The Reading Challenge Group discussion

My goodreads goal for this year is set at 130 books. And like last year, I aim to reduce my tbr and have a good geographic, language and gender diversity in my readings. In this folder, I will track my challenges for this group and some personal challenges.

Mt TBR

COMPLETED 2 SEPTEMBER!

Level 1 Base Camp
1 Erik Orsenna - Géopolitique du moustique : Petit précis de mondialisation IV
2 Georges Simenon - Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas
3 Ondjaki - Transparent City
4 Rebecca Solnit - Whose Story Is This? Old Conflicts, New Chapters
5 Rowan Routh - Eight Ghosts: The English Heritage Book of New Ghost Stories

Level 2 Start The Climb
6 Julia Alvarez - In the Time of the Butterflies
7 Maria Ndiaye - Three Strong Women
8 Anabel Hernandez - A Massacre in Mexico: The True Story Behind the Missing Forty Three Students
9 Nafissa Thompson-Spires - Heads of the Colored People
10 Marilynne Robinson - Housekeeping
11 Michael Kestemont - De zwarte koning
12 Edward Carey - Little
13 Elisa Shua Dusapin - Winter in Sokcho
14 Alifa Rifaat - Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories
15 Geert Mak - An Island in Time: The Biography of a Village

Level 3 Going Higher
16 Sara Collins -The Confessions of Frannie Langton
17 Nathacha Appanah - Le dernier frère
18 Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber
19 Ben Elton - Dead Famous
20 Moussa Konate - L'affaire des coupeurs de têtes
21 Bandi - The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea
22 Luis Sepulveda - La Fin de l'histoire
23 David Szalay - Turbulence
24 Anne Applebaum - Gulag: A History
25 Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon
26 Anna James - Tilly and the Bookwanderers
27 Alain Mabanckou - Les Cigognes sont immortelles
28 Hans Heesen - Naar Zutphen
29 Lori Gottlieb - Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
30 Geraldine Brooks - Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague

Level 4 Reach The Summet
31 Abby Geni - The Last Animal
32 Jorge Luis Borges - The Garden of Forking Paths
33 E.C.R. Lorac - Fell Murder
34 Jonas Jonasson - Le vieux qui ne voulait pas feter son anniversaire
35 Jenny Offill - Last Things
36 Chibundu Onuzo - Welcome to Lagos
37 Edwidge Danticat - Claire of the Sea Light
38 Mary Seacole - Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands
39 Maryse Conde - Traversée de la Mangrove
40 Juan Gabriel Vasquez - The Sound of Things Falling
41 David Van Reybrouck - Congo: een geschiedenis
42 Veronique Tadjo - Reine Pokou: Concerto pour un sacrifice
43 Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang
44 Lauren Groff - Florida
45 Mary Paulson-Ellis - The Other Mrs Walker
46 Susana Moreira Marques - Now and at the Hour of Our Death
47 Isabel Allende - The House of the Spirits
48 Yrsa Sigurdardottir - My Soul to Take
49 Tidiane N'Diaye - Le Génocide Voilé
50 Andrea Levy - The Long Song
Plant your flag, you made it to the top!

Decades Challenge

1920-2020

Level 1 Half Century
1920-1929: Sheridan Le Fanu - Madam Crowl's Ghost & Other Stories
1930-1939: Georges Simenon - Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas
1940-1949: Dorothy Parker - The Custard Heart
1950-1959: Driss Chraibi - Le Passé Simple
1960-1969: James Baldwin - The Fire Next Time

Level 2 Centurion
1970-1979: Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber
1980-1989: Marilynne Robinson - Housekeeping
1990-1999: Julia Alvarez - In the Time of the Butterflies
2000-2009: Geraldine Brooks - Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
2010-2020: Nafissa Thompson-Spires - Heads of the Colored People

2000-2020

Level 1 Start The Countdown
2000 Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang
2001 Ben Elton - Dead Famous
2002
2003 Anne Applebaum - Gulag: A History
2004 Jonathan Lethem - Men and Cartoons

Level 2 Double Down
2005 Didier van Cauwelaert - Attirances
2006 Yrsa Sigurdardottir - My Soul to Take
2007 Nathacha Appanah - Le dernier frère
2008 Tidiane N'Diaye - Le Génocide Voilé
2009 Marie Ndiaye - Three Strong Women

