Carolien's 2023 One Book at a Time challenge

[Carolien]

If you pop over to my Independent Challenge, you'll see some of the origins of this one. I have a multiple challenges with little progress on any one of them. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

So here's an attempt to get somewhere. I either own these or can get them from the library or similar.

Some of these are still under consideration, but this is version 1.

1. The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (this may be a very bad idea as I suspect it will add more books to the challenges)
2. No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories by Gabriel García Márquez Completed 26 September 3 stars
3. The Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve
4. The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish Completed 27 March 3.5 stars
5. Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay Completed 25 May 4 stars
6. Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen
7. Touba and the Meaning of Night by Shahrnush Parsipur
8. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
9. The Blind Kingdom by Véronique Tadjo Completed 26 January 4 stars
10. What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah Completed 1 September 4 stars
11. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
12. The Knight in the Panther's Skin by Shota Rustaveli

Alternates:
13. The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy
14. Donkerdrif by Deon Meyer
15. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson Completed 2 April 5 stars
16. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith Completed 10 November 4 stars

[Denise]

Ohhh...I loved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. <3

[〰️Beth〰️]

I enjoyed The Silk Roads and it did make me want to explore more history from that region.

[Carolien]

Denise wrote: "Ohhh...I loved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. <3"

That's good to now, it's been on the TBR for a decade!

[Bill, Moderator]

I've never read any of these books. Picnic at Hanging Rock interests me. I look forward to your thoughts. Good luck with this challenge.

[Carolien]

Bill wrote: "I've never read any of these books. Picnic at Hanging Rock interests me. I look forward to your thoughts. Good luck with this challenge."

The Blazing World may interest you as well - 17th century Sci-Fi apparently!

[Bill, Moderator]

Carolien wrote: "Bill wrote: "I've never read any of these books. Picnic at Hanging Rock interests me. I look forward to your thoughts. Good luck with this challenge."

The Blazing World may interes..."

Interesting.

[Patricia]

Looks like an interesting list--as usual! I read Half of a Yellow Sun last year & enjoyed it. Happy Reading!

[Lea]

What a great list, Carolien! I'm eager to see what you think. I've only read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and I liked it. I do hope you do too. It will be fun to see you tackle this list!

[Linette]

Carolien wrote: "If you pop over to my Independent Challenge, you'll see some of the origins of this one. I have a multiple challenges with little progress on any one of them. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2..."

I thought Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was really interesting - and I Capture the Castle was so good, not what I expected. Happy reading.

[Lillie]

I hope you keep The Silk Roads, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. All are absolutely fantastic. The rest I haven’t read (and some I haven’t heard of) but you always pick interesting books that somehow make it on my tbr list,

[Carolien]

Lillie wrote: "I hope you keep The Silk Roads, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. All are absolutely fantastic. The rest I haven’t read (and some I haven’t heard of) but ..."

Thank you, those are all staying!

[Jackie]

I have 3 of these on my tbr. Good luck!

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

I haven't read any of these (yet); but I feel like I want to. I have added so many from your previous lists; especially the ATW list; that I feel like I cannot go wrong.

I can't wait to see you thoughts on these as 2023 progresses.

Good luck and happy reading, Carolien.

[Ioana]

The books you read almost always end up on my TBR, and you read more than I do so it feels I can't get any traction. From this list I've only read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and loved it. Can't wait to see what you think of the other ones, happy reading!

[Karol]

I love Gabriel García Márquez!

[Carolien]

Karol wrote: "I love Gabriel García Márquez!"

I've never read him and I find short stories a good introduction to authors. Nice to know someone loves him and I'll let you know my thoughts.

[Bonnie]

Carolien wrote: "If you pop over to my Independent Challenge, you'll see some of the origins of this one. I have a multiple challenges with little progress on any one of them. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2..."

very diverse list. The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is on my list to read this year (not this challenge)

[Denise]

I read The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet last month, excellent book. Wish you the best of luck on your challenge.

[Carolien]

One down. I read The Blind Kingdom to add Ivory Coast to my Around the World challenge as Véronique Tadjo is Ivorian. However, the book is set in a fictional place, the Blind Kingdom, so not sure how that works (I have 2 other works from Ivorian authors and one is set in Paris and the other in another fictional country, so not very helpful!).

The book is a metaphor for African countries first exploited by colonialism expressed as an earthquake. Then the Blind People arrives and eventually become corrupt and exploiting the original inhabitants again. Although written in 1990, it is very applicable to South Africa from apartheid to current times with the ANC as the Blind People. A short book which I read a few pages a day.

[Carolien]

Another book down (more of a novella actually). The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish written in 1664 is generally regarded as the oldest piece of science fiction writing by any author. It's interesting how it reflects the time that she experienced. Her husband was exiled during the English Civil war and lost quite a lot of his property and so the Blazing World that she creates is a peaceful and harmonious society.

[Michelle]

Carolien wrote: "Another book down (more of a novella actually). The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish written in 1664 is generally regarded as the oldest piece of science fiction ..."

Ooooh! SciFi from 1664. How interesting.

[Ioana]

Carolien wrote: "Another book down (more of a novella actually). The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish written in 1664 is generally regarded as the oldest piece of science fiction ..."

And I thought sci-fi is a relatively new/recent genre....wow!

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Carolien wrote: "Another book down (more of a novella actually). The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish written in 1664 is generally regarded as the oldest piece of science fiction ..."

That sounds cool. I may have to add this one to my tbr. I figure novella-sized shouldn't be too painful.

[Carolien]

Alondra wrote: "Carolien wrote: "Another book down (more of a novella actually). The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish written in 1664 is generally regarded as the oldest piece of..."

The middle is slow, but the start and the end are definitely worth it and it's ab out 2 hours of reading so most of us can survive that!

[Carolien]

I adored Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It has been on my TBR for 10 years and I can only berate myself for leaving such a fun, Cinderella story for so long. Miss Pettigrew is a spinster and governess facing penury when she accidently stumbles in Miss Delysia LaFosse's apartment to apply for a position. Within minutes she finds herself getting rid of one man for Miss LaFosse before the next one arrives and advising the owner of the best beauty parlour in London on her relationship. Loved, loved this one!

[Karol]

Carolien wrote: "I adored Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It has been on my TBR for 10 years and I can only berate myself for leaving such a fun, Cinderella story for so long. "

I loved this one, too! I checked my Goodreads shelves and I read it in 2017. Gave it 5 stars.

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Carolien wrote: "Alondra wrote: "Carolien wrote: "Another book down (more of a novella actually). The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish written in 1664 is generally regarded as the..."

The kindle edition is only 94 pg. ADDED!

[Lillie]

Carolien wrote: "I adored Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It has been on my TBR for 10 years and I can only berate myself for leaving such a fun, Cinderella story for so long."

Yes! Add me to the list of lovers of this book. A 5 star read for me as well.

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Kudos for knocking out 8 books on this 2nd 12+4 challenge, Carolien!! 🤗