The Reading Challenge Group discussion

This year my goal will be to read more of the books I already own. I want to read 75 books that were purchased before January 1, 2017. My reading challenge goal will be 180 books.

I will participate in various challenges throughout the course of the year.

Books I plan on reading: Jude the Obscure, and one book for each of these authors: Charles Dickens and George Eliot. I read Silas Marner in June. I read The Cricket on the Hearth in August.

Year-long challenges:

Anti-Alphabet - Finished Round 1 (April), Finished Round 2 (October)

Doorstopper - The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope

Chunkster - Finished Round 1 (May), Finished Round 2 (October)

Decades - Completed on October 7

Cereal Numbers - Completed Level 1 for Little House series (October), Competed Level 1 for Ramona series (October), Completed Level 1 for Sarah, Plain and Tall series (December)


50 Book - Completed in February***

Buyer's Remorse -
Round 1 Completed*
Round 2 Completed**
Round 3 Completed***
Round 4 Completed****

World Gone Geek - Completed in May***

Let's Have Pie:

Award Winners Pie - May
Guardian Pie #1 * - February
Guardian Pie #2** - April
Boxall Pie - June
Guardian Pie #3***- September
Guardian Pie#4****-November

Reading Like a Rory - Completed Levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The Real McCoy - 15 books (goal was 5 books)

Alphabet Soup - Finished in June

Featherweight -
Finished Round 1 - March*
Finished Round 2 - May**
Finished Round 3 - May ***
Finished Round 4 - August****
Finished Round 5 - September*****
Finished Round 6 - November******

Crazy Calendar - completed in October

Reach for the Stars

Pop Sugar - completed goal of 15 books***

Brush up on Shakespeare The Taming of the Shrew, Antony and Cleopatra Titus Andronicus, King Lear, Hamlet, Shakespeare's Sonnets, Pericles, Hamlet, The Poems

Influential Women Little Women, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Overachiever's Challenge (50 books +)

Maxi challenges: Winter

New to You - Completed Levels 1 and 2 (January) Completed Level 3 (February) - 6 books Challenge Completed.

Winter Bingo - one row down completed, one row across completed (Feb.) 2 Bingos in total.

Travel the World-Africa
1. The Cow-Tail Switch: And Other West AfricanStories January
2. Out of Bounds January
3. Things Fall Apart February

Down with History - Challenge completed
1.Across Five Aprils January
2. Lorna Doone February
3. Scaramouche February
4. Barometer Rising February
5. Picnic at Hanging Rock February
6. Water Rat by Marnie Laird March

Mini challenges: January

Theme of the Month - New Beginnings - The Chestry Oak and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

First, First - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Lunar New Year - In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

Human Rights Challenge - I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Walter Dean Myers

I have started reading Jude the Obscure and am enjoying it so far.

With 2 books I have covered 10 of the categories on World Gone Geek. My goal there is to cover as many categories as possible using 20 books.

Update on Mar. 31: goal is to cover 50 categories

Books read from my own collection:

January:
1. Das vergnügliche Leben der Doktorin Löhnefink by Konrad Beste
2. Over Prairie Trails by Frederick Philip Grove
3. Le naïf aux quarante enfants by Paul Guth
4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
5. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
6. Adventures in Understanding by David Grayson
7. Deutsche Unsinnspoesie
8. Turvey by Earle Birney
9. Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez
10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
11. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

Books from others' collections:

January:
1. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. Little House in the Big Woods

Books from the library:

January:
1. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
2. Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis
3. Storm-blast by Curtis Parkinson
4. Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
5. Monkey: A Journey to the West by David Kherdian
6. The Cow-Tail Switch: And Other West African Stories by Harold Courlander
7. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
8. I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Walter Dean Myers
9. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
10. The Ice Storm: An Historic Record in Photographs of January 1998 by Mark Abley
11. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
12. In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
13. The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy
14. Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
15. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
16. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
17. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
18. Out of Bounds by Beverley Naidoo

In the World Gone Geek challenge I have covered 15 categories using three books.

As a fun personal challenge this year, I want to read 12 books with the word "house" or "houses" in the title. The Little House books will definitely help me reach that goal.

1. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (January)
2. Little House on the Prairie(January)
3. The House on Prague Street by Hana Demetz (February)
4. The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope (April)
5. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe (March)
6. The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (September)
7. The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs (September)
8. The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne (September)
9. The House on the Cliff by Franklin W. Dixon (September)
10. A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde (September)
11. Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books by Paul Collins (November)
12. Peril at End House by Agatha Christie (October)

In the World Gone Geek challenge I have covered 18 categories with four books.

hello i want to read my own books that i got

That is a great goal, Ashley.

thank you i want to read 100 books

what is your goal

I want to read 180 books.

that is a good goal are you in school

No, Ashley. I haven't been in school for a long time as a student. I am a retired teacher with lots of time to read.

cool i am in 7th grade

I used to teach that grade for a while. It was fun.

ya it is fun but it is a little hard i need help in math and social studies

Nobody is good at everything, with me it was science.

wow ya i am good at science if i pay attention

Good for you. I liked social studies and English the best.

i dont have English yet

Becki's idea to read banned books is interesting, so I am going to see how many I can read in January, February and March

Banned Books read in 2017

January:
1. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
2. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
3. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
5. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

February:
6.Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan
7. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

March:
8.A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
9. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
10. The Cay by Theodore Taylor

I missed these two in January:
11.Little House in the Big Woods
12.Little House on the Prairie

March:
13. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Today I started playing Bookopoly and rolled 7 for Chance.
I am going to try to use just books I own (or from other family members) for the challenge, unless I really don't have any books that fit the category.

