Adam's 2019 return to challenge

[Adam]

It's been a few years since I last tried an Around the Year challenge, so I'm looking forward to see how this turns out. I'll likely be doing a lot of audiobooks as that's where the majority of my reading comes from these days. Given that I've been getting way into ancient history and the classics, I expect this list should turn out to be interesting. I also expect to change and shuffle a lot before I'm done.

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1. A book that was nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy - The Man Who Folded Himself
2. A book with one of the 5 W's in the title - What the Hell Did I Just Read
3. A book where the author’s name contains A, T, and Y - Will Save the Galaxy for Food
4. A book with a criminal character - Darkly Dreaming Dexter
5. A book by Shakespeare or inspired by Shakespeare - The Tragedy of Coriolanus
6. A book with a dual timeline - Final Girls
7. Same topic: Book #1 - 10 Mythological Heroes & Stories: Greek Mythology
8. Same topic: Book #2 - Metamorphoses
9. A book from one of the top 5 money making genres - Hyperion
10. A book featuring an historical figure - Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome

11. A book related to one of the 12 Zodiac Chinese Animals - The Bonobo's Dream
12. A book about reading, books or an author/writer - On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
13. A book that is included on a New York Public Library Staff Picks list - Circe
14. A book with a title, subtitle or cover relating to an astronomical term - Full Dark, No Stars
15. A book by an author from a Mediterranean country or set in a Mediterranean country - The Histories
16. A book told from multiple perspectives - A Game of Thrones
17. A speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy, scifi, horror, dystopia) - Time's Eye
18. A book related to one of the elements on the periodic table of elements - The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
19. A book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR - Dictator
20. A book featuring indigenous people of a country - Ancient Civilizations of North America

21. A book from one of the polarizing or close call votes - The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code
22. A book with a number in the title or on the cover - 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed
23. Something Old - The Book of Ancient Bastards: 101 of the Worst Miscreants and Misdeeds from Ancient Sumer to the Enlightenment
24. Something New - The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople
25. Something Borrowed - Significant Digits
26. Something Blue - Saint Odd
27. A book off of the 1001 books to read before you die list - The Count of Monte Cristo
28. A book related to something cold - Alien: The Cold Forge
29. A book published before 1950 - The Twelve Caesars
30. A book featuring an elderly character - Kafka on the Shore

31. A children’s classic you’ve never read - Oz: The Complete Collection
32. A book with more than 500 pages - Mark Twain: The Complete Novels
33. A book you have owned for at least a year, but have not read yet - Gerald's Game
34. A book with a person's name in the title - Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe
35. A psychological thriller - The Outsider
36. A book featured on an NPR Best Books of the Year list - The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic
37. A book set in a school or university - Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent
38. A book not written in traditional novel format - V for Vendetta
39. A book with a strong sense of place or where the author brings the location/setting to life - Conspirata
40. A book you stumbled upon - River of Teeth

41. A book from the 2018 GR Choice Awards - Kingdom of Ash
42. A book with a monster or "monstrous" character - 傷物語 Kizumonogatari
43. A book related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) - The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch
44. A book related in some way to a tv show/series or movie you enjoyed - Alamut
45. A multi-generational saga - Roma
46. A book with a (mostly) black cover - Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits
47. A book related to food - Jam
48. A book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year - The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
49. A book written by a Far East Asian author or set in a Far East Asian country - Cloud of Sparrows
50. A book that includes a journey - Tau Zero

51. A book published in 2019 - Alien III
52. A book with a weird or intriguing title - The Tao of Pooh

[Adam]

End of January Report
Completed: 7
In progress: 6
Additional notes:
This month has been pretty good. I’ve been working a lot so I’ve been blazing through the audiobooks. I’m just about half done with Count of Monte Cristo thanks to reading at 3x speed. I’ve also changed and reshuffled this list several times this month. Kinda wanna find a book that starts with Z just to put on here.

[Adam]

Ten books down.

I’m getting pretty fed up with Monte Cristo (listening at 3.5x speed I still have another 3-4 sessions left). It was an interesting enough story during the build up, but then he just kept dicking around without accomplishing anything worthwhile.

I’m ploughing through the audiobooks, but struggling to find time for the reading ones. So far I had the most fun with Will Save the Galaxy for Food and Imperium.

10/52 completed.

[Jody]

That’s pretty much exactly how I felt about it too. The exposition was fantastic, and then as soon as he escaped it went downhill (for me, anyway).

[Adam]

He wasn’t so bad when he was tooling around as Sinbad, but then he moved in to France to achieve revenge and spent more time messing around with unimportant people than actually progressing his aims. I think he stopped being a character and became a plot crutch while others took the stage.

[Sophie]

Wow, listening to audiobooks at 3,5x, you’re a machine! I’m sad to hear about the Count of Monte Christo though, it’s going to be my big classic of the year.

On a brighter note, I’m also going to read The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements and What the Hell Did I Just Read this year 😃

[Adam]

End of February Report
Completed: 12
In progress: 5
Additional Notes:
Getting close to finishing two more with plenty more to get started on. I haven’t made much progress with Alamut or V for Vendetta, but I’m going to try. The biggest issue is that uni has finally gone back and I’ve got a lot of required reading to work through which might slow things down. Still 20% completion within the first two months is pretty good.

[Adam]

End of April Report
Completed: 22
In progress: 9
Additional Notes:
It’s been a pretty hectic couple of months, so while I’ve made significant progress towards the challenge, I’ve been pretty lazy about updating here. Getting pretty close to the halfway mark though. Getting through the audiobooks easy enough, but the actual texts are taking more time.

[Adam]

End of July Report
Completed: 31
In Progress: 7
Additional Notes:
I’ve been steadily working through the list making progress despite being overwhelmed with work and uni. I haven’t really posted anything in a while though, so I still need to go do topics for some of these. I’ve made almost no progress on the non-audiobook books though.