Algernon/s challenge tracking 2025

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

My first Play Harder list, and right now I'm having fun with trying to select books that are already on my TBR list and fit the conditions.
As a new member , I welcome advice if I misunderstood the rules and if somebody has a good suggestion for what to include in a certain theme.[in particular no. 10]

Challenge no.1 list of 12

1. Read a historical mystery NOT set in the US or UK
possible candidates:
- George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman; book one in the Flashman series, starts in England but moves soon to Afghanistan in the XIX century
Amitav Gosh - Sea of Poppies; first book in the Ibis trilogy about the Poppy Wars in China

2. A fiction book featuring a religious ritual
possible candidates:
Robert Harris - Conclave; because I notice the movie adaptation was at the Oscars this year and I've liked other books by Harris
Maria Rosa Menocal - The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain; because I've had it on my tablet for several years, and I loved my visit to Al-Andalus
Graham Greene - The Power and the Glory; this one would be a re-read because it is the best on the subject of religion in modern times that I tried

3. A book set in Australia or New Zealand
possible candidates:
Garry Disher - Day's End; because this is an onging series I'm interesting in. book four
Tim Winton - Dirt Music; because the blurb sounds interesting
Nevil Shute - anything by him would be a re-read, because he is at the top of my favorite authors and I've already read everything he wrote about Australia.

4. Read the fiction bestseller from the year you were born.
I've checked the New York Times bestseller list and the only titles I have not read yet are:
Ernest Hemingway - A Movable Feast;
Saul Bellow - Herzog;
Ken Kesey - Sometimes a Great Notion;

5. A book published in the 1980's
possible candidates:
James Crumley - Dancing Bear; another ongoing series
Don DeLillo - White Noise; he has been on my TBR for many years
Robin McKinley - The Blue Sword; because I like to include some fantasy each month

6. A book where the setting or plot includes a theatrical performance
possible candidates:
Barbara Hambly - Scandal in Babylon;
Silvia Moreno Garcia - The Seventh Veil of Salome or Silver Nitrate;
David Nicholls - The Understudy; because I loved Sweet Sorrow by him;
Newton Thorburg - Dreamland; noir about Hollywood film industry

7. A book where the main character is an author, writer, or journalist
possible candidates:
Christopher Brookmyre - Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks; book six in an ongoing series about an investigative journalist
Andrew O'Hagan - Mayflies; the narrator is an author, but I already finished the book in March before the challenge started
Saul Bellow - Herzog; it fits in two categories on the list

8. A book by a BIPOC author
possible candidates:
James McBride - The Good Lord Bird; Percival Everett - James;
James Sallis - Eye of the Cricket; ongoing series about a New Orleans private investigator

9. Read a book that a PBT member has on their top ten list of 2024;
possible candidates:
Percival Everett - James;
Abraham Verghese - The Covenant of Water;
Kaliane Bradley - The Ministry of Time;

10. Read a book about the Civil Rights Movement
possible candidates:
Richard Brautigan - Trout Fishing in America;
Percival Everett - The Trees;
Tony Morrison - Song of Solomon;
Jennifer Latham - Dreamland Burning;

11. Read a book by an author who uses three names
possible candidates:
William Kent Krueger - Thunder Bay; ongoing series about a half-native private investigator/cop in Minnesota
Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Prince of Mists; Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Leaf Storm;
Mario Vargas Llosa - The Storyteller or The Green House or The Bad Girl;
Michael Scott Rohan - Chase the Morning;
George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman;
Jorge Luis Borges - The Widow Ching;
Manly Wade Wellman - John the Balladeer
Lois McMaster Bujold - a Penric & Desdemona novella
Silvia Moreno Garcia - she is in another topic on the list

12. Read a book set in Minnesota
possible candidates:
William Kent Krueger - Thunder Bay;
John Sandford - Rules of Prey;
Jonathan Franzen - Freedom;
J Ryan Stradal - Kitchens of the Great Midwest;
Emma Bull - War for the Oaks;
Craig Thomson - Blankets; this would be a re-read

