Pick-a-Shelf discussion

Here is one of the bookish goals often said at the beginning of the year. This could mean different things to different readers. For one, this could mean reading more non-fiction while for another, this could mean reading more classics.

Just Read It! is a challenge to help you through some bookish goals you may have made for the next year but also in some past years. For the individuals, reading outside of comfort zone may mean completely different things (in fact, it may be a polar opposite) so it is up to you to tailor your reading that fits into this Prompt.

You can post your plans for this Prompt in this thread and remember this challenge officially begins on Jan 1 so don't start reading yet.

It will also last the whole of 2020 and there will be other mini challenges to help you through your Prompts so don't get discouraged because we're going to do this together ;)

Abbie DiscoSuperFly

Amy

Anna's Reading Life

Ashley

Bea

Christina

Christina (AKA Babbling)

Coralie

Dee

Ellis

Elvenn

Jayme(the ghost reader)

Joanna

Judy

June

Kristina Simon

Lagullande

Lahni

Lauren

LaurLa

Lusie

LynnB - COMPLETED

Marina

Meg

Michelle

Nat

Pat - COMPLETED

Rosemary

Sandy

Sassafrass

Stacey

Susan

Tien

Ooh the first reveal! I think I might try for books in translation for this one. My goal is 4000 pages.

PROGRESS 5146/5000

Spanish
📖The Murmur of Bees 471pp
📖Tentacle 160pp
Super Extra Grande
📖Fever Dream 183pp
📖Chronicle of a Death Foretold 121 pp

Japanese
📖Convenience Store Woman 176pp
📖The Memory Police 274pp
We, the Children of Cats 320pp
📖Revenge 162pp

Korean
📖The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly 134pp

Norweigan
The History of Bees 352pp
The Wreath 305pp
📖Macbeth 512pp

Persian
📖Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood 153pp
📖Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return 187pp
📖No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison 416pp

Chinese
📖The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices 230pp
📖Supernova Era 352pp
📖Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation 480pp
Waste Tide 352pp
The Redemption of Time 400pp

Italian
📖The Name of the Rose 536pp

Swedish
Us Against You 448pp

German
📖Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ 273pp

Portuguese
📖Blindness 326pp

Prompt 1: Read outside of comfort zone. (I picked genres that I seldom read or tend to avoid.)

My goal is 5 books.

1. Magical Realism: The Murmur of Bees - Read 3/1/20

2. Romance: Daughter of Fortune - Read 1/13/20

3. Politics: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - Read 6/26/20

4. Science Fiction:The Left Hand of Darkness - Read 2/27/20

5. LBGT: Sacred Country - Read 3/25/20

6. Business: Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street - Read 8/1/20

Prompt 1: Read outside of comfort zone.

(As a very eclectic reader, the first 3 are actually in my comfort zone, but are areas I haven't covered very well and want to read more.)

Goal: 7 books

1. Books set in Africa
☃️Girl by Edna O'Brien, read 8 Jan 2020, Nigeria

2. Books set in Central or South America
☃️It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo , read 4 Jan 2020, Venezuela
☃️Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner, read 25 Jan 2020, Cuba
☃️A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende, read 31 Jan 2020

3. Poetry
☃️The Poetry Remedy: Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind, and Soul by William Sieghart, read 5 Jan 2020

4. E-books
☃️Yarn Over Murder by Maggie Sefton, read 1 Jan 2020
☃️We Are All Made of Stars by Rowan Coleman, read 17 Jan 2020
☃️A Holiday Yarn by Sally Goldenbaum, read 2 Feb 2020
☃️Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin, read 5 Feb 2020
☃️The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron, read 3 Mar 2020

LynnB wrote: "Prompt 1: Read outside of comfort zone.

Goal: 7 books

I'm a very eclectic reader so I'll have to think for a while on what might qualify for this category. I'm glad the prompt is very flexible!"

Same here lyn

I've obviously have had a lot more time to think about this so I'll post my 'plan' as an example...

Please note that it does not particularly have to be a genre per se... it could be something that you'd usually struggle with or something you'd like to learn a bit more of or know better... If that makes any sense?

My Goal: 15,000 pages
Progress: 15,039/15,000 pages as at 06/17

1. Sci-Fi (excluding the usual stuff I read like dystopia / post-apocalyptic ones but looking at space opera, noir, etc)
🗸 121p - Glitter Rose by Marianne de Pierres -Read 01/25
🗸 191p - Seribu Tahun Cahaya by Lia Heliana -Read 01/25
🗸 192p - Stone Mad (Karen Memory #2) by Elizabeth Bear - Read 02/07
🗸 420p - Scales of Empire (Dragon Empire Trilogy #1) by Kylie Chan - Read 02/10
355p - Acorna's People (Acorna #3) by Anne McCaffrey - Read 02/15
🗸 368p - The Redemption of Time by Baoshu -Read 03/05
🗸 240p - Journey to the Center of the Earth (Extraordinary Voyages #3) by Jules Verne -Read 03/07
🗸 368p - Scardown (Jenny Casey #2) by Elizabeth Bear -Read 03/13
🗸 351p - An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon -Read 04/08
🗸 402p - Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Scott Orson Card -Read 04/30
🗸 224p - Out of the Silent Planet (The Space Trilogy #1) by C.S. Lewis -Read 05/02
🗸 320p - In the Dark Spaces -Read 05/14
🗸 307p - The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (Dirk Gently #2) by Douglas Adams -Read 05/21
407p - Neon Leviathan by T.R. Napper
sub-total: 3,859p

