2025 Reading Challenge discussion

A. 2023 STATS:
103 / 100

BOOKS:
Genre
Action and Adventure:
Biography/Memoir: 3
Classics:
Collection (essays/poems/shorts): 2
Comic Book or Graphic Novel: 1
Fantasy/Mythical/ Magical Realism: 6
Literary Fiction/General Fiction: 18
Historical Fiction: 9
History:
Horror: 1
Mystery: 46
Nonfiction: 4
Romance: 1
Science:
Science Fiction: 6
Suspense/Thriller: 6
True Crime:

Length:
Very Short (<70 pages): 2
Short (<250 pages): 36
Medium (250-500 pages): 64
Long (501-800 pages): 1
Very Long (>800 pages):

Media
Book: 43
eBook: 38
Audio: 22

Series: 39
Banned/Challenged: 2
Debut: 18
Translated: 11
Middle Grade: 2
YA: 2

Publication Date
<1900: ........
1900-1959: 10
1960-1979: 5
1980-1999: 10
2000-2009: 7
2010-2019: 26
2020-2022: 38
2023: .......... 9

AUTHOR:
* New to Me: 65
* Female: 75
* Diverse: 42

a book can be included across multiple challenges
📚 📗 ✸ ⭐ ✔ ☀ ✔ ✔️
** Action and Adventure: the main character repeatedly finds themselves in risky, dangerous, situations.
** Fantasy/Mythical/ Magical Realism: includes prominent elements of magic, mythology, or the supernatural
** Horror: meant to cause discomfort and fear for both the character and readers
** Mystery: The plot always revolves around a crime of sorts that must be solved—or foiled—by the protagonists
** Science Fiction: leans heavily on themes of technology and future science
** Suspense/Thriller: hero attempts to stop and defeat the villain to save their own life rather than uncover a specific crime

B. READING BY MONTH
103 / 100
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
pages: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... .......... message 16

JAN
4 books; 1 ebook; 1 audio, 1,959 pages....YTD: 4 books; 1 nook; 1 audio; 1,959 pages
1. b True Biz by Sara Nović, 386
2. b A Ballad for Georg Henig by Viktor Paskov, 208,m
3. b The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo, 288
4. b The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams, 368
5. a Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby, 400
6. e The Maid by Nita Prose, 304

FEB
4 books; 1 ebook; 1 audio, 1600 pages....YTD: 8 books; 2 ebook; 2 audio; 3554 pages
7. e Exiles by Jane Harper, 356
8. b One Hundred Twenty-One Days by Michèle Audin, 184
9. a Thale's Folly by Dorothy Gilman, 199
10. b Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia, 320
11. b Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony, 183
12. b The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb, 358,m

MAR
5 books; 4 ebook; 2 audio, 2,821 pages....YTD: 13 books; 6 ebook; 4 audio; 6375 pages
13. b The Friend of Madame Maigret by Georges Simenon, 192,m
14. n The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth, 352
15. a Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger, 464,m
16. b Swann by Carol Shields, 320
17. b How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz, 194
18. n 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers' by Susan Glaspell, 50
19. b Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine, 224
20. a A Score to Settle by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards, 160,m
21. n The Gypsy in the Parlour by Margery Sharp, 249
22. b The Daughters of Madurai by Rajasree Variyar, 336
23. n Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters,280

APR
1 books; 7 ebook; 3 audio, 3,559 pages....YTD: 14 books; 13 ebook; 7 audio; 9,934 pages
24. n Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths, 340, 3
25. n Family Baggage by Monica McInerney, 512, 3
26. b Night Birds and Other Stories by Khet Mar, 124, 5
27. n Dear Little Corpses by Nicola Upson, 327, 4
28. a Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, 328, 4
29. n The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman, 413,m, 4
30. a The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd, 157, 5
31. n The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 374, 5
32. n The Illness Lesson: A Novel by Clare Beams, 288, 3
33. a Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, 264, 4
34. n Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan, 432, 3.5

MAY
2 books; 6 ebook; 2 audio, 2,719 pages....YTD: 16 books; 19 ebook; 9 audio; 12,653 pages
35. b A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear, 358, 5
36. n The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers, 259, 4
37. b The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie, 232, 4
38. n Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey, 240, 4
39. a Cherringham - Deadline: A Cosy Crime Series by Matthew Costello, Neil Richards, 158,M,4
40. k The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken, 373, 4
41. n Design for Dying by Renee Patrick, 317,3
42. n Home Stretch by Graham Norton, 320,m,4
43. a The Book of Polly by Kathy Hepinstall, 322,4
44. n Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy, 140,4

