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Yearly Challenges
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2018 Group Challenge: Read the Name
I will join in. In memory of Sue Grafton, I will choose her name. I will try and have mystery books, crime novels, and the like to fill it in, taking the easy method probably.S - Whose Body? by Dorothy L Sayers
U - In the Blood by Lisa Unger
E - Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich
G - The Distance by Helen Giltrow and Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton herself
R - Reunion in Death by J D Robb
A - Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
F - Proof by Dick Francis
T - Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson
O - Bone by Bone by Carol O'Connell
N - Nemesis by Jo Nesbo
Leslie wrote: "Here is my spot! I have decided to use the author of the Vorkosigan books, a sci fi series I am thinking of revisiting - Lois McMaster Bujold. A nice long name & good selection of le..."Wow you are fast! It's barely mid January and you're half done! You'll be finished in no time. I, on the other hand, keep picking books that don't coincide with my letters. Lol! I think I better pick my tentative books to keep me on track. :)
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I've finished it; now I'll pick unother writer, Victorian, without saying!!!!
J Mordecai Richler Joshua allora e oggi Read ***
A Laurei Lee As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning Read ***
N Pascal Ruter La nuova vita di nonno Napoléon Read ***
E John Connoly Every Dead Thing Read ***
A Edmondo De Amicis Amore e ginnastica Read ***
U Amor Towles Un gentiluomo a Mosca Read ***
S Richard Morris Se una notte d'inverno un gatto...: la storia di Toby Jug, un felino molto speciale Read ***
T Nathaniel Hawthorne Twice-Told Tales Read ***
E Miss Read Emily Davis Read ****
N Erri De Luca La Natura Esposta Read ****
Updated Msg 22 with my first read for the challenge: The Year of the Flood, the Y of my FAY WELDON. :-) I loved it. Can't wait to read #3 in the series! My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Tweedledum wrote: "Here's my "read the name" challenge books for 2018. I decided these all had to be physical books so I could make a shelf of them. A - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthon..."</i>
[book:The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium sounds fascinating. I’m going to track down a copy.
Joan wrote: "I'm concentrating on Thomas Hardy in 2018T = A Thousand Splendid Suns
H= Crossing the Threshold of Hope
O=Jude the Obscure
M=[book:The Ma..."
I have just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns. It was very moving and sad. Excellently written with plenty of empathy and hope.
The God of Small Things is a favourite of mine for a long time...I am due a reread.
Hope you ( I won't use the word enjoy...) feel moved by them. :)
I will be happy to take part in this interesting challenge and have chosen as my favourite author, Linwood Barclay
:L - Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
I - In the Place of Fallen Leaves by Tim Pears - FINISHED - 3 stars - 7/10
N - Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn - FINISHED - 4 stars - 9/10
W - Where My Heart Used to Beat by Sebastian Faulks - FINISHED - 4 stars - 8.5/10
O - Our Little Secret by Darren O'Sullivan
O - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez - FINISHED - 3 stars - 6/10
D - DEADLY LIES by Chris Collett - FINISHED - 4 stars - 9/10
B - Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes - FINISHED - 4 stars - 8/10
A - Abide with Me by Elizabeth Strout - FINISHED - 4 stars - 8.5/10
R - Red Leaves by Paullina Simons
C - Cinderella Girl: Hammarby Book 2 by Carin Gerhardsen - FINISHED - 4 stars - 9/10
L - The Lake House by Kate Morton
A - After She's Gone by Maggie James - FINISHED - 3 stars - 6/10
Y - You Come When I Call You by Douglas Clegg
Ruth wrote: "Joan wrote: "I'm concentrating on Thomas Hardy in 2018T = A Thousand Splendid Suns
H= Crossing the Threshold of Hope
O=Jude the Obscure
M..."
They have been on my list to read for quite awhile. This challenge is just what I needed to get the job done.
Tweedledum wrote: "Here's my "read the name" challenge books for 2018. I decided these all had to be physical books so I could make a shelf of them. A - All the Light We Cannot See by [author:Anthon..."
Finished the first book in my challenge Life, Interrupted. James McConnell's autobiography about living with Tourette's. This book has done more for me than any number of textbooks in helping me understand what life must be like living with this unrelenting condition. McConnell is also a pianist and composer, undiagnosed until well into his 30's. Playing the piano is the one thing that gives him relief. Here is my review https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Updated Msg 22. My second book for this challenge is my favorite book so far this year! The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor is exceptional. Heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. I had no idea it was this good, and am so glad I read it. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I have updated message 50. 2 more difficult ones to go...
Claire wrote: "I have updated message 50. 2 more difficult ones to go..."You're doing really well Claire and it's only February. Will be able to add a few more names at this rate :)
Finished my first of this challenge - DEADLY LIES by Chris Collett - 4 star (9/10)My review is located here:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Veronica ⭐️ wrote: "Claire wrote: "I have updated message 50. 2 more difficult ones to go..."You're doing really well Claire and it's only February. Will be able to add a few more names at this rate :)"
Thank you! Allready thinking of another favourite author:-)
Claire wrote: "I have updated message 50. 2 more difficult ones to go..."You're really doing great on the challenge, Claire! Only 3 books to go.
