Marta’s Random Access Plan

[Marta]

I am going with free-styling this year as well - read first, fit into plan later - check what’s left and fill in. It seems to work for me: plenty of freedom and a little bit of challenge, just the way I like it.

I am playing with the format a bit. I will have a read and an unread list.

[Marta]

Currently reading:


Read: 17 of 52

1. A book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y
✔️Love Medicine⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2. A book by an author whose last name is one syllable
✔️ Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019
✔️The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My book club read The Overstory, with a lot about how trees communicate, in fictional form. I wanted to know how what actual research says about the topic.

5. The first book in a series that you have not started
✔️Midnight Riot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - first in The Rivers of London series. I went through 7 so far! Love them!

6. A book with a mode of transportation on the cover
✔️The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - takes place on a train

7. A book set in the southern hemisphere
✔️Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Interesting that references to Hiram Bingham have turned up in a later read, Ninth House.

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

9. A book that can be read in a day
✔️The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

12. A book that is a collaboration between 2 or more people
✔️Stardust: Being a Romance within the Realms of Faerieby Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess (illustrated) - my daughter found this in the library ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

15. A book set in a global city
✔️Moon Over Soho (Rivers of London #2) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⁉️17. A book with a neurodiverse character
✔️Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum

20. The 20th book [on your TBR, in a series, by an author, on a list, etc.] I have several lists, this was 20th on one TBR:
✔️The Comedy of Errors⭐️⭐️⭐️

22. A book with the major theme of survival
✔️Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- not what you’d expect from a book generally described as heartwarming.

23. A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author
✔️Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

24. A book with an emotion in the title
✔️Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - third read of this wonderful book

26. A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards
✔️Ninth House⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


27. A history or historical fiction
✔️She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

28. A book by an Australian, Canadian or New Zealand author
Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little ✔️Life⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book
✔️Popular Hits of the Showa Era ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - weird book read in the Goodreads group reading lesser known books

31. A book inspired by a leading news story
✔️Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - my book club selected it for its timely topic

33. A book about a non-traditional family
✔️Mooncakes has two grandmas

39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce
✔️The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

43. A book related to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse
✔️Hogfather is about Death ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

47. A classic book you've always meant to read
✔️Madame Bovary ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ has been on my tbr for way too long. It was excellent.

[Marta]

Categories still left:
🧁: so easy that it will just fill itself without looking
🧁🧁🧁: I huge portion of my reading could fit here... will pick whatever is not used for abother category
⁉️: requires research

🧁4. A book set in a place or time that you wouldn't want to live

🧁10. A book that is between 400-600 pages

⁉️11. A book originally published in a year that is a prime number
hmm need a list

🧁⁉️13. A prompt from a previous Around the Year in 52 Books challenge (Link)- this will be any book, but need to look at list

⁉️14. A book by an author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers (link)

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

⁉️18. A book by an author you've only read once before
I could cheat and add the second in a new series here, but I will interpret this as “read once prior to 2020”. Candidates:
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - read Slaughterhouse Five
Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard - read SPQR
Artemis by Andy Weir - read The Martian
I would not mind another by:
Dorothy L. Sayers
Annie Proulx
Walter Mosely
Orhan Pamuk
China Miéville
Carrie Fisher

🧁🧁🧁19. A fantasy book
Too many to list already in May 2020. Will pick one not used for another category

⁉️21. A book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer and Jesuit Priest who was born in 1720
Cosmos
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

⁉️25. A book related to the arts
Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d'Art

⁉️30. A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year

⁉️32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan
Cancelled... I guess something Japanese or sports..

⁉️33. A book about a non-traditional family

🧁34. A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name - why do we have these gimme’s...

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


36. A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim
I have no idea how Bellwether and Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection have ended up on my “looks interesting” shelf.

⁉️37-38. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites:
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher ColumbusHow Long 'til Black Future Month?

🧁40. A book with a place name in the title


🧁🧁🧁41. A mystery- tons as of May 2020

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

🧁44. A book related to witches
The Shepherd's Crown

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

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

🧁48. A book published in 2020
Network Effect

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

⁉️50. A book with a silhouette on the cover


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

⁉️52. A book related to time
Midnight Riot
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster

[Marta]

Some goals this year:
- Plan less
- Read more in Hungarian
- Read more classics: last year I dialed back on reading classics and now I feel the need to read more of the tried and true stuff
- Re-read books I enjoyed but have mostly forgotten

I deleted my TBR because it felt oppressive seeing it on Goodreads every time I came to post an update. Often I need to read books for book clubs and read-alongs, which makes plans go out the window. I do have a list I am slowly working through, but it is flexible.

That said, some of the backlog I want to get to this year:

✔️Madame Bovary⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
Brideshead Revisited
Memoirs of Hadrian
✔️Julius Caesar⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Midnight's Children
The Red and the Black

[Marta]

reserved

[Marta]

reserved

[Marta]

reserved

[Marta]

reserved

[Marta]

reserved