JUN
4 books; 1 eBooks; 4 audio, 2,400 pages....YTD: 20 books; 20 eBooks; 13 audio; 15067 pages
45. a Murder on the Home Front by Jessica Ellicott, 256,4
46. b The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian. 336,m,5
47. b The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear, 321,5
48. a What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad, 256,m,5
49. b Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen, 290,4
50. b Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott, 208,5
51. a Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality by Pema Chödrön, 208,5+
52. a An Act of Foul Play by T.E. Kinsey, 303,m, 3.5
53. k The Dead Pull Hitter by Alison Gordon, 222,3

JUL
2 books; 7 eBooks; 3 audio, 3,535 pages....YTD: 22 books; 27 eBooks; 16 audio; 18,588 pages
54. k The Day That Never Comes by Caimh McDonnell, 362,m,4
55. b The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, 170,5
56. k Deadly Gamble by Connie Shelton, 292,2.5
57. k The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu, 286,4
58. a Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke, 295,3
59. b When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill, 352,5
60. k Death's Favorite Child by Frankie Y. Bailey, 310,3
61. k Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney, 352,4
62. n The Guest List by Lucy Foley, 320,3
63. k Ghostwriter Anonymous by Noreen Wald, 272,2
64. a Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West, 260,4
65. a The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, 264,m,4

AUG
5 books; 0 eBooks; 6 audio, 1,602 pages....YTD: 26 books; 27 eBooks; 17 audio; 20,190 pages
66. b The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín, 81,m,5
67. b All Your Children, Scattered by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, 183,5
68. a The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien,m,366,4
69. b Midnight at Malabar House by
Vaseem Khan, m, 336,5
xx. DNF - Razorblade Tears
70. b The Lying Game by Ruth Ware, 370,3
71. b Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns, 266,4

SEP
4 books; y eBooks; 1 audio, 1179 pages....YTD: 31 books; 27 eBooks; 18 audio; 21,369 pages
72. b The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera,m, 150,5
73. a The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood,m, 340,3.5
xx. DNF - Something to Hide
74. b Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls, 368,4
75. b A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid, 81, 4
76. b The Geometry of Holding Hands by Alexander McCall Smith, 240,m,3

OCT
6 books; 1 eBooks; 1 audio, 1,954 pages....YTD: 37 books; 28 eBooks; 19 audio; 23,323 pages
77. b Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall, 225,4
78. b One by One by Ruth Ware, 372,5
79. k The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, 182,4
80. b Dewey Decimated by Charles A. Goodrum, 190,m,2
81. b This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, 209,nr
82. a Playing with Myself by Randy Rainbow, 256,m,5
83. b Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller,303,m,5
84. b A Maigret Christmas And Other Stories by Georges Simenon, 217,m,5

NOV
2 books; 2 eBooks; 3 audio, 2,409 pages....YTD: 39 books; 30 eBooks; 22 audio; 25,746 pages
85. a Little Ghosts by Gregg Dunnett, 426,m, 3
86. b The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, 388, 5
87. b American War by Omar El Akkad, 333,m,4
88. a A Fire at the Exhibition by T.E. Kinsey, 332,m,4.5
89. k The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah, 165,5
90. n The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie, 375, 3
91. a Consolata by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, 38, 4
92. k The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley, 352, 5

DEC
4 books; 7 eBooks; 0 audio, 2,826 pages....YTD: 43 books; 38 eBooks; 22 audio; 28,564 pages
93. b Be the Bus: The Lost & Profound Wisdom of The Pigeon by Mo Willems, 80,m,5
94. b Happiness Falls by Angie Kim, 387,5
95. b My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, 226,3
96. n No Way Home by Annette Dashofy, 289,4
97. b Don't Be Afraid, Gringo by Elvia Alvarado, 169,3
98. n Girl Gone Missing by Marcie R. Rendon, 208,4
99. k Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, 371, 4
100. n One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, 224,4
101. n The Family Man by Elinor Lipman, 305,3
102. n The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner, 301,4
103. n Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht, 266,3

C. ATY CHALLENGE ...............completed 9/26/2023
☀ 52 / 52
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Community Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/... (column AK)

☀ 1. A book set in a location that begins with A, T, or Y: Australia: Exiles
☀ 2. A book by an author you read in 2022: Richard Osman: The Bullet That Missed
☀ 3. A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the 2023 list: 84. A book that has won a Bookbrowse award: 2013: Eleanor & Park
☀ 4. A book with an interracial relationship: The Reading List-Mukesh and Alicia

