Paul's Corner for 2016

[Paul Emily]

Now that I actually know how the Reading Challenge works now, here's my 2016 challenges corner! I'll add challenges here eventually as they show up and when I'm free to. :)

[Paul Emily]

Challenge: I Spy: Book Titles
Duration: 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2016

Read a book that contains in its title a word that can be found in each of the classic book titles. The word needs to be there in its entirety; however, homographs (words that are spelled the same but mean different things) and words within words count. Articles (a, and, the) and any two letter words do not count. For examples, see below:

Allowed
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (the "wind" here means something different than the "wind" in Gone with the Wind but is spelled the same way)
The Princess Bride ("prince" from The Little Prince can be found here in its entirety)

Not Allowed
Cat and Mouse ("mouse" is a variation of "mice" from Of Mice and Men but "mice" is not in the title)
Think and Grow Rich (the word to match is "grows" from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but only the first four letters "grow" are here)
Insurgent (it contains "in" from A Wrinkle in Time, but "in" is a two letter word so it does not count)

[edit by me: My goals for this challenge and challenges in general this year will be to pull as much as I can from books I've bought on Kindle, and to prioritise books by women and people who aren't white or from countries that I usually read books from. Nothing against people who *are* white of course (I'm one myself), it's just part of a further embracing of alternative voices, shaking things up, and interesting truths and such. Or something.]

Here are the 25 books (plus my ideas - subject to change as I further peruse my collection):

1. Of Mice and Men - Little Women [Of Mice and Men reread 30th April] (23/7/16)
2. A Tale of Two Cities - A Tale for the Time Being [Two Cities read 29/9] (20/4/16)
3. Gone with the Wind - The Windup Girl (22/5/16)
4. A Wrinkle in Time - The Time Machine (20/7/16)
5. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - The Banyan Tree (21/3/16)
6. The Little Prince - The Princess Diaries (31/1/16)
7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass - Still Alice (26/1/16)
8. Brave New World - We Need New Names [Brave New World read 26/7/16] (23/5/16)
9. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - The Electric Michelangelo (both are in library) [read Electric Sheep 12th April] (15/5/16)
10. The Joy Luck Club - Joyland (18/7/16)
11. The Diary of a Young Girl - The Girl Who Would Be King (13/1/16) [Diary read 12/8/16]
12. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? [Caged Bird I read the 5th of February] (16/7/16)
13. The Book Thief - The Summer Book (16/7/16)
14. The God of Small Things - The Kingdom of Gods [God of Small Things read 24/4/16] (17/6/16)
15. Around the World in 80 Days - Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (4/6/16)
16. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - The Dog (24/3/16)
17. The Time Traveler's Wife - The Crane Wife (14/7/16)
18. All Quiet on the Western Front - The Cuckoo's Calling (31/7/16)
19. The Old Man and the Sea - Everything I Never Told You [Old Man and the Sea I read on 29th February] (11/5/16)
20. Where the Red Fern Grows - Red Rising (14/7/16)
21. Island of the Blue Dolphins - Cocaine Blues (11/7/16)
22. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Anne of Green Gables (9/7/16) [Tomatoes read 23/9/16]
23. Girl With a Pearl Earring - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (4/5/16)
24. The Call of the Wild - A Bear Called Paddington (6/7/16)
25. The Good Earth - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (in library) (22/4/16)

34/25

My goal is 12, but as you can see that's probably going to go way up before long. ;) [EDIT: Up to 25!]

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

Challenge: AROUND THE WORLD IN BOOKS
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2016

Read books written by authors from as many different countries as you can. The authors can have either been born there or lived there.

1. Ireland - Games Wizards Play by Diane Duane (5/2/16)
2. UK - Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (27/3/16)
3. USA - The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (24/3/16)
4. Australia - Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood (11/7/16)
5. Canada - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (9/7/16)
6. New Zealand - The Chimes by Anna Smaill (27/11/16)
7. Japan - A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (20/4/16)
8. China - The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (16/11/16)
9. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (4/5/16)
10. Dominican Republic - This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz (24/11/16)
11. Morocco - The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami (20/11/16)
12. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (24/4/16)
13. South Africa - Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (23/1/16)
14. Italy - The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri (7/1/16)
15. Norway - A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (31/3/16)
16. France - Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
17. Russia - Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
18. Portugal - Blindness by José Saramago (7/4/16)
19. Afghanistan - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (8/1/16)
20. Jamaica - A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (16/1/16)
21. Colombia - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (16/5/16)
22. Finland - The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (16/7/16)
23. Pakistan - I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (15/3/16)
24. Iran - Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (15/4/16)
25. Argentina - The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto "Che" Guevara (9/4/16)
26. Turkey - The Dog by Joseph O'Neill (24/3/16)
27. Zimbabwe - We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (23/5/16)
28. North Korea - The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee (14/10/16)
29. South Korea - The Vegetarian by Han Kang (22/11/16)
30. Czech Republic - Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1/8/16)
31. Serbia - The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
32. The Netherlands - The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (12/8/16)
33. Somalia - Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (19/10/16)
34. Sri Lanka - The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
35. Switzerland - Heidi by Johanna Spyri
36. Indonesia - Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama (5/11/16)
etc. I'll discover as I go

31/20

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

I figure it makes sense to actually put down the books I read here. Plus it works as a de facto Let's Turn Pages holding place if that challenge comes through as well. I'm thinking of going for 180 books (which might be high but I figure I can do it) and 50,000 pages in all. Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

1. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 117p - *** (2/1/16)
2. The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 82p - **** (2/1/16)
3. The Woggle-Bug Book by L. Frank Baum - 28p - ** (2/1/16)
4. The Martian by Andy Weir - 369p - **** (5/1/16)
5. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - 531p - **** (6/1/16)
6. The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri - 244p - *** (7/1/16)
7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - 324p - *** (8/1/16)
8. Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 225p - *** (9/1/16)
9. Bunreacht na hÉireann by a load of civil servants and politicians - 235p - **** (9/1/16)
10. The Girl Who Would Be King by Kelly Thompson - 368p - *** (13/1/16)
11. Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett - 352p - **** (14/1/16)
12. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum - 160p - *** (15/1/16)
13. The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling - 40p - *** (16/1/16)
14. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe - 59p - *** (16/1/16)
15. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James - 688p - **** (16/1/16)
16. Poems of William Blake by William Blake - 45p - *** (17/1/16)
17. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela - 784p - **** (23/1/16)
18. The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum - 272p - *** (24/1/16)
19. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - 720p - **** (25/1/16)
20. Still Alice by Lisa Genova - 340p - *** (26/1/16)
21. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - 419p - **** (28/1/16)
22. The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 150p - ** (29/1/16)
23. Tide of Shadows and Other Stories by Aidan Moher - 86p - *** (30/1/16)
24. Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll - 87p - *** (30/1/16)
25. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot - 244p - **** (31/1/16)
26. Rock and Popular Music in Ireland: Before and After U2 by Noel McLaughlin and Martin McLoone - 352p - **** (2/2/16)
27. Games Wizards Play by Diane Duane - 624p - **** (5/2/16)
28. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - 309p - **** (5/2/16)
29. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett - 83p - ***** (6/2/16)
30. The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 262p - **** (6/2/16)
31. Back from the Brink by Paul McGrath - 352p - ***** (11/2/16)
32. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt - 426p - **** (11/2/16)
33. Little Wizard Stories of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 37p - *** (12/2/16)
34. Macbeth by William Shakespeare - 249p - **** (13/2/16)
35. Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 232p - *** (13/2/16)
36. The Moon King by Siobhán Parkinson - 173p - **** (13/2/16)
37. Hamlet by William Shakespeare - 195p - **** (16/2/16)
38. The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle - 256p - *** (17/2/16)
39. At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien - 247p - **** (19/2/16)
40. The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 180p - *** (20/2/16)
41. Rinkitink in Oz by L. Frank Baum - 156p - *** (21/2/16)
42. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons - 436p - ***** (22/2/16)
43. The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick - 302p - *** (24/2/16)
44. Dancer by Colum McCann - 336p - **** (24/2/16)
45. The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 273p - *** (27/2/16)
46. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway - 92p - **** (29/2/16)
47. The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker - 657p - **** (1/3/16)
48. All That Is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon - 400p - *** (1/3/16)
49. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan - 286p - ***** (4/3/16)
50. The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien - 240p - **** (4/3/16)
51. The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 250p - *** (5/3/16)
52. Soul Music by Terry Pratchett - 288p - *** (10/3/16)
53. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - 610p - *** (11/3/16)
54. The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 160p - ** (11/3/16)
55. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt - 559p - **** (11/3/16)
56. Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 154p - *** (12/3/16)
57. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai with Christine Lamb - 276p - **** (15/3/16)
58. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - 401p - **** (16/3/16)
59. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente - 247p - **** (17/3/16)
60. A Calendar of Tales by Neil Gaiman - 42p - **** (17/3/16)
61. Lady Susan by Jane Austen - 95p - ** (18/3/16)
62. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge - 96p - **** (20/3/16)
63. The Color Purple by Alice Walker - 308p - **** (20/3/16)
64. The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - 96p - *** (21/3/16)
65. The Banyan Tree by Christopher Nolan - 374p - **** (21/3/16)
66. The Dog by Joseph O'Neill - 241p - **** (24/3/16)
67. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah - 460p - **** (24/3/16)
68. Belle: The True Story of Dido Belle by Paula Byrne - 304p - *** (26/3/16)
69. Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner - 288p - **** (27/3/16)
70. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit - 103p - *** (30/3/16)
71. The Secret History by Donna Tartt - 629p - **** (31/3/16)
72. A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen - 100p - **** (31/3/16)
73. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - 352p - *** (1/4/16)
74. Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick - 186p - *** (2/4/16)
75. Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín - 252p - **** (3/4/16)
76. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín - 104p - **** (3/4/16)
77. Stars Above: A Lunar Chronicles Collection by Marissa Meyer - 400p - **** (3/4/16)
78. 1916 Portraits and Lives - 315p - **** (7/4/16)
79. Blindness by José Saramago - 309p - ***** (7/4/16)
80. The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara - 166p - *** (9/4/16)
81. Shakespeare on Toast: Getting a Taste for the Bard by Ben Crystal - 272p - **** (9/4/16)
82. The Giver by Lois Lowry - 204p - **** (10/4/16)
83. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick - 214p - *** (12/4/16)
84. Vicious by V.E. Schwab - 353p - **** (14/4/16)
85. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - 343p - **** (15/4/16)
86. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry - 144p - **** (16/4/16)
87. Divergent by Veronica Roth - 487p - *** (19/4/16)
88. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers - 195p - **** (19/4/16)
89. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki - 433p - **** (20/4/16)
90. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt - 386p - **** (22/4/16)

[Paul Emily]

91. So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane - 336p - **** (24/4/16)
92. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - 338p - ***** (24/4/16)
93. The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell - 341p - *** (26/4/16)
94. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - 280p - **** (26/4/16)
95. Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich - 320p - *** (29/4/16)
96. Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett - 353p - *** (29/4/16)
97. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare - 126p - *** (29/4/16)
98. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - 106p - **** (30/4/16)
99. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - 538p - **** (4/5/16)
100. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan - 464p - **** (5/5/16)
101. Beauty by Robin McKinley - 272p - *** (7/5/16)
102. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - 410p - *** (7/5/16)
103. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - 258p - **** (8/5/16)
104. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt - 328p - *** (10/5/16)
105. The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney - 384p - **** (11/5/16)
106. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - 304p - **** (11/5/16)
107. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - 454p - **** (13/5/16)
108. The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall - 340p - **** (15/5/16)
109. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - 472p - *** (16/5/16)
110. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez - 428p - **** (16/5/16)
111. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - 455p - **** (19/5/16)
112. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey - 370p - *** (19/5/16)
113. Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel - 112p - *** (20/5/16)
114. Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T. Davies and Ben Cook - 704p - ***** (20/5/16)
115. Hold That Thought, Milton! by Linda Ravin Lodding - 19p - *** (20/5/16)
116. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle - 282p - **** (22/5/16)
117. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - 374p - **** (22/5/16)
118. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo - 290p - **** (23/5/16)
119. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - 321p - **** (25/5/16)
120. You, Me, and the Big Blue Sea by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick - 32p - **** (26/5/16)
121. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - 393p - **** (26/5/16)
122. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - 148p - *** (27/5/16)
123. Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson - 87p - **** (27/5/16)
124. American Gods by Neil Gaiman - 504p - **** (29/5/16)
125. The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo - 270p - **** (30/5/16)
126. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - 417p - **** (2/6/16)
127. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - 325p - **** (4/6/16)
128. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - 864p - **** (4/6/16)
129. In the Woods by Tana French - 592p - **** (5/6/16)
130. The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - 414p - **** (6/6/16)
131. 1Q84: Book One and Book Two by Haruki Murakami - 622p - *** (12/6/16)
132. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett - 285p - **** (16/6/16)
133. The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin - 621p - **** (17/6/16)
134. The Awakened Kingdom by N.K. Jemisin - 122p - **** (17/6/16)
135. 1Q84: Book Three by Haruki Murakami - 364p - *** (18/6/16)
136. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - 409p - *** (18/6/16)
137. Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane - 190p - **** (18/6/16)
138. Shades in Shadow by N.K. Jemisin - 60p - *** (18/6/16)
139. NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman - 534p - **** (25/6/16)
140. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling - 223p - **** (26/6/16)
141. How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran - 320p - **** (26/6/16)
142. The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis - 174p - *** (26/6/16)
143. The Green Road by Anne Enright - 312p - **** (30/6/16)
144. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling - 251p - *** (3/7/16)
145. Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell - 352p - **** (3/7/16)
146. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - 228p - **** (4/7/16)
147. A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking with Leonard Mlodinow - 176p - *** (5/7/16)
148. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond - 179p - *** (6/7/16)
149. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling - 317p - **** (7/7/16)
150. The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney - 450p - *** (8/7/16)
151. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - 288p - **** (9/7/16)
152. Station Island by Seamus Heaney - 123p - **** (10/7/16)
153. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood - 175p - **** (11/7/16)
154. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling - 636p - **** (13/7/16)
155. Red Rising by Pierce Brown - 401p - **** (14/7/16)
156. The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness - 305p - **** (14/7/16)
157. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - 176p - *** (16/7/16)
158. Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? - 236p - *** (16/7/16)
159. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis - 587p - **** (17/7/16)
160. Joyland by Stephen King - 283p - **** (18/7/16)
161. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells - 128p - *** (20/7/16)
162. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling - 766p - **** (22/7/16)
163. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - 647p - *** (23/7/16)
164. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - 274p - **** (26/7/16)
165. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling - 607p - **** (27/7/16)
166. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - 704p - *** (31/7/16)
167. The Cuckoo's Calling by J.K. Rowling (writing as Robert Galbraith) - 550p - *** (31/7/16)
168. High Wizardry by Diane Duane - 166p - *** (31/7/16)
169. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - 44p - **** (1/8/16)
170. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling - 607p - **** (2/8/16)
171. Harvest by Jim Crace - 272p - **** (3/8/16)
172. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I and II: Special Rehearsal Edition by Jack Thorne - 320p - **** (4/8/16)
173. All the Beggars Riding by Lucy Caldwell - 272p - *** (6/8/16)
174. Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by Mark Oshiro - 160p - **** (6/8/16)
175. Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by Mark Oshiro - 162p - **** (8/8/16)
176. Warm Up by V.E. Schwab - 15p - *** (8/8/16)
177. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - 615p - **** (9/8/16)
178. Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by Mark Oshiro - 209p - **** (10/8/16)
179. Judging Dev by Diarmaid Ferriter - 408p - *** (10/8/16)
180. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank - 338p - *** (12/8/16)

