Anastasia's Indecisive 2020 Reading Challenge

[Anastasia]

Last year my list was full of Canadian Authors. It was great to learn of new authors and more about my country from other views. It was difficult to find some books to fill the spots. Some times it was just that I did not like the books I found, others that the lists did not have books that fit my parameters.

This year I want to do something similar, but I really am not sure what yet. Some ideas that others have are really interesting, like just LGBTQ+ characters or authors, or just long books. Hmmm.......

🍁Canadian Author
🏳‍🌈LGBTQ+
🌎Around the World Challenge
🎬Movie
✔Completed
🎧Audio book

[Anastasia]

1. A book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y
✔🎧 Becoming

⭐⭐⭐

2. A book by an author whose last name is one syllable
✔🎧 Solaris

⭐⭐
✔🎬 Fantasy Island https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0983946/...

3. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019 ( Japanese Interment camps in Canada during WWII)

✔🍁Obasan

⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬The Constant Gardnerhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387131/...

4. A book set in a place or time that you wouldn't want to live
✔🌎🎧The Memory Police

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
✔🎬 Ad Astra https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2935510/...

5. The first book in a series that you have not started
✔ 🌎 Sea of Poppies

⭐⭐⭐⭐
✔🎬 Collateral https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6729080/... A TV show

6. A book with a mode of transportation on the cover

✔🍁The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


✔🎬 Art of Racing in the Rain https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478839/...



7. A book set in the southern hemisphere

✔🌎 Dying to Live

⭐⭐⭐⭐

8. A book with a two-word title where the first word is "The"
✔🌎The Door


9. A book that can be read in a day
✔ 🎧The Slow Regard of Silent Things


10. A book that is between 400-600 pages

✔The Kingdom of Copper

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬 Doctor Sleep
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5606664/...


11. A book originally published in a year that is a prime number

✔ The City of Brass

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


12. A book that is a collaboration between 2 or more people
✔🌎Deadly Harvest

Michael Stanley
⭐⭐⭐⭐

13. A prompt from a previous Around the Year in 52 Books challenge - a book about books

✔The Library of Lost and Found


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Anastasia]

14. A book by an author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers 
✔🍁 Women Talking

⭐

15. A book set in a global city

✔🍁 Perfect City: An Urban Fixer's Global Search for Magic in the Modern Metropolis

⭐⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬Hotel Artemis https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5834262/...

16. A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area

✔🍁Empire of Wild

⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬 Ballad of Buster Scruggs https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6412452/...

17.A book with a neurodiverse character
✔🏳‍🌈🍁 The Outside


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬 Motherless Brooklyn
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385887/...

18. A book by an author you have only read once
✔Breakaway

⭐⭐⭐⭐


19. A fantasy

✔🍁 The Grimoire of Kensington Market

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐



20.The 20th book on your TBR

✔🎧Horrorstör

⭐⭐⭐



21. A book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer and Jesuit Priest who was born in 1720

🌎✔Smaller and Smaller Circles

⭐⭐⭐⭐

22. A book with the major theme of survival

✔🍁Radicalized

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

23. A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author

🏳‍🌈🍁Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender ✔[bookcover:Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family
⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬🏳‍🌈 Far from the tree https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6848736/...

24. A book with an emotion in the title

✔
The Joy Luck Club
⭐⭐

25. A book related to the arts

✔Black Mad Wheel

⭐⭐⭐⭐

26. A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards

✔ 🎧Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Anastasia]

27. A history or historical fiction
✔🍁The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism

⭐⭐⭐⭐

28. A book by an Australian, Canadian or New Zealand author

✔🍁 Ragged Company

⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬 The Great Canadian Baking Show
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7332358/...

29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book

✔🎬 🏳‍🌈Disobedience https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6108178/...

30. A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year
✔Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City



31. A book inspired by a leading news story
✔🍁Amphibian

⭐⭐⭐⭐

32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan

33. A book about a non-traditional family
✔🍁🏳‍🌈Greenwood

⭐⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬 Maleficent: Mistress of Evil https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4777008/...