2. Non Fiction
🗸 400p - True Spirit: The Aussie Girl Who Took on the World by Jessica Watson (sports) -Read 03/14
🗸 264p - Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler -Read -03/21
🗸 240p - Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik -Read 03/24
🗸 430p - Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson -Read 05/02
🗸 576p - How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly -Read 05/05
🗸 176p - Note to Self: Inspiring Figures Write to the Young People they Once Were -Read 05/18
🗸 425p - Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond -Read 05/21
🗸 336p - Invested: How Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger Taught Me to Master My Mind, My Emotions, and My Money (with a Little Help from My Dad) -Read 05/27
🗸 320p - My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store by Ben Ryder Howe -Read 06/08
sub-total: 3,167p

3. Family Sagas
🗸 384p - The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy -Read 01/06
🗸 391p - The Woman in the Wood by Lesley Pearse -Read 02/17
🗸 496p - Cantik itu Luka by Eka Kurniawan -Read 02/26
🗸 272p - Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen -Read 03/25
🗸 336p - Mum & Dad by Joanna Trollope -Read 05/26
🗸 272p - Reaching Tin River by Thea Astley -Read 05/30
sub-total: 2,400p

4. Horror (yep, looking at you, Stephen King!)
🗸 272p - The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay -Read 01/07
🗸 396p - The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin -Read 01/31
🗸 400p - The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe -Read 03/21
🗸 352p - Growing Things and Other Stories by Paul Tremblay -Read 03/28
🗸 399p - American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis -Read 05/23
320p - And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave
sub-total: 1,819p

5. Literature
🗸 156p - The Man Who Knew Too Much by G.K. Chesterton -Read 01/18
🗸 246p - Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov -Read 01/19
🗸 218p - Hot Milk by Deborah Levy -Read 02/15
🗸 204p - The Blithedale Romance -Read 02/18
🗸 264p - Autumn (Seasonal #1) by Ali Smith -Read 03/23
🗸 208p - Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto -Read 04/13
🗸 335p - The Watch Tower by Elizabeth Harrower -Read 04/20
🗸 287p - Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney -Read 04/27
🗸 210p - There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett -Read 05/29
🗸 96p - The Children's Bach by Helen Garner -Read 06/01
🗸 436p - The Pea Pickers by Eve Langley -Read 06/17
sub-total: 2,932p

6. Psychological Thrillers
🗸 384p - Girl in the Rearview Mirror by Kelsey Rae Dimberg -Read 01/07
🗸 220p - The Place At Whitton by Thomas Keneally -Read 01/19
🗸 386p - Into the Water by Paula Hawkins -Read 01/30
sub-total: 990p

7. Greek Mythology
🗸 393p - Circe by Madeline Miller -Read 01/23
sub-total: 393p

2642 pages/5,000

1) Nonfiction
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skatersby Joan Ryan268 pp
Completed 09/26/20

2) Sci Fi
Acorna: The Unicorn Girl
Completed 03/27/20
Acorna's Quest
3)Romance
The Last Song
Completed 1/7/20
A Mrs. Miracle Christmasby Debbie Macomber
Completed 01/22/20
The Wild Orchid: A Retelling of The Ballad of Mulanby Cameron Dokey
1/27/20
Water Song: A Retelling of The Frog Prince by Suzanne Weyn
194pp Completed 02/14/20
When Calls the Heartby Janette Oke
222 pp
Completed 02/16/20
Comfort and Joyby Kristin Hannah
Completed 03/14/20
The Dark Queen

4)Magical Realism

5) New Adult

6) World war II
Lilac Girlsby Martha Hall Kelly
487 pp completed 04/12/20
The Nightingale
7) Comtempary
Handle with Care

Gotcha tien! Ok time to put my thinking hat on!

Dee

8000 per prompt
10331/12000

1. religious-themed Fiction
Mercy House - finished - 4/25/20 - 384pgs
Daughter of Joy -finished - 8/1/20 - 355pgs
Cape Refuge - Finished - 8/22/20 - 400pgs
Paper Roses - Finished - 10/12/20 - 378pgs

2. Non North American/Nordic Authors (South America/Asia/Western Europe etc)
Blindness (Portugal) - finished - 2/21/20 - 349pgs
Veronika Decides to Die (Brazil) - finished - 1/21/20 - 210pgs
Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor's Son (Ukraine) - Finished - 2/29/20 - 376pgs