[Paul Emily]

181. Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett - 384p - **** (13/8/16)
182. A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie - 313p - *** (13/8/16)
183. Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by Mark Oshiro - 220p - **** (14/8/16)
184. Seeing Things by Seamus Heaney - 113p - **** (16/8/16)
185. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - 416p - **** (16/8/16)
186. Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by Mark Oshiro - 313p - **** (17/8/16)
187. Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine - 192p - ** (17/8/16)
188. Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by Mark Oshiro - 224p - **** (19/8/16)
189. Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Mark Oshiro - 290p - **** (20/8/16)
190. Pure by Andrew Miller - 342p - *** (21/8/16)
191. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien - 398p - **** (21/8/16)
192. The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth - 365p - *** (26/8/16)
193. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien - 322p - **** (26/8/16)
194. The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley - 368p - **** (27/8/16)
195. Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller - 245p - **** (29/8/16)
196. The Shoebox Project by Jaida Jones and Rave/dorkorific - 571p - **** (29/8/16)
197. Cré na Cille/The Dirty Dust by Máirtín Ó Cadhain - 328p - **** (1/9/16)
198. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien - 406p - **** (1/9/16)
199. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas - 416p - *** (3/9/16)
200. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain - 323p - **** (6/9/16)
201. Z-Minus 1 by Perrin Briar - 136p - ** (8/9/16)
202. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - 544p - ***** (11/9/16)
203. Skellig by David Almond - 176p - **** (12/9/16)
204. My Name Is Mina by David Almond - 304p - **** (15/9/16)
205. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie - 260p - **** (17/9/16)
206. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari with Eric Klinenberg - 253p - *** (20/9/16)
207. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg - 416p - *** (23/9/16)
208. A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane - 221p - **** (25/9/16)
209. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - 341p - **** (29/9/16)
210. High Wizardry by Diane Duane - 166p - **** (30/9/16)
211. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett - 430p - **** (1/10/16)
212. The BFG by Roald Dahl - 244p - **** (2/10/16)
213. The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson - 672p - **** (6/10/16)
214. Goldenhand by Garth Nix - 432p - *** (10/10/16)
215. The Girl With Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story by Hyeonseo Lee with David John - 320p - **** (14/10/16)
216. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali - 320p - *** (19/10/16)
217. Up and Coming by lots of people - 3040p - *** (19/10/16)
218. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow - 860p - **** (28/10/16)
219. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman - 304p - *** (30/10/16)
220. Persuasion by Jane Austen - 170p - **** (31/10/16)
221. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama - 464p - **** (5/11/16)
222. Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks - 272p - *** (6/11/16)
223. Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh - 464p - *** (10/11/16)
224. Philomena by Martin Sixsmith - 484p - *** (12/11/16)
225. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu - 400p - **** (16/11/16)
226. The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami - 336p - **** (20/11/16)
227. The Vegetarian by Han Kang - 160p - **** (22/11/16)
228. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz - 224p - *** (24/11/16)
229. The Chimes by Anna Smaill - 305p - **** (27/11/16)
230. Interim Errantry by Diane Duane - 546p - **** (29/11/16)
231. Jingo by Terry Pratchett - 387p - *** (29/11/16)
232. The Wizard's Dilemma by Diane Duane - 263p - **** (30/11/16)
233. Uptown Local and Other Interventions by Diane Duane - 255p - *** (2/12/16)
234. On Ordeal: Roshaun ke Nelaid by Diane Duane - 139p - **** (4/12/16)
235. On Ordeal: Mamvish fsh Wimsih by Diane Duane - 75p - **** (4/12/16)
236. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket - 188p - *** (5/12/16)
237. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - 206p - **** (10/12/16)
238. The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu - 641p - **** (10/12/16)
239. Switchers by Kate Thompson - 220p - *** (11/12/16)
240. Midnight's Choice by Kate Thompson - 167p - ** (12/12/16)
241. Wild Blood by Kate Thompson - 176p - ** (13/12/16)
242. Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent - 235p - **** (16/12/16)
243. Under the Hawthorn Tree by Marita Conlon-McKenna - 160p - **** (16/12/16)
244. One by Sarah Crossan - 448p - **** (18/12/16)
245. Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill - 400p - **** (21/12/16)
246. The Undertaking by Audrey Magee - 304p - ** (24/12/16)
247. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick - 340p - **** (27/12/16)
248. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - 224p - **** (29/12/16)
249. Men Explain Things to Me and Other Essays by Rebecca Solnit - 144p - **** (30/12/16)
250. Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan - 192p - *** (31/12/16)

250/180

80,555/50,000

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

Almost forgot my statistics block. As always, many thanks to Cassandra, whose thing I'm stealing again. EDIT: Also thanking Jackie who I've also taken inspiration from this year.

2016 Reading Statistics:

Genre
Advice/How-to: 2.5
Biography/memoir: 16
Classics: 13
Cooking:
Criticism: 8
Dystopian: 12
Fantasy: 73
Gaming fiction:
General/literary (?) fiction: 59
Historical fiction: 21
History: 2.5
Horror: 2
Humour: 3
Music: 1
Mystery/thriller: 10.5
Other nonfiction: 3
Paranormal: 1.5
Science: 5.5
Sci-fi/speculative fiction: 14
Sport: 1
Steampunk:
Travel: 0.5
True crime: 1

Type
Novel: 170
Novella: 10.5
Poetry: 5.5
Play: 7
Comic: 2
Short story: 13
Nonfictiony thing: 39
Essay collection: 1
Picture book: 2

Length
Short (250 pages and under): 94
Medium (251-500 pages): 122
Long (501-750 pages): 29
Very long (over 750 pages): 5

Target audience
Adults: 177.18
Young adult: 21.66
Younger: 51.16

Era of Publishing
2010s: 93
2000s: 49
1990s: 38
1980s: 12
1970s: 2
1960s: 5
1950s: 7
1940s: 2
1930s: 5
1920s: 2
1910s: 10
1900s: 8
Earlier: 17

Books read by month
January: 25
February: 21
March: 26
April: 26
May: 27
June: 18
July: 25
August: 28
September: 14
October: 10
November: 12
December: 18

Author gender
Female: 110 (90.5/19.5)
Male: 139 (116.5/23.5)

White: 207 (90.5/116.5)
POC: 43 (19.5/23.5)

New or familiar?
New: 123.5
Familiar: 126.5

Standalone or series?
Standalone: 147.5
Series: 102.5

Owned or borrowed?
Physical book: 32
ebook that I own: 132
Borrowed book: 77
Audiobook: 9

Reread: 46
#readwomen: 63+

Rating
5: 8
4: 148
3: 85
2: 9
1: 0

Average: 3.62/5

[Paul Emily]

THE EVERY YEAR CHALLENGE
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2016

Your goal is to read a book published every year since you were born, or you can choose a year something special happened (e.g, you graduated, you got married, etc.) and read from that year.