Claire wrote: "Veronica ⭐️ wrote: "Claire wrote: "I have updated message 50. 2 more difficult ones to go..."You're doing really well Claire and it's only February. Will be able to add a few more names at this r..."
Congrats on your progress Claire! Who do you think you will do next?
Updated message 46. Completed 3 for my challenge. : All the Light We Cannot See
Life, Interrupted and
Trigger Mortis
Horowitz was given access to Flemings papers to write this and develops a very exciting passage Fleming left involving motor racing. I loved the cameo reprise for Pussy Galore and the fact that this book is set immediately after Goldfinger. I wasn't too convinced at first Horowitz' Bond seems a little too polite, politically correct even, and reflective but a cracking story for all that.
Goldfinger was my first foray into Bond finding a copy lying around on a bookshelf at home when I was 14. Eschewing my mother's attempts to persuade me to read Mansfirled Park, I can still recall the thrill of the opening chapters. My big brother was not amused and complained to mum and dad that I should not be allowed to read such stuff.... My dad's response I seem to recall was to take me to see " From Russia with Love " which must have premiered soon after. I was well and truly hooked and quickly devoured the rest of the canon courtesy of the local library.
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E Elisabeth von Arnim The Enchanted April Read
L Laura Ingals Wilder Little Town on the Prairie Read
I Will Wiles Istruzioni per la manutenzione del parquet Read
S Howard Fast Second Generation Read
A Rohinton Mistry A Fine Balance Read
B Colm Tóibín Brooklyn Read
E Joyce Carol Oates Expensive People Read
T Richard Ford Tra loro Read
H
C William Trevor Cheating at Canasta Read
L Stefan Zweig Lettera di una sconosciuta e altri racconti Read
E
G Mauriozio de GIovanni Gelo per i bastardi di Pizzofalcone Read
H Laura Ingalls Wilder, These Happy Golden Years Read
O Jack Kerouac On the Road Read
R Grace Metalious Return to Peyton Place
E
G Louise Penny Glass Houses Read
A Laurei Lee A Moment Of War Read
S Jo Nesbo Sangue e neve Read
K Isaac Singer Keyla la Rossa Read
E
L Jessica Fellowes L'assassinio di Florence Nightingale Shore Read
L Edith Wharton The Long Run Read
I'm going to begin with James PattersonJ: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption 3/30/18
A: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things 2/15/18
M: Memoirs of a Geisha 3/21/18
E: Everneath 3/23/18
S: Still Life 3/22/18
P: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption 4/1/18
A: American Assassin 2/15/18
T: Turtles All the Way Down 3/7/18
T: Truth & Beauty: A Friendship 3/25/18
E: Emily of New Moon 2/13/18
R: Renegades 4/8/18
S: Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America 1/22/18
O: Open Season 3/25/18
N: NYPD Red 1/26/18
I have finished mine (see post 34 for the list)! I am thinking over what name to do next... maybe William Makepeace Thackeray.
I'm jumping in kind of late in 2018, but here goes:C
H - The Healing Quilt, 04/04/18
A
R
L
E
S - She Left Me the Gun: My Mother's Life Before Me, 01/21/18
D - Digging In, 3/17/18
I
C
K
E
N
S
Finished Cinderella Girl by Carin Gerhardsen
This is my fifth of a target of 14 - great read - my review is here:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
So here's my spot for William Makepeace Thackeray, author of Vanity Fair and Barry Lyndon among others.Progress: 25/25 finished -- Done!
W = White Teeth (4/12)
I = Information Received (6/6)
L = Look to the Lady (5/14)
L = Lords And Ladies (5/18)
I = Interesting Times (6/7)
A = April's Lady (4/29)
M = Miss Buncle Married (4/21)
M = Murder on the Blackboard (5/1)
A = And Be a Villain (4/29)
K = Killer's Choice (5/19)
E = The Enchanted April (4/20)
P = The Passion of the Purple Plumeria (6/30)
E = Emma (6/16)
A = Augustus Carp, Esq. By Himself Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man (5/5)
C = Curiosity Thrilled the Cat (4/13)
E = Elusive (9/15)
T = A Town Like Alice (4/17)
H = He Dies and Makes no Sign (4/18)
A = Alliance of Equals (5/30)
C = Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red (4/22)
K = Kindred (6/16)
E = *England, their England (9/17)
R = Rebuttal (5/30)
A = Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (6/17)
Y = Young Men in Spats (4/26)
Hi I have just updated message 46 having just finished Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder... A book which shot up my to read list in the light of recent events in Salisbury. It was bizarre to find myself reading about Browder's concerns about the death of Perepilichnyy in 2010 when his and the pleas of others fell on deaf ears ... and then, checking the story on the Internet, to read the British police have literally just re-opened the case in the light of the Skirpal case. Browder himself, incidentally, has just been interviewed by the French authorities for about Perepilichnyy and the likelihood of him having been assassinated . ( It seems there may have been an attempted poisoning in France 2 days before Perepilichnyy dropped dead here . Or perhaps this was the real poisoning but it took fatal effect a few days later. )
The middle of the fourth month and I have just read my first book for this challenge Jaz, Tall Men, & Mayhem. Good job I didn't chose a long name!