3. Non-romance Sci-Fi/Fantasy (romance isn't the central plot)
Sisters of the Vast Black - finished - 1/2/20 - 176pgs
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - finished - 1/6/20 - 518pgs
A Closed and Common Orbit - finished - 1/16/20 - 365pgs
Record of a Spaceborn Few - finished - 2/16/20 - 359pgs
Gideon the Ninth - Finished - 6/5/20 - 448pgs
A Spell for Chameleon - Finished - 7/4/20 - 344pgs
A Wizard of Earthsea - Finished - 7/9/20 - 183pgs
The Dragon Republic - Finished - 7/13/20 - 658pgs
An Unkindness of Ghosts - finished - 8/13/20 - 351pgs
The Last Wish - finished - 9/9/20 - 360pgs
Hell Divers - finished - 10/21/20 - 416pgs

4. books I previously DNF/put aside
The Gunslinger (put aside Sep 2016) - finished - 5/19/20 - 231pgs
A is for Alibi (put aside 2010) - finished - 8/22/20 - 308pgs

5. "feminist" books
Men Explain Things to Me - finished - 3/4/20 - 130pgs
Red Clocks - finished - 4/22/20 - 356pgs

6. Graphic Novels
American Born Chinese - finished - 2/28/20 - 240pgs
Prison Island: A Graphic Memoir - finished - 6/6/20 - 192pgs
They Called Us Enemy - finished - 9/19/20 - 208pgs
March: Book Two - finished - 12/19/20 - 192pgs
March: Book Three - finished - 12/21/20 - 246pgs

7. Mysteries Set Outside USA/UK/Nordic Countries
The Lover's Portrait (Amsterdam) - Finished - 5/30/20 - 263pgs
A Vine in the Blood (Brazil) - Finished - 7/7/20 - 289pgs
The Seventh Sinner (Italy) - Finished - 7/23/20 - 288pgs
Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions (Italy) - finished - 10/20/20 - 346pgs

8. Books that won literature awards (man booker, pulitzer)
Bring Up the Bodies - finished - 8/17/20 - 412pgs

Tien wrote: "Please note that it does not particularly have to be a genre per se... it could be something tha..."

Oh, good to know!

Outside my comfort zone.

1. Graphic Novels
Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood completed January 19
Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in its Own Words completed February 27

2. Audio books
Penric's Demon completed January 17
Penric and the Shaman completed January 18
Penric's Fox completed January 19
Semiosis completed February 5

3. Non-fiction
Dignity in a Teacup: True Stories of Courage and Sacrifice from Christmas Island completed Feb 3
A Spanner in the Works: The Extraordinary Story of Alice Anderson and Australia’s Only All-Girl Garage completed Feb 21

4. Short stories
The Unreal and the Real: Selected Stories, Volume One: Where on Earth completed Jan 12
May We Borrow Your Husband? & Other Comedies of the Sexual Life completed Jan 25
Singing My Sister Down and Other Stories completed Feb 8
The Birthday of the World and Other Stories completed February 29
Tales of Freedom completed March 9
Improper Stories completed March 11
The Rediscovery of Man completed March 12
Fair Play completed April 4
A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope completed April 11
Fabulous completed April 28
Exhalation: Stories completed June 16
A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers completed July 12
Reginald by Saki, Fiction, Classic, Literary, Short Stories completed August 13
The Watercress Girl and Other Stories completed August 22
Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches completed August 23

5. Books I gave up on last time I tried to read them
The Black Company completed Feb 15

6. Books that are supposed to be funny but aren't (in my opinion)
Panama completed Jan 12

25/30

Lol I had decided to read inside of my comfort zone in 2020 😂😂😂 Now all my plans are destroyed 😬

Prompt 1: Read outside of your comfort zone - 5,000 pages

1. Non-Fiction

La camicia di Hanta - 12/01/2020 - 169 p.
Out of Egypt: A Memoir - 31/03/2020 - 340 p.
L'arte di essere felici. Esposta in 50 massime - 17/05/2020 - 113 p.
Svuota il carrello: Il marketing spiegato benissimo - 29/10/2020 - 266 p.

2. Poetry

Spade come labbra - 23/02/2020 - 129 p.
Antonio e Cleopatra - 08/04/2020 - 301 p.
Poesie dell'Africa - 14/09/2020 - 64 p.

3. African Literature

Tears of the Giraffe - 07/04/2020 - 217 p.
Quella cosa intorno al collo - 17/05/2020 - 224 p.

4. Asian Literature

Six Suspects - 16/03/2020 - 470 p.
L'isola dei senza memoria - 08/06/2020 - 302 p.
The Crow Eaters - 06/08/2020 - 267 p.

5. Romance

Agnes Grey - 06/01/2020 - 251 p.
Stardust - 03/04/2020 - 250 p.
Silent in the Sanctuary - 19/04/2020 - 494 p.
Il postino di Neruda - 24/04/2020 - 104 p.
La tregua - 05/06/2020 - 145 p.
Silent on the Moor - 23/06/2020 - 465 p.
Naked in Death - 09/09/2020 - 384 p.
Glory in Death - 11/10/2020 - 296 p.