This challenge will help us check out the literary styles from different years.

Tips:
1. The number of books you read is 2016 minus the year you choose plus one.
2. Goodreads has a great feature you can use to find books from certain years. Use this link (https://www.goodreads.com/book/popula...) then change 2010 to whatever year you're looking for.

1982: The Colour Purple by Alice Walker (20/3/16)
1983: So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane (24/4/16)
1984: Station Island by Seamus Heaney (10/7/16)
1985: Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane (18/6/16)

1987: Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine (17/8/16)

1989: Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood (11/8/16)
1990: High Wizardry by Diane Duane (31/7/16)
1991: Seeing Things by Seamus Heaney (16/8/16)
1992: The Secret History by Donna Tartt (31/3/16)

1993: The Giver by Lois Lowry (10/4/16)
1994: The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri (8/1/16)
1995: Blindness by José Saramago (7/4/16)
1996: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (11/2/16)
1997: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (24/4/16)
1998: The Moon King by Siobhan Parkinson (13/2/16)
1999: The Banyan Tree by Christopher Nolan (21/3/16)
2000: The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (31/1/16)
2001: American Gods by Neil Gaiman (29/5/16)
2002: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (11/9/16)
2003: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (15/4/16)
2004: The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall (15/5/16)
2005: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (4/5/16)
2006: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (6/10/16)
2007: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (26/4/16)
2008: The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu (16/11/16)
2009: 1Q84 Books One and Two by Haruki Murakami (12/6/16)
2010: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (2/6/16)
2011: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (16/3/16)
2012: The Girl Who Would Be King by Kelly Thompson (13/1/16)
2013: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (20/4/16)
2014: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (11/5/16)
2015: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (24/3/16)
2016: Games Wizards Play by Diane Duane (5/2/16)

24/24

(There's no guarantee of course that I won't run into something else before these, but now that I have these listed here they're going to go way up in my priorities, and even if I do find something else it's just a simple matter of replacing them, so that won't be too much of a problem. :))

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Brenda]

This is a great idea for a challenge!

[Paul Emily]

Thank you Brenda! I didn't come up with any of these though, I'm getting them all from the 2015 and 2016 Reading Challenge group. :)

[Paul Emily]

This challenge is so no-fuss, no-muss that I'm not going to even give it a title (I'm running it all year though). Basically I'm planning to read a bunch of non-fiction next year, because I don't believe that I do enough of that. I also have a lot of non-fiction books on my Kindle that I should read. The two things may be connected.

I'm going to set a goal of 10 for now, but it's definitely subject to change.

1. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (1/4/16)
2. Belle: The True Story of Dido Belle by Paula Byrne (26/3/16)
3. Bunreacht na hÉireann / The Constitution of Ireland (9/1/16)
4. Console Wars: Sega vs Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation by Blake Harris
5. The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth
6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (26/5/16)
7. Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe by Gaston Dorren
8. The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson
9. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
10. Philomena by Martin Sixsmith (12/11/16)
11. Question Everything by New Scientist
12. Seven Deadly Sins by David Walsh (10/11/16)
13. The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh
14. The Story of Film by Mark Cousins
15. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup
16. Life of Frederick Douglass
17. Up from Slavery by Booker T Washington
18. Life of Josiah Henson
19. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs
20. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (23/1/16)
21. Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano
22. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (11/2/16)
23. Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? by New Scientist (16/7/16)
24. What If? by Randall Munroe
25. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
26. Untold History of Japanese Game Developers
27. Killing Pablo
28. Modern Romance (20/9/16)
29. The Long Walk
30. Pirate Hunters
31. Everyday Sexism
32. 1916 Portraits and Lives (7/4/16)
33. Shakespeare on Toast (9/4/16)
34. How to Be a Woman (26/6/16)
35. Love, Nina
36. Quiet (4/6/16)
37. A Briefer History of Time (5/7/16)
38. Wild Swans
39. Emperor of All Maladies
40. Gift of Fear
41. Round Ireland with a Fridge (6/11/16)
42. Neoreaction a Basilisk
43-48: TARDIS Eruditorum Volumes 1-6
49. A Golden Thread
50. Guided by the Beauty of Our Weapons
51. The Girl with Seven Names (14/10/16)
52. Nothing to Envy (27/12/16)
53-59: Mark Reads Harry Potter (August 2016)
60. The Invention of Nature
61. Men Explain Things to Me (30/12/16)
62. Infidel (19/10/16)
63. Alexander Hamilton (28/10/16)
64. The Shepherd's Life
65. Eats, Shoots, and Leaves
66. The Diary of a Young Girl (12/8/16)
67. Dreams from My Father (5/11/16)

30/20

[Paul Emily]

Challenge: Léamh go Brách
Duration: 1st January - 31st December 2016

Simple really - the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising is next year, and Mark Reads is starting the Young Wizards series next year, and that'll probably lead into A Wizard Abroad being next year too, so I figure the time's right for this kind of challenge. Essentially my aim is to read as much as I can from what I have and more that either comes from Ireland, uses Ireland as a (main) setting, or both. Right now my goal is 16 because of course it is, but that could go up. [EDIT: What I've decided to do is to add books to this as I read them, as I've found way more than I anticipated and too many to keep them in check here. Yes, really. Again.]

1. Bunreacht na hÉireann / The Constitution of Ireland
2. Rock and Popular Music in Ireland: Before and After U2
3. Games Wizards Play
4. Waiting for Godot
5. Back from the Brink
6. Angela's Ashes
7. The Moon King
8. The Deportees and Other Stories
9. At Swim-Two-Birds
10. Dancer
11. All That Is Solid Melts into Air
12. The Country Girls
13. The Banyan Tree
14. The Dog
15. Brooklyn
16. The Testament of Mary
17. 1916 Portraits and Lives
18. So You Want to Be a Wizard
19. The Hand That First Held Mine
20. Skulduggery Pleasant
21. The Glorious Heresies
22. Dancing at Lughnasa
23. You, Me, and the Big Blue Sea
24. American Gods
25. In the Woods
26. Deep Wizardry
27. The Green Road
28. Instructions for a Heatwave
29. Station Island
30. High Wizardry
31. All the Beggars Riding
32. Judging Dev
33. Seeing Things
34. The Wake
35. Cré na Cille/The Dirty Dust
36. A Wizard Abroad
37. High Wizardry (again)
38. Round Ireland with a Fridge
39. Seven Deadly Sins
40. Philomena
41. Interim Errantry
42. The Wizard's Dilemma
43. Uptown Local and Other Interventions
44. On Ordeal: Roshaun ke Nelaid
45. On Ordeal: Mamvish fsh Wimsih
46. Switchers
47. Midnight's Choice
48. Wild Blood
49. Unravelling Oliver
50. Under the Hawthorn Tree
51. One
52. Only Ever Yours
53. The Undertaking
54. The Picture of Dorian Gray
55. Cirque du Freak

55/32

[Paul Emily]

POPSUGAR 2016 READING CHALLENGE
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2016

This year, Popsugar has come out with a new Ultimate Reading Challenge for 2016. We know that a lot of our members had fun with last year's challenge, so we decided to make it an official group challenge this year.

The goal is to check off all of the tasks in a year, but if that's too much, feel free to set a smaller goal.

