Chapter Adventure Reading Challenges (Formerly GXO) discussion

JANUARY Key Words:

"End, Princess, Dance, Midnight, Court, Why, Winter, Story"

Post here with the book you read (and a little about why you liked it or didn't like it) after you finish.

Recommendations:
* The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
* The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
* The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden
* The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty

*The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
*Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams
*Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Michelle wrote: "*The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
*Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams
*Born a Crime: Stories From a South Afric..."</i>
*[book:Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama

So excited to join. Thanks for curating this challenge. :) Kim

Kimberley wrote: "So excited to join. Thanks for curating this challenge. :) Kim"

Welcome Kimberley!

Michelle wrote: "*The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
*Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams"

Thanks for the recommendations Michelle!

Thanks so much for coming up with this challenge. I discovered it at storygraph and loved the idea. Looking forward to take part. Thank you!

I'm going to be listening to the audiobook of The Midnight Library

I’m going to be finally getting around to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Always wanted to see the movie, but will read the book instead.

Claudiu wrote: "Thanks so much for coming up with this challenge. I discovered it at storygraph and loved the idea. Looking forward to take part. Thank you!"

Welcome Claudiu!

I am starting my January book
Book title : It Ends with Us
Novel by Colleen Hoover
Keyword : end

My book is Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court”

Challenge complete. I read The winter wedding. It's an easy read about love, friendship and sisterhood. I liked it.

Finished my first book of the year on day 1. It’s going to be an awesome year.
The Midnight Library ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have also selected The Midnight Library. One more book to finish, and then I will dive in.

The book I mentioned before is a no-go: I tried but I gave up. I will change to something else I wanted to read for a while, will post when done.

I'm thinking of reading Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah....has anyone else read this book before?

I read The Tale of Despereaux being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread. I loved DiCamillo’s chapter book because it artfully discussed conformity, betrayal, individuality, bravery, and love. The way that the author weaved each character’s story was clever and well done. This was a great, quick, and comforting read.

Kimberly wrote: "I'm going to be listening to the audiobook of The Midnight Library"

Update: I finished the audio and thought it was a lovely book. I didn't think I'd cry but I did at the end. I do feel it could have used a bit more depth and maybe took the safe route but I would still recommend this book. I can see why so many loved it and felt it was their favorite book of the year.

Erica wrote: "I'm thinking of reading Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah....has anyone else read this book before?"

I read this years ago and really enjoyed it.

I think I’m going to read Born a Crime: Stories from a South African childhood. I’ve been wanting to read it for some time now.

Natacia wrote: "I think I’m going to read Born a Crime: Stories from a South African childhood. I’ve been wanting to read it for some time now."

It's so good. I hope you enjoy it.

January Challenge Complete: The Princess Diaries #1

Recommend for someone looking for a silly, girly read for those multitaskers out there AND/OR someone looking for an excuse for a movie night!


I just finished the audiobook for The Princess Diaries. It was a fun and girly read on the commute to and from work. I loved that it was read by Anne Hathaway, and that I was able to compare the book to the movie. Both versions are light hearted and feminine, but the movie updated some things and added some quirkiness.

My only complaints are that (1) Mia’s ramblings (especially about being flat chested) sometimes got annoying and (2) I wasn’t very invested in the majority of the characters.

Erica wrote: "I'm thinking of reading Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah....has anyone else read this book before?"

I read it and really enjoyed it!

Currently reading Winter Counts!!

I just finished The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher as my first (of I hope three) for January. It was heartbreaking and lovely. Reading about her romance with Harrison Ford took me back to teenage me and remember the intensity of first love. It was definitely a great book to start the year!

Currently reading Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Matthew Walker

I chose The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty. Challenge complete. This is the first time I read a retold fairy tale and liked it.

challenge completed. I read Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. I remember the nuclear accident when it was in the news and wanted to know more.

DeeDee wrote: "challenge completed. I read Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. I remember the nuclear accident when it was in the news and wanted to know more."

Did you enjoy it? It's on my TBR

Excited to join this challenge! I’m hoping it will help me prioritize my ridiculously long ‘Want to Read’ list. :-) Unfortunately neither of the books I’m reading at the moment for so I will have to chime back in.

January challenge completed--I read After the End by Claire Mackintosh. This was an emotionally charged novel focusing on the choice two parents make about the care of their terminally ill son. In the 2nd half of the novel the author provides two alternatives to the court case and two different resolutions to the parents' relationship. Having no clear outcome didn't quite work for me.

I just finished Why Me? by Donald E. Westlake, another really fun book in the Dortmunder series. Enjoyed it a lot!

Completed January challenge

First book for 2021

📖It Ends With Us - Colleen Hoover📖

This is my first book from Colleen Hoover’s novel’s.It was unputdownable!!! Beautifully written,lovely story ,each character of this book seems to be real.

From the beginning i was totally consumed in the life of lily bloom. At first I didn’t get the title of the book , understood only at the last chapter! It was a major twist plotted by the author.