Total: 5,251/5,000 pages - COMPLETED 29/10/2020

Prompt 1: read out of your comfort zone ✔

Goal: 20 / 20 books

1. LGBT
☑ Passing Strange [16-jan-20] ★★ (the title says it all, this book is strange)

2. New Adult
☑ Regretting You [1-jan-20] ★★★ (this was okay, but a bit predictable)

3. Paranormal
☑ Brightly Woven [10-mar-20] ★★
Daughter of the Blood [2-apr-2020] DNF

4. Sci-fi
☑ The Phantom Menace [5-jan-20] ★★ (just not for me!)
☑ Dark Matter [9-mar-20] ★★★★ (I loved it)
☑ The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis [11-apr-20] ★★★
☑ Steelheart [28-jun-20] ★★★★
☑ Mitosis [6-jul-20] ★★★
☑ Firefight [7-jul-20] ★★★
☑ Calamity [16-jul-20] ★★★

5. Short stories
☑ And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer [23-jan-20] ★★ (the way it was written made it confusing)
☑ The Firefly Dance [26-may-20] ★★★

6. Letters
☑ Dear Aaron [24-jan-20] ★★★ (as expected I didn't like the letter part of the book, I did like the rest though)

7. Non-fiction
☑ You Need More Sleep: Advice from Cats [25-jan-20] ★ (this wasn't for me, too silly)

8. Politics
☑ Next Year in Havana [22-jan-20] ★★★ (the politics were more at the background, but this book didn't feel special. I did like it though)

9. Vampires
☑ Halfway to the Grave [12-mar-20] ★★ (too predictable)

10. War
☑ His Majesty's Dragon [30-mar-20] ★★★ (not bad, but too much about the war for my liking.

11. Horror
☑ Eeny Meeny [31-mar-20] ★★★ (It was not as gruesome as I feared, just a little. I liked the writing so will keep reading the series)

12. Speculative fiction
☑ The City Born Great [10-apr-20] ★★★

13. Graphic novel
☑ I Left The House Today!: Comics by Cassandra Calin [23-apr-20] ★★

lol Marina 😂

Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "Lol I had decided to read inside of my comfort zone in 2020 😂😂😂 Now all my plans are destroyed 😬"

ha ha ha, not necessarily so, Marina ;p

Prompt 1: Outside my comfort zone - COMPLETED - completed prompts thread post 86
I'm interpreting this as types of books that I rarely read as well as books about/set in places or subjects I don't know much about and want to know more about.
Goal: 10,000 pages

10,066/10,000

1. Graphic novels/sequential art - 420 pages
- Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? - 1/5/20 - 228 pages.
- March: Book Two - 9/8/20. 192 pages.

2. Horror - 2885
- Dread Nation - 2/8/20 - 455 pages.
- In the Shadow of Spindrift House - 7/12/20 - 125 pages.
- Burn Our Bodies Down - 7/29/20 - 352 pages.
- The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires - 8/6/20. 400 pages.
- Hollowland - 8/20/20. 306 pages.
- Mexican Gothic - 9/8/20. 301 pages.
- The Nesting - 9/26/20. 416 pages.
- Hollowmen - 10/4/20. 194 pages.
- A Deadly Education - 10/10/200. 336 pages.

3. Romance - 2722
- The Kiss Quotient - 1/19/20 - 333 pages
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - 1/23/20 - 391 pages
- Red, White & Royal Blue - 2/13/20 - 425 pages
- Gods of Jade and Shadow (Romance - 80 users). 7/5/20. 338 pages.
- This Is How You Lose the Time War - 8/9/20. 209 pages.
- The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy - 9/7/20. 352 pages.
- Just Like You - 10/2/20. 368 pages.
- Tooth and Claw - 10/16/20. 304 pages.


4. Poetry = 427
- Selected Poems - 1/22/20 - 297 pages
Selected Poems - 4/28/20. 130 pages.

5. Books set in/about Southeast Asia or Southeast Asian refugees - 3612
-The Refugees. - 209 pages - 1/24/20
-The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures - 1/28/20 - 341 pages.
- The Singapore School of Villainy: Inspector Singh Investigates - 1/31/20 - 322 pages.
- Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam - 2/5/2020 - 353 pages.
- Temples, Tuk-tuks and Fried Fish Lips: Travels Around Asia - 2/6/20 - 186 pages
- A Deadly Cambodian Crime Spree - 2/10/20 - 317 pages.
- The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir - 2/11/20 - 277 pages.
- Aunty Lee's Delights - 2/11/20 - 288 pages.
- The Art of Hearing Heartbeats - 4/10/20 - 325 pages.
- The Mountains Sing - 5/12/20. 352 pages
- The Red Lotus - 7/5/20. 372 pages. (double outside comfort zone - partially set in Vietnam, and partially about science/biotechnology, plagues - difficult subject for me!)
- Paradise of the Blind - 8/14/20. 270 pages.

Prompt 1: Read outside your comfort zone
My goal: 3500 pages

Read: 14 books, 3587 pages

1. Non-fiction
The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Gray, 23 Jan 20 - 272 pages
Eat. Nourish. Glow.: 10 easy steps for losing weight, looking younger & feeling healthier by Amelia Freer, 31 Jan 20 - 320 pages
Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves, 11 Feb 20 - 282 pages
The Library Book by Rebecca Gray, 19 Feb 20 - 182 pages
Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life by Christopher Jamison, 28 Feb 20 - 182 pages
Keeper by Andrea Gillies, 26 Mar 20 - 320 pages
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, 10 May 20 - 242 pages

2. Horror
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, 5 Feb 20 - 121 pages
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, 21 Feb 20 - 182 pages
Ghost Stories by M.R. James, 16 May 20 - 318 pages

3. Poetry

4. Books from Africa, Asia, Central & South America
The Master Key by Masako Togawa, 14 Feb 20 - 192 pages
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, 17 Apr 20 - 256 pages
Waiting by Ha Jin, 8 May 20 - 310 pages

5. Difficult language, eg lots of archaic words or dialect
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth, 8 Jan 20 - 408 pages

Read: 5186/5000 - Completed!

