Kellie’s Comments (group member since May 28, 2014)

Kellie’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

2025 TBR Tackler
Duration: January 1, 2025 – December 31, 2025
Level: Coathanger 11/17 books
Starting TBR: 538

1. 337 - Alas, Babylon 1/7/25
2. 243 - Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars 1/14/25
3. 537 - The Book Thief 2/3/25
4. 129 - The Living Dead 3/22/25
5. 52 - To Kill a Kingdom 4/5/25
6. 470 - Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails 4/15/25
7. 224 - 21 Lessons for the 21st Century 4/23/25
8. 230 - The Scandalous Diary of Lily Layton 5/6/25
9. 112 - Robopocalypse 8/19/25
10. 261 - The Book of Overthinking: How to Stop the Cycle of Worry 8/30/25
11. 54 - You Think It, I'll Say It 9/17/25

I'm in. My goal is to read at least 14 books from the first 100 on my "to-read" shelf. To make things even more interesting, I've listed them below by year added, with the intention to read at least 2 from each category.

Read: 16/14

2011 (2/2)
✔1. Anne of Green Gables 1/22/24
✔2. The Good Earth 4/20/24

2014 (3/2)
3. Commencement
4. In Triumph's Wake: Royal Mothers, Tragic Daughters, and the Price They Paid for Glory
5. Crazy Love
6. Drowning Ruth
7. The First Princess of Wales
8. Hippie Boy: A Girl's Story
9. Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland
10. A Touch of Greek
11. The Last Boleyn
✔12. A Seduction in Scarlet 2/14/24
13. The Slave Across the Street: The True Story of How an American Teen Survived the World of Human Trafficking
14. Three Maids for a Crown
✔15. Lady of the English 6/3/24
16. Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation DNF
17. Her Highness, the Traitor
18. Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within
✔19. A Duke's Temptation 3/18/24
20. Kitchen Chinese

2015 (2/2)
21. Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens
22. She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth
23. The Virgin Cure
24. Running Like a Girl
✔25. On the Edge 5/6/2024
26. The Birth House DNF
27. Women Who Think Too Much: How to Break Free of Overthinking and Reclaim Your Life
28. Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
29. A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman
✔30. The Nurses: A Year of Secrets, Drama, and Miracles with the Heroes of the Hospital 4/8/2024
31. Daughters of the Witching Hill
32. Poison: A Novel of the Renaissance (Poisoner Mysteries) by Sara Poole
33. The Queen of Last Hopes: The Story of Margaret of Anjou
34. Underground in Berlin: A Young Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany
35. Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Lost Innocence, Modern Day Slavery and Transformation
36. The Forbidden Queen

2016 (2/2)
37. Unveiled
38. Devil in Duke's Clothing
39. I Fired God: My Life Inside—and Escape from—the Secret World of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Cult
40. Into the Darkest Corner
✔41. Broken Angels 3/16/24
42. The Warrior Queen
✔43. The Last One 5/24/24
44. Food Whore
45. The Fireman
46. Those Girls

2017 (2/2)
47. American War
48. The Kitchen House
✔49. American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America 9/17/2024
50. Girl on a Wire: Walking the Line Between Faith and Freedom in the Westboro Baptist Church DNF
51. Jesus Land: A Memoir
52. The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women: A Social History
53. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
✔54. Bright Spots & Landmines: The Diabetes Guide I Wish Someone Had Handed Me 8/17/24
55. A People's History of Chicago
56. The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care
57. The Mermaid's Pendant
58. An Ordinary Drowning
59. Etched in Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island
60. How to Be a Victorian

2018 (4/2)
61. The Gate to Women's Country
62. No One Tells You This
✔63. In the Next Room by Ruhl, Sarah Theatre Comm Grp,2010 1/10/24
64. We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out
65. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft
66. A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family
67. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
68. Body Positive Power
✔69. Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude 1/29/24
✔70. Baby Teeth 10/24/24
71. Jane Doe
72. Romancing the Duke
73. To Kill a Kingdom
74. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
75. Dare to Lead
76. Girls Burn Brighter
77. The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It
78. Hate Notes
✔79. Wallbanger 6/12/24
80. My Favorite Half-Night Stand
81. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
82. Red Clocks
83. Physical Disobedience: An Unruly Guide to Health and Stamina for the Modern Feminist
84. Fit at Mid-Life: A Feminist Fitness Journey
85. An Anonymous Girl
86. The Girls at 17 Swann Street
87. The Dreamers
88. The Ferryman