☀ 5. A book with 4 or more colors on the cover: True Biz
☀ 6. A book where books are important: Swann
☀ 7. A book with ONE of the five "W" question words in the title: What Strange Paradise
☀ 8. An author's debut book: The Maid
☀ 9. A book nominated for an award beginning with W: West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRBA) Winners (2010): The Hunger Games

☀ 10. A book related to one of the Spice Girls' "personalities": Scary: Dear Little Corpses
☀ 11. A book about a person/character with a disability: One Hundred Twenty-One Days
☀ 12. A book connected to birds, bees, or bunnies: 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers'
☀ 13. A book that has an object that is repeated on the cover: Birds: The Illness Lesson: A Novel

☀ 14. A book with a con, deception, or fake: The Violin Conspiracy
☀ 15. Three books, each of which is set in a different century: Book 1: 12th century: Monk's Hood
☀ 16. Three books, each of which is set in a different century: Book 2: 19th: The Gypsy in the Parlour
☀ 17. Three books, each of which is set in a different century: Book 3: 21st: The Day That Never Comes

☀ 18. A book related to science: The Living Mountain
☀ 19. A book related to the arts: musician in an orchestra and a violin maker: A Ballad for Georg Henig
☀ 20. A book with a cover or title that includes a route of travel: Bleeding Heart Yard
☀ 21. A book by an Asian diaspora author: Midnight at Malabar House
☀ 22. A book with a faceless person on the cover: The Old Woman with the Knife

☀ 23. A book with a body of water in the title: Iron Lake
☀ 24. A character that might be called a Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, or Spy: Spy: The White Lady
☀ 25. A book with a tropical setting: Tanzania: The Lioness
☀ 26. A book related to pride: the harm that pride can cause: Miss Pym Disposes

☀ 27. A book by an author from continental Europe: France: Georges Simenon - The Friend of Madame Maigret
☀ 28. A book that is dark: Ten Steps to Nanette
☀ 29. A book that is light: Family Baggage
☀ 30. A book related to a chess piece: Pawn: Home Stretch
☀ 31. A book found by inputting a favorite author on https://www.literature-map.com: Louise Penny: Jacqueline Winspear: A Sunlit Weapon

☀ 32. A book set in a UNESCO City of Literature: Melbourne: The Mother-in-Law
☀ 33. A book by an author with a first name popular in 1923: Dorothy (2nd): Dorothy L Sayers: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
☀ 34. A novella: The Testament of Mary
☀ 35. A book with a school subject in the title: The Geometry of Holding Hands

☀ 36. A book that has been translated from another language: Burmese: Night Birds and Other Stories
☀ 37. A book with the theme of returning home: Kindred
☀ 38. A book with the sun, moon, or stars on the cover: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
☀ 39. A western: Sabrina & Corina

☀ 40. A book with a full name in the title: Daisy Darker
☀ 41. A book from the NPR “Books We Love” lists: 2016: Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman
☀ 42. A book related to a ghost, spirit, phantom, or specter: Ghostwriter Anonymous
☀ 43. A book that involves a murder: Dead Dead Girls
☀ 44. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal: Thank You for Listening

☀ 45. A book whose author has published more than 7 books: Dorothy Gilman: Thale's Folly
☀ 46. A title that contains a word often found in a recipe: Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder
☀ 47. A book related to a geometric shape: square on the cover: The Dead Pull Hitter
☀ 48. A book with an unusually large version of an animal in the story: Tea with the Black Dragon

☀ 49. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2022: Other Birds
☀ 50. A second book that fits your favorite prompt: A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the 2023 list: 170. A book using the word "wife" or "daughter" in the title: The Daughters of Madurai
☀ 51. A book published in 2023: Murder on the Home Front
☀ 52. A book with an unusual or surprising title: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

Year-End Review:
5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:
A Ballad for Georg Henig by Viktor Paskov
Night Birds and Other Stories by Khet Mar
One Hundred Twenty-One Days by Michèle Audin
Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby
The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers' by Susan Glaspell
True Biz by Sara Nović
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

Any twists on the challenge?
I try to hit as many challenges with a book as I can (I do 6 of them plus my personal ones). I also try to read only what I have in my library. (I failed miserably on the second part).

My most creative twist on a prompt:
#48: A book with an unusually large version of an animal in the story: Although the dragon only appears in the form of a human for the whole story, it's superhuman strength and endurance appears often.
Tea with the Black Dragon

The prompt I "cheated" on:
I think this goes hand in hand with most creative twist

My favorite prompt:
#3. A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the 2023 list: A book that won a Bookbrowse award (and then picked one that was also banned)
Eleanor & Park

My least favorite prompt:
#46. A title that contains a word often found in a recipe. (Out of all the books I own in one form or another I only had 1 that fit this prompt and I wasn't getting into it.) So, I ended up reading Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder, which was actually a cute book but not one I would normally look for.