I'm not sure how to interpret this one, but I think I can largely define this as "hard" books. I've been finding myself passing over hard books for easier, fluffier reads.

Matches a monthly shelf:
✔ latin-america: The House of the Spirits - 448pp - 1/9/20
✔New York: Let the Great World Spin - 351pp - 4/26/20

Other "hard" books I already own:
✔Death Comes for the Archbishop - 297pp - 1/18/20
✔Moon Tiger - 224pp - 1/15/20
✔Intrusions - 288pp - 2/2/20
✔Under the Net - 252pp - 3/12/20
✔NW - 401pp - 4/14/20
✔Slaves in the Family - 505pp - 3/28/20
✔The Maltese Falcon - 217pp - 4/4/20
✔The Souls of Black Folk - 288pp - 5/10/20
✔The Corner That Held Them - 432pp - 6/28/20

Library books:
✔Marta Oulie - 128pp - 1/16/20
✔Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men - 411pp - 4/19/20
✔Train Dreams - 112pp - 8/3/20
✔The Ponder Heart - 156pp - 9/5/20
✔Loitering with Intent - 224pp - 9/7/20
✔The Cost of Lunch, Etc.: Short Stories - 224pp - 9/15/20
✔Mr. Fox - 278pp - 9/24/20

Prompt 1: Read out of your comfort zone - 5 books ~ ~ ~ (5/5 read)

Modern Classics:
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier ✔

Argentina:
- Soy paciente (Patient) by Ana María Shua ✔
- La hermana menor: Un retrato de Silvina Ocampo by Mariana Enríquez ✔
- Los libros y la calle by Edgardo Cozarinsky ✔
- Los ídolos by Manuel Mujica Lainez ✔

Prompt 1: Out of my comfort zone.
Goal: 5000p.
Completed: 3833 p.

1. Non-fiction
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis 1/3/19 257p.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life 4/28/20 224p.

2. Big Books (over 750 pages)
The Passage 12/10/20 766p,

3. Historical (but not romance)
The Shadowy Horses 1/25/20 421p.

4. Science Fiction
The Deep 7/1/20 176p.
The Institute 7/14/20 561 p.
Variant 7/31/20 373p.
The Door to December 11/28/20 518p.

5. Classics
Fahrenheit 451 2/14/20 190p.
Animal Farm 7/15/20 141 p
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 7/18/20 206p.

Prompt #1 ~ Read Outside My Comfort Zone
Goal ~ 10 books

I read realistic fiction and historical fiction with pages typically in the 325 - 390 page range. I don't like sappy stories, so I seldom pick up a romance or chick lit book. I never read science fiction, paranormal, or fantasy. I don't listen to audio books ever. I'm too old for Young Adult or Junior fiction - although I should read these genres since I work in a library and need to be able to recommend books to our young patrons.

I guess I would say my comfort zone is stand alone realistic fiction, historical fiction, suspense, thrillers, and mysteries.

So, my Prompt Challenge List would include the following


✔ Books less than 300 Pages
Series Books
✔ Audio Books
Classics
✔ LGBT
✔ Romance
Non-Fiction
✔ Fantasy
✔ Sci-Fi
✔ Paranormal
✔ Young Adult
✔ Chic Lit


♞ Monthly Shelf Pick ~
January: latin-america

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1. Romance & Chick Lit
Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
Completed ~ 1.2.20
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(maybe I should re-think contemporary romance...)

2. Fantasy/Paranormal
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Completed ~1.5.20
☆ ☆
(This was a 325 page book told in 458 pages.)

3. Young Adult/Fantasy (Magical Realism)
Magic America: Coming of Age in an Altered State by C.E. Medford
Completed ~ 1.6.20
☆ ☆
(Not a great read, but bearable. I liked The Gone Away Place much better.

4. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, LGBT, & Romance
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
Completed ~ 1.9.20
☆ ☆
(This one sealed the deal. I don't like Science Fiction. At all.)

5. Audio Book
Home by Harlan Coben ~ Audio Version
Completed ~ 1.10.20
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(I can see the appeal, and I might do another one, but it'll never be my "go-to" unless I go blind.)

6. Sci-Fi, Fantasy
On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
Completed ~ 1.14.20
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(Ok, so I really, REALLY liked this one!)

7. Series
Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer
Completed ~ 1.31.20
☆ ☆ ☆
(I didn't like it as much as the first one, but the novelty had kind of worn off a bit. Still, the tan suit on the cover is hilarious. Obama sure caught a lot of flak for that one!)