Level 3 Moving Forward
2010: Simon Winchester - Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories
2011 Juan Gabriel Vasquez - The Sound of Things Falling
2012: Ondjaki - Transparent City
2013 Abby Geni - The Last Animal
2014 Bandi - The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea

Level 4 Decade Master
2015 Moussa Konate - L'affaire des coupeurs de têtes
2016 Nikesh Shukla - The Good Immigrant
2017 Daniel Kehlmann - Tijl
2018 Anabel Hernandez - A Massacre in Mexico: The True Story Behind the Missing Forty Three Students
2019 Rebecca Solnit - Whose Story Is This? Old Conflicts, New Chapters
2020 Kapka Kassabova - To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace

The Game is Afoot

COMPLETED 10 NOVEMBER!

Level 1 - Break the Code (2 Books)
1. Georges Simenon - Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas
2. Michael Kestemont - De zwarte koning

Level 2 - Shadow the Suspect (4 Books)
3. Moussa Konate - L'affaire des coupeurs de têtes
4. Luis Sepulveda - La Fin de l'histoire

Level 3 - Crack the Case (7 Books)
5. E.C.R. Lorac - Fell Murder
6. Elly Griffiths - The Janus Stone: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 2
7. Jessica Fellowes - The Mitford Murders

Level 4 - Chase the Villain (10 Books)
8. Yrsa Sigurdardottir - My Soul to Take
9. Ann Cleeves - White Nights
10. Jacques Fortier - Chapitre fatal à la cathédrale

Chunksters

COMPLETED 23 JULY!

Level One - Chunkster
1 Ondjaki - Transparent City
2 Anabel Hernandez - A Massacre in Mexico: The True Story Behind the Missing Forty Three Students
3 Edward Carey - Little

Level Two - Flower Presser
4 David Treuer - The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present
5 Anne Applebaum - Gulag: A History
6 Simon Winchester - Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories

Level 3 - Back Breaker
7 Jonas Jonasson - Le vieux qui ne voulait pas feter son anniversaire
8 David Van Reybrouck - Congo: een geschiedenis
9 Amamdou Hampate Ba - Amkoullel, l'enfant Peul
10 Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang

Travel the world

COMPLETED

Around the World

1st Leg: North America
Marilynne Robinson - Housekeeping
2nd Leg: South America
Julia Alvarez - In the Time of the Butterflies
3rd Leg: Europe
Michael Kestemont - De zwarte koning
4th Leg: Middle East
Anonymous - The Epic of Gilgamesh
5th Leg: Africa
Ondjaki - Transparent City
6th Leg: Asia
Elisa Shua Dusapin - Winter in Sokcho
7th Leg: Australia & Oceania
Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang

Regional Tour

Level 1 - A Quick Trip
1. Ondjaki - Transparent City
2. Marie Ndiaye - Three Strong Women

Level 2 - A Short Stay
3. Alifa Rifaat - Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories
4. Nathacha Appanah - Le dernier frère

Level 3 - A Leisurely Visit
5. Moussa Konate - L'affaire des coupeurs de têtes
6. Alain Mabanckou - Les Cigognes sont immortelles
7. Driss Chraibi - Le Passé Simple

Level 4 - Keep travelling
8. Chibundu Onuzo - Welcome to Lagos
9. David Van Reybrouck - Congo: een geschiedenis
10. Amadou Hampate Ba - Amkoullel, l'enfant Peul
11. Veronique Tadjo - Reine Pokou: Concerto pour un sacrifice
12. Nawal el Saadawi - Woman at Point Zero
13. Tidiane N'Diaye - Le Génocide Voilé
14. Nawal el Saadawi - Memoirs from the Women's Prison
15. Ben Okri - Incidents at the Shrine: Short Stories
16. Trifonia Melibea Obono - La Bastarda
17. Marguerite Abouet - Commissaire Kouamé. Un si joli jardin
18. Maaza Mengiste - The Shadow King
19. Monique Ilboudo - Le mal de peau

Translated Books

This is a personal challenge I am setting for myself. Last year, 18% of the books I read were in translation. This year I want to try to bring this to 25%. I will count both fiction and non-fiction books towards this challenge. Books in translation for me means any book that was not originally published in Dutch, French or English.