A book I might not have read if not...(but I’m so glad I did!):: these are the books that I rated 5 star, but I didn't already own at the beginning of the challenge:
The Living Mountain
'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers'

A book I might not have read if not ... (and I wish I hadn’t!) :
Ghostwriter Anonymous

Other "personal challenge" stats within the 52 books:
Gender: Women: 39, Men: 13
New-to-me authors: 26 women, 6 men
Banned: 2
Debuts: 8
Translated: 5
Diversity: 15 (LGBTQIA+, Ethnicity, Race, Religion, Disability)
World: 31 books representing 13 countries and 5 continents (does not include US)
Avg Rating: 4.1
Genre: 50% mysteries/thriller/suspense; 29% fiction; 6% historical fiction; 4% memoir.

D. ATY REJECTS ..................completed 10/11/23
☀ 26 / 26
The numbers at each prompt represent the line # of the ATY spreadsheet. Titles are not duplicated with the regular challenge.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Community Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/... (column M)

☀ 5. A Book you wanted to read in 2022: Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
☀ 7. A book connected to something you read in 2022: a series: A Score to Settle

☀ 24. A science fiction or fantasy novel written by a woman: This is How You Lose the Time War

☀ 26. A book with a two or three word title: The Lying Game

☀ 27. A book with a cat in the story, title or cover: Playing with Myself by Randy Rainbow

☀ 31. A book whose author goes by three names: All Your Children, Scattered by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse
☀ 35. A book with a 2 and a 3 in the page count: The Guest List
☀ 39. A book related to Hollywood: Edith Head: Design for Dying
☀ 44. A book with a child protagonist: The Book of Polly
☀ 60. A book by an author who is still writing but not the author's latest release: One by One by Ruth Ware
☀ 79. A book about crossing over to another world: The Kaiju Preservation Society
☀ 81. A book written by an author that is a different race and gender than you are: Māori: The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
☀ 82. A book with a purple cover: Deadly Gamble
☀ 85. An author who lives greater than 2023 miles from you: 9,533: The Frangipani Tree Mystery
☀ 90. A work of fiction based on a real person or real event: The Ukrainian Holodomor: The Memory Keeper of Kyiv
☀ 94. A book written by two or more authors: Deadline
☀ 100. A book with one of the 7 most used verbs in English in the title: Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality
☀ 103. A book in which someone is captured, taken hostage, trapped or imprisoned: Heaven, My Home
☀ 109. A book that involves a moral dilemma or question: Hang the Moon
☀ 191. A book club read: Read Women Group: The Summer Book
☀ 202. A book shelved as literary fiction: Enter the Aardvark
☀ 203. A book from a genre that inspired your love of reading: Agatha Christie Mysteries: The Secret of Chimneys
☀ 206. A book that is one of the top 23 Goodreads rated books in your TBR: An Act of Foul Play
☀ 207. A magical realism book: When Women Were Dragons
☀ 208. A cultural book that depicts a place or time and its culture: A Small Place
☀ 213. A book from your favorite sub-genre: Police procedural: Roseanna

Year-End Review:
5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:
All Your Children, Scattered
Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
Enter the Aardvark
Getting Unstuck
One by One
Playing with Myself
The Summer Book
The Whale Rider
When Women Were Dragons

Other "personal challenge" stats within the 52 books:
Gender: Women: 20, Men: 6
New-to-me authors: 15 women, 3 men
Banned: 0
Debuts: 1
Translated: 3
Diversity: 8 (LGBTQIA+, Ethnicity, Race, Religion, Disability)
World: 5
Avg Rating: 4.0
Genre: 12 mysteries/thriller/suspense; 5 fiction; 2 historical fiction; 2 sci fi; 2 nonfiction

