Sonja's 2020 Challenges & Books Read

[Sonja, (Da-Sonja)]

12 + 4 Challenge


1. Every Secret Thing by Susanna Kearsley March
2. Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati August
3. The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See July
4. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
5. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson July
6. Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore December
7. The Holy Thief by William Ryan January
8. News of the World by Paulette Jiles
9. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill August
10. The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel September
11.The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro August
12. The Castle of Kings by Oliver Pötzsch

+1 Amy Snow by Tracy Rees
+2 A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett October
+3 Karolina's Twins by Ronald H. Balson September
+4 My Ántonia by Willa Cather October

[Sonja, (Da-Sonja)]

2020 Author Challenge


A - Julien Aranda
B - Kay Bratt
- Kelly Barnhill
- Ronald H. Balson
C - Willa Cather
D - Sara Donati
- Michael Dorris
E - Kelli Estes
F - Ken Follett
- Therese Anne Fowler
G - Stephanie Garber
H - Libbie Hawker
- Olivia Hawker
I - Kazuo Ishiguro
J - Toni Jordan
K - Susanna Kearsley
L - Mercedes Lackey (2)
- Erik Larson
M - Gregory Maguire
N - Nele Neuhaus
O - Kenneth Oppel
P - Oliver Pötzsch
Q - Kate Quinn
R - William Ryan
S - Brandon Sanderson (2).
- Lisa See
T - Lalita Tademy
U - Luis Alberto Urrea
V - Lani Lynn Vale
W - Jeff Wheeler
- Margaret Walker
- Elizabeth Wetmore
X -
Y - Jane Yolen
Z - Allan Zullo

[Sonja, (Da-Sonja)]

2020 Title Challenge


A - Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
- The Alice Network
B - The Boundless
C - Citizens Creek
- Changes: Volume Three of the Collegium Chronicles
D - Daughter of Sand and Stone
- Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
E - Every Secret Thing
F - The Forsaken Throne
G - The Girl Who Drank the Moon
- The Girl Who Wrote in Silk
H - The Holy Thief
- Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker
I - Intrigues
- Into the Beautiful North
- The Island of Sea Women
J - Jubilee
K - Karolina's Twins
L - Legendary
M - My Ántonia
N - Nine Days
O - Owl Moon
P - Perfect State
- A Place Called Freedom
Q - Quit Your Pitchin'
R - The Remains of the Day
- The Ragged Edge of Night
S - Sword of Power
- Seasons of the Moon
- Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust
T - A Thread Unbroken
U - Eine unbeliebte Frau
V - Valentine
W - Where the Light Enters
X -
Y - A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
Z - Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

[Sonja, (Da-Sonja)]

2020 Books Read


January
1. Aunt Bessie Assumes
2. The Holy Thief
February
3. Citizens Creek
4. The Forsaken Throne
5. A Thread Unbroken
6. Perfect State
7. Intrigues: Book Two of the Collegium Chronicles
March
8. Changes: Volume Three of the Collegium Chronicles
9. Into the Beautiful North
10. Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
11. Every Secret Thing
12. Sword of Power
April
13. Nine Days
14. Daughter of Sand and Stone
May
15. Seasons of the Moon
June
16. Legendary
July
17. The Island of Sea Women
18. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
August
19. Where the Light Enters
20. Karolina's Twins
21. The Remains of the Day
22. The Girl Who Drank the Moon
September
23. The Ragged Edge of Night
24. The Boundless
25. The Alice Network
26. Jubilee
October
27. My Ántonia
28. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
29. Quit Your Pitchin'
30. A Place Called Freedom
November
31. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
32. Owl Moon
33. Eine unbeliebte Frau
34. Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker
35. Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust
December
36. The Girl Who Wrote in Silk



Currently Reading
Book - Written in My Own Heart's Blood
Audiobook -
Audible - Valentine

[Pamela]

Sara Donati is an author I've been wanting to read...because she has been compared to Diana Gabaldon. I would love to year your thoughts when you finish with that one!

I'm so glad you chose My Antonia....it is one of my MOST FAVORITE books of ALL TIME. I adore little Antonia....and Willa Cather is an amazing author. It's why I named my first born Antonia and kept the Bohemian pronunciation of her name.....

I adore Lisa See and I've put her Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane on my list for this year...her writing is exquisite....I'll be sure to have The Island of Sea Women on my radar....let me know when you read it as I think I could absolutely join you on that one!!!

Can't go wrong with Kazuo Ishiguro. I haven't read Remains of the Day but it's on my radar...the reviews and rankings speak for themselves.

I love your list!!! I'm so excited about this year.....and proud of us book geeks who continue to read voraciously!

[Sonja, (Da-Sonja)]

I listened to The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati in 2017 and I LOVED it! That's why I put the second one of this series on this year's list. There's an earlier series that is about the lives of the ancestors of the ladies in this series. I have the first one (Into the Wilderness), but haven't read it yet.

I also love Lisa See! I have enjoyed everything of hers that I've read!

Remains of the Day will be my second book by Ishiguro. I enjoyed Never Let Me Go, which I read a few years ago.

I added My Antonia because I've heard good things, and I try to add 1 or 2 classics to my list every year. There are so many I haven't read, and I figure this is a good way to make sure I add some of them in!

[Sonja, (Da-Sonja)]

From my 2017 challenges:

Just finished The Gilded Hour. It was on my list for last year, but I'm glad I decided to read it! It was soooo good!

It's amazing how many of the social issues in this book (set in 1880s New York City), are still issues today. This book has so many! Female physicians. Black female physicians. Abortion. Birth control. Poor immigrant populations (here the Irish and Italians). It kept hitting me that the same social issues that are in the forefront today were so much in the forefront 130 years ago.

There is a six book series by the same author starting with Into the Wilderness that I want to read now. They are all longer books, but they are the story of the ancestors of Anna and Sophie who are the main characters of this book. There are little bits of information about them in this book, and it has just made me want to know more about them. I've also heard that Jamie and Claire make an appearance in one of the books!