8. Short Read - 192 pages
Death Is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa
Completed ~ 2.1.20
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

9. Young Adult
The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
Completed ~ 2.5.20
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

10. LGBTQ
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Completed ~ 2.7.20
☆ ☆ ☆

Prompt 1: Out of my comfort zone.
Goal: 10 Books per Prompt
Completed: 6/10

Poetry
1. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
Completed 23/06/2020
2. Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
Completed 09/01/2020

Non-Fiction
3. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Completed 18/03/2020

4. Paris Letters by Janice Macleod
Completed 17/05/2020

Genre - Fantasy
5. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien
Completed 29/02/2020

Short Story Collections

6. The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night by Jen Campbell
Completed 12/04/2020

7.
8.
9.
10.


Books written in alternative formats
What I mean by this is a book that has no punctuation or is one long sentence or a consciousness of thought.

Leeches by David Albahari

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

Plays
Macbeth by William Shakespeare

King Lear by William Shakespeare

Graphic Novels
Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

Non-Fiction
The Good Immigrant by Nikesh Shukla

The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators by Gordon Grice

Anna's Reading Life wrote: "Books written in alternative formats
What I mean by this is a book that has no punctuation or is one long sentence or a consciousness of thought."

Can I recommend David Albahari? He's not very well known but I think he's a superb writer, one of my favorites for sure. He's a Serbian author living in Canada, but still writes in his mother tongue. His novels are one long paragraph. He uses punctuation, but there's no interruption. My favorites were Bait (which is shorter) and Leeches (rather long so if you're not used to this sort of writing this might prove difficult).

Goal: 4,040 pages per Prompt
Read : 4,237/4,040

**=Matches a monthly shelf:
January: latin-america
February: speculative-fiction
March: mystery

1. Translated
I do read foreign fiction, but I often find them hard work so they are definitely not comfortable
✔️17/1/20 I Didn't Talk 160pp**
✔️28/1/20 Mr Darwin's Gardener 112pp
✔️8/5/20 The Hotel Tito 236pp

2. Violence
Not sure why I would set myself this goal...except I want to get through A Brief History of Seven Killings
✔️12/2/20 The Enchanted 233pp**
✔️6/3/20 Girl 240pp

3. Short Stories
I have only read a few
✔️19/1/20 A Visit from the Goon Squad 288pp
✔️24/2/20 The Innocence of Father Brown 248pp
✔️25/2/20 The Guardian Review Book of Short Stories 128pp
✔️24/4/20 Dimanche and Other Stories 270pp

4. Romance
Nope, I never go here
✔️13/1/20 Wide Sargasso Sea 160pp**
✔️28/1/20 The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry 320pp
✔️4/2/20 The End of the Affair 160pp
✔️4/2/20 A Single Thread 352pp
✔️7/2/20 The Awakening 195pp
✔️9/2/20 Sanditon 240pp
✔️12/2/20 A Month in the Country 128pp
✔️15/3/20 Valley of the Dolls 432pp
✔️27/12/20 My Cousin Rachel 335pp

5. Over 500 pages
I only read/listened to three 500+pp books in 2019, but there are 34 on my TBR/wishlist (4 are on my LOST 2020 list)

Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "Anna's Reading Life wrote: "Books written in alternative formats
What I mean by this is a book that has no punctuation or is one long sentence or a consciousness of thought."

Can I recommend [auth..."

Thank you so much Marina! I am going to add in [book:Leeches|9000354]. I would have also tried Bait but the price is far too high - £45!

My pleasure, Anna 😊 I'm very curious to know what you'll think of it!

Prompt #1: Read outside comfort zone

Goal: 10 books

My plan: any book that I choose to read only because it's on the monthly shelf, but not including books for which I regularly read from shelves of my own (E.g., I won't count January's Latin America, since I have a "Latinx/Chincanx/Spanish" shelf of my own.). Also eligible: biographies & autobiographies, non-fiction, graphic novels, poetry, short stories.

✔1 The Power (February shelf) - fin 2/15
Boy, was this outside my comfort zone! I almost quit so many times.
✔2 Georgia on My Mind,and Other Places (short stories) - fin 2/15
✔3 Messenger ( February shelf) - fin 2/17
✔4 New Kid, graphic novel - fin 2/29
✔5 Refugee, non-fiction - fin 3/2
✔6 The Last Laugh, gift - fin 4/18
✔7 The Burgess Boys, Apr shelf - fin 4/29
✔8 Landline, May shelf - fin 5/8
✔9 The Imperfectionists, short stories - fin 5/7
✔10 El Deafo, graphic novel - fin 5/14

completed 10 of 10 books
COMPLETED 5/14/2020

Prompt 1: Outside my comfort zone
Goal: 20 books - DONE!