E. 52 WEEK CHALLENGE
☀ 50 / 50
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... .......... message 4

☀ 1. A Book With A Subtitle: Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
☀ 2. Featuring An Inheritance: Thale's Folly
☀ 3. Title Starting With The Letter "G": Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality
☀ 4. Title Starting With The Letter "H": How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
☀ 5. Title Starting With The Letter "I": Iron Lake
☀ 6. Under 200 Pages: Night Birds and Other Stories
☀ 7. A City Or Country Name In The Title: The Daughters of Madurai
☀ 8. Dystopian Fiction: American War
☀ 9. A Book With A Dedication: Sabrina & Corina
☀ 10. Takes Place During The Roaring Twenties: Dead Dead Girls
☀ 11. A Book About Secrets: Swann
☀12. High Fantasy: The Kaiju Preservation Society
13. Published Posthumously
☀ 14. A Survival Story: The Lioness
☀ 15. Set In Australia: The Mother-in-Law
☀ 16. Featuring One Of The "Seven Deadly Sins": Lust (undesired love), Gluttony (overindulgence), Greed (avarice), Sloth (laziness), Wrath (anger), Envy (jealousy), Pride (vanity): Pride: Miss Pym Disposes
☀ 17. By A Caribbean Author: A Small Place
☀ 18. Set During A War Other Than WWI Or WWII: Korea and Vietnam: Norwegian by Night
☀ 19. Typographic Cover: True Biz
☀ 20. A Book About Siblings: The Gypsy in the Parlour
☀ 21. A Second-Hand Book: The Friend of Madame Maigret
☀ 22. A Body-Positive Message: Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman
☀ 23. An Alliterative Title: Enter the Aardvark
☀ 24. Nordic Noir: Roseanna
☀ 25. A Fashionable Character: Lord Peter Wimsey: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
☀ 26. Has An Epilogue: Bleeding Heart Yard
☀ 27. Newbery Medal Winner: The Girl Who Drank the Moon; Freewater
☀ 28. Includes A Funeral: One Hundred Twenty-One Days
☀ 29. Sends You Down A Rabbit Hole: Multi-state library search: A Ballad for Georg Henig
30. An Author With The Same Name As You
☀ 31. Set In A Workplace: The Maid
☀ 32. Published By Macmillan: A Sunlit Weapon
☀ 33. A Banned Book: Eleanor & Park
☀ 34. Featuring Mythology: The Whale Rider
☀ 35. A Book You Meant To Read Last Year: Thank You for Listening
☀ 36. Chapters Have Cliffhangers: Daisy Darker
☀ 37. Written In Present Tense: The Dead Pull Hitter
☀ 38. An Enemies-To-Lovers Plot: This is How You Lose the Time War
☀ 39. The Final Book In A Series: Exiles
☀ 40. Written By A Comedian: Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby
☀ 41. A Character Who Is A Refugee: Noah and all the children from London seeking refuge in the country: Dear Little Corpses
☀ 42. Time In The Title: Midnight at Malabar House
☀ 43. A Book "Everyone" Has Read: The Hunger Games.
☀ 44. A Contemporary Setting: The Bullet That Missed
☀ 45. First Word In The Book Is "The": The Violin Conspiracy
☀ 46. Script Font On The Spine: The Book of Polly
☀ 47. Set in the city of Dublin: The Day That Never Comes
☀ 48. A book by Octavia E. Butler: Kindred
☀ 49. Books on the cover: The Reading List
☀ 50. A book related to the word "murder": The Old Woman with the Knife
☀ 51. Doesn't Fit Any Of The Other 51 Prompts: 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers'
☀ 52. Published In 2023: Murder on the Home Front
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Year-End Review: ...(borrowed from another challenge)
5 Star books that I read for the challenge:
* A Ballad for Georg Henig
* A Sunlit Weapon
* Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
* Enter the Aardvark
* Exiles
* Getting Unstuck
* Midnight at Malabar House
* Night Bird and Other Stories
* Norwegian by Night
* One Hundred Twenty-One Days
* Sabrina & Corina
* Ten Steps to Nanette
* The Daughters of Madurai
* The Girl Who Drank the Moon
* The Lioness
* The Reading List
* The Whale Rider
* Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers
* True Biz

My favorite prompt:
There were so many for which I found really great books, but to choose one, it is #29. Sends You Down A Rabbit Hole. The rabbit hole was selecting a book that took over 2 weeks to find and having to do an interlibrary loan from a college, which I had to first set up. A Ballad for Georg Henig by Viktor Paskov

My least favorite prompt:
#38. An Enemies-To-Lovers Plot. Just not a fan of this type of plot. And the book I read was my least favorite.

A book I might not have read if not...(but I’m so glad I did!):: Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby

A book I might not have read if not ... (and I wish I hadn’t!) : This is How You Lose the Time War

Other "personal challenge" stats within the 50 books:
Gender: Women: 38, Men: 12
New-to-me authors: 26 women, 6 men
Banned: 2
Debuts: 10
Translated: 6
Diversity: 16 (does not include translated)
World Challenge related: 6
Avg Rating: 4.1
Genre: 23 mysteries/thriller/suspense; 14 fiction; 3 historical fiction; 4 sci fi; 2 memoir; 4 other.

