2025 Reading Challenge discussion

✿ Diane's 2021 Reading Corner ✿

TOC

1. 2020 Member Corner
2. 2021 Goodreads Year in Books
3. 2021 Goodreads Challenge
4. 2021 Reading Summary
5. 2021 Challenge Tracker
6. 2021 Book Tracker

✿ 2021 Reading Summary ✿

Reading Resolutions
1. Don't finish books that I hate, or are a waste of time.
2. Plan my reading to meet challenges, rather than trying to fit what I've read into a challenge.
3. Finish more challenges.

Stats
Books read: 80
Pages read: 24,997
Average Length: 312
Average Rating: 3.8
Average Days to Read: 3.20


Ratings

Rating System
★★★★★ - LOVED IT! It's a Desert Island book
★★★★☆ - I really liked it, a lot.
★★★☆☆ - Good (enough)
★★☆☆☆ - It might be good, for someone else
★☆☆☆☆ - Hated it!

2021 Ratings
★★★★★ 16
★★★★☆ 35
★★★☆☆ 25
★★☆☆☆ 3
★☆☆☆☆


Likes & Dislikes

Likes
➢ Favorite title:
➢ Favorite literary fiction:
➢ Favorite genre fiction:
Dystopia: Severance
Mystery: The Keeper of Lost Causes
➢ Favorite non-fiction:
History: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
➢ Favorite cover:


Dislikes
➢ Least favorite books:
* All This I Will Give to You

Diversity
➢ Authors of color: 67
➢ Women: 58
➢ Author location (non US/Canada/UK): 21
➢ Literature in translation: 14
➢ LGBTQ+ (author or main character): 18
➢ Non-fiction: 7


Notes

Challenge Tracker

Goal: 9/27

Yearly Challenges

Read Broadly & Deeply
1. Book Riot Read Harder Challenge
2. Reading Women Challenge
3. Global Voices
4. Genre Bingo

Have Fun
5. Color Challenge
6. A-Z Challenge: Character Edition
7. Let's Turn Pages
8. Clear the Shelves
9. Every Year
10. Reread It
11. Finish DNFs
12. Make Progress on ToB Rooster Finalists
13. Country Challenge

Quarterly Challenges
14. ✅ Q1: Best in Show
15. ✅ Q2: Who Runs the World
16. Q2: A Diverse Education
17. Q3: Global Goals for a Sustainable World

Monthly Challenges
18. ✅ January: Marathon Challenge
19. ✅ February: Black History Month
20. ✅ March: Women's History Month
21. ✅ March 25 - April 7: 25k Readathon Challenge
22. ✅ May: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
23. ❌ June: LGBTQ+ History Month
24. July 1 - Sept 14: Challenge Months
25. Sept 15 - Oct 15: National Hispanic Heritage Month

Buddy Reads
26. ✅ January: Faithful Place, by Tana French
27. ✅ February: Broken Harbor, by Tana French

Yearly Challenge: Goodreads Challenge

Goal: 80/120

January
1. ★★★★☆ (2005, 298 pp) The Devotion of Suspect X, Keigo Higashino
2. ★★★★☆ (2020, 241 pp) Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam
3. ★★★★☆ (1994, 274 pp) The Memory Police. Yōko Ogawa
4. ★★★★★ (1997, 513 pp) The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
5. ★★★★☆ (2010, 400 pp) Faithful Place, Tana French
6. ★★★★★ (2007, 188 pp) The Vegetarian, Han Kang
7. ★★★★☆ (2018, 304 pp) Pride, Ibi Zoboi
8. ★★★★★ (2017, 263 pp) Future Home of the Living God, Louise Erdrich
9. ★★★★☆ (2019, 432 pp) The Far Field, Madhuri Vijay
10. ★★★★☆ (2018, 384 pp) The Night Tiger, Yangsze Choo
11. ★★★☆☆ (2018, 323 pp) The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang
12. ★★★☆☆ (2013, 32 pp) King for a Day, Rukhsana Khan
13. ★★★☆☆ (2018, 336 pp) The Broken Girls, Simone St. James
14. ★★★★★ (1999, 208 pp) The Translator, Leila Aboulela