Nonfiction
✔1. Work Clean: The life-changing power of mise-en-place to organize your life, work, and mind - Completed 4/4/20
✔2. The New Buffettology: The Proven Techniques for Investing Successfully in Changing Markets That Have Made Warren Buffett the World's Most Famous Investor - Completed 5/30/20
✔3. Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life - Completed 8/13/20
✔4. She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement - Completed 8/24/20
✔5. We're Going to Need More Wine - Completed 9/27/20
✔6. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History - Completed 11/1/20

Classics (and a play...double torture)
✔7. An Enemy of the People - Completed 3/18/20
✔8. The Quiet American - Completed 6/28/20
✔9. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter - Completed 8/7/20

Graphic novels
✔10. My Friend Dahmer - Completed 2/9/20
✔11. Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir - Completed 11/18/20

Paranormal
✔12. Strange the Dreamer - Completed 2/4/20
✔13. Mortal Heart - Completed 1/23/20
✔14. Shadowshaper- Completed 2/8/20

Romance
✔15. Becoming Mrs. Lewis - Completed 2/9/20
✔16. Fortune's Pawn - Completed 2/29/20
✔17. Never Change - Completed 8/16/20
✔18. Catching the Last Tram - Completed 10/10/20

Steampunk and Magical Realism
✔19. Everland - Completed 1/9/20
✔20. Conjure Women - Completed 10/28/20

Prompt #1: Read Outside of Comfort Zone
Finished: 10/10 books

1. Nonfiction
West with the Night - 2/1/2020
The Man Who Listens to Horses - 8/9/2020

2. Graphic Novels
Nimona - 1/2/2020

3. Classics
Life of Pi - 1/11/2020
El Principito - 2/2/2020
Fahrenheit 451 - 2/4/2020

4. Audiobooks
Island of Silence - 2/5/2020
Island of Fire - 2/24/2020
A Wind in the Door - 3/4/2020
A Swiftly Tilting Planet - 3/17/2020

Prompt 1- Read outside your comfort zone

Updated Goal: 7 books
Book read: 5

Genre:
Sport: Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream- May 27
Philosophy: On the Shortness of Life- April 12
Play: King Lear- January 21, 2020
Poetry: Poems by Emily Dickinson, Series Two- April 4
Celebrity Memoir: We're Going to Need More Wine- January 17, 2020

Update: Thanks to the mini-challenge I have extra books to read.

6.
7.

COMPLETED

I have a huge list of books that fall under the Read Before You Die Category. I have been working on it forever, and not very quickly. So I'm going to try to knock out some of those with this challenge.

1. The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women 1/4/20
2. The People of the Abyss 1/8/20
3. The Alchemist 1/22/20
4. Great American Short Stories 1/25/20
5. The Old Man and the Sea 2/11/20
6. The Last Lecture 2/14/20
7. The Handmaid's Tale 2/18/20
8. The Help 3/19/20
9. The Diary of a Young Girl 3/24/20
10. Their Eyes Were Watching God 8/30/20

Goal: 6000 pages

Non-fiction
1. American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America (371 pgs) 7/28
2. Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century (273 pgs) 7/4
3. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy (225 pgs) 10/28
4. Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border (272 pgs) 11/11

Books I've picked up before and didn't make it through
1. When Fox is a Thousand (272 pgs) 6/11
2. The Blind Assassin (637 pgs) 4/22
3. Between the World and Me (152 pgs) 9/30

Memoir
1. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (153 pgs) 2/1
2. All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir (240 pgs) 5/15
3. Men Explain Things to Me (130 pgs) 6/6
4. I'm So Fine: A List of Famous Men & What I Had On (73 pgs) 2/1
5. The Argonauts (160 pgs) 1/17
6. Something That May Shock and Discredit You (256 pgs) 3/6
7. Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (63 pgs) 8/20
8. The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures (208 pgs) 5/27
9. The Witches Are Coming (260 pgs) 8/30

Short Stories
1. Growing Things and Other Stories (352 pgs) 1/16
2. Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories (304 pgs) 2/29
3. Full Throttle (480 pgs) 6/23
4. Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales (194 pgs) 1/18
5. Get in Trouble (339 pgs) 6/2
6. The Mythic Dream (368 pgs) 10/18
7. The Devil and the Deep (320 pgs) 11/3


= 6102/6102

Just Read It! (2020)
January - December 2020

Prompt #1: Read outside of comfort zone

Prompt Goal: 10 books | Total Read: 10

My Prompt #1 (msg 36)

Classic ~ Fantasy ~ Sci Fi ~ Thriller/Horror ~ YA/LGBT

✔🍬Fantasy ~ Like Water for Chocolate ~ Pas Monthly Jan ~ 01.06 ★★★
✔🍬Sci Fi ~ Super Extra Grande ~ Pas Monthly Jan ~ 01.11 ★★★
✔🍬Classics ~ Pride and Prejudice ~ Pas Monthly Oct ~ 10.01 ★★★★
✔🍬Fantasy ~ Anansi Boys ~ Pas Monthly - Aug ~ 08.16 ★★★
✔🍬Thriller/Horror ~ The List ~ Pas Monthly Feb ~ 02.11 ★★★
✔🍬Thriller/Horror ~ The Shimmering Road ~ Mar ~ 04.21 ★★★
✔🍬Thriller/Horror ~ 2nd Chance ~ 02.08 ★★★★
✔🍬YA/LGBT ~ Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda ~ 04.21 ★★★
✔🍬Fantasy/Sci Fi ~ Time Trap ~ 09.08 ★★★
✔🍬Fantasy ~ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ~ Pas Monthly Feb ~ 02.26 ★★★★

Goal: 5 Books

Romance: Either straight genre or any book that has strong/central romantic story lines.