1. A book based on a fairy tale - Beauty by Robin McKinley (7/5/16)
2. A National Book Award winner - The Color Purple by Alice Walker (20/3/16)
3. A YA bestseller - Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas (3/9/16)
4. A book you haven't read since high school - Macbeth by William Shakespeare (13/2/16)
5. A book set in your home state - The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney (11/5/16)
6. A book translated to English - Blindness by José Saramago (7/4/16)
7. A romance set in the future - Stars Above by Marissa Meyer (3/4/16)
8. A book set in Europe - Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (16/4/16)
9. A book that's under 150 pages - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (2/1/16)
10. A New York Times bestseller - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (22/4/16)
11. A book that's becoming a movie this year - Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (6/9/16)
12. A book recommended by someone you just met - Z Minus 1 (8/9/16)
13. A self-improvement book - Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (19/5/16)
14. A book you can finish in a day - Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (27/3/16)
15. A book written by a celebrity - A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking (with Leonard Mlodinow) (5/7/16)
16. A political memoir - Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (23/1/16)
17. A book at least 100 years older than you - The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum (2/1/16)
18. A book that's more than 600 pages - A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (25/1/16)
19. A book from Oprah's Book Club - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (11/9/16)
20. A science-fiction novel - The Martian by Andy Weir (5/1/16)
21. A book recommended by a family member - Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (sort of recommended to me by my cousin ages back) (7/5/16)
22. A graphic novel - Watchmen by Alan Moore (22/2/16)
23. A book that is published in 2016 - Games Wizards Play by Diane Duane (5/2/16)
24. A book with a protagonist that has your occupation - The Secret History (31/3/16)
25. A book that takes place during summer - The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (16/7/16)
26. A book and its prequel - Skellig and My Name Is Mina by David Almond (15/9/16)
27. A murder mystery - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (17/9/16)
28. A book written by a comedian - Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari (20/9/16)
29. A dystopian novel - Divergent by Veronica Roth (19/4/16)
30. A book with a blue cover - All the Light We Cannot See (6/1/16)
31. A book of poetry - Station Island (10/7/16)
32. The first book you see in a bookstore - The Girl on the Train (18/6/16)
33. A classic from the 20th century - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (5/2/16)
34. A book from the library - The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien (4/3/16)
35. An autobiography - Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (ambiguous as to whether it's actually an autobiography) If not, I have plenty of ideas. (11/2/16)
36. A book about a road trip - The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto "Che" Guevara (9/4/16)
37. A book about a culture you're unfamiliar with - A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (Jamaican gang wars and reggae in the late 20th century) (16/1/16)
38. A satirical book - The Dog by Joseph O'Neill (24/3/16)
39. A book that takes place on an island - A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (20/4/16)
40. A book that's guaranteed to bring you joy - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (this year. it's going to happen) (26/6/16)

40/32

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

I'm not yet sure if I'm going to do the challenge or not (I might though), but I went and voted up/in books to the Recommended by 2015 Reading Challengers listopia. I do like the idea of semi-subtly influencing people's reading habits on a reasonably grand scale, mwahahaha. Will have to wait and see if it actually works, mind. ;)

1. The Hunger Games (13/5/16)
2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26/6/16)
3. The Night Circus (16/3/16)
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (4/5/16)
5. Divergent (19/4/16)
6. A Thousand Splendid Suns (28/1/16)
7. The Kite Runner (8/1/16)
8. The Color Purple (20/3/16)
9. Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore (4/3/16)
10. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (26/5/16)
11. American Gods (29/5/16)
12. The Cuckoo's Calling (31/7/16)
13. Silver Linings Playbook (24/2/16)
14. Joyland (18/7/16)
15. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (17/3/16)
16. Quiet (4/6/16)
17. Blindness (7/4/16)
18. Still Alice (26/1/16)
19. The Martian (5/1/16)
20. A Discovery of Witches (11/3/16)
21. All the Light We Cannot See (6/1/16)
22. The Golem and the Djinni (1/3/16)
23. The Nightingale (24/3/16)
24. 1Q84 (18/6/16)
25. Pride and Prejudice (4/7/16)
26. Middlesex (11/9/16)
27. Good Omens (16/8/16)
28. The Final Empire (6/10/16)
29. Angela's Ashes (11/2/16)
30. I Am Malala (15/3/16)
31. How to Be a Woman (26/6/16)
32. The Girl on the Train (18/6/16)
33. The Remains of the Day (8/5/16)
34. The Goldfinch (4/6/16)
35. Throne of Glass (3/9/16)
36. A Man Called Ove (30/10/16)
37. In the Woods (5/6/16)
38. Persepolis (15/4/16)
39. A Tale for the Time Being (20/4/16)
40. Kafka on the Shore (9/8/16)
41. Watchmen (22/2/16)
42. Red Rising (14/7/16)
43. Vicious (14/4/16)
44. So You Want to Be a Wizard (24/4/16)

44/25

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

CANDIDATES!

Jane Eyre
Perks of Being a Wildflower
Wool
Husband's Secret
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Great Expectations
Les Mis
Fall of Giants
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Beekeeper's Apprentice
The Eyre Affair
We Were Liars
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Kushiel's Dart
The Blade Itself
Poison Study
War and Peace
Half a King
Dissolution
The Rosie Project
The Good Father
A Little Princess
The Eye of the World
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Gardens of the Moon
Magician
The Invisible Library
The Winner's Curse
Old Man's War
What If?
How to Build a Girl
Remarkable Creatures

[Paul Emily]

A TO Z CHALLENGE -- CHARACTER EDITION
Duration: January 1, through December 31, 2016.

Playing off of our I-Spy “Book Title” edition, we are introducing the A to Z Challenge “Character Edition.” Read a book with a character to fit for each letter of the alphabet. You can use the first letters of character’s first or last name. You may only use one character per book, and you may use memoirs/biographies/autobiographies for this challenge.

Read a book for example, see below:

A: Anne Frank from The Diary of a Young Girl
B: Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind
C: Behemoth the Cat from The Master and Margarita
D: Dean Moriarty from On the Road
E: Jane Eyre from Jane Eyre
just in case
U: Unknown (narrator) from The War of the Worlds
and so on and so forth...

X: X. from The Dog (24/3/16)
Z: Zhenya (Yevgeni) from All That Is Solid Melts into Air (1/3/16)
Y: Yehudah Schaalman from The Golem and the Djinni (1/3/16)
Q: The Red Queen from Through the Looking Glass
K: Venkat Kapoor from The Martian (5/1/16)
J: Jack Pumpkinhead from The Marvelous Land of Oz (2/1/16)
V: Havelock Vetinari from Men at Arms (14/1/16)
U: Uncle Willie from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (5/2/16)
W: Werner Pfennig from All the Light We Cannot See (6/1/16)
O: Ozma from Ozma of Oz (9/1/16)
N: Nina Burgess from A Brief History of Seven Killings(16/1/16)
E: Elizabeth Grant from The Girl Who Would Be King (13/1/16)
I: Malcolm Irvine from A Little Life (25/1/16)
H: Hassan from The Kite Runner (8/1/16)
L: Chief/Inkosi Albert John Lutuli from Long Walk to Freedom (23/1/16)
D: Dan Moloney from Still Alice (26/1/16)
G: Glinda from the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (2/1/16)
F: Giuseppe Fazio from The Shape of Water (7/1/16)
B: Button-Bright from The Road to Oz (24/1/16)
T: The Tin Woodman from The Emerald City of Oz (29/1/16)
R: Rasheed from A Thousand Splendid Suns (28/1/16)
P: Peachy Carnehan from The Man Who Would Be King (16/1/16)
M: Mia Thermopolis from The Princess Diaries (31/1/16)
C: Nita Callahan from Games Wizards Play (5/2/16)
A: Angela McCourt from Angela's Ashes (11/2/16)
S: Seyton from Macbeth (13/2/16)

26/26

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

Generating a review form if ever I use it. Shamelessly borrowing from Cassandra yet again, with some of my own additions and edits in there (maybe?)