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

so far, I've started on [1.] Flashman and [2.] The Ornament of the World

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

prompt 11: Read a book by an author who uses three names:

✅ George MacDonald Fraser - The Flashman Papers 01 - Flashman - 4 stars
my review here

I was initially planning to submit this for prompt 1. on my list, because it is a historical adventure set in Afghanistan in 1842, but it is not really a mystery and parts of the story (the beginning and the end) are set in England.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

prompt 6: A book where the setting or plot include a theatrical performance

✅ Barbara Hambly - Scandal in Babylon (A Silver Screen Historical Mystery 01)
my review here

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

prompt 2: A Fiction book featuring a religious ritual

✅ Maria Rosa Menocal - The Ornament of the World
my review here

note: yes, I know the book is non-fiction, but it has waited its turn on my shelves for several years.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

prompt 12: Read a book set in Minnesota

✅ William Kent Krueger - The River We Remember
my review here

Krueger is the obvious choice for me when thinking about Minnesota, and this stand-alone historical mystery checks multiple boxes in my first list, prompts 10. and 11. and 12.
As a bonus, there are three strong women among the main cast, so I think I will shelve it for the May tag also.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 1. Read a historical mystery not set in UK or US

✅ Robert van Gulik - 'The Chinese Maze Murders'
my review here

I wanted to pick a straight historical book, before I noticed that I'm supposed to read a mystery, so I went back to one of the series that's been waiting its turn for several years.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 3. A book set in Australia or New Zealand.

✅ Garry Disher - 'Day's End'
my review here

Fourth book set in small town Tiverton in the Outback. This one has a spring setting and a complex investigation that combines Covid denial, white supremacists, aboriginal cultural theft, drug use and violent militias. It's a heavy load to rest on the shoulders of one man, but Constable Hirsch is up to the task.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 4. Read a fiction bestseller from the year you were born.

✅ Ernest Hemingway - 'A Moveable Feast'
my review here

Hemingway himself warns that his sketches are based on memories but are fictionalized accounts of events. And it is on the NYT bestseller list from 1964. Besides, I'm going to Paris in less than a week and I don't care about tags.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 10. Read a book about the Civil Rights Movement

✅ Jennifer Lathan - 'Dreamland Burning'
my review here

Fiction anchored in real evens in the Greenwod District of Tulsa, 1921

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 9. Read a book that a PBT member has on their top ten list of 2024

✅ Percival Everett - 'James'
my review here

Well, it was the number one book of 2024, according to the number of votes from members, so I guess it must have been also in the individual lists of members.
Turns out, it deserves the position and the praise.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 5. A book published in the 1980's

✅ Robin McKinley - 'The Blue Sword'
my review here

First published in 1982, I avoided it for along time, thinking it would be more romance than adventure. I was wrong, and McKinley proved to be a very skilled storyteller.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 7. A book where the main character is an author, writer, or journalist

✅ Christopher Brookmyre - 'Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks'
my review here

Investigative journalist and renowned sceptic Jack Parlabane tackles psychic who claims being able to speak with the dead. To his own consternation, Jack's arguments are sabotaged by his own demise and ghostly presence in the novel. Isn't it ironic?

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 8. A book by a BIPOC author

✅ James Sallis - 'Eye of the Cricket'
my review here

I saved the best for last from my first list. This is my favorite book in the Lew Griffin series, about a private investigator in New Orleans because it ignores genre restrictions and crosses effortlessly into poetry and existentialism. And all in under 200 pages.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Time to explore the options for my second list and dig through the TBR mountain:

1. A book that includes a religious character or setting
Herman Hesse - Siddhartha
Chitra Banerje Divakaruni - The Palace of Illusions
Anita Diamant - The Red Tent
Mary Doria Russell - The Sparrow

2. Read a celebrity memoir (any kind of celebrity - actors, chefs, sports stars, royals, etc)
Susanna Kaysen - Girl, Interrupted
Joan Didion - The White Album
Bill Bryson - A Walk in the Woods