I am also reading a second book for the monthly theme New Beginnings, since the first one dealt less with new beginnings than I thought it would. ( The Chestry Oak)

100 years of solitude is a brilliant book, enjoy!

I just finished it, One Hundred Years..., and it was like living in Macondo-I loved the book, even though I was infuriated with some of the characters at times, especially Amaranta and Fernanda.

Rosemarie wrote: "I just finished it, One Hundred Years..., and it was like living in Macondo-I loved the book, even though I was infuriated with some of the characters at times, especially Amaranta and Fernanda."

I loved it, a classic.

Books read: 31

January Challenges and Theme: completed all(4)

Maxi Challenges:

New to you- 4 books
Travel the World Africa- 2 books
Down with History- 1 book

Yearly Challenges:

Buyer's Remorse- 10 books
Featherweight- 10 books
Chunkster- 3 books
Let's Have Pie- 5 books
World Gone Geek- 5 books and 23 categories

Authors new to me in January (11): Elizabeth Foreman Lewis, Curtis Parkinson, Konrad Beste, Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, David Kherdian, Harold Courlander, Dashiell Hammett, Kate DiCamillo, Vaddy Ratner, Irene Hunt

Rereads in January: (6) Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, Over Prairie Trails, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Castle of Otranto

February Mini Challenges

Theme of the Month- Love, Saints: The Taming of the Shrew, Antony and Cleopatra

I hate Valentine's Day - Rose in a Storm by Jon Katz

Sweet Talk - The Honey Thief by Najaf Mazari

African-American History - Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

February
Books read from my own collection: (11 plus)
1. Esch oder die Anarchie by Hermann Broch
2. Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore
3. Vathek by William Beckford
4. La luna e i falò by Cesare Pavese
5. Storm-Sent: A Mystery of the Sea by David Ker
6. The House on Prague Street by Hana Demetz
7. Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
8. The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

February
Books borrowed from other people: (2 plus)
1. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt

February
Books borrowed from the library: (18 plus)

1. Nonsense Novels by Stephen Leacock
2. Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
3. Stranger than we can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century by J.M.R. Higgs
4. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
5. Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
6. Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack by Austin Clarke
7. Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan
8. Dory and the Real True Friend by Abby Hanlon
9. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
10. July by James Stevenson
11. Roma Eterna by Robert Silverberg
12. Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
13. Russia's Second Revolution: The February 1917 Uprising in Petrograd by E.N. Burdzhalov
14. Le città invisibili by Italo Calvino
15. Rose in a Storm by Jon Katz
16. The Honey Thief by Najaf Mazari
17. Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
18. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
19. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

Bookopoly:
Move 1, rolled 7 Chance: finished book 1- Esch oder die Anarchie by Hermann Broch

I got my first Bingo- The N's
I need one more book for the second Bingo- the top row

I'm so impressed - 31 books in January!!! Amazing- & you met masses of challenges too. You must be incredibly organised.

Thanks Trish. I am retired and it is winter- a perfect time to read. I also have stopped watching television, unless it is with my six year old grandson. I also took a look at my collection of books and decided that I was going to make a start at reading more of them.
I also like going to a coffee shop with a book- doing two things I like at the same time.

As for the challenges-- they are addictive!

Bookopoly move #2- Rolled a 6- read a recommended book (pink)
I am going to read The Martian

I just finished my first book for the monthly theme-love.

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

I finished my first pie, using the Guardian List.

My next pie will be award winners, with a different award for each piece.

I also finished the New to You challenge.

That's amazing - planning your second pie already! I'm also very impressed you chose to read anything by Shakespeare - I never read his work, put off by it being forced on us at school from age 11. Though I love the ballet "Romeo & Juliet", because it's traditional ballet & wonderful music.

Thanks,
I am getting my reading in early this year because starting in April I will be looking after my one-year old granddaughter two days a week. Plus, it's winter, a great time to read.
My goal is to read 6 Shakespeare plays a year until I decide I've read enough of them.
The play I probably know best is Romeo and Juliet. I am not planning on rereading that one. I was a substitute teacher and covered classes doing that play many times.

New authors read in February: 13
Austin Clarke, Rafael Sabatini, J.M.R. Higgs, William Beckford, Cesare Pavese, Abby Hanlon, John Berendt, David Ker, Joan Lindsay, Hana Demetz, Jon Katz, Najaf Mazari, Cynthia Rylant

Rereads in February: 3
Barometer Rising, Things Fall Apart, A Passage to India

February Updates:

Mini Challenges: Completed all.

Maxi Challenges:
Bingo- one row down, one row across

Yearly Challenges:
Featherweight - Complete (Round 1)
Let's Have Pie - Finished Pie 1 (Guardian List)
50 Book - Complete

Only February & you have already completed so much! I know you're preparing for having less time from April but it's still a huge achievement.