Number: Book title [with link] by Author
Finished when
Number of pages
Why I read it
Rating

What it means for my challenges? It's a possibility, but I'm not sure if I could go through with it. I might though! Probably not categories, I don't really know what I think of my shelves anymore and it's been way too long since I actively added something to them. The idea of overthrowing them and beginning again is fairly appealing though, even if that's something I'm never going to be finished if I do it. Other than that I'd say that's about it.

[Patricia]

Paul wrote: "I figure it makes sense to actually put down the books I read here. Plus it works as a de facto Let's Read Pages holding place if that challenge comes through as well. I'm thinking of going for 180..."

Good luck on your challenge! Hope you dont mind that i kind of cheated by just copying your numbers from 1-180 for my next years challenge!

[Paul Emily]

Patricia wrote: "Paul wrote: "I figure it makes sense to actually put down the books I read here. Plus it works as a de facto Let's Read Pages holding place if that challenge comes through as well. I'm thinking of ..."

Thank you Patricia! Best of luck to you as well. :) And no, that shouldn't be a problem. Use away!

[Paul Emily]

GROUP READS CHALLENGE
Duration: January 1 - March 31, 2016

For this challenge, we're going to read old group reads! This challenge was brought back at the suggestion of several members of the group.

1. Check out the list of all past group reads
2. Decide how many you'd like to read this quarter
3. Read!
4. Tell us what you thought of them in this thread.

1. The Martian (5/1/16)
2. All the Light We Cannot See (6/1/16)
3. The Silver Linings Playbook (24/2/16)
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns (28/1/16)
5. The Golem and the Jinni (1/3/16)
6. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore (4/3/16)
7. A Discovery of Witches (11/3/16)
8. The Night Circus (16/3/16)
9. I Am Malala (15/3/16)
10. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (17/3/16)
11. The Color Purple (20/3/16)
12. The Secret History (31/3/16)

12/10

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

February Challenge: Your Reading History! Re-read Your Favorites

With this month's theme being History, we thought a great monthly challenge would be for us to look at our own book histories.
Revisit books you've been meaning to re-read, whether they are old friends or comfort reads, books you've read too long ago to fully recall, or titles you want to revisit now that you're older or in a different place in life. Perhaps one of you want to read an earlier books in a series you need to reread to refresh your mind for the next installment.

To participate in this challenge, pick the number of books you would like to re-read, and let us know how many.
We can't wait for you to catch up with these old friends.

1. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (11/2/16)
2. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (13/2/16)
3. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (22/2/16)
4. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (16/2/16)

4/3

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

Extra Day, Extra Reading
Duration Feb. 22, 2016 to Feb. 29, 2016

This year we have a leap day, and we thought it would be fun to have an extra special mini-challenge to celebrate the extra day we have this year!
Many of our yearly challenges require a book you can finish in one day (Modern Mrs. Darcy Challenge), read a book under a 100 pages (Book Riot Read Harder Challenge), or a book that's under 150 pages (PopSugar Reading Challenge).

For this challenge, you are limited to just one book. We would like you to try and read the whole book in just one day! But you will actually have a week to finish this challenge because we understand that everyone has different reading speeds and not everyone will be able to complete the book on Feb. 29, 2016.
If you would like to participate, select the book you plan on reading and post it below. Then let us know when you finish. That's it!

We can't wait to see what you all chose to read!

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to be reading The Old Man and the Sea. EDIT: And so I did, reading it on the 29th of February. Challenge complete.

[Paul Emily]

AWARD WINNING BOOKS
Duration: April 1 - June 30, 2016

As book lovers, we want to be entertained, but we also appreciate great literature. For this challenge, choose books that have won one of the various book awards. This is a great opportunity to read a book you've been meaning to get to, or to try a new genre.

There are lots of awards to choose from, but here are a few to get you started:

Pulitzer Prize for journalism and literature
National Book Award for literature in the US
Man Booker Prize for literature in the UK
Hugo Award for fantasy and science fiction
Edgar Award for mystery
Bram Stoker Award for horror
Newbery Medal for children's fiction
Goodreads Choice Awards for various genres, chosen by users

You can also use this challenge to read a book from one of the many Nobel laureates in literature (Wikipedia link).

This challenge was adapted from Ayesegul's challenge idea. Thank you!

------------------------------------------------------------------

Put me down for 5 [Edit: 10] for the moment! I'll come back to this to figure out my list of candidates, but for now:

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki - Sunburst Award for Adult (2014), Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (2013), The Kitschies for Red Tentacle (Novel) (2013) (20/4/16)
Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick - Grand Canyon Reader Award for Grand Canyon Reader Award for Teen Book 1996 (0), Charlotte Award (1998), The Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature Honor (1994) (2/4/16)
Blindness by José Saramago - 1998 Nobel Laureate for Literature (7/4/16)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt - Exclusive Books Boeke Prize (1995), Ferro-Grumley Award for Gay Fiction (Non-Fiction) (1994), Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Mystery (1995) (22/4/16)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling - Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature (2008), British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year (1998), ... (26/6/16)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - 1997 Man Booker Prize (24/4/16)
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry - 1990 Newbery Medal (16/4/16)
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (26/4/16)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - Barry Award for Mystery/Crime Novel Of The Decade (2010), Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel (2009), ... (4/5/16)
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - Red House Children's Book Award for Older Readers & Overall (2008), Bolton Children's Book Award (2008) (7/5/16)
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - ALA Alex Award (2015)
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman - 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction (25/6/16)
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (1988), 1982 Nobel Laureate for Literature
The Windup Girl by Pablo Bacigalupi - 2010 Hugo and Nebula Award for Best Novel, 2010 Locus Award for Best First Novel (22/5/16)
Mary Poppins by E.L. Travers - 1965 Nene Award
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews - Governor General's Literary Awards / Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général for Fiction (2004), Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award for Fiction Book (2005), ...
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow - Locus Award for Best First Novel (2004)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - 2011 Locus Award for Best First Novel (2/6/16)
Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey - 2002 Locus Award for Best First Novel
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen - 2001 National Book Award for Fiction
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (?) - 2001 ALA Alex Award
The Owl Service by Alan Garner - 1967 Carnegie Medal
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu - 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Under the Hawthorn Tree by Marita Conlon McKenna - IRA Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Award for Older Reader Category (1991)
The Giver by Lois Lowry - 1994 Newbery Medal (10/4/16)
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari - 2015 Goodreads Choice Award for Nonfiction
Brooklyn by Colm Toibín - 2009 Costa Award for Best Novel (3/4/16)
Skellig by David Almond - 1998 Carnegie Medal
Red Rising by Pierce Brown - 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Debut Author
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - 2010 Goodreads Choice Award for Nonfiction (26/5/16)
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 1982 Nobel Laureate for Literature (16/5/16)
Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw by Mark Bowden - 2001 Cornelius Ryan Award
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - Nebula Award for Best Novel (2014), Shirley Jackson Award for Novel (2014)
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson - 1985 Whitbread Award for First Novel
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - Harvey Awards for Best US Edition of Foreign Material (2004), ALA Alex Award (2004) [for Persepolis 1: Story of a Childhood] (15/4/16)
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) - Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery / Thriller (2013)
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee - 1960 WH Smith Literary Award 1960
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain -
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (2012), National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (2012), The Center For Fiction First Novel Prize (2012)
Divergent by Veronica Roth - Evergreen Teen Book Award (2014), Children's Choice Book Award Nominee for Teen Choice Book of the Year (2012), Sakura Medal, DABWAHA Romance Tournament for Best Young Adult Romance (2012), Goodreads Choice Award for Favorite Book of 2011 and for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2011), Green Mountain Book Award (2013), The Magnolia Award for 6-8 (2014), Missouri Gateway Readers Award (2014), Oklahoma Sequoyah Award for High Schol (2014) (19/4/16)
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan - Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography (2016) (5/5/16)
The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell - Costa Book Award for Novel (2010) (26/4/16)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - 1962 Nobel Laureate for Literature (30/4/16)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - 1989 Man Booker Prize (8/5/16)
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt - Oregon Book Award for Fiction (2012), Governor General's Literary Awards / Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général for Fiction (2011), Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award for Fiction Book (2012), The Rooster - The Morning News Tournament of Books (2012), Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction (2012), Prix des libraires du Québec for Lauréats hors Québec (2013), Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize (2011) (10/5/16)
The Hunger Games - Georgia Peach Book Award (2009), Buxtehuder Bulle (2009), School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2008), Golden Duck Award for Hal Clement Award for Young Adult (2009), Books I Loved Best Yearly (BILBY) Awards for Older Readers (2012) ... (13/5/16)
Catching Fire - Golden Duck Award for Hal Clement Award for Young Adult (2010), Children's Choice Book Award for Teen Choice Book of the Year (2010), Indies Choice Book Award for Young Adult (2010), DABWAHA Romance Tournament for Best Young Adult (2010) ... (16/5/16)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - DABWAHA Romance Tournament for Best Young Adult Romance (2011), Goodreads Choice Award for Favorite Book, Young Adult Fantasy, Favorite Heroine, and Favorite Hero (2010) (19/5/16)
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle - 1993 Man Booker Prize (22/5/16)
We Need New Names - PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award (2014), Betty Trask Award (2014) (23/5/16)
The White Tiger - Man Booker Prize (2008) (25/5/16)
A Clockwork Orange - Prometheus Hall of Fame Award 2008 (27/5/16)
American Gods - Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel (2001), Hugo Award for Best Novel (2002), Nebula Award for Best Novel (2002), Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (2002)... (29/5/16)
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo - 2004 Newbery Medal (30/5/16)
Quiet by Susan Cain - 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for Nonfiction (4/6/16)
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (4/6/16)
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney - 2016 Women's Prize for Fiction (11/5/16)
In the Woods by Tana French - Barry Award for Best First Novel (2008), Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel (2008), Anthony Award for Best First Novel (2008), Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author (2008) (5/6/16)
The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award (RT Award) for Fantasy (2010) (6/6/16)
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami - Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction 2011 (18/6/16)
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery/Thriller 2015 (18/6/16)
How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran - Galaxy National Book Award for More4 popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year (2011) (26/6/16)
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis - Rocky Mountain Book Award (2003) (26/6/16)