F. READ WOMEN GROUP CHALLENGE

Read Women
☀ 74 / 70
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
1. Sara Nović: True Biz
2. Gu Byeong-mo: The Old Woman with the Knife
3. Sara Nisha Adams: The Reading List
4. Hannah Gadsby: Ten Steps to Nanette
5. Nita Prose: The Maid
6. Jane Harper: Exiles
7. Michèle Audin: One Hundred Twenty Days
8. Dorothy Gilman: Thale's Folly
9. Nekesa Afia: Dead Dead Girls
10. Jessica Anthony: Enter the Aardvark
11. Sally Hepworth: The Mother-in-Law
12. Carol Shields: Swann
13. Angie Cruz: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
14. Susan Glaspell: 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers'
15. Kali Fajardo-Anstine: Sabrina & Corina
16. Margery Sharp: The Gypsy in the Parlour
17. Rajasree Variyar: The Daughters of Madurai
18. Ellis Peters: Monk's Hood
19. Elly Griffiths: Bleeding Heart Yard
20. Monica McInerney: Family Baggage
21. Khet Mar: Night Birds and Other Stories by
22. Nicola Upson: Dear Little Corpses
23. Rainbow Rowell: Eleanor & Park
24. Nan Shepherd: The Living Mountain
25. Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games
26. Clare Beams: The Illness Lesson: A Novel
27. Octavia E. Butler: Kindred
28. Julia Whelan: Thank You for Listening
29. Jacqueline Winspear: A Sunlit Weapon
30. Dorothy L. Sayers: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
31. Agatha Christie: The Secret of Chimneys
32. Josephine Tey: Miss Pym Disposes
33. Erin Litteken: The Memory Keeper of Kyiv
34. Renee Patrick: Design for Dying
35. Kathy Hepinstall: The Book of Polly
36. R.A. MacAvoy: Tea with the Black Dragon
37. Jessica Ellicott: Murder on the Home Front
38. Jacqueline Winspear: The White Lady
39. Sarah Addison Allen: Other Birds
40. Anne Lamott: Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
41. Pema Chödrön: Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality
42. Alison Gordon: The Dead Pull Hitter
43. Tove Jansson: The Summer Book
44. Connie Shelton: Deadly Gamble
45. Ovidia Yu: The Frangipani Tree Mystery
46. Attica Locke: Heaven, My Home
47. Kelly Barnhill: When Women Were Dragons
48. Frankie Y. Bailey: Death's Favorite Child
49. Alice Feeney: Daisy Darker
50. Lucy Foley: The Guest List
51. Noreen Wald: Ghostwriter Anonymous
52. Lindy West: Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman
53. Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse: All Your Children, Scattered
54. Ruth Ware: The Lying Game
55. Valerie Burns: Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder
56. Jeannette Walls: Hang the Moon
57. Jamaica Kincaid: A Small Place
58. Maj Sjöwall: Roseanna
59. Ruth Ware: One by One
60. Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House
61. Amal El-Mohtar: This is How You Lose the Time War
62. Kelly Barnhill: The Girl Who Drank the Moon
63. Nathacha Appanah: The Last Brother
64. Agatha Christie: The Seven Dials Mystery
65. Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse: Consolata
66. Natasha Pulley: The Bedlam Stacks
67. Angie Kim: Happiness Falls
68. Oyinkan Braithwaite: My Sister, the Serial Killer
69. Annette Dashofy: No Way Home
70. Elvia Alvarado: Don't Be Afraid, Gringo
71. Marcie R. Rendon: Girl Gone Missing
72. Rita Williams-Garcia: One Crazy Summer
73. Elinor Lipman: The Family Man
74, Sarah Penner: The Lost Apothecary


Year-End Review:
Gender: Women: 38
New-to-me authors:
Banned:
Debuts:
Translated:
Diversity: aa (does not include translated)
World Challenge related:
Avg Rating:
Genre: a mysteries/thriller/suspense; b fiction; c historical fiction; d sci fi; e memoir; f other.


Read Women in Translation ........... message 11
☀ 8 / 6
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
☀ The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo, Korea
☀ One Hundred Twenty-One Days by Michèle Audin, France
☀ Night Birds and Other Stories by Khet Mar, Myanmar
☀ The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, Swedish
☀ All Your Children, Scattered by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, French
☀ Roseanna by Roseanna, Swedish
☀ The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah, French
☀ Consolata by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, Rwanda, French


BLACK WOMEN AUTHORS
☀ 11 / 5
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
1. Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia
2. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
3. Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke
4. Death's Favorite Child by Frankie Y. Bailey
5. All Your Children, Scattered by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse
6. Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns
7. A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
8. The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah
9. Consolata: Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse
10. My Sister, the Serial Killer: Oyinkan Braithwaite
11. One Crazy Summer: Rita Williams-Garcia

