Collegedale Public Library discussion
2017 Reading Challenge
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2017 Reading Challenge!
Can we do them in any order as long as we just do 1 per list per month?
The 2017 reading challenge will offer participants the option of reading one or two books each month chosen from either of the two challenge lists. You may choose either one book from one list or one book from each list per month, but may not choose both from the same list nor read ahead. Of course, you may read as many books as you like in any given month (we encourage that!), but they cannot be counted for challenge purposes. Happy reading!
I have compiled a list of Southern authors & books set in the South on my Pinterest account. If anyone is interested, here is the link:https://www.pinterest.com/kellygreenh...
I think we need a list of highly rated books on goodreads. 4.5 and higher isn't that easy to find
Thanks for the link, Kelly. I've surprisingly read a decent number of those. Good to see what else is out there though.
Ok. Here is a link for books rated 4.5 or higher on Goodreads. Happy reading!https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
KELLY wrote: "Ok. Here is a link for books rated 4.5 or higher on Goodreads. Happy reading!https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1..."
Oh my. This list definitely confirms my belief that Goodread ratings are rubbish. Calvin and Hobbs has a higher rating than To Kill a Mockingbird
Unreliable narrator:Room, finished 1/19Try to get a Southern selection done, since I suggested we have that focus this year.
January will be battle of lookout mountain by Gilbert Morris (a8) and 1,000 chestnut trees (b2).
January: Haunted Is Always In Fashion (Southern mystery) & The Siren by Kiera Cass (first in a series)
Southern Mystery: Splintered Bones by Carolyn Haines Completed 1/16/17 Unreliable Narrator: Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry. Completed 1/1/17
A Book Set in the South: The Summer's End by Mary Alice Monroe (set in the Lowcountry) Completed 2/21/17
A book with a character that is a different ethnicity than you: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult (audio) Completed 2/23/17
A book set in Tennessee: No One Knows by J.T. Ellison Completed 3/16/17
Book with a main character in my decade- Black Rose by Nora Roberts Completed 3/13/17
A Contemporary Southern Book:Silver Sparrow
by Tayari Jones (Big Read for Chattanooga) Completed 4/7/17
Edgar Award winning book: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger Completed 4/12/17
A book by a female Southern author: Same Beach, Next Year by Dorothea Benton Frank Completed 5/23/17
A book with a rating of 4.5 stars or more on Goodreads: Hope Heals: A True Story of Overwhelming Loss and an Overcoming Love by Katherine Wolf (had 4.45 stars) Completed 5/13/17
A book set during the Civil Rights Movement: The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis Completed 6/19/17
A book that has been on my to read list for over a year: The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith Completed 6/22/17
A book by a male Southern author: Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin. Completed 7/27/17 This is one of my current favorite Southern male authors.
A novel set in wartime: Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz. Completed 7/11/17 This is one of the only Revolutionary War books that I have read. There are not that many books centered around that war for some reason.
A book set during the civil rights movement in the South: The Quiet Game by Greg Iles (August) Completed 8/8/17
A book that's been mentioned in another book: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. (August) This book was mentioned in The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. I also love Lahiri's book, The Namesake. Completed 8/24/17
First book in a series: The Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton. Completed 9/24/17
A Nonfiction book written by a Southern author: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Completed 9/26/17
A "second chance" book by an author you've sworn off: The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty. Completed 10/21/17
A book set during the Civil War in the South: Leigh Ann's Civil War by Ann Rinaldi. Completed by 10/31/17
An audiobook: Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Completed 11/20/17
A Southern Classic: A Painted House by John Grisham. Completed 11/25/17
A book adapted into a 2017 movie: Wonder by RJ Palacio. Completed 12/13/17.
A Southern Gothic Novel: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Way to get a jump on the list, Kelly. January 1st. Lol
I stayed in my pj's all day and read. What can I say! :)
The Undoing of Saint Silvanus is set in Mississippi and is the first fiction novel by Beth Moore.The Cold Dish is the first book in the Longmire mystery series.
I love the Longmire series. My hubby reads them aloud to me from time to time.
I'm going to second Gina's Beth Moore selection, The Undoing of Saint Silvanus, but use it as either my 'book set in the south' or 'book by a southern female author.' Since I don't have all my selections for the year locked in, I may have to shuffle what they qualify for. But I promise not to use one for two categories.
Nikki wrote: "I'm going to second Gina's Beth Moore selection, The Undoing of Saint Silvanus, but use it as either my 'book set in the south' or 'book by a southern female author.' Since I don't have all my sele..."I'm locking mine in as they happen, and even then it may not stay true until the month is actually over.
Book w main character my age/decade-Before the Fall by Noah Hawley. (This part of my last comment was cut off for some reason).
Mod
Book with a rating of 4.5 stars or higher on Goodreads: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (FINALLY finished this series after 17 years or so, though I was hung up on the first book for most of that time.)
Series ranking:
1. Prisoner of Azkaban (Sirius Black is my boy.)
2. Half-Blood Prince (Mostly for the Voldemort backstory.)
3. Goblet of Fire (First "dark" book in the series, though a little too long.)
4. Deathly Hallows (Satisfying ending to the series, especially Snape's arc. The forest sections were a bit draggy.)
5. Order of the Phoenix (Too long and Harry is annoyingly whiny. Plus, Dolores Umbridge is just so unpleasant.)
6. Chamber of Secrets (The first two are pretty mediocre, but this was slightly more engaging than the first.)
7. Sorcerer's Stone (Too episodic and lacking the intrigue of the later books.)
Monkey Paul wrote: "Contemporary Southern book: The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin' Dixie Outta the Dark (Funny cultural overview of the South, and highly informative! Its footnote description of J..."I agree with your number 1.
