What’s In a Name
Hosted by Carolina Book Nook. Read a book from each of the following categories:
Cardinal direction – South and West by Joan Didion
Wanderlust – The Coast Road by Alan Murrin
First & last name – Martin John by by Anakana Schofield
Alliteration – Perfume & Pain by Anna Dorn
Deity – In Cars: On Diana by Leanne Shapton
Crime – Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
Challenge complete May 1st.
Nonfiction Reader Challenge
Hosted by Book’d Out. I’m going for the Nonfiction Nosher category (12 books from different non-fiction categories) even though I’m already at a loss for a couple of categories:
History – Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang
Memoir/Biography – Grief is For People by Sloane Crosley
True Crime – Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
Science – Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui
Health – How Do You Feel? by Jessi Gold
Food – My First Popsicle by Zosia Mamet
Travel – South and West by Joan Didion
Garden – The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart
Myth, Legend and Folklore – Bachelor Nation by Amy Kaufman
Islands – Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky
How-To – How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Published in 2025 – Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
Challenge complete October 9th.
Memoir Reading Challenge
I read lots of memoirs so figure I can manage a memoir challenge. This one is hosted by Whatever I Think Of and the task is to read five memoirs from a list of 30 categories (such as humour, best-sellers, political, illness).
01. Grief is For People by Sloane Crosley
02. Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
03. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne
04. My First Popsicle by Zosia Mamet
05. Sociopath by Patric Gagne
Challenge complete February 2nd but I’ll keep going…
06. South and West by Joan Didion
07. How Do You Feel? by Jessi Gold
08. Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband by Kerstin Pilz
09. The Season by Helen Garner
10. Splinters by Leslie Jamison
11. Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
12. Hip Hop & Hope by Romi Grossberg
13. Arrangements in Blue by Amy Key
14. Say It Again In A Nice Voice by Meg Mason
15. The Tidal Year by Freya Bromley
16. Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent
17. Everything, Nothing, Someone by Alice Carrière
18. Uses for Obsession by Ben Shewry
19. Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui
20. Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
21. The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
22. Cult Bride by Liz Cameron
23. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
24. Notes to John by Joan Didion
25. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
26. Shame by Annie Ernaux
27. All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert
28. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Cover Lovers
Hosted by Bloggin ’bout Books, the focus is on finding covers that 50 various categories. I’ve picked this challenge because I read lots of ebooks and therefore don’t take time to ponder cover design as much as I would with a hard copy. I’m going for Level Two: 11 – 20 books.
01. An illustrated scene: The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
02. No people: Grief is For People by Sloane Crosley
03. Shadow: Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
04. Historical photograph: The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne
05. Food: My First Popsicle by Zosia Mamet
06. Submerged in water: The Most by Jessica Anthony
07. Title that makes me laugh: Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband by Kerstin Pilz
08. Sports equipment: The Season by Helen Garner
09. Floral elements: Rapture by by Emily Maguire
10. A bird: Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
11. A lighted window: Arrangements in Blue by Amy Key
12. Depiction of a famous person: In Cars: On Diana by Leanne Shapton
13. Eyewear: Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
14. Your favourite colour: Everything, Nothing, Someone by Alice Carrière
15. A flag, pennant, or banner: Pissants by Brandon Jack
16. A proper noun in the title – Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
17. A summery scene – Cure by Katherine Brabon
18. A mode of transportation – Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
19. Someone wearing period clothing – Lady Susan by Jane Austen
20. A wintery scene – Eurotrash by Christian Kracht
Challenge complete December 13
Around the World in 80 Books
Around the World in 80 Books is an ongoing reading challenge hosted by Hard Book Habit. I read books representing 19 countries in 2017; 18 countries in 2018, nine countries in 2019; five countries in 2020; seven countries in 2021; three countries in 2022, five countries in 2023; and five countries in 2024 (Albania, America, Argentina, Armenia, Antarctica, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greenland, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesser Antilles, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Guinea, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tonga, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam, Wales and Zimbabwe). That’s a total of 71. I will continue the journey this year and hope to visit five more countries –
01. Hip Hop & Hope by Romi Grossberg (Cambodia)
02. Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis (Iraq)
03. Brother by David Chariandy (Trinidad)
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Mount TBR Challenge
Mount TBR Challenge is hosted by My Reader’s Block and is all about reading from what you already own. I’m aiming for the Mt. Ararat level: Read 48 books from your TBR pile/s.
01. The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
02. Grief is For People by Sloane Crosley
03. The Circle by Dave Eggers
04. The Anthropologists by Aysegül Savas
05. Banal Nightmare by Halle Butler
06. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne
07. My First Popsicle by Zosia Mamet
08. The Most by Jessica Anthony
09. Splinters by Leslie Jamison
10. The Season by Helen Garner
11. Martin John by Anakana Schofield
12. Bachelor Nation by Amy Kaufman
13. I’m Sorry You Feel That Way by Rebecca Wait
14. The First Stone by Helen Garner
15. In Cars: On Diana by Leanne Shapton
16. Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky
17. Say It Again In A Nice Voice by Meg Mason
18. The Tidal Year by Freya Bromley
19. Everything, Nothing, Someone by Alice Carrière
20. The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li
21. Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui
22. How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
23. The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
24. The Unwilding by Marina Kemp
25. The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart
26. Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins
27. Grand Union by Zadie Smith
28. Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny
29. Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang
30. Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan
31. Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry by Christine Sneed
32. Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
33. Finding Meaning by David Kessler
34. The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck
35. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
36. Lady Susan by Jane Austen
37. Brother by David Chariandy
38. Shame by Annie Ernaux
39. The AfterGrief by Hope Edelman
40. Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
41. Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson
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