February
15. ★★★☆☆ (2010, 427 pp) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin
16. ★★★★☆ (2019, 304 pp) Royal Holiday, Jasmine Guillory
17. ★★★★★ (2014, 368 pp) An Untamed State, Roxane Gay
18. ★★★★☆ (2020, 312 pp) Party of Two, Jasmine Guillory
19. ★★★★☆ (2012, 450 pp) Broken Harbor, Tana French
20. ★★★☆☆ (2019, 288 pp) Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir, Kwame Onwuachi
21. ★★★★★ (2019, 403 pp) The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates
22. ★★★★★ (2018,248 pp) So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo
23. ★★★★★ (2010, 224 pp) One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia
24. ★★★★☆ (2019, 207 pp) Red at the Bone, Jacqueline Woodson
25. ★★★★☆ (2019, 213 pp) The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead
26. ★★★★★ (2017, 306 pp) Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, Roxane Gay
27. ★★★★★ (2014, 372 pp) Queen Sugar, Natalie Baszile
28. ★★★★★ (2019, 330 pp) Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams
29. ★★★☆☆ (2018, 336 pp) Down the River Unto the Sea, Walter Mosley
30. ★★★★★ (2020, 343 pp) The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
31. ★★★★★ (2014, 64 pp) We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
32. ★★★★☆ (2019, 400 pp) With the Fire on High, Elizabeth Acevedo
33. ★★★★☆ (2019, 323 pp) Slay, Brittney Morris

March
34. ★★★☆☆ (2019, 384 pp) We Set the Dark on Fire, Tehlor Kay Mejia
35. ★★★★★ (2020, 224 pp) The Friend, Sigrid Nunez
36. ★★☆☆☆ (2021, 256 pp) The Echo Wife, Sarah Gailey
37. ★★★☆☆ (2017, 363 pp) The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, David Lagercrantz
38. ★★★★☆ (2018, 431 pp) The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal
39. ★★★☆☆ (2010, 254 pp) Celestial Bodies, Jokha Alharthi
40. ★★★★☆ (2004, 1,006 pp) Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
41. ★★★☆☆ (2020, 338 pp) Before She Was Helen, Caroline B. Cooney
42. ★★★☆☆ (2020, 32 pp) This Telling, Cheryl Strayed
43. ★★★☆☆ (2013, 483 pp) Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell
44. ★★★★☆ (2014, 260 pp) The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin
45. ★★★★★ (1993, 354 pp) The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
46. ★★★☆☆ (2005, 227 pp) Looking for Alaska, John Green

April
47. ★★★☆☆ (2021, 304 pp) Love Is a Revolution, Renée Watson
48. ★★★★☆ (2020, 288 pp) The Midnight Library, Matt Haig
49. ★★★★☆ (2000, 448 pp) White Teeth, Zadie Smith
50. ★★☆☆☆ (1920, 121 pp) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie
51. ★★★☆☆ (2019, 373 pp) Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Talia Hibbert
52. ★★★★☆ (2016, 308 pp) My Last Continent, Midge Raymond
53. ★★★★☆ (2021, 368 pp) The Paris Library, Janet Skeslien Charles
54. ★★★☆☆ (1985, 126 pp) Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid
55. ★★★☆☆ (2013, 264 pp) Aunty Lee's Delights, Ovidia Yu
56. ★★★☆☆ (2012, 48 pp) Some Days, María Wernicke
57. ★★★☆☆ (1997, 369 pp) The Bat, Jo Nesbø
58. ★★★★★ (2007, 400 pp) The Keeper of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler-OlsenHaruki Murakami

May
59. ★★★★★ (2009, 338 pp) Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Barbara Demick
60. ★★★★☆ (2018, 291 pp) Severance, Ling Ma
61. ★★★★☆ (2017, 496 pp) Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
62. ★★☆☆☆ (2016, 490 pp) All This I Will Give to You, Dolores Redondo
63. ★★★★☆ (2000, 167 pp) Go: A Coming of Age Novel, Kazuki Kaneshiro
64. ★★★☆☆ (2010, 256 pp) City of Ash and Red, Hye-Young Pyun
65. ★★★★☆ (2000, 184 pp) Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie
66. ★★★★☆ (2015, 221 pp) Slade House, David Mitchell
67. ★★★★☆ (2020, 342 pp) The Mountains Sing, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
68. ★★★☆☆ (2001, 96 pp) The Strange Library, Haruki Murakami
69. ★★★☆☆ (2018, 531 pp) The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang
70. ★★★★☆ (2017, 304 pp) A Single Swallow, Ling Zhang