1. Ondjaki - Transparent City (Portuguese)
2. Anabel Hernandez - A Massacre in Mexico: The True Story Behind the Missing Forty Three Students (Spanish)
3. Anonymous - The Saga of the People of Laxardal and Bolli Bollason's Tale (Icelandic)
4. Alifa Rifaat - Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories (Arabic)
5. Bandi - The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea (Korean)
6. Luis Sepulveda - La Fin de l'histoire (Spanish)
7. Daniel Kehlmann - Tijl (German)
8. Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon (German)
9. Fernanda Melchor - Hurricane Season (Spanish)
10. Jorge Luis Borges - The Garden of Forking Paths (Spanish)
11. Jonas Jonasson - Le vieux qui ne voulait pas feter son anniversaire (Swedish)
12. Juan Gabriel Vasquez - The Sound of Things Falling (Spanish)
13. Yoko Ogawa - The Memory Police (Japanese)
14. Susana Moreira Marques - Now and at the Hour of Our Death (Portuguese)
15. Anonymous - The Epic of Gilgamesh (Akkadian)
16. Isabel Allende - The House of the Spirits (Spanish)
17. Yrsa Sigurdardottir - My Soul to Take (Icelandic)
17. Homeros - Odysseia (Ancient Greek)
18. Shokoofeh Azar - The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree (Farsi)
19. Nawal el Saadawi - Woman at Point Zero (Arabic)
20. Rumena Buzarovska - My Husband (Macedonian)
21. Nawal el Saadawi - Memoirs from the Women's Prison (Arabic)
22. Halldor Laxness - The Fish Can Sing (Icelandic)
23. Luis de Camoes - De Lusiaden (Portuguese)
24. Trifonia Melibea Obono - La Bastarda (Spanish)
25. Yuri Herrera - The Transmigration of Bodies (Spanish)
26. Arno Geiger - Onder de Drachenwand (German)
27. Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen - The Rabbit Back Literature Society (Finnish)

Another one of my personal challenges is to read 20 short story or essay collections in 2020.

COMPLETED 20 DECEMBER

1. Rowan Routh - Eight Ghosts: The English Heritage Book of New Ghost Stories
2. Nafissa Thompson Spires - Heads of the Colored People
3. Dorothy Parker - The Custard Heart
4. Alifa Rifaat - Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories
5. Jonathan Lethem - Men and Cartoons
6. Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber
7. Bandi - The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea
8. Hans Heesen - Naar Zutphen
9. Abby Geni - The Last Animal
10. Jorge Luis Borges - The Garden of Forking Paths
11. Sheridan Le Fanu - Madam Crowl's Ghost & Other Stories
12. Xuan Juliana Wang - Home Remedies
13. Lauren Groff - Florida
14. Rumena Buzarovska - My Husband
15. Anna Gavalda - Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part
16. Ben Okri - Incidents at the Shrine: Short Stories
17. Elizabeth Gaskell - Tales of Mystery & the Macabre
18. Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror
19. Didier van Cauwelaert - Attirances
20. Stuart MacBride - Twelve Days of Winter: Crime at Christmas

Spring Bingo

B1: Award Nominated
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld - The Discomfort of Evening
B2: Memoir
Stephanie Land - Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive
B3: Audio Book
B4: Green Cover
Kapka Kassabova - To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace
B5: Pretty Dress

I1: Published Before 1900
Mary Seacole - Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands
I2: Travel
Simon Winchester - Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories
I3: Horror or Suspense
Sheridan Le Fanu - Madam Crowl's Ghost & Other Stories
I4: Mental Illness
Jenny Offill - Last Things
I5: Fairies or Fae

N1: Published this year
Fernanda Melchor - Hurricane Season
N2: Yellow Cover
Eva Meijer - Bird Cottage
N3: FREE
Moussa Konate - L'affaire des coupeurs de têtes
N4: Romance
N5: Male POV
Deborah Levy - The Man Who Saw Everything

G1: Tear-Jerker
Natacha Appanah - The Last Brother
G2: In Translation
Bandi - The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea
G3: Minority Studies
G4: Young Adult
G5: Magical Powers
Anna James -Tilly and the Bookwanderers

O1: Fairy Tale Retelling
Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
O2: Historical (F or NF)
Anne Applebaum - Gulag: A History
O3: Play
Arthur Miller - The Crucible
O4: Based on a True Story
Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon
O5: Pink Cover
Jonas Jonasson - Le vieux qui ne voulait pas feter son anniversaire

Curious Adventure Challenge

A reading challenge to pick up more non-fiction books, hosted by Natalie and Amelia

