Hello fellow readers! I've made quite a bit of progress on my reading challenge since I last updated it, and thought I should get around to that! I only have a handful of books left to read for this, two of which should be quite short (the graphic novel and the play) so I think I'm in good shape for finishing this before the end of the year!
Completed
-A book that became a movie. I read Monuments Men for this one, and really liked it. I thought it was going to closely overlap with The Rape of Europa, which I read in school, but it didn't. It's much more of a narrative history, and includes tons of stuff that Europa didn't even touch on in regards to the Monuments Men and their efforts to protect Europe's treasures during the Allied advance.
-A book more than 100 years old. I'd originally planned to use 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for this, but I really wasn't feeling that, so I read A Little Princess instead. Published in 1905, it fit the category, and I liked the story. I remember having a movie when I was little that had a preview for A Little Princess' film adaptation attached, but I never actually saw the adaptation. Now I think I can see where some of the preview imagery was coming from!
-A book that came out the year you were born. I read Outlander for this category, and had mixed feelings about it. That said, I'm reading on in the series, and have started Dragonfly in Amber. I basically want to get to the books where Brianna becomes more of a character. It seems like she does from the descriptions, and I hope that's true, because I think I'll like her more than I like Claire.
-A book from an author you love but haven't read yet. I read Tamora Pierce's Battle Magic for this, and was quite disappointed. I feel like a lot of the problems I had with it came from its nature of being an mid-quel--a book written after two other books, but taking place between them. It felt like Pierce was more locked into the plot than in others, and that she couldn't really develop things as she normally would have, which meant the magic I so frequently find in her books was lacking.
-A book at the bottom of your to-read list. I used Seabiscuit for this. It wasn't numerically at the bottom of my to-read list, but my list isn't actually sorted by "want" as much as "when added," so it doesn't correspond much. After checking Seabiscuit out, I realized I had the wrong horse story in mind and pretty much lost my interest in reading it--at which point I realized I could use it for this category. And when I started reading it, I liked it quite a bit! What a pleasant surprise.
-A book from your childhood. I asked for the wonderful anniversary edition of the Harry Potter box set for my birthday last month, and quickly read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for this. I read the book initially when I was pretty young (probably 9 or 10, I'd say) but it was definitely just as magical today as it was then.
-A book that scares you. This was another category I ended up inadvertently filling, with The Glittering World. It was definitely very creepy and made me sort of nauseous, in a weird way. Books never scare me in a "keeps you up at night" sort of way (TV shows do, though!) so I think this was as close as I'm going to get for this category.
-A book with a love triangle. I read Endless Knight for this, along with its sequel Dead of Winter. The love triangle starts in Endless but doesn't really get going until Dead, so I think they're best paired together for this category.
-A book set in high school. When I couldn't get my hands on Perks of Being a Wallflower, I read The Unraveling of Mercy Louis instead. While I found the writing beautiful and the story compelling, I was frustrated by the ambiguity of the ending.
-A banned book. As planned, I read The Kite Runner for this. I can see why people banned it in certain schools and areas, though I heartily disagree with their ideas for doing so, and feel that the beauty of the book and the compelling plot line more than outweigh any cursing or "dangerous" depictions of homosexuality that people object to.
Still to Go
-A classic romance. I picked up Anna Karenina at a used bookstore a while back, so I'm going to use that one.
-A book written by someone under 30. I really didn't want to read Divergent for this, so I went to the NaNoWriMo Facebook group and asked for suggestions. Allison Beckert volunteered her book Mishap Mansion as fitting this category, due to her age, so I bought it. Now I just have to get around to reading it!
-A popular author's first book. I wanted to go with a big author for this one, and because Terry Pratchett died recently, I've settled on The Carpet People.
-A Pulitzer Prize-winning book. Like pretty much everyone else out there, I'm going to knock this one out with All the Light We Cannot See.
-A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't. I was a good student and read the books I was assigned, and I could only think of one exception that wasn't an actual textbook: Affairs of Honor. It's apparently about early congressmen, senators, etc. being bitchy to each other, so it shouldn't be too bad of a read.
-A graphic novel. Sharaz-de is a graphic novel inspired by 1001 Arabian Nights, and I've been eyeing it up for a while now. Plus, Scheherazade is pretty much my favorite fairy tale ever.
-A book that takes place in your hometown. After finding that The Dressmaker didn't really work for this one, I've re-directed myself toward Second Position by Katherine Locke. This takes place in DC.
-A play. I haven't decided on this yet, though I'll probably keep it basic and do Shakespeare.
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