June
71. ★★★☆☆ (2020, 352 pp) Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender
72. ★★★★☆ (2016, 315 pp) All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders
73. ★★★★☆ (2014, 419 pp) Patsy, Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn
74. ★★★☆☆ (2013, 269 pp) If You Could Be Mine, Sara Farizan
75. ★★★☆☆ (2014, 269 pp) Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, Janet Mock
76. ★★★★☆ (2021, 304 pp) Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro
77. ★★☆☆ (2018, 240 pp) Amal Unbound, Aisha Saeed

July
78. ★★★★☆ (2020, 410 pp) The House in the Cerulean Sea, T.J. Klune
79. ★★★★☆ (2021, 288 pp) Yearbook, Seth Rogen
80. ★★★★☆ (2017, 273 pp) Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, Jessica Bruder

Yearly Challenge: Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

Goal: 13/24

1. Book I’ve been intimidated to read
* Ulysses
* Anna Karenina
* The Brothers Karamazov
* War and Peace
* Les Misérables
* The Idiot
* Don Quixote
* Cloud Atlas

2. Nonfiction book about anti-racism
✅ So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo

3. Non-European novel in translation
✅ The Devotion of Suspect X, Keigo Higashino

4. An LGBTQ+ history book
* And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
* The Stonewall Reader

5. A genre novel by an Indigenous, First Nations, or Native American author
✅ Future Home of the Living God, Louise Erdrich

6. Fanfic
✅ The Final Lullaby of Sofia Mendes (The Sparrow fanfic)

7. Fat-positive romance
✅ Love Is a Revolution, Renée Watson

8. Romance by a trans or nonbinary author
✅ Felix Ever After

9. Middle grade mystery (read in hardcopy or ebook for illustrations)
* Summerlost
* Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
* The Case of the Missing Marquess
* Greenglass House
* The Parker Inheritance

10. SFF anthology edited by a person of color
* Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements

11. Food memoir by an author of color
✅ Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir, Kwame Onwuachi

12. Read a work of investigative nonfiction by an author of color


13. Book with a cover you don’t like
* The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish

14. Realistic YA book not set in the U.S., UK, or Canada
✅ If You Could Be Mine (Iran)

15. Memoir by a Latinx author
* Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir

16. Own Voices book about disability
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
* So Lucky
* Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century

17. Own Voices YA book with a Black main character that isn’t about Black pain
✅ With the Fire on High, Elizabeth Acevedo

18. Book by/about a non-Western world leader
* Daughter Of Destiny: An Autobiography
* Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

19. Historical fiction with a POC or LGBTQ+ protagonist
✅ The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates

20. Book of nature poems
* Wild Embers: Poems of Rebellion, Fire and Beauty
* Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds

21. Children’s book that centers on a disabled character but not their disability
✅ King for a Day, Rukhsana Khan

22. Book set in the Midwest
✅ Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell

23. Book that demystifies a common mental illness
* The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

24. Book featuring a beloved pet where the pet doesn’t die
✅ The Friend

Yearly Challenge: Reading Women Challenge

Goal 13/28

1. Book longlisted for the JCB Prize
✅ The Far Field, Madhuri Vijay (2019 winner)

2. Book by an author from Eastern Europe
* Vita Nostra

3. Book about Incarceration
* Rectify: A Story of Healing and Redemption After Wrongful Conviction

4. Cookbook by a woman of color
* Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking

5. Book with a protagonist older than 50
✅ Royal Holiday, Jasmine Guillory

6. Book by a South American Author in translation
* Fever Dream
* Things We Lost in the Fire
* Her Mother's Mother's Mother and Her Daughters
* The Remainder

7. Reread a Favorite Book
* So many :) Ideas....
* Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
* The Historian

8. Memoir by an indigenous, first nations, native, or aboriginal woman
* Heart Berries

9. Book by a Neurodivergent Author
✅ The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang

10. Crime novel or thriller in translation
* The Perfect Nanny

11. Book about the natural world
* Silent Spring
* No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
* Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore

12. YA novel by a Latinx author
✅ We Set the Dark on Fire, Tehlor Kay Mejia

13. Poetry Collection by a black woman
* Brown Girl Dreaming
* And Still I Rise

14. Book with a biracial protagonist
✅ The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin

15. Muslim middle grade novel
✅ Amal Unbound, Aisha Saeed

16. Book featuring a queer love story
✅ Patsy

17. About a woman in politics
* Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
* What Happened
* Rodham
* Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change
* Daughter Of Destiny: An Autobiography

18. Book with a rural setting
✅ The Shipping News, Annie Proulx

19. Book with a cover designed by a woman
* The Pisces (designed by Rachel Willey)

20. Book by an Arab author in translation
✅ Celestial Bodies, Jokha Alharthi

21. Book by a Trans author
✅ All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders

22. Fantasy novel by an Asian author
✅ The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang

23. Nonfiction book focused on social justice


24. Short story collection by a Caribbean author
* The Dew Breaker
* At the Bottom of the River

Bonus
25. Book by Alexis Wright

26. Book by Tsitsi Dangarembga

27. Book by Leila Aboulela
✅ The Translator

28. Book by Yōko Ogawa
✅ The Memory Police

Yearly Challenge: Global Voices

Goal: 9/20

Voices From Around The World

1. African
* Transcendent Kingdom

2. Asian
✅ The Vegetarian, Han Kang

3. Caribbean


4. Indigenous


5. Latin American


6. Middle Eastern


7. Oceanic


8. From a Dependent Territory (e.g., Puerto Rican) or State with Limited Recognition (e.g., Palestinian)
* Simone: A Novel


9. Immigrant, Refugee, Migrant, or Asylum-Seeker


10. Black or Multiracial
✅ One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia

Diversity of Beliefs

11. Agnostic, Atheist, or Humanist


12. Buddhist or Hindu


13. Jewish
✅ Yearbook, Seth Rogen

14. Muslim


15. Practitioner of a Minor Religion or Non-Religious form of Spirituality


16. Activist, Freedom Fighter, or Political Minority


Love is Love is Love

17. Asexual, Aromantic, or Celibate


18. Gay or Lesbian
✅ Red at the Bone, Jacqueline Woodson

19. Bisexual or Pansexual


20. Adopted, Fostered, or raised by someone other than one's biological parents


Every Body Has Value

21. Body Positive, Body Neutral, or Fat Positive person who is a size or shape outside of their society's beauty norms


22. Non-binary, Genderqueer, Intersex or Transgender
✅ Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, Janet Mock

23. Child (under 18) or Elder (over 75)


24. Differently-Abled (e.g., Autistic, Deaf)


25. Living with a visible or invisible Chronic Health Condition or Physical Disability
✅ Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Talia Hibbert (fibromyalgia)

26. Living with a Mental Health Condition, Cognitive/Intellectual Disability, or Addiction
✅ The Midnight Library, Matt Haig (depression)

27. Currently or Previously Incarcerated or Institutionalized


28. Low-Income or Financially Insecure


29. Survivor of Abuse, Neglect, Sexual Assault, a Hate Crime, or Human Trafficking
✅ An Untamed State, Roxane Gay

30. Victim of State-Sponsored Violence or Institutional/Systemic Discrimination


Bonus & Advanced Prompts

31. Read a book written by people indigenous to where you live or frequently visit.
* How a Mountain was Made: Stories

32. Read a book translated from a language other than English.
✅ The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, David Lagercrantz (Swedish)

33. Read a book that addresses social justice or ethics or in medicine, law, fashion, food, consumerism, or environmental stewardship as it relates to race, class, sex/gender, etc.


34. Read a “classic,” award-winning, or scholarly #ownvoices book that also meets the criteria for one of the above prompts.


35. Read a book of poetry or a graphic novel that also meets the criteria for one of the above prompts.
* Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

36. Read an #ownvoices book promoted or written by a Bookstagrammer, Booktuber, Book Blogger, Goodreads Super Reviewer, or an Activist or Educator who uses social media as a tool to teach and inspire change.


37. Listen to an #ownvoices book read by the author, read the book and attend an author event about the book, or watch a recording of such an event.