2019 (1/2)
89. Unmarriageable
90. The Farm
91. You Think It, I'll Say It
92. Getting Hot with the Scot
93. The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan
94. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
95. The Children's Blizzard
96. The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why
97. New York 2140
98. On Dublin Street
99. Into the Drowning Deep
✔100. When She Said I Do 10/24/24

Spear Tackle: 18-26 books.
Read: 14/18

✔1. 565 - Anne of Green Gables 1/22/24
✔2. 176 - The Bluest Eye 2/10/24
✔3. 167 - To Have and to Hoax 2/22/24
✔4. 291 - Nine Perfect Strangers 3/11/24
✔5. 259 - Nowhere Girl: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood 5/17/24
✔6. 645 - The New Tourist: Waking Up to the Power and Perils of Travel 6/16/24
✔7. 631 - Notes from the Porch: Tiny True Stories to Make You Feel Better about the World 7/3/24
✔8. 96 - Austentatious: The Evolving World of Jane Austen Fans 7/29/24
✔9. 325 - Travel Hacks: Any Procedures or Actions That Solve a Problem, Simplify a Task, Reduce Frustration, and Make Your Next Trip As Awesome As Possible 8/14/24
✔10. 120 - Lord Dashwood Missed Out 9/8/24
✔11. 239 - Dr. Disaster's Guide to Surviving Everything: Essential Advice for Any Situation Life Throws Your Way 10/7/24
✔12. 365 - An Ideal Husband 10/17/24
✔13. 62 - Baby Teeth 10/24/24
✔14. 117 - Romancing the Duke 11/17/24


87 -
177 -
222 -
445 -

I'm in. My TBR list is always being updated and/or purged, so I'm going to pick the numbers now and then attach the corresponding title as I go.

Spear Tackle: 18-26 books.
Read: 18/18

✔1. 37 - Orphan Number Eight 1/24/23
✔2. 66 - The Last Tudor 2/22/23
✔3. 297 - The Time Traveler's Handbook: 19 Experiences from the Eruption of Vesuvius to Woodstock 3/10/23
✔4. 407 - Reading Behind Bars: A True Story of Literature, Law, and Life as a Prison Librarian 4/10/23
✔5. 132 - Munro 4/21/23
✔6. 497 - Period. End of Sentence.: A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice 4/23/23
✔7. 176 - A Week to be Wicked 5/9/23
✔8. 683 - Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight: A Comedy in Three Beds 5/10/23
✔9. 744 - Parable of the Sower 5/24/23
✔10. 436 - Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases 6/18/23
✔11. 658 - Take My Hand 8/17/23
✔12. 213 - Wolf Gone Wild 8/23/23
✔13. 328 - The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos 9/1/23
✔14. 238 - The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World 10/3/23
✔15. 550 - The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly: Life Wisdom from Someone Who Will (Probably) Die Before You 11/6/23
✔16. 561 - Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart 11/18/23
✔17. 298 - Food Americana: The Remarkable People and Incredible Stories behind America’s Favorite Dishes 12/15/23
✔18. 643 - House Love: A Joyful Guide to Cleaning, Organizing, and Loving the Home You're In 12/19/23

I'm in. My TBR list is always being updated and/or purged, so I'm going to pick the numbers now and then attach the corresponding title as I go.

Spear Tackle: 18-26 books.
Read: 14/18

✔1. 302 - The Last Book on the Left: Stories of Murder and Mayhem from History’s Most Notorious Serial Killers2/1/22
✔2. 435 - Watch Her Fall 2/5/22
✔3. 413 - The Arctic Fury: A Novel 2/15/22
✔4. 174 - Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth2/26/22
✔5. 671 - The Silent Patient 3/22/22
✔6. 549 - Where the Crawdads Sing 4/15/22
✔7. 272 - Egomaniac 5/1/22
✔8. 329 - The Matter of a Marquess 5/18/22
✔9. 69 - A Fireproof Home for the Bride 6/25/22
✔10. 384 - The Rakehell of Roth 6/9/22
✔11. 466 - Blonde 8/1/22
✔12. 530 - Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone 8/24/22
✔13. 186 - How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships 10/12/22
✔14. 305 - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly 11/13/22
15.
16.
17.
18.