1. Grin and Beard It
2. Beard Science
3. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
4. Camp
5. Beard in Mind

Finishes:
1/7 2/9 4/3 6/27 8/2

Prompt 1: Read outside of comfort zone ~ Completed: 5/26/20
Goal: 5,000 pages
Progress: 5,179/5,000 pages

1. Classics
Anthem by Ayn Rand (105 pages) Read: 1/2/20
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster (376 pages) Read: 4/20/20
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (336 pages) Read: 3/11/20
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (394 pages) Read: 2/7/20
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (184 pages) Read: 2/13/20

2. Nonfiction
I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel (160 pages) Read: 1/7/20
Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg (401 pages) Read: 1/21/20
The Introvert's Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World by Sophia Dembling (198 pages) Read: 1/25/20
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan (450 pages) Read: 5/9/20
Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo by Vanessa Woods (278 pages) Read: 3/10/20
Burn It Down: Women Writing about Anger by Lilly Dancyger (273 pages) Read: 2/24/20
The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-Maria (271 pages) Read: 5/26/20
Chase Darkness with Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders by Billy Jensen (336 pages) Read: 2/21/20

3. Translated works
Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig Spanish (281 pages) Read: 1/27/20
The Appointment by Herta Müller German (208 pages) Read: 2/1/20

4. Middle Grade ~ trying to read more of these to share with my nieces, but I often struggle with them....
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (344 pages) Read: 4/24/20
The Moon Within by Aida Salazar (240 pages) Read: 4/4/20

5. Short Story Collections
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson (160 pages) Read: 1/13/20
How to Leave Hialeah by Jennine Capo Crucet (184 pages) Read: 2/9/20

Prompt 1: Read outside of comfort zone
Goal: 0/5

1. Science Fiction: Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle
2. Time Travel: Dark Rival by Brenda Joyce
3. Historical Fiction: In a Treacherous Court by Michelle Diener
4. Chick Lit: Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
5. Translation: The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg

Prompt 1: Read outside of comfort zone : COMPLETED

Goal= 8 Books

1.Science Fiction: Outpost 1/5
2. Cosy Mystrey: Death by Dumpling 1/6
3. FantasyThe Prodigal Mage 1/13
4. Science Fiction: Red Mars 1/25
5. FAntasy: The Last Wish 2/6
6. Classic: Middlesex 2/16
7. Science Fiction: Complication 2/20
8. YA : Foul Is Fair 2/29

Just reading through what everyone's 'out of comfort zone' are and it's been very interesting just how varied we all are :D

Tien wrote: "Just reading through what everyone's 'out of comfort zone' are and it's been very interesting just how varied we all are :D"

I am glad to see that I am not the only person who finds some things (like audio books and graphic novels) 'out of comfort zone'.

Prompt 1: Read outside of comfort zone

I'm not picking whole genres. Rather I'm going to define "out of my comfort zone" as anything that generally makes me go "UGH" when I see it on my "to read" list!

5 "UGH" books!

2/10 DONE

1. Bel Canto
2. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
3. Time Will Tell
4. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
5. Angela's Ashes
6. Lolita
7. A Little Princess
8. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
9. Romeo and Juliet
10. To the Lighthouse

Lahni wrote: "Prompt 1: Read outside of comfort zone

I'm not picking whole genres. Rather I'm going to define "out of my comfort zone" as anything that generally makes me go "UGH" when I see it on my "to read" ..."

Love it!

Prompt 1: Read outside of comfort zone
10 books
LGBT

✔ The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee 18 April 2020 ★★★★
✔ The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards 9 April 2020 ★★★★★
✔ The Fever King by Victoria Lee 15 August 2020 ★★★★
✔ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 13 January 2020 ★★★★★
✔ The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern 18 May 2020 ★★★
✔ Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo 24 December 2020 ★★★★★
✔ The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin 7 June 2020 ★★★
✔ Dread Nation by Justina Ireland 24 June 2020 ★★★★★
✔ The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 20 September 2020 ★★★★
✔ City of Bones by Cassandra Clare 26 September 2020 ★★★

Prompt 1: Out of Your Comfort Zone
Goal: 10 books

10/10

Books Set Outside of US
Seek (Columbia) 1/17/20
Sweet Filthy Boy (France) 1/22/20
Cry No More (Mexico) 4/8/20


Horror
Warm Bodies 2/2/20


Non-fiction
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary 4/10/20

NOT on audio
Call Me Sir 2/8/20
Deliberate Deceptions 2/10/20
Deep in the Woods 2/14/20
A Question of Hope 3/6/30
A Question of Trust 4/3/20

3/14/20
Completed
"Comfort and Joy" by Kristin Hannah -romance

I finished Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. It really did turn out to be a bit of an "Ugh" book and I only gave it 2 stars.

I think I DNF that a long time ago, Lahni... I don't think I made it past 50 pages :/

Same for me Tien. I didn't get far with Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West either

Not everyone includes a rating after reading. I'm curious though. Did anyone really love any of the out of your comfort zone books?

I really liked Dark Matter and will probably read another book by this author later this year (when the library is open again).