38. Read a book about intersectional feminism or Black feminism.


39. Read a book that discusses unearned privilege, colonialism, imperialism, or white supremacy.


40. Read a book that helps you understand your own cultural heritage.

Yearly Challenge: Genre Bingo

Goal
Books: 16/24
Bingos: 1/13



B
B1. Poetry
B2. Travel
B3. Young Adult
✅ Slay
B4 Graphic Novel
B5. Short Stories or Novella
✅ Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

I
I1. Young Adult Fantasy
✅ The House in the Cerulean Sea
I2. Dystopian
✅ Leave the World Behind
I3. Family Saga
✅ The Vanishing Half
I4. Crime
✅ Down the River Unto the Sea
I5. Memoir
✅ Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

N
N1. General Nonfiction
✅ Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
N2. Romance
✅ Party of Two
N3. Free Space
N4. Literary Fiction
✅ Queen Sugar
N5. Biography

G
G1. Mystery or Thriller
✅ Broken Harbor
G2. Self-Help
G3. Magical Realism
✅ The Night Tiger
G4. Tragedy
G5. Horror
✅ City of Ash and Red

O
O1. Coming of Age
✅ Go: A Coming of Age Novel
O2. Suspense
✅ The Broken Girls
O3. Satire
* The Sellout
* 1984
O4. Historical Fiction
✅ Pachinko
O5. Science Nonfiction
* Lab Girl

Yearly Challenge: Color Challenge

Goal: 15/18

White


Pink


Red


Orange


Yellow


Green


Light Blue


Dark Blue


Purple
* The Color Purple

Brown


Black


Metallic


5 Colors


Geometric


Ugly


Two+ color words in the title


"Color" in the title
* The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
* The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Word describing color in the title
* Beyond the Bright Sea
* Bright Shiny Morning
* Burning Bright

Yearly Challenge: A-Z Challenge: Character Edition

Goal: 22/26

A: Apollo, The Friend
B: Bashir Ahmed, The Far Field
C: Charley Bordelon, Queen Sugar
D: Delphine Gaither, One Crazy Summer
E: Emoni Santiago, With the Fire on High
F: Fiona Sheridan, The Broken Girls
G: George Washington, Leave the World Behind
H: Hiram Walker, The Water Dancer
I:
J: Jack Turner, The Nickel Boys
K: Klara, Klara and the Sun
L: Lisbeth Salander, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye
M: Michael Phan Larson, The Kiss Quotient
N: Nala Robertson, Love Is a Revolution
O: Olivia Monroe, Party of Two
P: Patsy Reynolds, Patsy
Q: Queenie Jenkins, Queenie
R: Ren, The Night Tiger
S: Stella Vignes, The Vanishing Half
T: Tetsuya Ishigami, The Devotion of Suspect X
U:
V: Vivian Forest, Royal Holiday
W:
X:
Y: Yeine Darr, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Z: Zuri Benitez, Pride

Yearly Challenge: Let's Turn Pages

Goal: 24,026/40,000

January: 14 books, 4,201 pp
February: 19 books, 5,918 pp
March: 13 books, 4,612 pp
April: 12 books, 3,417 pp
May: 11 books, 3,716 pp
June: 7 books, 2,162 pp
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:

Yearly Challenge: Clear the Shelves

Goal: 9/24

Physical
1. The Sparrow

Audible
1. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
2. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
3. This Telling
4. The Midnight Library
5. The House in the Cerulean Sea

Kindle
1. All This I Will Give to You
2. Go: A Coming of Age Novel
3. A Single Swallow

Yearly Challenge: Every Year (half the years)

Goals:
Total: 22/29 (half the years +1 bonus)
Each decade since the 60s: 5/7
2021 and 1964: 1/2
Bonus: 1 book prior to 1964 1/1

2021: Klara and the Sun
2020: Party of Two
2019: Red at the Bone
2018: So You Want to Talk About Race
2017: Future Home of the Living God
2016: My Last Continent
2015: Slade House
2014: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
2013: King for a Day
2012: Broken Harbor
2011:
2010: Faithful Place
2009:
2008:
2007: The Keeper of Lost Causes
2006:
2005: Looking for Alaska
2004: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2003:
2002:
2001: The Strange Library
2000: White Teeth
1999: The Translator
1998:
1997: The Sparrow
1996:
1995:
1994: The Memory Police
1993: The Shipping News
...
1986:
1985: Annie John
1984:
...
1966:
1965:
1964:

1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Yearly Challenge: Reread It

Goal: 0/6

1.

