Stephanie's Challenge Buffet 2.0

[Stephanie]

I definitely did not complete all of my challenges for 2021 but I had such a good time trying that I'm listing them all again. I did manage to read some books that had been on my list for awhile as well as a few that were completely new to me and now I am starting to feel like I actually am "catching up on classics." My main goal this time around is to try to be more active and engaging on the discussion boards. Even if I don't get through all of my reading lists again, I'm looking forward to challenging myself to read some new things!


Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR
Challenge #2 - Second Place or Worse
Challenge #3 - Decade/Century/Millennium Challenge
Challenge #4 - Members Choice Challenge
Challenge #5 - Short Story Challenge
Challenge #6 - 2022 Group Reads Challenge
Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon With New Authors
Challenge #8 - Does the Passage of Time Make a Difference?
Challenge #9 – Fiction/Non-Fiction
Challenge #10 - The Half a Millennium Challenge with a Sour Lemon Twist of Difficult
Challenge #11 - Old and New Linked Categories
Challenge #12 - A-Z Author Challenge
Challenge #13 - A-Z Title Challenge

[Stephanie]

Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR
Completed:

Old School
1. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)
2. Middlemarch (1871)
3. Wives and Daughters (1866)

New School
✔ 1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962) finished 3 Feb 2022
2. Flowers for Algernon (1959)
3. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940)

Wildcard
1. Rabbit Redux (1971)
2. The Library Book (2018)
3. A Town Like Alice (1950)
4. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974)
5. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941)
6. The Sympathizer (2015)

Alternates
1. The Joy Luck Club (1989)
2. The Kite Runner (2003)
3. Don Quixote (1615)

[Stephanie]

Last year I really didn't get around to exploring the past polls to make my selections. I might try to prioritize this one this year. This list is tentative and subject to change if any more appealing 'losers' come about in 2022.

Challenge #2 - Second Place or Worse (tentative)
Completed:

Old School
1. The Red Badge of Courage (3rd place March 2018)
2. Uncle Silas (5th place Oct 2021)

New School
1. The Magnificent Ambersons (7th place July 2021)
2. A Town Like Alice (3rd place March 2021)

Short Story
1. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (6th place Jan 2021)
2. A Horseman in the Sky (7th place Sep 2021)

Long Read
✔ 1. A Prayer for Owen Meany (3rd place 2021 1st Quarter) ★ ★ ★ ★ finished 14 Jan 2022

[Stephanie]

Challenge #3 - Decade/Century/Millennium Challenge

1920-1929
1930-1939 Tender Is the Night
✔1940-1949 The Razor's Edge (1944)
1950-1959 Flowers for Algernon (1959)
✔1960-1969 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962)
1970-1979 Rabbit Redux (1971)
✔1980-1989 A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989)
1990-1999
2000-2009
2010-2019 The Library Book (2018)

[Stephanie]

Challenge #4 - Members Choice Challenge
Completed:

1. 19th Century,
✔2. 20th Century, A Prayer for Owen Meany
3. 21st Century Potential Future Classic,
✔ 4. Current or Past Group Read, The Razor's Edge
5. An Author not read before,
6. Diversity Classic, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours.
7. Science Fiction,
8. A book originally written in a language other than your own,
9. A Banned Book,
10. Nonfiction,
11. Mystery/Crime,
12. Horror or Humor,

[Stephanie]

Challenge #5 - Short Story Challenge
Completed:

1. Carmilla finished 2 January 2022
2. The Wasteland and other poems finished 13 February 2022
3.
4.
5.
6.
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8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
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15.
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24.

[Stephanie]

Challenge #6 - 2022 Group Reads Challenge
Completed:

1. Carmilla (finished 2 January 2022)
2. The Razor's Edge (finished 2 February 2022)
3. The Wasteland and other poems (finished 13 February 2022)
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

[Stephanie]

Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon With New Authors
Completed:

1. J. Sheridan Le Fanu
2. John Irving
3. W. Somerset Maugham
4.
5.
6.

[Stephanie]

Challenge #8 - Does the Passage of Time Make a Difference?

[Stephanie]

Challenge #9 – Fiction/Non-Fiction
Completed:

Subject: Russian History
Fiction: War and Peace
Non-Fiction: Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire

Subject: Spies
Fiction: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Non-Fiction: The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship & Espionage

Subject:
Fiction:
Non-Fiction:

Subject:
Fiction:
Non-Fiction:

Subject:
Fiction:
Non-Fiction

[Stephanie]

Challenge #10 - The Half a Millennium Challenge with a Sour Lemon Twist of Difficult

20th Century:
19th Century:
18th Century:
17th Century:
16th Century:

[Stephanie]

Challenge #11 - Old and New Linked Categories
Completed:

Link:
Old:
New:

Link:
Old:
New:

Link:
Old:
New:

Link:
Old:
New:

Link:
Old:
New:

[Stephanie]

Challenge #12 - A-Z Author Challenge
Completed:

A- Edward Albee - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
B-
C-
D-
E- T.S. Eliot - The Wasteland
F-
G-
H-
I- John Irving - A Prayer for Owen Meany
J-
K-
L- J. Sheridan Le Fanu - Carmilla
M- W. Somerset Maugham - The Razor's Edge
N-
O-
P-
Q-
R-
S-
T-
U-
V-
W-
X-
Y-
Z-

[Stephanie]

Challenge #13 - A-Z Title Challenge
Completed:

A-
B-
C- Carmilla
D-
E-
F-
G-
H-
I-
J-
K-
L-
M-
N-
O-
P-A Prayer for Owen Meany
Q-
R- The Razor's Edge
S-
T-
U-
V-
W- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
X-
Y-
Z-

[Stephanie]

One of my goals this year was to be better about posting when I finished a book. I decided to start the year with a selection from my Second Place or Worse challenge since that is the one I did the worst on last year.

Today I finished A Prayer for Owen Meany as my pick for the quarterly long read and I really loved it. The book is slow (not in a bad way), lacks "action" in a traditional sense, and may seem a bit repetitive, but I was never bored reading it!

It's multi-layered and deliberate, with additional details revealed each time the main story was returned to. As far as characters go, Owen Meany is both endearing and annoying and is definitely a character that will stick with me for a long time to come.

I rated this book 4 stars. I found the first half of the story so charming that I was eager to get home each night and keep reading. The only reason that I didn't give it five stars is that I found the boys slightly less compelling as adults in the latter half of the novel. But I'm notoriously stingy with 5 stars, I still might change my mind.

This was my first John Irving novel (a useful addition to the New to Me Author challenge, and a nice way to check off I for the A-Z author challenge as well) and I immediately added two more of his novels to my TBR. Probably won't get to them this year; I want to sit with Owen a little longer.