Leni bites over more than she can chew (again) 2022 Buffet Challenge

[Leni]

Old & New TBR Challenge

Theme: Continue that Old & New Series and Read that Non-Fiction!

Continue the Old School series:
1. The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2
2. Barchester Towers
3. Doctor Thorne

Continue the New School series:
1. Husfrue (The Wife by Sigrid Unset)
✓2. Anne of Windy Poplars **/*
3. Gormenghast

Read those Non-Fiction Wildcard Six:
✓1. The Autobiography of Malcolm X *****
✓2. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban ***/*
3. Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan To A More Dangerous World
4. The Unwomanly Face of War
5. The Origins of Totalitarianism
6. Man's Search for Meaning

Alternates
1. No Name
2. Dune Messiah
3. Menneskenes hjerter: Sigrid Undset, en livshistorie

(Not entirely sure about my Alternates and a couple of the Wildcards. Was going to to a thematic thing, two autobiographies/memoirs, two philosophy/history and two something else - politics? environmentalism/natural history?, but have instead ended up with a sort of sliding scale or three by three that don't quite fit. Must think more.)

[Leni]

Century Challenge

Attempting a 20th Century of Women. I'm spoilt for choice in several decades. Makes it hard to pick, so I'm glad I can decide as I go along.

1900-09: The Story of My Life (1903)
1910-19: ?
1920-29: The Well of Loneliness?
Kristin Lavransdatter?
✓1930-39: Anne of Windy Poplars (1936)**/*
✓1940-49: The Pursuit of Love (1945) by Nancy Mitford ****
✓1950-59: The Birds and Other Stories (1952) by Daphne du Maurier ****

✓1960-69: To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee *****
✓1970-79: The Dispossessed (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin *****
1980-89:
The Ship of Widows?
Astradeni?
Nights at the Circus?
The Good Terrorist?
1990-99:
Wild Swans?
Chocolate?

[Leni]

Member's Choice Challenge

1. 19th Century:
✓2. 20th Century: To Kill a Mockingbird *****
3. 21st Century Potential Future Classic:
✓4. Current or Past Group Read: Die Leiden des jungen Werther ****
✓5. An Author not read before: Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories ****/*
✓6. Diversity Classic, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours: The Home and the World ****
7. Science Fiction: The Dispossessed *****
✓8. A book originally written in a language other than your own: The Mantle and Other Stories ****
✓9. A Banned Book: The Bluest Eye *****
10. Nonfiction:
11. Mystery/Crime:
✓12. Horror or Humor: Interview with the Vampire ****/*

[Leni]

Short Story Challenge

24 short stories. Don't have a list yet, but I'm thinking Gogol, Pushkin, Angela Carter, Anna Katherine Green, Jack London, Daphne du Maurier, Dorothy Parker, and Shirley Jackson.

✓1. House of Flowers by Truman Capote ***
✓2. A Diamond Guitar by Truman Capote ****
✓3. A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote *****
✓4. The Mantle by Nikolai Gogol ***
✓5. The Nose by Nikolai Gogol ****
✓6. The Diary of a Madman by Nikolai Gogol ***
✓7. A May Night by Nikolai Gogol ****
✓8. The Viy by Nikolai Gogol ****
✓9. The Birds by Daphne du Maurier *****
✓10. Monte Verità by Daphne du Maurier *****
✓11. The Apple Tree by Daphne du Maurier *****
✓12. The Little Photographer by Daphne du Maurier ***
✓13. Kiss Me Again, Stranger by Daphne du Maurier ****
✓14. The Old Man by Daphne du Maurier ***
✓15. The Chocolate Box by Agatha Christie
✓16. A Christmas Tragedy by Agatha Christie
✓17. The Coming of Mr Quin by Agatha Christie
✓18. The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest by Agatha Christie
✓19. The Clergyman's Daughter by Agatha Christie
✓20. The Plymouth Express by Agatha Christie
✓21. Problem at Pollensa Bay by Agatha Christie
✓22. Sanctuary by Agatha Christie
✓23. The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge by Agatha Christie
✓24. The World's End by Agatha Christie

[Leni]

Expand Your Horizon With New Authors:

✓1. Truman Capote
✓2. Harper Lee
✓3. Anne Rice
✓4. Nikolai Gogol
✓5. Christoper Isherwood
✓6. Patrick O'Brian

[Leni]

Fiction/Non-Fiction

These aren't set in stone, but at least I have a tentative plan.

Topics:

WWII
Schindler's Ark & The Unwomanly Face of War

✓Space Exploration
The Dispossessed ***** & Hidden Figures ***

Women's Civil Rights
& I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban ***/*

Afghanistan
& Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan To A More Dangerous World

✓Being Black in America
The Bluest Eye ***** & The Autobiography of Malcolm X *****

[Luke]

Leni wrote: "Century Challenge

Haven't really given this any thought yet, but I miss the Women's Century Challenge, so will probably try to do that."

Please do! I for one would love to see your choices.

[Leni]

Aubrey wrote: "Leni wrote: "Century Challenge

Haven't really given this any thought yet, but I miss the Women's Century Challenge, so will probably try to do that."

Please do! I for one would love to see your c..."

Yes, I believe I will. I had a look around my shelves, and if I stick to the 20th Century I have at least one unread book for each decade. For several of the decades I have an abundance of choice.