* The Color Purple

Yearly Challenge: Finish DNFs

Goal: 3/6

1. The Sparrow
2. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

* Piranesi
* The Secret History
* Lincoln in the Bardo
* The Goldfinch
* The Queen of the Night
* The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
* 1984
* Milkman
* Home Fire
* A Gentleman in Moscow
* The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
* The End of Your Life Book Club
* Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
* Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
* Into the Wild
* An Unnecessary Woman
* The Bluest Eye
* The Starless Sea

Yearly Challenge: Make Progress on ToB Rooster Finalists (started in 2019)

Read 6 of the remaining 23 books. Books read in this year will be in bold.

Goal: 1/6

1. ✅(2005) The Plot Against America
2. (2005) *Cloud Atlas
3. (2006) Home Land
4. ✅ (2006) *The Accidental
5. (2007) Absurdistan
6. (2007) *The Road
7. ✅ (2008) Remainder
#.❌ (2008) *The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Note: I'm not reading this one because I won't support Junot Díaz. Replacing with a different TOB semi-finalist.
8. (2009) City of Refuge
9. (2009) *A Mercy
10. (2010) The Lacuna
11. (2010) *Wolf Hall
12. (2011) Freedom
13. (2011) *A Visit from the Goon Squad
14. (2012) Open City
15. ✅ (2012) *The Sisters Brothers
16. ✅ (2013) The Fault in Our Stars
17. ✅ (2013) *The Orphan Master's Son
18. ✅ (2014) Life After Life
19. (2014) *The Good Lord Bird
20. (2015) All the Light We Cannot See
21. ✅ (2015) *Station Eleven
22. (2016) The Turner House
23. (2016) *The Sellout
24. ✅ (2017) Homegoing
25. ✅ (2017) *The Underground Railroad
26. ✅ (2018) Pachinko
27. (2018) Lincoln in the Bardo
28, (2018) *Fever Dream
29. (2019) There There
30. (2019) The Mars Room
31. (2019) Warlight
32. ✅ (2019) *My Sister, the Serial Killer
33. (2020) Optic Nerve
34. (2020) *Normal People

Yearly Challenge: Country Challenge

Goals:
18/38 (total)
9/22 (regions)

AFRICA

Northern Africa
✅ Sudan - The Translator, Leila Aboulela

Eastern Africa

Middle Africa

Southern Africa

Western Africa


AMERICAS

Caribbean
✅ Antigua & Barbuda - Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid
✅ Jamaica - Patsy, Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn

Central America

South America

Northern America
✅ USA, California - All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders
✅ USA, Minnesota - Future Home of the Living God, Louise Erdrich
✅ USA, Montana - The Paris Library, Janet Skeslien Charles
✅ USA, Nebraska - Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell

ASIA

Central Asia

Eastern Asia
✅ Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) - Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Barbara Demick
✅ Japan (ethnic Japanese) - The Devotion of Suspect X, Keigo Higashino
✅ Japan (Zainichi) - Go: A Coming of Age Novel, Kazuki Kaneshiro
✅ Republic of Korea (South Korea) - The Vegetarian, Han Kang

South Eastern Asia
✅ Singapore - Aunty Lee's Delights, Ovidia Yu
✅ Viet Nam - The Mountains Sing, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Southern Asia
✅ India, Southern India, Karnataka, Bangalore/Bengaluru - The Far Field, Madhuri Vijay

Western Asia
✅ Oman - Celestial Bodies, Jokha Alharthi

EUROPE

Eastern Europe

Northern Europe
✅ Denmark - The Keeper of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler-Olsen
✅ UK, London - Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams
✅ Sweden - The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, David Lagercrantz

Southern Europe
✅ Spain - All This I Will Give to You, Dolores Redondo

Western Europe


OCEANIA

Australia and New Zealand

Melanesia

Micronesia

Polynesia

✅ Quarterly Challenge: Q1: Best in Show

Goal: 12/12

🏆 International Booker Prize
✅ The Memory Police, Yōko Ogawa (2020 shortlist)
✅ The Vegetarian, Han Kang (2016 winner)
✅ Celestial Bodies, Jokha Alharthi (2019 winner)