44/30

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Sreemoyee Mukherjee]

Paul wrote: "AWARD WINNING BOOKS
Duration: April 1 - June 30, 2016

As book lovers, we want to be entertained, but we also appreciate great literature. For this challenge, choose books that have won one of the ..."

I am just starting on goodreads, but this challenge seems pretty cool.
I will be doing that, so yay.
All the best for your progress!

[Paul Emily]

Sreemoyee Mukherjee wrote: "Paul wrote: "AWARD WINNING BOOKS
Duration: April 1 - June 30, 2016

As book lovers, we want to be entertained, but we also appreciate great literature. For this challenge, choose books that have wo..."

Thank you Sreemoyee! I hope your challenges go well for you too. :) This isn't my challenge though (which you might know already, but regardless), it's one of the official challenges of the Reading Challenge group. I like it though; you can use a lot of books for it, even if it's kinda skewed towards books that came out recently. :)

[Paul Emily]

The Bard Mini-Challenge
Duration April 23, 2016 - April 30, 2016

Historians believe that William Shakespeare was born on April 23, in 1564 and died on the same day in 1616. To commemorate the 400th anniversary of his death, we would like to have mini-challenge dedicated to Shakespeare's plays.

For this challenge, you will select the play or plays you would like to read during the week and post them below. At the end of the week, we ask you to let us know how things went. We are looking forward to seeing what you all decide to read, and I will be updating as we go along.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to be reading A Midsummer Night's Dream. :) (And so I did! I finished it 29th April. :))

[Paul Emily]

This next challenge is pretty basic, it's more or less housekeeping like a few I have up above already. Basically, I don't listen to audiobooks that much, though I'd like to. As it happens there was a Kindle Whispersync sale recently, so not only did I pick up a bunch of new books, I also got their audiobook versions too, and that's how I want to read them. I'm not setting a goal for this, I'd just like to read as many as I can this year. :)

1. A Briefer History of Time (5/7/16)
2. Skippy Dies
3. A Clockwork Orange (27/5/16)
4. Love, Nina
5. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (4/6/16)
6. Nora Webster
7. Trainspotting
8. How to Be a Woman (26/6/16)

[Paul Emily]

Marathon May Style:

Duration: May 1 - May 31, 2016

Want to continue with your spring cleaning? How about another opportunity to clear more of those shelves? How many of us would really like less books to dust (or would just like to dust off some books that have been sitting there way too long) ? So as requested, we are bringing along another marathon challenge.

Here’s how it works: How many of us want to read that super long Penguin Classic that has been sitting on our book shelf, or spend long rainy days on the couch with a pile of graphic novels? Let's spend some of this spring with a marathon of reading!

With national holidays and longer days coming, pick a pile of books you feel you could read while the sun is still up. A nice long over 500 page book, a group of books under 100 pages, that book that has been on your TBR waiting to be read all day, or anything else you choose. Just give yourself over to reading!

This is not a sprint, but a way to spend May in the pages! Pick the number of pages or books you would like to read in May and post them below. The goal is to get those shelves cleaned up fast! Who would have thought cleaning could be so fun, and that you could do a marathon in the pages of a book?

6000 pages and 20 books --- Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - 538p
2. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan - 464p
3. Beauty by Robin McKinley - 272p
4. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - 410p
5. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - 258p
6. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt - 328p
7. The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney - 384p
8. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - 304p
9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - 454p
10. The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall - 340p
11. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - 472p
12. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez - 428p
13. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - 455p
14. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey - 370p
15. Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel - 112p
16. Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T. Davies and Ben Cook - 704p
17. Hold That Thought, Milton! by Linda Ravin Lodding - 19p
18. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle - 282p
19. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - 374p
20. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo - 290p
21. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - 321p
22. You, Me, and the Big Blue Sea by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick - 32p
23. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - 393p
24. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - 148p
25. Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson - 87p
26. American Gods by Neil Gaiman - 504p
27. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo - 270p

27/20

9,013/6,000

[Paul Emily]

Celebrate Goodreads: The Soundtrack
Duration: May 1 - May 31, 2016

May's theme is celebrations, and no celebration is complete without a soundtrack to go with it. For this challenge we would like you to create your own book soundtrack. Choose the songs and the books that match them in some way. This is open ended so you can be creative.

Here are some examples of ways to match songs and books:
- Title
- Theme
- Feeling/tone
- Songs from the book's movie soundtrack

Set a goal for how many matches you would like to make and then let us know the connection between the book and the song. What book soundtrack will you celebrate with?

