Pam's Completed Motley Reading Challenge 2023

[Pam]

Completed: 25/25

✔️1. A book with a villain.
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
✔️2. A book written by an author with the first initial of A or Z.
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
✔️3. A book released over 5 years ago.
Miguel Street by V.S. Naipaul
✔️4. A book with a protagonist that is over 40.
Victory City by Salman Rushdie
✔️5. A book that has an even number of pages.
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (176 pp)
✔️6. A book with an intriguing title.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
✔️7. A book involving a lie.
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
✔️8. A book with alternating time periods.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
✔️9. A book about revenge.
Moonraker by Ian Fleming
10. A book set in the 1980’s.
✔️11. A book that is dusty on your shelf
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
✔️12. A book under 300 pages.
Masters of the Dew by Jacques Roumain (180 pages)
✔️13. A family drama.
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
✔️14. A book with a one word title.
Julius by Daphne du Maurier
✔️15. A book centered around a holiday.
Hercule Poirot's Christmas
✔️16. A book that starts with “H”.
How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino
✔️17. A book with a beautiful cover.
The History of Science Fiction: A Graphic Novel Adventure by Xavier Dollo
✔️18, A female author that is new to you.
My Neighbor Totoro by Tsugiko Kubo
✔️19. A new book by your favorite author
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Aug)
✔️20. A story about a road trip.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Aug)
✔️21. A book that is co-authored.
Monday Starts on Saturday
✔️22. A gothic or noir novel.
House of Mist: A Novel by María Luisa Bombal
✔️23. A book with an autumn vibe.
Psycho by Robert Bloch
✔️24. A book set in a place you want to visit.
Dolphin Island by Arthur C. Clarke
✔️25. A book with a purple cover.
Milky Way Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa
✔️26. A book with a happy ending
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

[Pam]

I'm making good progress on this challenge - 4 finished and 3 currently being read! But, since I am trying to not duplicate books on this list with the 12+4 list, that challenge is still at zero! It's still early in the year, though.

[Pam]

Finished 4 more in February + one for my 12+4 challenge. Two in the works - Horse and House of Mist and the Shrouded Woman Two Novels: Two Novels by Maria Luisa Bombal. Total read this year - 5 classics and 3 non-classics which were all sci-fi related. Catching up on the classics this year!

[Pam]

Finished 5 more and have 1 in the works and 1 I have to check out of the library again to read. I'm switching back to my 12+4 challenge to read some books on my TBR and gathering dust in my house! Also, I'm doing some bilingual reading, which takes me more than twice as long as reading in just English since I'm noting new words/phrases. I'm having to cut back and not note everything that is new! So much new Spanish vocab for me but a lot more that I now know, which is encouraging! (Thank you Duolingo!)

[Pam]

Finished 1 more for a total of 14. Prompt 13. A family drama - I read Book 3 in the Neapolitan Novel series Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante. This is an excellent series with lots of drama and introspection into women's lives.

[Pam]

Finished 1 more for a total of 15. Prompt #11. A book that is dusty on your shelf - I read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. This was a re-read for a sci-fi book club meeting. The book holds up over all the years (128)!

I'm currently reading David Copperfield and the modern retelling Demon Copperhead for prompt #1. I think there will be a villain in the 2 books.

[Pam]

Finished 2 more for a total of 19.
19. A new book by your favorite author
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
- I don't have a favorite author but one of my favorite books was written by Verghese so I went with him.

21. A book that is co-authored.
Monday Starts on Saturday by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
- This was a very odd book. I read it for a GR group read in another group and for my library SF group, both in August. I will be interested in the discussions! Should be quite interesting! It is a satire on the USSR scientific research.

The rest of the prompts are doable but a book centered around a holiday - I have no idea!

[Pam]

5 more to go. Can I do it?? None of the books I'm planning to read for the rest of the year fit these categories.

[Pam]

Finished one more- A Psalm for the Wild-Built and used it for #20 Road trip. It's not the book I was planning to read but I think it fits. The monk Dex takes off into the wilderness with their wagon on a road. Not the traditional road trip but they are on a road and it is a trip. This was an enjoyable book with an optimistic, hopeful future. I look forward to reading book #2 in the series.

[Pam]

Finished 22nd book- book about revenge: Moonraker. The storyline is very different than the movie but the book was ok (2.75 stars), not my favorite genre. The same problems I have with the movies, I have with the book! Why does the villain always leave Bond with a way to escape instead of just offing him?!

[Pam]

First time finishing this challenge!

[Patricia]

Congrats, Pam! I don't think I'm going to make it this year, but will keep trying.