I had only seen one episode of Inspector Montalbano on TV, but enjoyed this book, which had a feel of American hard-boiled detective novels, but with a distinctive Italian flavour. I could quite easily read another.
ADDED JULY 20, 2019: I am ashamed to admit that when I read the book I thought Andrea Camilleri was a modern young woman. But this week I read the news of Camilleri’s death on July 17 – and discover he was a man of 93. Read the Guardian obituary here.
A book that became a movie
– Gillian Flynn: Gone Girl
I don’t usually read bestsellers, but found this story fascinating – did he really murder his wife?
LIST FIVE
A book you own but haven’t read
UPDATE April 14, 2017
– Paul Strathern: Mendeleyev’s Dream, The Quest for the Elements – on my shelf since the year 2000…
So many books in this category! But Philip George Chadwick: The Death Guard has been on my shelf for decades. It’s an early sci-fi classic about future warfare with an invincible army – I MUST eventually read that one.
A graphic novel from the library
A book from the library
UPDATE March 25, 2019
– William Goldsmith: The Bind – a nicely-drawn graphic novel about two brothers in conflict over the family bookbinding business.
I have a library card but hadn’t been there recently. I’m afraid my Kindle makes reading books too easy.
A book of short stories
UPDATE December 3, 2017
– Fiona McFarlane: The High Places, a book of modern Australian short stories and recent winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize.
An audiobook
UPDATE February 2, 2017
I listened to Margery Williams: The Velveteen Rabbit – and cried my eyes out!
I noticed several offers of a “free” audiobook but they all seemed to involve signing up for a longer-term commitment and I didn’t want to “read” more than one, as I can’t do anything else while listening.
So I found this blog post that recommends many genuine free audiobook sites. I sampled a few and discovered something I hadn’t realised – it really does matter who is doing the reading! No wonder we prefer professional actors with wonderful voices. I appreciate ordinary volunteers taking the trouble to read the books, for example for LibriVox, but I found one or two impossible to listen to! Certainly with the prospect of an eight-hour book.
Audiobook – done – The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
But I was content with my final choice – which took just half an hour and was read by a lovely lady from Prince Edward Island – I detected the adorable Canadian accent before I knew that was where she came from. I accessed it through Project Gutenberg.
I chose the book because I think it is a famous children’s book in America but I hadn’t heard of it until an episode of one of my favourite TV shows a few years ago, Cold Case. I remember one of the detectives, Lilly Rush, reading The Velveteen Rabbit to her dying, alcoholic, mother. For some reason I associate it with purple. Maybe that was what she wore at the time, or the colour of the book’s cover?
Anyway, glad I listened, but it is very sad, even if it does promise a kind of heaven for dead toy rabbits…
A book from an author you’ve never read before
UPDATE May 7, 2017
– Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep (see my review here)
Mildly amusing
A bestseller from a genre you don’t usually read
UPDATE April 24, 2018
– Jonathan Safran Foer: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (see my review here)
It’s about a clever boy looking for answers after losing his father in the 9/11 attacks.
UPDATE July 24, 2018
– Stella Gibbons: Cold Comfort Farm
I don’t usually read humour but this is a comic novel published in 1932, about a posh young woman with no income who imposes herself on the Starkadders – her grim rural relatives in a fictional village in Sussex – and changes their lives.
I read this after it was recommended as a “book that made me laugh” by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy in The Guardian here. I was mildly amused.
UPDATE March 25, 2019
– William Goldsmith: The Bind – I don’t usually read graphic novels.
LIST SIX
If the majority of books you read are female authors, a book by a male author and vice versa
I tend to read mostly female authors but I read Matthew Reilly: The Great Zoo of China – lots of action and violence – before I started this challenge.
UPDATE March 3, 2017
– Chris Beckett: Dark Eden trilogy
UPDATE March 8, 2017
– Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (see my review here)
UPDATE May 7, 2017
– Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep (see my review here)
UPDATE June 3, 2017
– Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
I probably still need to read more action books…
A great book with a dual timeline
A book with a dual timeline
– Vanessa Diffenbaugh: The Language of Flowers (through most of the book the timeline alternates between Victoria’s time as a child in foster care and in the present day, aged 18)
A book set in the past during a time of turmoil
– Karen Maitland: The Plague Charmer
The Black Death in Devon
UPDATE December 17, 2017
– Frances Hardinge: A Skinful of Shadows
A supernatural tale set during the English Civil War, about a girl whose family can keep the spirits of their dead ancestors inside themselves – sometimes reluctantly.
A book with an unreliable narrator
– Gillian Flynn: Gone Girl (I think that counts – can you believe what she says?)
A trilogy or series of books
– Robin Hobb: Farseer trilogy and Tawny Man trilogy (a wonderful fantasy recommendation from Shaz at Jera’s Jamboree).
UPDATE
As we go into 2018 I have already read the first two books in the third trilogy, Fitz and the Fool and have the final book lined up!)
UPDATE March 3, 2017 – another trilogy…
– Chris Beckett: Dark Eden
– Chris Beckett: Mother of Eden
– Chris Beckett: Daughter of Eden
I found I had Dark Eden on my Kindle and liked it so much I read the whole trilogy – see my review here
A novella
UPDATE June 3, 2017
– Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
This grim trip up the Congo in colonial times felt longer than a novella!
See all my other book blog posts here.
And for the record, these are all the books I have read since the beginning of 2016 – the number decreases every year as I now work full time again…
Books I read in 2016
Books I read in 2017
Books I read in 2018
Books I read in 2019 – the number decreases with the years…
Books read in 2020 – an all-time low despite the Coronavirus lockdown – or perhaps because of it – I do most of my reading on buses!
Although the challenge is complete, I will keep on adding details of every book I read to this list.
The Squirrelbasket 