Stina’s Comments (group member since Dec 11, 2016)

Stina’s comments from the Challenges from Exploding Steamboats group.

Yep, went with The Odyssey. It was the newish translation by Emily Wilson, and I actually found her 3+ hours of introductory material more interesting than the story itself. I don't really remember much detail from the version I read in high school, but this did seem like an improvement. Of course, that could be because I have a better grounding in the Classics in general than I did 35 years ago.

Cheryl wrote: "I crossed this one off with Black Seconds. Not nearly as gruesome as the Dragon Tattoo series, but definitely Nordic and dark in feel."

Who's the author? I liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo okay, but I really don't get all the hype surrounding that series.

Most of these prompts reflect uncompleted prompts from various challenges I foolishly took on. I'm doing it a little differently this year and separating it into four sections.

The first section contains prompts I've failed it at least two years in a row. I must complete those before I can count any other books as completed. (You are perfectly welcome to ignore this self-flagellation.)

- A book that you bought while on vacation
- A book by an indigenous author
- A book first published the year you were born

The second section contains prompts I failed from Linz the Bookworm's challenge. It was set up in levels and I was not allowing myself to count the "free" read until I had completed the previous level. Treat that however you like.

Level 3
- Read the first book of a trilogy
- Read the second book of that same trilogy
- Read the third book of that same trilogy
- Read a book by Brandon Sanderson
- Free Space! Read any book
Level 4
- A book about time travel
- A book authored by a Catherine/Katherine or variant
- A book by Anne Rice
- A book from TIME Magazine's All-TIME 100 Novels list
- A book with the word "dream" in the title
- Free Space! Read any book

The third section contains my normal prompt fails. Some were from seasonal challenges, but I'm not restricting myself to a season for this challenge.

- Fewer than 100 Goodreads reviews
- Read for school
- High fantasy
- Middle grade
- Ugly cover
- Historical romance
- Western
- Set in Asia
- A book of poetry
- A book longer than 700 pages
- A play
- A book about a country or culture you have never visited
- A book related to a skill
- A book of short stories
- The first book by a favorite author
- A book based on a true story
- A book at the bottom of your TBR pile
- Read a book being adapted for TV or film this year
- Read a book set on every continent
- A true crime book
- A book of nonviolent true crime
- A book by an Australian author
- The oldest ARC you own
- A #bookstagram recommendation
- Highest Goodreads rating
- Longest-standing TBR book on Goodreads
- A book written as a journal
- A book published on your birthday (just the day, not the year)
- An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America
- An #ownvoices book set in Oceana
- A business book
- A book by a South East Asian
- Read an ethnography or a book involving an anthropologist
- A book set on a college or university campus
- A book with "love" in the title
- A LitRPG book
- Read a book that you were recommended by a friend on Goodreads
- Finish a series you started at least a year ago
- A family member's favorite book
- A book published when you were a teenager
- A 'random number' book
- A 'collected works' volume
- Any book in the Redwall series
- A 'Top 10 of 2019' book

And the final section contains prompts inspired by books I read that didn't fit any of my challenge prompts.

- A book featuring an abandoned building
- A book with the word "river" in the title
- A graphic novel
- A book with a disabled protagonist
- A memoir by a woman of color
- A story spanning several decades
- A screenplay

As usual, approach this however you like. I'm not the challenge police, there are no points or prizes, this is just a fun way to tackle and/or build your TBR.

I will be posting discussion threads for all of the prompts, so check those out to suggest books, find recommendations, and discuss your reads with our reading community. There will also be a place to post your reading list, and if you'd like to track your challenge progress here, you are welcome to use the stina-challenge-2020 shelf tag.

I went with The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. I read an excerpt for my Holmesian Investigative Techniques class in grad school and wrote my paper on the history of fingerprint analysis, but I never did follow up and read the entire story.

Mary wrote: "I read “Edinburgh Castle” by Matt Doeden. This book is very like the CYOA I read as a kid, but it includes facts from the history of Edinburgh and its castle. Like I did as a kid, I explored all th..."

That sounds really cool!

Mary wrote: "I read "I Just Made the Tea: Tales From 30 Years Inside Formula 1" by Di Spires. It is a pleasant read if you like F1. It is more like storytelling than literature. Di and her husband provided hosp..."

That sounds really interesting, and I am not at all into F1. If the steganography book doesn't hold my interest, I may use this for my PopSugar challenge "topic you know nothing about" prompt.

For this I went with Killing Trail, which kicked off the Timber Creek K-9 series.

Stina wrote: "I've been intrigued by The Tea Shop ever since I met Bernadette Marie last year. But I will probably read [book:Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peac..."

I read The Tea Shop first. Nice enough romance story, I guess, but not really my cuppa. I was expecting more mystery and suspense.

Stalking Ground is the second K-9 mystery set in the fictional little town of Timber Creek, Colorado.

Stina wrote: "I'm sure I have several options here, but the one that comes to mind is Margaret Mizushima's. I need to read Burning Ridge for a book club later this year, and I'm ..."

Yep, blasted through all four and ready for the next one!

Stina wrote: "I don't think I've ever actually read 2015 Battle of the Bards Poetry Contest: Winning Entries, so I think I will go with that."

Yep. Nice little collection if you're looking for something quick and varied.

I ended up bumping The Traitor Baru Cormorant over to this task, since I hadn't had it on my Goodreads shelves long enough for the other one. There are some who would argue with me that this doesn't count because it takes place in a fictional world. But the story is very obviously about colonialism, and it's not difficult to see analogs to our world.

Stina wrote: "I'm sure there are some lists posted somewhere. I'll see if I can track down a few and link to them here. I will probably be reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette."

Yeah, there are lists all over the place. Just Google it and you'll find plenty. I did listen to WYGB, and I regret slightly that I didn't go hard copy on this to get the full impact of the format of the story. Ah, well, I ended up liking it, though I had a hard time at the outset. I think I was expecting it to be a comedy. When it clicked that it was a tragic story with satirical elements, I did much better.

Cheryl wrote: "My shelves are such a jumble I don't always know which books came from which sources. But, I just acquired and read a book that meets this challenge: The Cut-Throat Celts (Horrible Histories)"

The FotL sales where I live now have a handy pricing system of color-coded dots, so years later I can identify them. For this one, though, I just happened to buy a copy of Hide This French Book 101 at the little bookshop in the Old Town Library. The only reason I picked it up in the first place is that it was shelved with the children's picture books, and I figured (correctly) that that was not an appropriate place for it. Then I decided that it might be good for a chuckle or two.

I read (okay, read with much skimming) Confessions of a Mask, which is set in Japan. And you could probably argue that the protagonist is emotionally stranded for most if not all of his life.

I listened to We Are Legion. It was a notch or two above "meh" for me. I don't quite get all the glowing reviews.

I listened to The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest, which was interesting, but not nearly as interesting as it should have been.

Stina wrote: "I just spied a copy of Bridget Jones's Diary on my shelf the other day. That works, right?"

I have finally started in on BJ's Diary, which is proving to be a bit of a slog, but earlier I read Illuminae. Doorstop of a book, but most definitely not a slog.

In grad school, there were a lot of books that we were assigned portions of, and I bet if I go through those shelves, I'll find some I never read completely.

Cheryl wrote: "While "forced" suggests a book that I didn't like, I am going to interpret it as a book I would never have read if it were not required for a class. Lucky me, I am in grad school. I will count my t..."

That's a good interpretation. I got a free audio download of The Odyssey recently, and I remember that was required reading my freshman year of high school, so that's probably what I'll go with.