34. A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name

Genre - Horror Subgenre - Cosmic (Lovecraftian)
✔Lovecraft Country

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬 Horror, Sci-fi https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/...

35. A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover

✔🎧The Farm



36. A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim

✔ Crossover

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

37. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #1

✔🌎Absolution by Murder

⭐⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬 Breaking In https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7137846/...

38. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #2

✔Deathless Divide

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

✔🎬 Escape Room https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5886046/...

39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce

🎧🌎
Purple Hibiscus

[Anastasia]

40. A book with a place name in the title

✔🌎A Corpse in the Koryo

⭐⭐

41. A mystery

42. A book that was nominated for one of the ‘10 Most Coveted Literary Prizes in the World’ 

✔🌎🎧The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐😍😢

43. A book related to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse

🏳‍🌈The Light Brigade


44. A book related to witches

✔The Demon Lover

⭐⭐⭐

45. A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018

✔The Supernatural Enhancements

⭐

46. A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire"

47. A classic book you've always meant to read

🎧Great Expectations


✔🎬 Rear Window https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/...

48. A book published in 2020

✔🎧Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre


49. A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win 

50. A book with a silhouette on the cover

✔🏳‍🌈Silver in the Wood


51. A book with an "-ing" word in the title

✔ 🎧I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

52. A book related to time

✔🎧🍁🏳‍🌈 This Is How You Lose the Time War

⭐⭐⭐

[Tanu]

I’ll have to check some of these out. Good idea to think about local authors. I need to get more Aussie/Kiwi (hey, we’re neighbours, so it counts) books into my list, if I can.

[Anastasia]

January
I had three 5 star reads this month.

The Memory Police

Radicalized

The Library of Lost and Found

and one 4 star book

Smaller and Smaller Circles

All of these books made me think about memory, stories that we tell ourselves and others, and how we act toward those in power. I highly recommend them all.

[Anastasia]

Ughh! I just tried to update some of the books on my list and part of my list disappeared and the updates did not take.
LOL, I will just have to pry the computer from my teens hands later today to redo it. Right now I have to go.

[Anastasia]

February Notes

16 books in total this month
5 Canadian
2 Non fiction
3 Around the World
7 AtYB

If I had to narrow it down to one book this month it is Lovecraft Country. It is written like a serial, almost like a comic book, which is referenced in the book itself. It is definitely worth a read by everyone.

The romance category goes to The Bromance Book Club. Not your typical romance. It was a hot 🔥🔥🔥 fast read.

Looking forward

My next most anticipated reads are

Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family
Deathless Divide
and
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

It is March so I do anticipate more hiking in my future. 🤞

[Anastasia]

I really have not been keeping up with my posts.

There a few books that I really enjoyed the last few months that I want to recommend.

The Grimoire of Kensington Market is written by a Canadian author and takes place in Toronto. It is a fantasy/fairy tale. There are nods to several different tales in the story. It is about addiction.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland was really good. I knew very little about the troubles in Northern Ireland. This does a very good job of telling the story of the people involved on both sides of the conflict. It also references the duration of the conflict and its roots in colonialism.

Crossover was the perfect escapism book for me at this time. As with all scifi/fantasy books, it looks at problems with society. Slavery, technology, police brutality and AI are all explored. What does it really mean to be human?

The Outside features LGBTQ+ characters, and those on the autism spectrum. It is a great scifi novel written by a women on the autistic spectrum herself. I loved her characters. The richness of the world and plot were excellent. I very much want to read more of her work.

War Girls has strong female characters who are in very difficult situations. They are all bad ass. Child soldiers, technology, exploitation of indigenous communities and more are in this story. It takes place in Nigeria and uses past conflicts as the basis for the story.

All of these were 5 star reads for me.

I hope that everyone is safe and well. Take care of each other in these interesting times.