Reading Challenge Updates

One month into 2018 and I'm done with the first four titles of my reading challenge; I want to space these at about four per month, which gives me a little "squish" room on months where I'll be tackling longer titles, such as Drums of Autumn.  I think I've run out of books that I already own for these categories, or at least that come to mind, so I'm going to have to start branching out to find titles to fill the categories currently lacking them.


Completed
-True crime.  For this, I settled on Lost Girls by Robert Kolker.  This focuses on the victims of a string of yet-unsolved murders on Long Island.  While there isn't a satisfying conclusion because the crimes aren't solved, and that also means that some of the investigation is still under wraps, I appreciated the focus on the victims rather than potential suspects (for the most part) and also how Kolker turned the focus onto women who work in the sex industry, and how the justice system fails them.  Not a happy read but a good one.

-The next book in a series you started.  Cobweb Empire by Vera Nazarian is the sequel to Cobweb Bride, which I read a few years ago.  It's a second book, which meant that not a lot happened because of a severe case of Second Book Syndrome.  The geography of this world continued confuse me and there are way too many characters running around doing nothing of much importance.  I'll probably finish the series, but the first book was definitely stronger that this one was.

-A book with characters who are twins.  I love books about books, and that is what Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale is.  The story twining throughout the present-day tale is a mystery that, while puzzling, is possible to unravel, and there's also a timeless sort of quality to the book that I really appreciated.  The story is slow, but so many things are brewing at the same time in the background narrative that it didn't really feel slow--and that ending!  Oh, the ambiguity.  Very  nice.

-A past Goodreads Choice Awards Winner.  Into the Water is Paula Hawkins' second book, following The Girl on the Train.  It's very different from TGOTT.  It has a wonderful atmosphere and a sort of dreamy, floaty, and yet sinister mystery, but I didn't find the book to be as strong overall.  There were way too many characters running around, making it hard to develop any of them or even keep them all straight at some points, and the characters spent the whole time running around trying to figure out what was told to them early on, which was immensely frustrating.  Thumbs up for atmosphere, but meh overall.



Still to Come
-A book made into a movie you've already seen.  Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones

-A book involving a heist.  The Palace Job, Patrick Weekes

-Nordic noir.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson

-A novel based on a real person.  Circling the Sun, Paula McLain

-A book set in a country that fascinates you.  Sky Burial, Xinran--this is one that I'll be reading for a book club and so will need to obtain somehow.

-A book with a time of day in the title.  Light in the Gloaming, J. B. Simmons

-A book about a villain or antihero.

-A book about death or grief.

-A book by a female author who uses a male pseudonym.  I want to use the new Robert Galbraith (aka J. K. Rowling) book for this but it doesn't have a release date, so if it doesn't work out I'll use a work by one of the Bronte sisters, who used male pseudonyms.

-A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist.  Wanted, a Gentleman, K. J. Charles--this one isn't actually one I own or is lined up for a book club, but it was reportedly one of the best romance novels of the year and historical romances with LGBTQ+ bends are fairly rare, so I'm going to go for it.

-A book that is also a stage play or musical.  Anna and the King of Siam, Margaret London

-A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you.  The Bollywood Bride, Sonali Dev

-A book about feminism.

-A book about mental illness.  The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

-A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift.  Clockwork Prince, Cassandra Clare

-A book by two authors.  Burn for Me, Ilona Andrews--this is a pen name used by a writing team of Ilona and Andrew Gordon, who are married and write books together!  #relationshipgoals

-A book about for involving a sport.  Riding Lessons, Sara Gruen

-A book by a local author.

-A book with your favorite color in the title.  Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote--yes, Tiffany blue is my favorite color.  It's just such a gorgeous shade of blue-green that no other color quite captures.

-A book with alliteration in the title.  Salt & Storm, Kendall Kulper

-A book about time travel.  Drums of Autumn, Diana Gabaldon

-A book with a weather element in the title.  Tempests and Slaughter, Tamora Pierce

-A book set at sea.  The Unimaginable, Dina Silver

-A book with an animal in the title.  Big Fish, Daniel Wallace

-A book set on a different planet.  The Sparrow, Mary Dorica Russell--this is the sci-fi book for discussion this year in the Deliberate Reader book club that I'll need to get.

-A book with song lyrics in the title.  Catch Me If You Can, Rank W. Abagnale--this is like a million songs, apparently, though I'm not familiar with any of them.

-A book about or set on Halloween.

-A book mentioned in another book.

-A book from a celebrity book club.

-A childhood classic you've never read.  The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett--I don't own this one but I don't have a lot of "childhood classics" lying about, so I'll have to get one no matter what.

-A book that's published in 2018.  A Reaper at the Gates, Sabaa Tahir

-A book set in the decade you were born.

-A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn't get to.  Arcana Rising, Kresley Cole

-A book with an ugly cover.  Brave New World, Aldous Huxley--I know there are tons of editions of this book, but mine has these weird blood cell-like things on the cover and it is weird and gross.

-A book that involves a bookstore or library.  Smoke and Iron, Rachel Caine

-Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 Popsugar Reading Challenges.  Beauty, Robin McKinley, from the 2016 category "A book based on a fairy tale."

-A bestseller from the year you graduated high school.  Silver Borne, Patricia Briggs--I don't own this one, but I've been reading the entire series through the library so continuing just makes sense!

-A cyberpunk book.

-A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place.

-A book tied to your ancestry.  In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson--I'm half German so I picked a book that takes place in Germany, since I don't think there's anything both more specific and particularly interesting in my ancestry that there'd be a good book about.

-A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title.  The Garlic Ballads, Mo Yan--yes, garlic is a vegetable!  It is actually a type of onion.  #themoreyouknow

-An allegory.  Watership Down, Richard Adams--another book club title.

-A book by an author with the same first or last name as you.

-A microhistory.  The Radium Girls, Kate Moore

-A book about a problem facing society today.  Sex Object, Jessica Valenti

-A book recommended by someone else taking the Popsugar Reading Challenge.