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

1. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan - "Surf's Up" by the Beach Boys (needs no explanation) (5/5/16)
2. Beauty by Robin McKinley - "Beauty and the Beast" by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson (retelling of the fairytale) (7/5/16)
3. Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies and Ben Cook - "Doctorin the Tardis" by the Timelords (*sings "Doctorin the Tardis" incessantly*) (20/5/16)
4. The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall - "Write it on Your Skin" by Newton Faulkner (the book is about a tattoo artist) (15/5/16)
5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey - "A Change Would Do You Good" by Sheryl Crow (It's all about change apparently) (19/5/16)
6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - "Immigrant Song" by Karen O with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (plays during the title sequence of the Fincher adaptation) (4/5/16)
7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - "Abraham's Daughter" by Arcade Fire (plays over the closing credits of the film) (13/5/16)
8. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - "Atlas" by Coldplay (appears on the soundtrack) (16/5/16)
9. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez - "Progress" by Francisco the Man (Francisco is a character in the book, and I think the title's pretty nicely ironic. :)) (16/5/16)
10. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - "Yellow Flicker Beat" by Lorde (features in Mockingjay Part 1) (19/5/16)
11. Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel - "Isle of Capri" by Gracie Fields (sung at various points during the play) (20/5/16)
12. You, Me, and the Big Blue Sea by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick - "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) by Enya (they're both about water voyages even if that's the only thing they really have in common) (26/5/16)

12/8

[Paul Emily]

Special 10,000 Challenge
Duration: May 1 - June 30, 2016

Our group has hit 10,000 members! And to celebrate this achievement we have this special challenge as part of our celebration:

1. Home, 10,000 members...read a book that has more than 10,000 ratings on Goodreads. - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (4/5/16)

2. Math: 100 x 100 = 10,000. So for this one, read a book that has 100 in the title or has 100 or so pages. - One Hundred Years of Solitude (16/5/16)

3. Some more Math: A myriagon is a polygon with 10,000 sides. Sci-fi and fantasy novels often also have a lot of sides. So for this one, read a book that falls into the science fiction or fantasy genres. - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (fantasy - I'm also picking it for certain reasons ;)) (2/6/16)

4. U.S. History: Salmon P. Chase was the face of the $10,000 greenback, and he was the Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln. So for this one, read a fictional or non-fictional book about U.S. history before 1900. The Sisters Brothers (10/5/16)

5. World Geography: There is no €10,000 note, but if there was, it would have some beautiful European architecture on it. So for this one, read a book that takes place in Europe or is about an amazing piece of architecture. - The Glorious Heresies (set in Ireland) (11/5/16)

6. Psychology: It is assumed that each neuron in the human brain is connected to 10,000 others. Read a book about human behavior or a book about someone’s mental health - Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (4/6/16)

7. Biology: There are about 10,000 species of birds. Read a book with bird (or a type of bird) in the title or a book with a bird on the cover. - Mockingjay (19/5/16)

8. Language Arts: Imagine you could read 10,000 books. That was your job. You could read whatever you wanted, where would you start? Read the book you would start with if you could have the job of reading 10,000 books. - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (I bought it a year and a half ago and still haven't read it, it's also nonfiction which I want to read more of in general.) (26/5/16)

9. Technology: It is believed that storytelling is a 10,000 year old technology dating back to our earliest civilizations. Read a book that is based on a myth or about a culture before the common era. - American Gods (29/5/16)

10. Extra Curricular: It takes approximately 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. Read a book, fiction or nonfiction, that has to do with the activity you would love to become an expert at. Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter (writer/project manager/communicator) (20/5/16)

10/10

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES
Duration: June 1 - June 30, 2016

Recent studies are proving what us readers have known for a long time - reading helps us to build empathy for people who are different than us. To paraphrase Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, you never really know a person until you step into their shoes and walk around for a bit, and reading allows us to do that.

For this challenge, read books about people from different backgrounds than you, including race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or others.

Set a goal for how many books to read and step into someone else's shoes.

* 1. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - Yeine is a woman of colour (2/6/16)
* 2. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett - Granny, Nanny, and Agnes are women (16/6/16)
* 3. Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane - Nita's a girl and Kit identifies as Hispanic (I'm white) (18/6/16)
* 4. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - Cain largely writes the book from first person and could easily be taken to be its protagonist, though she's not the only protagonist, this isn't that kind of book, and she is an introvert like me (4/6/16)
* 5. The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - Oree is a blind woman of colour (6/6/16)
* 6. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - Theo starts out the book with an absent father (4/6/16)
* 7. 1Q84: Book One and Book Two by Haruki Murakami - Tengo and Aomame are Japanese and living in Japan (12/6/16)
* 8. 1Q84: Book Three by Haruki Murakami - Tengo, Aomame, and Ushikawa are Japanese and living in Japan (18/6/16)
* 9. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - Rachel is an alcoholic, divorced Englishwoman (18/6/16)
* 10. The Awakened Kingdom by N.K. Jemisin - Shill is a girl (17/6/16)
* 11. In the Woods by Tana French - Detective Ryan's two best friends went missing when he was 12 (5/6/16)
* 12. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling - Harry is an orphan who lives with his aunt and uncle (and cousin) (26/6/16)
* 13. How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran - Moran is a British woman (26/6/16)
* 14. The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis - Parvana is an Afghani girl (26/6/16)

14/5

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

It Was a Nominee
Duration October 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016

Ever wonder what happens to our nominees that don't make it to our group reads? Well, we save them and make a quarterly challenge out of them! For this challenge you will pick the number of books you would like to read from this years group nominees (we will add November and December's when we have them), and let us know. The list will be available in message 2 of this thread.

1. The Girl With Seven Names (14/10/16)
2. Infidel (19/10/16)
3. Alexander Hamilton (28/10/16)
4. The Grace of Kings (10/12/16)
5. Persuasion (31/10/16)
6. The BFG (2/10/16)
7. A Man Called Ove (30/10/16)

7/7

Comment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

Race to the Finish
Duration October 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016

With the end of the year approaching, how close are you to completing you reading goal? Will a few short reads get you over the top, or do you have a long way to go? How many yearly challenges do you still have to complete?

For this challenge take a look at all of the goals you set for this year and decide what you can complete for 2016. Let us know what challenges you would like to complete and how many books you will need to complete each one.

Just know, what ever the outcome, the Moderators of the 2016 Reading Challenge are proud of you and love having you in our group! We can't wait for all the fun 2017 is going to bring.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Challenge is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Paul Emily]

ADVENT CALENDAR CHALLENGE
Duration: December 1 - December 31, 2016

Many countries around the world use advent calendars or Christmas calendars to celebrate the month of December. For some people, the calendar has religious significance, but for others it's a secular, non-religious tradition.

For this challenge, there are two options:

A) Starting on Dec. 1 and ending on Dec. 24, read a short story (or a poem!) every day. Use stories or poems from collections, magazines, or the internet - there's lot of good short fiction available for free from many publishers.

B) Starting on Dec. 1: Split a novel into 24 chunks and portion your reading so that you read the last chunk on Dec. 24. (Ideally the novel has 24 chapters to start with! But as long as you can manage to count out even-sized* chunks, it'll work.)

* Most calendars provide a bigger treat for Dec 24.

Any novel or bunch of stories will work - but seasonal themes like winter, kindness, family, friendship, gift-giving, etc. will definitely work well with the whole spirit of the season.

If you'd rather keep reading past the 24th, you're welcome to try for the whole month!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not putting this in the main thread because it's not really a book that exists, but I want to read The How Lovely Are Thy Branches Advent Calendar from December 1 to December 25. It means I'll probably have to read Interim Errantry again in the next few days, but that's OK. :)

EDIT: I did it! I don't know how worth it it was, but I did it. :)