First Half Bingos:
BINGO 1 ✔
☀ 5 / 5 - 5
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
☀ O1: #WiT and the translator is a woman: The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim
☀ G2: Published by a small press: Deep Vellum Press: One Hundred Twenty-One Days, translated by Christiana Hills
☀ N3: FREE: True Biz
☀ I4: Historical Fiction: Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia
☀ B5: Memoir or autobiography of a woman: Ten Steps to Nanette

BINGO 2 ✔
☀ 5 / 5 , 1 overlap - 4
☀ B1: Short Story collection by an author of color: Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
☀ I1: Award Winner: Swann by Carol Shields
☀ N1: Latina Author: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
☀ G1: Play: 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers' by Susan Glaspell
☀ O1: #WiT and the translator is a woman: The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim

BINGO 3 ✔
☀ 5 / 5 , 2 overlaps - 3
☀ N1: Latina Author: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
☀ N2. 500+ page book: Family Baggage
☀ N3: FREE: True Biz
☀ N4. Travel: The Daughters of Madurai
☀ N5. Humor or Satire: Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony

BINGO 4 ✔
☀ 5 / 5 , 3 overlap - 2
☀ B1. Short Story collection by an author of color: Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
☀ B2. First published in your birth year: The Gypsy in the Parlour by Margery Sharp
☀ B3. Genre novel written by LGBTQ+ author: Dear Little Corpses by Nicola Upson
☀ B4. Science/ Nature/ the Environment: The Living Mountain
☀ B5. Memoir or Autobiography of a Woman: Ten Steps to Nanette

BINGO 5 ✔
☀ 5 / 5 , 3 overlap - 2
☀ B4. Science/ Nature/ the Environment: The Living Mountain
☀ I4: Historical Fiction: Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia
☀ N4. Travel: The Daughters of Madurai
☀ G4. Includes one or more mythical creatures: dragon: Tea with the Black Dragon
☀ O4. Essay Collection: Almost Everything: Notes on Hope

G. MYSTERY/THRILLER FRIENDS CHALLENGE..........completed Jul 2023
☀ 23 / 23
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

DETERMINATION BOOKS
criteria: whatever I am in the mood for, written by a woman.

☀ 1. Exiles
☀ 2. Thale's Folly
☀ 3. The Mother-in-Law
☀ 4. 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers'
☀ 5. Monk's Hood
☀ 6. Bleeding Heart Yard
☀ 7. Dear Little Corpses
☀ 8. A Sunlit Weapon
☀ 9. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
☀ 10. The Secret of Chimneys

CHALLENGE PROMPTS

☀ 11. A book set in a different country than you live in: South Korea: The Old Woman with the Knife
☀ 12. Read a book by an Author that you never read before or one by a new debut author: Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia
☀ 13. A book that someone recommended to you: from a bookseller in Dublin Ireland: The Day That Never Comes
☀ 14. A book that is a different genre than your normal type of reading: cozy set in sports: The Dead Pull Hitter
15 & 16. Two books from a series you haven't completed yet
☀.......... 15. The Bullet That Missed
☀...........16. An Act of Foul Play
☀ 17. A book that comes out in 2023: Murder on the Home Front
☀ 18. A book that you meant to read in 2022: The Maid
☀ 19. A book that came out before you were born: The Friend of Madame Maigret
☀ 20. A book that more than one author does: A Score to Settle by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards
☀ 21. A book that won an award: Barry Award and Anthony Award 1999: Iron Lake
☀ 22. One of the oldest to-be-read books on your unread mountain: 2017 - Swann
☀ 23. A book set in multiple countries: Ireland/England/US (NY): Home Stretch

-----------------------------------------------------------
YEAR END

Top Ten M/T’s
1. The Friend of Madame Maigret
2. Midnight at Malabar House
3. The Violin Conspiracy
4. 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers'
5. The Mother-in-Law
6. The Old Woman with the Knife
7. The Lioness
8. Norwegian by Night
9. The White Lady
10. Exiles

Top Authors
Ruth Ware
Brendan Slocumb
Sally Hepworth

Top Series
Malabar House
Thursday Murder Club

Top Books, Any Genre
1. All Your Children, Scattered
2. One Hundred Twenty-One Days
3. What Strange Paradise

Top NTM Authors
1. Vaseem Khan: Midnight at Malabar House
2. Susan Glaspell: Trifles
3. Ovidia Yu: The Frangipani Tree Mystery
4. Brendan Slocumb: The Violin Conspiracy
5. Angie Kim: Happiness Falls

Bottom of the Barrel
1. Ghostwriter Anonymous

------------------------------------------------------------------

Year-End Review:
Other "personal challenge" stats within the 23 books:
Gender: Women: 16, Men: 7
New-to-me authors: 7 women,
Banned: 0
Debuts: 4
Translated: 2
Diversity: 5 (LGBTQIA+, Ethnicity, Race, Religion, Disability)
World: 1
Avg Rating: 4.0

H. '23 RC: SERIAL READER

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

TOTAL BOOKS: 39 / 25 ............... completed
☀ Read: 19 / 16 books from series I started before this year.
* Started: 18/8 series this year.
✔ Finished: 2/1 series I started before this year.