January
List A: Junvenile book set in the south Glint by J.D. Harper
List B. First book in a series Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
February
List A: A nonfiction book by a southern author March: Book One by John Lewis
List B: A book that's been on your "to read" list for over a year When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
January1. A juvenile book set in the South--
Autumn Winifred Oliver does things differently by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb
2. An Edgar Award winning book --
Old Bones by Aaron Elkins
Mod
Sara wrote: "January will be battle of lookout mountain by Gilbert Morris (a8) and 1,000 chestnut trees (b2)."Came down to the wire but done.
For February: the borrowers (b12) and abandoned in collegedale (a9).
Would love to hear how everyone is selecting their books for these lists. Are you plotting each one out? There were 4 topics on each list that I knew would require some research for me to figure out one I'd want to read. I made a list in Notes app of 1-2 options per topic. Not sure which month will be what though. How planned out are y'all being?
Nikki wrote: "Would love to hear how everyone is selecting their books for these lists. Are you plotting each one out? There were 4 topics on each list that I knew would require some research for me to figure ou..."Typically, I just chose a book I feel like reading and see what category it fits. (I expect that'll get harder as I start running out of categories.) I also surveyed the books I own but haven't read yet at the beginning to see what would qualify where and chose one.
Mod
Paul wrote: "Would LBJ's presidential memoirs be acceptable as a book set during the Civil Rights movement?"There isn't such a category.
Lots of Civil Rights movement activities happened in the South, so I'm ok if we change that option to either Civil War or Civil Rights.
Mod
Ah yes--I see that on the printed handout versus Kelly's list above. Good to note.
Paul wrote: "Looks like it was misprinted in the first post with two Civil War categories. One category is Civil War and the other civil rights."So which is which because one is just during the time frame (so could be north, south, or other) while the other has to be in the south?
For January I did: Haunted Is Always in Fashion (Southern mystery). Great premise, rather doofy execution. Fails to capitalize on ghosts helping to solve mysteries. Rather sub-mental mystery plotting.Also I read The Wind in the Willows (been on my to-read list). Absolutely loved it. Strange, humanizing, funny, beautiful.
I'm not a huge history buff, but the Civil War had battles in the north, and civil rights activism took place in multiple states. It's not location specific, so as long as the book selection contains that topic as one of its themes I think you're good.
Mod
Book Set in Tennessee: Coup: The Day the Democrats Ousted Their Governor, Put Republican Lamar Alexander in Office Early, and Stopped a Pardon Scandal (Working on this one. Tennessee has a rich history of corrupt, redneck governors, so this should be a good read.)
Re civil war & civil rights-the printed list shows both selections are set in the south, Sarah.
Nikki, I'm just fitting in things I already want or plan to read at this point, since it's early. I have other ideas but won't plot out fully because it makes my reading feel like work :) We'll see how I come out by the end of the year ...
And if it hasn't been fully answered, the entirety of List A should be southern literature in the various ways listed (southern authors, settings, etc). I was with Barbara in voting for this year's focus to be Southerner Lit, so I'm trying to focus on that even though it's the more specific and a bit harder list (for me).
Book set during civil rights-Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline WoodsonBook rated 4.5 or higher (pbly should be changed to 4.0+ b/c the list of highest rates are mostly sci fi or manga or graphic novel-not much of quality) - Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (coming in at 4.57-BAM)
February: list A3 A book by a female Southern author--"Sullivan's Island" by Dorothea Benton FrankList B2: A book in which the main character is a different race or ethnicity..."Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See
Sara wrote: "For February: the borrowers (b12) and abandoned in collegedale (a9)."Done.
Mod
For March, I think I'll go with:
SOUTHERN GOTHIC: Smonk (From what I've gathered, it looks to ape Cormack McCarthy, except with even more depraved characters.)
UNRELIABLE NARRATOR: Room (Ha ha. What a story!)
February has passed but I managed to finish one for the challenge. Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry a YA that includes a story of the Civil Rights Movement at Mississippi State University.
A6 for March: secret of rebel cave. Haven't decided on the b yet.
March: List A10--A Southern mystery---"Double Whammy"" by Gretchen Archer and List B9--A book mentioned in another book--"Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Chrustie
Sara wrote: "A6 for March: secret of rebel cave. Haven't decided on the b yet."B1 - a scanner darkly.
Collegedale Public Library
Books mentioned in this topic
Sing, Unburied, Sing (other topics)Wonder (other topics)
Life of Pi (other topics)
A Painted House (other topics)
The Hypnotist's Love Story (other topics)
More...
List A: Southern Literature
1. A book set in the South
2. A book set during the Civil War in the South
3. A book by a female Southern author
4. A book by a male Southern author
5. A Southern classic
6. A juvenile book set in the South
7. A Southern gothic novel
8. A book set during the Civil Rights movement in the South
9. A book set in Tennessee
10. A Southern mystery
11. A contemporary Southern book
12. A nonfiction book written by a Southern author
List B: General Literature
1. A book with an unreliable narrator
2. A book in which the main character is a different race/ethnicity than you.
3. A book with a rating of 4.5 stars or higher on Goodreads
4. An Edgar Award winning book
5. A novel set in wartime
6. An audiobook
7. A book that's been on your "to be read" list for over a year
8. A "second chance" book by an author you've sworn off
9. A book that's been mentioned in another book
10. A book with a main character who is the same age/decade as you (i.e. you are in your 30's and the character is in his/her 30's)
11. A book adapted into a 2017 movie
12. The first book in a series
Everyone, please update your monthly challenge in the same comment.