I also noticed something funny. I did a Birth Year Challenge some years ago, where I read various categories linked to my birth year. So I have a book published by a female author in 1978. But I also have one from 1878, and from 1778, and even 1678. So now I've started searching for a female authored book from 1578 so I'll have covered five centuries. It's proving elusive though. I might have to just ensure that I live past a hundred so I can add a 2078 publication. (It is good to have life goals.)

[Kathleen]

Ha! Sounds like a good goal, Leni.

Glad to see The Origins of Totalitarianism on your list, one I very much hope to get back to. Look forward to seeing the other non-fiction you come up with. Have fun!

[Leni]

A friend lent me a Sigrid Undset biography, and that made me realise that I actually have quite a few author biographies and memoirs, and now I kind of want to change my Fiction/Non-fiction pairings to author topics. This is always a problem: I want to read ALL THE BOOKS, right now!

[Leni]

One month into the year and I'm already behind on my nemesis the Old and New TBR. That doesn't bode well. lol

I got sidetracked by other books. But at least I have made a good start on some of the other challenges.

I should probably make a bit of a schedule. My problem is that I want to read all these books, but I'm just never in mood for them. So there are books I'll never pick out as my next read that I really feel like. So a bit of scheduling is in order. But not too much, because that sucks the joy out of reading.

Sooo... plan for February:

Anne of Windy Poplars, as a quick way of catching up the January book, plus she can go on my century challenge too. And then some non-fiction. Malcolm X. Which is also on my fiction/non-fiction list, so let's add on its pairing - The Hate U Give. I am currently reading The Dispossessed, which is on both the century list and the fiction/non-fiction, so we need to add on its pairing - Hidden Figures. Hm, that's two non-fiction books in one short month. Maybe I should do one of the Old School books instead. They are kind of massive though. This is getting complicated. Maybe I should just focus on the century of women and the short stories for now. :P

[Leni]

Definitely making some changes to mo fiction/non-fiction pairs as I want all the fiction books to be classics. That's proving a bit hard for Afghanistan, so I might change out that topic altogether. I'll still read the non-fiction book for the Old and New.

[Leni]

I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which I have both on the Old and New and on my fiction/non-fiction. I paired with up with The Bluest Eye. Both five star reads. But then Being Black in America turned into a whole theme, and I read several more excellent books. They're all newer, but I'll recommend them here anyway:
An American Marriage - Women's Prize for fiction 2019 - 3.5 stars rounded up
Sorrowland - The most marginalised character ever: Pregnant teenage girl, African-American, bisexual, vision impaired, but also intersex and albino. A journey of empowerment that feels like M. Night Shyamalan and Guillermo del Toro had a queer lovechild. 4 stars.
The Hate U Give - lives up to all the hype - 5 stars.

And then, tangentially, I read
Open Water - lyrical second person narrative about being a young black man in the UK. 4 stars
The Sentence - native American characters trying to work out how to live authentically, set during covid lockdowns and BLM protests. Initially rated 4 stars, but I've upped it to 5 because as I have left it to linger in the back of my mind the weaknesses have faded and I am left with all its strengths.

I have more books fitting the theme that I would like to read, (especially If Beal Street Could talk and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) but I think I'll save them for next year and move on for now.

In other challenges I have (finally!) read Interview with the Vampire. Somehow I watched the film adaptation as a teen and decided I couldn't be bothered with the books. I'm glad I finally did. I've put it in the horror category for Member's Choice, and added Anne Rice as an Expand Your Horizons New Author. That feels a bit odd since I've been aware of Anne Rice for decades, but the book really did broaden my horizon from "I guess I should finally read this, it's a classic in a genre I really like" to "Well, silly me, of course it is a classic for a reason and now I want to read more".

[Carolien]

Leni wrote: "Definitely making some changes to mo fiction/non-fiction pairs as I want all the fiction books to be classics. That's proving a bit hard for Afghanistan, so I might change out that topic altogether..."

Earth and Ashes was published in 2000 which could maybe just make it for a classic from Afghanistan,

The poet Rumi was apparently born in present-day Afghanistan. That is about as classic as it comes!

Good luck!

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Leni wrote: "I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which I have both on the Old and New and on my fiction/non-fiction. I paired with up with The Bluest Eye. Both five star reads. But then Being Black in Americ..."

Nice job on the Fiction/non-fiction pairs. I was also suprised when I read Interview with the Vampire. I picked it up thinking it would be light and a little "trashy". It was actually much better than I had expected. It was quite well written and suspenseful. Glad you found a book you liked!

[Kathleen]

Leni wrote: "I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which I have both on the Old and New and on my fiction/non-fiction. I paired with up with The Bluest Eye. Both five star reads. But then Being Black in Americ..."

I'm so happy to see these updates, Leni--the only one I've read is The Bluest Eye, but the rest have been on my radar. Now I just need to decide which to read first, Malcolm X, The Sentence or Anne Rice. What a great range of options!

[Leni]

I can't say that this is going terrifically well, but I am making some progress. I have at least completed the Expand Your Horizons challenge. I had intended on going for three male authors and three women, but ended up with 4-2 with another man in the works. No matter, I'll focus a bit on my 20th Century Women next.

The Member's Choice challenge is also not going too badly at 50% completion. I have a third of the short stories done. (Would be more if I counted Goodbye to Berlin, but those stories are so interconnected I feel like they are verging on being a novel.) I have the Portable Dorothy Parker coming up though, and if I'm not mistaken that will give me a lot of short stories (and another woman for my "new to me authors" if I want to boot out one of the dudes.

As for the New & Old, the less said the better. lol
I think I'll adjust my goal there to having managed 6/12 by the end of the year.