🏆 Pulitzer Prize, Fiction
✅ The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (2020 winner)
✅ The Shipping News, Annie Proulx (1994 winner)

🏆 Hugo Awards, Best Novel
✅ The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (2011 shortlist)
✅ The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (2019 winner)
✅ Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke (2005 winner)

🏆 Edgar Awards, Best Novel
✅ The Devotion of Suspect X, Keigo Higashino (2012 shortlist)
✅ Faithful Place, Tana French (2011 shortlist)
✅ Down the River Unto the Sea, Walter Mosley (2019 winner)
✅ Before She Was Helen, Caroline B. Cooney (2021 shortlist)

✅ Quarterly Challenge: Q2-1: Who Runs the World?

Goal: 14/12

1. White Teeth, Zadie Smith (England)
2. My Last Continent, Midge Raymond (Antarctica)
3. The Paris Library, Janet Skeslien Charles (US, France)
4. Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua & Barbuda)
5. Aunty Lee's Delights, Ovidia Yu (Singapore)
6. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Barbara Demick (North Korea)
7. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee (Japan, South Korea)
8. All This I Will Give to You, Dolores Redondo (Spain)
9. The Mountains Sing, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (Vietnam)
10. A Single Swallow, Ling Zhang (China)
11. Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender (TNB)
12. All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders (TNB)
13. Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, Janet Mock (TNB)
14. Amal Unbound, Aisha Saeed (Pakistan)

✅ Quarterly Challenge: Q2-2: A Diverse Education

Goal - Dean of Diversity!
Books: 9/9
Credits: 27/27

Major: Literature in Translation
1. The Bat, Jo Nesbø (Norwegian)
2. The Keeper of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler-Olsen (Danish)
3. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie (French)

Major: Asian & Pacific Islander Studies
1. Severance, Ling Ma
2. Go: A Coming of Age Novel, Kazuki Kaneshiro
3. The Strange Library, Haruki Murakami
4. Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro

Major: LGBTQ+ Studies
1. If You Could Be Mine, Sara Farizan
2. Patsy, Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn

Quarterly Challenge: Q3: Global Goals for a Sustainable World

Goal: 1/9

1. No poverty. Read a book written by or about someone who has lived in poverty, or someone who lifts others out of poverty.
2. Zero hunger. Read a book related to food or nutrition, or with a character who cooks/serves food for others.
3. Good health and well-being. Read a book by or about someone with a serious health condition, or one who works in healthcare.
4. Quality education. Read a book about a teacher or student, or a person for who wants an education.
5. Gender equality. Read a book written by or about a female surviving difficult circumstances, or about a woman or girl in a traditionally male-dominated field.
6. Clean water and sanitation. Read a book set in a country with poor water and sanitation, or a book featuring a large body of water. See https://lifewater.org/blog/how-many-c... for more information.
7. Affordable and clean energy.. Read a book that includes an energy outage or energy-related disaster, or a book with an energetic character.
8. Decent work and economic growth. Read a book in which employment issues impact the life of a character, such as unemployment, sweat shop labor, trafficking, etc.
✅ Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, Jessica Bruder
9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure. Read about a character who works in manufacturing or finance, or a book including air travel.
10. Reduced inequalities. Read a book by or about someone in a vulnerable group: older people, persons with disabilities, children, women, migrants, etc.
11. Sustainable cities and communities. Read a book set in an urban area, or a book in which a character uses public transportation.
12. Responsible consumption and production. Read a book that features recycling, natural resources, or farming.
13. Climate action. Read a book that explores climate change, or a book with a natural disaster.
14. Life below water. Read a book set in, on, or beside the ocean; or about a sea animal.
15. Life on land. Read a book set in a forest or desert; or about an endangered land animal.
16. Peace, justice and strong institutions. Read a book with a peace worker, a refugee, or a prisoner.
17. Partnerships for the goals. Read a book set in one of the 58 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) (See https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org...), or a book featuring a partnership.