1. Local celebrity/speciality
Rachida Aziz - Niemand zal hier slapen vannacht

2. Different experience
Megan Phelps - Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope
Nikesh Shukla - The Good Immigrant

3. Something you love
Simon Winchester - Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories

4. Previously published essay collection
Rebecca Solnit - Whose Story Is This? Old Conflicts, New Chapters

5. About an activity/craft you want to try

6. Random non-fiction pick
Helena Attlee - The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and its Citrus Fruit

7. Era you'd like to live in

8. Related to your childhood/growing up

9. Nonfiction and fiction pairing
Anne Applebaum - Gulag: A History & Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon

10. Graphic nonfiction
Joe Sacco - Paying the Land

11. New-to-you publisher of non-fiction
Dina Nayeri - The Ungrateful Refugee

12. Book reflecting yourself/self-reflection
Eva Meijer - De grenzen van mijn taal

Summer Bingo

Happy summer reading!

COMPLETED 13 SEPT.

B1: Exploration
The Epic of Gilgamesh
B2: Congratulations!
Juan Gabriel Vasquez - The Sound of Things Falling (English Pen Award)
B3: Participation
Amadou Hampate Ba - Amkoullel, l'enfant Peul
B4: Information
Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang
B5: Collaboration
Nawal el Saadawi - Woman at Point Zero

I1: Listed it
Susana Moreira Marques - Now and at the Hour of Our Death
I2: Bought it
Lauren Groff - Florida
I3: Eyed it
David Van Reybrouck - Congo: een geschiedenis
I4: Downloaded it
Jessica Fellowes - The Mitford Murders
I5: Scored it!
Kwame Anthony Appiah - The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity

N1: Oldie but goodie
Homeros - Odysseia
N2: New kid on the block
Jim Crumley - The Nature of Summer
N3: FREE
Isabel Allende - The House of the Spirits
N4: Yesterday's news
Xuan Juliana Wang - Home Remedies
N5: Everybody's talking
Jacqueline Woodson - Red at the Bone

G1: Nice to meet you
Mary Paulson-Ellis - The Other Mrs Walker
G2: You seem familiar
Yoko Ogawa - The Memory Police
G3: One of the girls
Caroline Crampton - The Way to the Sea
G4: One of the guys
Tidiane N'Diaye - Le Génocide Voilé
G5: Old friends
Ann Cleeves - White Nights

O1: Take a stand
Violet Moller - The Map of Knowledge: How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found: A History in Seven Cities
O2: Take a friend
Elly Griffiths - The Janus Stone: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 2
O3: Take a trip
Veronique Tadjo - Reine Pokou: Concerto pour un sacrifice
O4: Take a look
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - My Soul to Take
O5: Take a break
Sophie Anderson - The Girl Who Speaks Bear

Autumn Bingo

B1- Multiple Awards
Emil Ferris - My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1
B2- Never Finished
Didier van Cauwelaert - Attirances
B3- Courtroom or Crime
B4- Orange Cover
Jacques Fortier - Chapitre fatal à la cathédrale
B5- Politics
Maaza Mengiste - The Shadow King

I1- Finish a Series
I2- Beloved Children's
Lupita Nyong'o - Sulwe
I3- Adventure
Luis de Camoes - De Lusiaden
I4- Dysfunctional Family
Jane Healey - The Animals at Lockwood Manor
I5- Sweater on Cover
Lemn Sissay - My Name is Why

N1- GR Award Nominated
N2- Challenges Social Norms
Trifonia Melibea Obono - La Bastarda
N3- FREE
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror
N4- Senior Romance
N5- Hometown Setting
Rachida Aziz - Niemand zal hier slapen vannacht

G1- First Person POV
Alix Nathan - The Warlow Experiment
G2- Red Cover
Emily Carroll - Through the Woods
G3- Unfamiliar Territory
Dina Nayeri - The Ungrateful Refugee
G4- Highly Recommended
James Baldwin - The Fire Next Time
G5- Supernatural Character
Elizabeth Gaskell - Tales of Mystery & the Macabre

O1- Foreign Setting
Yuri Herrera - The Transmigration of Bodies
O2- Time Travel
Flann O'Brien - The Third Policeman
O3- Illustrated
Marguerite Abouet - Commissaire Kouamé. Un si joli jardin
O4- Religion
Maryse Conde - I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
O5- Brown Cover
Joe Sacco - Paying the Land