Updated message 46 having just finished Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore. See my review here : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Updated Msg 22. The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story by Edwidge Danticat. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...These have been great so far. Fay Weldon would be pleased. :-)
I have updated post #75 with my books from April. Lots of vowels to go...
I would like some help with ideas! I have chosen Sue Grafton in her memory and I am trying to find PI, crime, murder, etc books to fill in her name. Something I have decided to do is have the author's last name fill in a letter spot on Grafton's name. I am having trouble finding an author for the letters E, O, U, and T. The other letters I have authors (Dorothy L Sayers, Helen Giltrow, J D Robb, Ben Aaronovitch, Joanne Fluke, Jo Nesbo) I just haven't read them yet. Slow to read this year. Way behind schedule. See post 52.
Theresa wrote: "I would like some help with ideas! I have chosen Sue Grafton in her memory and I am trying to find PI, crime, murder, etc books to fill in her name. Something I have decided to do is have the autho..."A few ideas from my TBR.
Can You Keep a Secret? by Caroline Overington
If She Did It by Jessica Treadway
Ghost Girl by Lesley Thomson
Lisa Unger books.
Veronica ⭐️ wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I would like some help with ideas! I have chosen Sue Grafton in her memory and I am trying to find PI, crime, murder, etc books to fill in her name. Something I have decided to do i..."Thank you! I will check them out.
I have updated my progress in post #75 -- 6 letters to go now!
Veronica ⭐️ wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I would like some help with ideas! I have chosen Sue Grafton in her memory and I am trying to find PI, crime, murder, etc books to fill in her name. Something I have decided to do i..."
Sorry about that above. How about using a few of Sue Grafton's book titles for her name. For some reason I never read them in order . I am doing that for Agatha Christie.
Updated Msg 22. Finished Future Home of the Living God, the "F" in my Fay Weldon. Four solid stars--what a page-turner! My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Look at number 40. I finished by first name Agatha Christie
Rhonda wrote: "Sorry about that above. How about using a few of Sue Grafton's book titles for her name. For some reason I never read them in order . I am doing that for Agatha Christie."Great idea, but I read them all but Y. Put that one in as a G.
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Updated Msg 22 with my Fay Weldon "E" read: The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks by Gwendolyn Brooks. A bit depressing because I had a hard time understanding much of her poetry. I need a class for this one--she's quite erudite. I found a poem to adore though, and linked to it in my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Wow. Me again. Updated Msg 22. Read my Fay Weldon "N" book, Nightwood by Djuna Barnes. Quite an experience! My somewhat confused review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I haven't been updating this thread recently but I am still working on my challenge. I need two books starting with E and I will be done with William Makepeace Thackeray!
updated message 32, I have 1 book left to read
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J:
A: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
C:
Q:
U:
E:
L: Living and Dying on the Internet by Alex Day
I:
N:
E:
W:
I:
L: Lancaster and York: The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir
S: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
O: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
N:
My second name challenge: a long-time favorite character of mine (The Silmarillion)completed 11/10/2018
M Manfred 10/7/2018
A The Accursed 9/28/2018
E Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil 11/10/2018
D Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency 9/22/2018
H The House of the Wolfings 9/9/2018
R The Red Tree 10/7/2018
O On Bullshit 9/28/2018
S The Silmarillion 9/17/2018 (reread)
Theresa wrote: "I would like some help with ideas! I have chosen Sue Grafton in her memory and I am trying to find PI, crime, murder, etc books to fill in her name. Something I have decided to do is have the autho..."Rhonda wrote: How about Janet Evanovich and Charles Todd and Leslie O'Kane.
Alannah wrote: "Finished my first name challenge, which is in post number 16. I'm doing another one at the minute with children's author Jacqueline Wilson."Sorry for the late response but well done Alannah & Beth!
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Only one more book to read on November 5
Finished on December 31 with The Complete Poems of Thomas Hardy which is perfect for winter reading.
T = A Thousand Splendid Suns finished and enjoyed much more that the first time
H= Crossing the Threshold of Hope finished but was disappointed
O=Jude the Obscure I was blown away by the depth, finess and excellence of this critique of social strictures.
M=The Mayor of Casterbridge enjoyed it but not as much as I did in high school
A=A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man LOVE LOVE LOVE this one
S=The God of Small Things it was okay
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H=Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History of Science beautiful pictures, starts off great but he becomes very verbose and does not explain topics clearly, very dense. I read this in small sections over the course of the year.
A=Remembering America: A Sampler Of The Wpa American Guide Series wonderful stories, a book for dipping into
R= The Return of the Native - wow what a book, I enjoyed it more that I did in high school.
D=Dead Reckoning: The Greatest Adventure Writing of the Golden Age of Exploration,1800-1900 fascinating stories - what adventures
Y=New York, MEH, The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America is much better and obviously the primary source for this tome.
All are books we own that I have long meant to read.