TBR Tackler 2021
Spear Tackle: 18-26 books

Completed: 18/18 DONE!
1/9/21 - 551 - 52 Ways to Live a Kick-Ass Life: BS-Free Wisdom to Ignite Your Inner Badass and Live the Life You Deserve
1/17/21 - 229 - The Silence of the Girls
2/9/21 - 259 - Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War, from El Salvador to Oklahoma
3/20/21 - 396 - Lady No Says Yes
4/17/21 - 379 - Evil Eye
5/6/21 - 630 - The Duke Heist
6/4/21 - 149 - Secrets of a Summer Night
6/16/21 - 381 - The Glass Woman
8/13/21 - 262 - Shadow on the Crown
8/17/21 - 497 - Mad and Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency
8/19/21 - 55 - Secrets in the Cellar
9/8/21 - 354 - The Deep
9/18/21 - 315 - The Prisoner's Wife
10/1/21 - 623 - The Vines
10/29/21 - 63 - The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia
11/4/21 - 305 - A Night to Surrender
11/12/21 - 418 - Mexican Gothic
12/28/21 - 273 - A Woman Is No Man

To-Be Read
218 - The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
80 - Girl on a Wire: Walking the Line Between Faith and Freedom in the Westboro Baptist Church
598 - DIY for Renters: Don't Call the Landlord: A Renter's Guide to Repairs and Personalizations That Won't Break Your Lease
257 -The Billionaire Wins the Game
408 - Westering Women
28 - Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone
580 - How to Make Stress Work for You
211 - Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
392 - Love Lettering
227 - The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness

I'm in! I'll go for a Moderate level, just enough to help me exceed my Reading Challenge goal.

S - Sweat
N - No Gentleman for Georgina
O -
W -
M - A Marquis for Mary
A - Alias Grace
N -

Start of month:
Books on shelf: 14
Feedback Ratio: 80%

Books (ordered by pub date):


Added:


Finished:


End of Month:
Books on shelf:
Feedback Ratio:

Game of Thrones Reading Challenge
Duration: 11/1/16 - 12/31/2016
Option: Spell-it-out
Level: Loyal Soldier
Completed: 7/14

House Stark -


W - Wicked Girls
I -
N - The Nightingale
T -
E - The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
R -

I -
S - The Shape of Things

C - Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture
O - The Last One by Alexandra Oliva
M - A Man Called Ove
I -
N -
G -

The May Tea Time Reading Challenge
Duration: 5/1/15 - 5/31/15
Level: Pot of Tea (7-9 books)
Progress: 4/9



C -
H - Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
A -
M - The Marriage Merger
O - Orphan Train
M -
I -
L -
E - The Pursuit of Pleasure by Elizabeth Essex

Very Superstitious Challenge
Option #2: Spell it Out
Level: 3rd division lotto winner (5-8 books)

Completed: 7/8



B -
L - The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
A - The Arabian Nights
C - Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter
K - Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run by Kristin Armstrong

D - The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici
O - Ochida Miko in The Little Android
G - Titanic Love Stories: The true stories of 13 honeymoon couples who sailed on the Titanic

Who Do You Love B.I.N.G.O. Challenge
Level: Smitten (6-9 Books)
Completed: 6/9

X O O O O
O X O O O
O O X O O
O O X O O
O X O O X



✔B - Brave New World
I -
N -
G -
O -

Card #1
Call Me (Lots of phone calls) –
✔One & Only ("New to you” author) - Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation
Trust Me (Recommendation) -
LOL! (Humorous book) -
This is Love (Romance novel) -
Rock Star (Someone plays a musical instrument) -
Faith (One character has absolute faith in another) -
✔Free Space (Reader’s Choice) - 10 Steps to Home Ownership: A Workbook for First-Time Buyers
BFF (Two best friends in the story-line) -
Be Mine (Re-read a “keeper”) -
Let’s Kiss (Kissing – or almost kissing – couple on the cover) -
You Rock (Book you thought was great) -
✔Cool (Calm, cool, and collected character) - The Professional
Sweet Talk (Dialogue is sweet) -
Perfect (The perfect book) –
Angel (Character is an angel) -
✔My baby (Character has a baby or is pregnant) - This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor
Say Yes (Marriage proposal) -
True Love (True love, of any kind) -
✔Cutie Pie (Someone bakes a pie, or there is something really cute on the cover) - Pleasuring the Pirate

Time For Tea
Level: Tea for Two (6-10 books)

Completed: 9/10


Step 1 - Boil the water
Read books where the author's name or title begins with B, O, I or L.
B - The Black Belt Librarian: Real-World Safety & Security
O - Our Dumb Century
I - The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride
L - The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Step 2 - Choose your tea
Read books with a color on the cover to match the type of tea you choose.
White - white tea (Sex Lives of the Kings & Queens of England: An Irreverent Expose of the Monarchs from Henry VIII to the Present Day)