3. A book featuring first contact
Mary Doria Russell - The Sparrow
Octavia Butler - Dawn
Elizabeth Moon - Remnant Population

4. Read an essay collection
Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet
Jean Paul Sartre - Existentialism is a Humanism
Henry David Thoreau - Walden, or Life in the Woods
Georges Bataille - Literature and Evil

5. Read a book by an author with the same last name as one of your favorite writers
Smith? , Duncan?

6. Read a book set in a country, territory, province, or state you have always wanted to visit
Jon Kalman Stefansson - Heaven and Hell [Iceland]

7. A book published in the 1980's
James Crumley - Dancing Bear
Don DeLillo - White Noise

8. A book that has a comma in the title (or sub-title)
Henry David Thoreau - Walden, or Life in the Woods
Susanna Kaysen - Girl, Interrupted
Sofia Samatar - The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain

9. Read a book set in a country with a coast on the Mediterranean Sea
Lawrence Durrell - Justine
Italo Calvino - The Non-Existent Knight
Elsa Morante - Arturo's Island
Marguerite Duras - The Sailor from Gibraltar

10. A book with a title that references a nursery rhyme or fairy tale.
Georgette Heyer - Friday's Child
Christopher Fowler - London Bridge Is Coming Down

11. Read a book nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction or Non-Fiction
Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace
Louise Erdrich - The Sentence
Barbara Kinsolver - Demon Copperhead
Hannah Kent - Burial Rites
Kate Atkinson - Life After Life

12. A book with an Asian main character
Gregory David Roberts - Shantaram
Chitra Banerje Divakaruni - The Mistress of Spices
Eiji Yoshikawa - Taiko

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 10. from my second list: A book with a title that references a nursery rhyme or fairy tale.

✅ Georgette Heyer - 'Friday's Child'
my review here

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living.
But the child that is born on Sabbath day,
Is bonny and blithe, good and gay.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 9. from my second list: Read a book set in a country with a coast on the Mediterranean Sea

✅ Elsa Morante - 'Arturo's Island'
my review here

Takes place on the island of Procida, in the Gulf of Naples

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 3. from my second list: A book featuring first contact

✅ Elizabeth Moon - 'Remnant Population'
my review here

Octogenarian Ofelia stays behind when her colony is abandoned. A remnant population of 1. Then she meets the aliens that are the original inhabitants of her planet.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 5. from my second list: Read a book by an author with the same last name as one of your favorite writers

favorite author picked: David James Duncan

✅ Dave Duncan - The King's Blades 02 - 'Lord of the Fire Lands'
my review here

So, I managed to find both the first and the last name twins for this prompt.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 1. from my second list: A book that includes a religious character or setting

✅ Herman Hesse - 'Siddhartha'
my review here

Not a biography of the historical Gautama Buddha, but the personal journey to revelation of one of his contemporaries, a young man named Siddhartha who sets out on a journey of self-discovery.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 7. from my second list: A book published in the 1980's

✅ James Crumley - 'Dancing Bear'

my review here

Second book in the Milo Milodragovitch series, but can be read as a standalone. First published January 1, 1983

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 8. from my second list: A book that has a comma in the title (or sub-title)

✅ Henry David Thoreau - 'Walden, or Life in the Woods'

my review here

Could have gone also with prompt 4. Read an Essay Collection, but I thought I have more interesting choices there. Anyway, Thoreau was a close fit for my own love of the woods.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 2. from my second list Read a celebrity memoir (any kind of celebrity - actors, chefs, sports stars, royals, etc)

✅ Woody Allen - 'Apropos of Nothing'

my review

Not an easy choice, because I don't dig celebrity culture, but I like Allen's movies

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 4. Read an essay collection

✅ Italo Calvino - 'Six Memos for the New Millenium'

my review here

Essays about the values to be pursued in the literature of tomorrow.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 6. from my second list: Read a book set in a country, territory, province, or state you have always wanted to visit
Country I want to visit: Iceland