✅ Monthly Challenge: January: Marathon Challenge

Goal: 4,201/4,000 pp

1. The Devotion of Suspect X (298 pp)
2. Leave the World Behind (241 pp)
3. The Memory Police (274 pp)
4. The Sparrow (513 pp)
5. Faithful Place (400 pp)
6. The Vegetarian (188 pp)
7. Pride (304 pp)
8. Future Home of the Living God (263 pp)
9. The Far Field (432 pp)
10. The Night Tiger (384 pp)
11. The Kiss Quotient (323 pp)
12. King for a Day (32 pp)
14. The Translator (208 pp)

✅ Monthly Challenge: February: Black History Month

Goal: 18/10

1. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin
2. Royal Holiday, Jasmine Guillory
3. An Untamed State, Roxane Gay
4. Party of Two, Jasmine Guillory
5. Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir, Kwame Onwuachi
6. The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates
7. So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo
8. One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia
9. Red at the Bone, Jacqueline Woodson
10. The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead
11. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, Roxane Gay
12. Queen Sugar, Natalie Baszile
13. Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams
14. Down the River Unto the Sea, Walter Mosley
15. The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
16. We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
17. With the Fire on High, Elizabeth Acevedo
18. Slay, Brittney Morris

✅ Monthly Challenge: March: Women's History Month

Goal: 11/10

1. We Set the Dark on Fire, Tehlor Kay Mejia
2. The Friend, Sigrid Nunez
3. The Echo Wife, Sarah Gailey
4. The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal
5. Celestial Bodies, Jokha Alharthi
6. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
7. Before She Was Helen, Caroline B. Cooney
8. This Telling, Cheryl Strayed
9. Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell
10. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin
11. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx

✅ 25k Readathon Challenge: March 25 - April 7th

Links:

* 25k Readathon Central
* 25k Readathon Team Progress - House Ravenclaw
* 25k Readathon Team Page - House Ravenclaw
* 25k Readathon Tracking Spreadsheet - House Ravenclaw

Hours (running total):
* 64 hours

Pages (running total):
* 566 pp

Books that met challenge prompts:
1. Fangirl
2. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
3. The Shipping News
4. Looking for Alaska
5. Love Is a Revolution
6. White Teeth
7. The Midnight Library
8. The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Monthly Challenge: May: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Pacific Islander Countries

Goal: 10/10

1. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Barbara Demick
2. Severance, Ling Ma
3. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
4. Go: A Coming of Age Novel, Kazuki Kaneshiro
5. City of Ash and Red, Hye-Young Pyun
6. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie
7. The Mountains Sing, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
8. The Strange Library, Haruki Murakami
9. The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang
10. A Single Swallow, Ling Zhang

❌ June: LGBTQ+ History Month

Goal: 5/10

1. Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender
2. All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders
3. Patsy, Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn
4. If You Could Be Mine, Sara Farizan
5. Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, Janet Mock

July 1 - Sept 14: Challenge Months

Meet at least 25 new challenge prompts.

Goal: 6/25

1. The House in the Cerulean Sea (Genre Bingo YA Fantasy, Clear the Shelves)
2. Yearbook (Global Voices Jewish, Ugly Cover)
3. Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century. (Q3C Global Goals #8, Genre Bingo General Nonfiction)

Sept 15 - Oct 15: Hispanic American Heritage Month

Goal: 0/10

1.

Hi!
I enjoyed so much strolling through your 2021 reading journey so far! I really appreciate your reading tastes!
I'm impressed that you are challenging yourself to finishing your DNFs! I loved The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet up to the point of that weird mountain temple business, after which the book lost credibility for me. I realize it's fiction but it had been such great historical fiction up to that point!

Two more days until the readathon starts! I'm also looking forward to both Q2 quarterlies!

Reading Planner


July 1 - Sept 14
* Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (for Pulitzer group read,
* Book I have been intimidated to read
* Middle grade mystery
* Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements or other SFF anthology by POC (for BRRHC)
* Vita Nostra (RWC Eastern Europe)
* It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War (for 2015, and clear the shelves)
* 1984 (DNF, and YCGB - Satire)

Sept 15 - Oct 15
* Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir (ebook and audiobook at library, hard copy at central SR library)

Every Year Planning
2011:
* State of Wonder
* In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
* The Paris Wife
* The Art of Fielding
* Rules of Civility
The Sense of an Ending


Country mapper to planned reading

* Zimbabwe - Nervous Conditions
* Queensland, Australia - Carpentaria
* California, USA - maybe The Sellout
* New Mexico - The Five Wounds