Step 3 - Steep the tea
Read books with page counts to indicate how strong you like your tea.
Medium - 151 to 300 pages (Ravish: The Awakening of Sleeping Beauty-265 pages)

Step 4 - Sweet?
Read books to indicate how sweet you like your tea.
No sugar - Stand alone novel (American Born Chinese)
One spoonful - Book one in a series (Maus, I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History)

Step 5 - Black or white?
Read books to indicate what else to add to your tea
Cream - Fantasy/sci fi genre book
Lemon - Non fiction genre book (A Class Apart: Prodigies, Pressure, and Passion Inside One of America's Best High Schools)

December Holiday Challenge
Option #3: Spell it Out
Level: Apprentice Toy Painter (6-12 books)

Completed: 6/9



C - Christopher Ellis in Blood of the Rose
H -
R - Romancing Mister Bridgerton
I -
S - Station Eleven
T - The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty
M - My Mother's Secret: A Novel Based on a True Holocaust Story
A - Awakened by a Kiss
S - Sophie Beckett in An Offer From a Gentleman

Horses for Courses Challenge
Level: ♘ To win (5-8 books)
Completed: 8/8

Option #4 Spell It Out
N - Not in Front of the Corgis: Secrets of Life Behind the Royal Curtains
E - Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness
W - Elias Warner in Kiss of the Rose
H - Had the Queen Lived: An Alternative History of Anne Boleyn
A - Anne Neville in The Kingmaker's Daughter
V - The Viscount Who Loved Me
E - The Good Body by Eve Ensler
N - Necessary Targets: A Story of Women and War

Option #3 Page Number
1. Not in Front of the Corgis: Secrets of Life Behind the Royal Curtains - 256
2. The Viscount Who Loved Me - 354
3. Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness - 260
4. Had the Queen Lived: An Alternative History of Anne Boleyn - 320
5. The Good Body - 112
6. Necessary Targets: A Story of Women and War - 144
7. The Kingmaker's Daughter - 464
8. Kiss of the Rose - 296
Total: 2,206/3,200

A Peanuts Reading Challenge
Level: Linus' Beetle Bugs (10-12 books)
Option #3: Spell-It-Out
Completed: 10/10 Done!

✔S - The Sisters Who Would Be Queen
✔A - Amy Dunne in Gone Girl
✔L - Laird Torin McLeren in To Conquer a Highlander
✔L - Notorious Royal Marriages: A Juicy Journey Through Nine Centuries of Dynasty, Destiny, and Desire by Leslie Carroll
✔Y - Yes Means Yes!: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape



✔B - Blood & Beauty: The Borgias
✔R - The Run-Walk-Run Method
✔O - On the Edge
✔W - William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back
✔N - Number the Stars

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me!

Option 2: Spell it out
Level: First Mate (10-12 Books)
Progress: 9/10

B - The Buddha in the Attic
E - Empress Orchid
L - Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
A - Lysistrata by Aristophanes
Y - Yes Means Yes!: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape (unfinished)


W - Woman's Complete Guide to Running
E - Effective Group Facilitation in Education: How to Energize Meetings and Manage Difficult Groups
N - Nefertiti
C - College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Co-eds, Then and Now
H - The House on Mango Street

I really like the complexity of this challenge. Hope you don't mind, Anita, but I'm going to follow the same route as you (albeit with different books).

Amazing August
Maze Wanderer (6-8 books)
Completed: 8/8



South Enter
Right: The Mists of Avalon (16 letters)
Left: Her Wolf (7 letters)
Left: Runner's World Complete Book of Beginning Running (43 letters)


Center to West
Right: Dark Skye (8 letters)
Right: Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman (72 letters)
Left: Outlander (9 letters)
Right: The Bigger the Better, the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty, Body Image, and Other Hazards of Being Female (38 letters before the colon)
Left: Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line - and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity (75 letters)

I'm going with Option Two.


Progress: 7/7

F - Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
I - In the Shadow of the Crown
R - Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving--and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity
E - The Enchantment Emporium


I - Impulse
C - Crusader Captive
E - The Exhaustion Cure: Up Your Energy from Low to Go in 21 Days

This is my first challenge for this group, so here goes nothing.

Get Royal
Duration: 06/01/14 - 06/30/14
Anticipated Level: Noble 5-8 books
Finished: 6/8

Option Two: Read books which are about members of a Royal family.

1. Shadow's Claim
2. Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings
3. The Virgin Queen's Daughter
4. Royal Affairs: A Lusty Romp Through the Extramarital Adventures That Rocked the British Monarchy
5. Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman
6. The Princess Bride
7.
8.