✅ Jon Kalman Stefansson - 'Heaven and Hell'

my review here

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 11. Read a book nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction or Non-Fiction

✅ Louise Erdrich - 'The Sentence'

review here

Shortlisted in 2022

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 12. and the last from my second list: A book with an Asian main character

Abraham Verghese - 'The Covenant of Water'

my review here

Big Ammachi - Kerala, India, 100-1977

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Time to plan for my third list:

1. Read a book that is out of your comfort zone
something romantasy?

2. A book with an adverb in the title
James Hadley Chase - There's Always a Price Tag
Adrian Tchaikovsky - City of Last Chances

3. A book by an author praised for their beautiful writing, gorgeous prose, lyricism, etc.
Jon Kalman Stefansson, Wendell Berry, Penelope Lively, Patricia McKillip?

4. Read one of the top ten most popular books on your tbr (defined by number of ratings)
Chris Whittaker - All the Colors of the Dark
Shelby Van Pelt - Remarkably Bright Creatures

5. Read a book with a title that contains a fraction
(quarter, half, third)
Jo Walton - Farthing; Ha'penny; Half a Crown
Stuart Turton - The 7 1/2 Lives of Evelyn Hardcastle

6. A book you haven't read yet from one of your favorite authors
William Boyd - The Romantic
T Kingfisher - A Sorceress Comes to Call

7. A book set in the fashion industry
need help

8. Read book #100 on your want to read shelf
Jayne Anne Phillips - Black Tickets

9. The title contains one of the same words as the last book you completed (excluding a, an, and the)
- to be determined -

10. Read a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Elizabeth Strout - Olive Kitteridge
Jhumpa Lahiri - Interpreter of Maladies
Barbara Kingsolver - Demon Copperhead

11. Read a book with an outdoor scene on the cover.
Paulette Jiles - News of the World
William Kent Krueger - Thunder Bay
John Banville - The Drowned

12. A book featuring dinosaurs or paleontology
James Gurney - Dinotopia
Douglas Preston - Tyrannosaur Canyon
Greg Bear - Dinosaur Summer

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 3. from my third list: A book by an author praised for their beautiful writing, gorgeous prose, lyricism, etc.

✅ Jon Kalman Stefansson - The Sorrow of Angels

my review here

An easy choice, since I already read the first book in the series. This is one of those books I would like to quote full pages from.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 9. The title contains one of the same words as the last book you completed (excluding a, an, and the)

✅ Denis Johnson - Angels

my review here

Wow! Two poets and two five star stories in a row. Read after 'The Sorrow of Angels '

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 7. from my third list: A book set in the fashion industry

✅ Madeleine St. John - The Women in Black

my review here

Suggested by PBT helpers. Thank you!

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 4. from my third list: Read one of the top ten most popular books on your TBR (defined by number of ratings)

✅ Shelby van Pelt - Remarkably Bright Creatures

my review here

1,135,168 ratings134,530 reviews

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 2. from my third list: A book with an adverb in the title

✅ James Hadley Chase - There's Always a Price Tag

my review here

English grammar is not my strong point, but always looks like a safe choice for an adverb

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 6. from my third list: A book you haven't read yet from one of your favorite authors

✅ William Boyd - The Romantic

my review here

I have read 11 books by this author, all of them special

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 8. from my third list: Read book #100 on your want to read shelf

✅ Jayne Anne Phillips - Black Tickets: Stories

my review here

Waiting its turn since 2014

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 1. from my third list: Read a book that is out of your comfort zone

✅ Rebecca Yarros - Fourth Wing

my review here

Romantasy is not my cup of tea, I have too much respect for classic epic fantasy, but this one was decent

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Prompt 5. from my third list: Read a book with a title that contains a fraction (quarter, half, third)

✅ Stuart Turton - The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

my review here

It's the half murder that was the most puzzling