➡️ There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.

➡️ That’s what fifteen minutes can do to a person. It can destroy them.It can save them.

➡️ Just keep swimming.

Loved the book ❤️

I finished my first book of the year several days ago: The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker ("night" for "midnight"). I was really engrossed by the WWII story of a former friar who decides to answer an ad to marry a widow with 3 young children in a small German town, so far untouched by the war. I read the Kindle version and was quite surprised at the end that it was based on an actual person and his life. What a remarkable man!

I'm about 70% through Jon Acuff's Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done ("finish" for "end") which has been in my Kindle for a while. I definitely have problems with finishing projects, and so far I've gotten some helpful hints, plus the author has a great sense of humor. (Also, it satisfies the January requirement of a self-help book for my library's 2021 reading challenge.)

My first choice for this challenge was Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal ("princess"), but I can't get it through Libby/Overdrive until January 13 at the earliest. I should definitely finish that by the end of January, too. I'm overachieving this month, knowing that February tends to be a rough month for me for reading (suffer from SAD). Really enjoying searching for books to work for this challenge--it's taken me out of my normal reading patterns!

UPDATE 1/18/21: Finished Princess Elizabeth's Spy, and a couple storylines in the book are a rip off of the TV show Alias (which I love and have been re-watching during the pandemic so the storylines were quite fresh in my mind). Very disappointing. I'm 89% through Finish - is it ironic I'm having a harder time finishing a book called Finish?

UPDATE 1/29/21: Finished Finish. I will probably re-read parts of this in the future. It was a good book, I guess I just wasn't feeling it this month, but in the spirit of the title, I'm glad I finished it!

I chose a non-fiction book for my first Key Word challenge monthly read: The Last Princess: The Devoted Life of Queen Victoria's Youngest Daughter, by Matthew Dennison. It was a really interesting topic, the relationship of Princess Beatrice and her mother, Queen Victoria. The way the material was presented was a bit less than satisfactory (repetition, assumptions about what was in people's heads, some important things skipped over quickly); nevertheless I enjoyed the read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...

Read: The Princess Game by Shoman Chainani

Finished: January 10, 2021

Length: One hour fourteen minutes

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Comments: I think I was most interested in this story out of the 5 in this series. Probably because it has been the most straightforward and I knew exactly who the killer was. That did not diminish my pleasure in listening to the book. I’m glad they went for a full cast of narrators as there were a lot of characters. Even with the multiple cast I still didn’t know who was talking sometimes.

Seriously - Wow! The book choices so far from everyone has such variety! And the descriptions - you guys are making me add more books to my TBR!

I am just starting True Story for this challenge. It was a BOTM pick for me and I will post a review when I’m finished. I’m super looking forward to it!!!!

Just joined the challenge. Super excited as last year was a bit of a bust for me - what I thought was cancer brain causing me to struggle through a book turned out to be simply a book that was just terribly written.

Question - I just finished reading The Prince and I the other day, would this count as a derivative of Princess? If not, I can always find another book to fulfill this month's challenge.

January Challenge Complete!
Chasing Lady Midnight
by C.L. Ragsdale
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Keyword: Midnight

Admittedly, the story started out as something that I didn't think that I would care for. I am really glad that I decided to stick it out, as it turned out to be a pretty decent story.

I liked the imagination of the characters. I believe that is what helped bring this book to life for me. The plot did get a bit confusing in the middle, but it was all sorted out by the end of the book.

Finished the Midnight Library! I also watched Soul this week on Disney+. There are some similar ideas in both (though obviously told in very different ways). Both works gave me pause to reflect and to think about what my “best life” looks like.

I read The Midnight Library and really enjoyed it! I hope to read A Court of Wings and Ruin and I just placed a hold on the audio version of The Cabin at the End of the World (should get it in a couple of days according to Libby).

Challenge Complete - It's the End of the World as I Know It by Matthew Landis - https://booksandneedlepoint.blogspot....

I just finished The Midnight Library. I'm listening to something for another challenge but my hold for Winter Garden just came in so I'll get 2 Januarys done

I have just finished The Midnight Library, I have really enjoyed this book

Challenge Complete!

Read: The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden

Finished: January 11, 2021

Rating: 3.5 Stars

This book was pretty good, but definitely on the slow side. The atmosphere was amazing, though, and I've already read the second book in the trilogy and the pacing in it is much better than the first.

Side note: Also DNF'd Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah....I just couldn't get on board with the characters

Sruthy wrote: "I am starting my January book
Book title : It Ends with Us
Novel by Colleen Hoover
Keyword : end"

I still haven't read anything by Colleen Hoover but everyone gushes about her books.

Erica wrote: "Challenge Complete!

Read: The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden

Finished: January 11, 2021

Rating: 3.5 Stars

This book was pretty good, but definitely on the ..."

Winter Garden can be a bit slow, I agree. Now that you've read The Bear in the Nightingale, definitely move on in the series. There's a lot more action straight away in book 2.