ONGOING
☀ Brother Cadfael (#1-2): Monk's Hood (#3)
☀ Cash Blackbear Mysteries (#1): Girl Gone Missing (#2)
☀ Dublin Trilogy (#1): The Day That Never Comes (#2)
☀ Harbinder Kaur (#1): Bleeding Heart Yard (#2)
☀ Cherringham Shorts:(#1-42): A Score to Settle (#43); Cherringham - Deadline: A Cosy Crime Series (#44)
☀ Inspector Maigret (#1): The Friend of Madame Maigret (#34); A Maigret Christmas And Other Stories
☀ Isabel Dalhousie (#1-12): The Geometry of Holding Hands (#13)
☀ Josephine Tey (#1-2, 4-9): Dear Little Corpses (#10)
☀ Lady Hardcastle Mystery(#1-8): An Act of Foul Play (#9); A Fire at the Exhibition (#10)
☀ Lord Peter Wimsey (#1-3): The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (#4)
☀ Maisie Dobbs (#1-16): A Sunlit Weapon (#17)
☀ Martin Beck (#4): Roseanna (#1)
☀ Superintendent Battle (#1): The Seven Dials Mystery (#2)
☀ Thursday Murder Club (#1-2): The Bullet That Missed (#3)
☀ WPC Billie Harkness (#1): Murder on the Home Front (#2)
☀ Zoe Chambers (#1-4): No Way Home (#5)

STARTED
* Baker Street Mysteries: Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder (#1)
* Black Dragon: Tea with the Black Dragon
* Charlie Parker: Deadly Gamble (#1)
* Cork O'Connor: Iron Lake (#1)
* Crown Colony Series: The Frangipani Tree Mystery (#1)
* Ernest Cunningham: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (#1)
* Gaither Sisters: One Crazy Summer
* Harlem Renaissance: Dead Dead Girls (#1 )
* The Hunger Games: The Hunger Games
* Jake O'Hare: Ghostwriter Anonymous
* Kate Henry: The Dead Pull Hitter
* Lillian Frost and Edith Head: Design for Dying (#1)
* Lizzie Stewart: Death's Favorite Child (#1)
* Malabar House: Midnight at Malabar House (#1)
* Marlow Murder Club: The Marlow Murder Club
* Sigrid Odegard: Norwegian by Night
* Superintendent Battle & Ariadne Oliver: The Secret of Chimneys(#1)
* Vera Kelly: Who Is Vera Kelly? (#1)

FINISHED
✔ Aaron Falk (#1-2): Exiles (#3)
✔ Highway 59 (#1): Heaven, My Home (#2-last)

TO CONTINUE
Agatha Christie "Other" Series:
.....Ariadne Oliver (#1): Cards on the Table (#2); Mrs. McGinty's Dead (#3); Dead Man's Folly (#4); The Pale Horse (#5): (8 in total)
.....Colonel Race (#1): Cards on the Table (#2); Death on the Nile (#3); Sparkling Cyanide (#4-last)
.....Harley Quin: The Mysterious Mr. Quin; 17 in total
.....Superintendent Battle: The Secret of Chimneys (#1); The Seven Dials Mystery (#2); Cards on the Table (#3); Murder Is Easy (#4); Towards Zero (#5-last)
.....Tommy and Tuppence (#1): six in total

Armand Gamache (#1-16): The Madness of Crowds (#17); A World of Curiosities (#18)
Avery Keene (#1): Rogue Justice (#2)
Before the Coffee Gets Cold (#1): Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café (#2); Before Your Memory Fades (#3)
Beryl & Edwina (#1-6):
Canongate's The Myths (The Penelopiad):
Cemetery of Forgotten Books (#1-2): have 3 and 4
Charles Lenox (#1-11): caught up
Cherringham Novels:
Commissario Brunetti (#1):
Cork O'Connor:
Cormoran Strike (#1-5): The Ink Black Heart (#6-8/22)
Daniel Pitt (#1-2): One Fatal Flaw (#3); Death with a Double Edge (#4)
Department Q (#1): The Absent One (#2)
Dr. Siri Paiboun (#1): Thirty-Three Teeth (#2)
Ellis Porter (#1): The Feast of Stephen (#2)
Freedman/Johnson (#1): Mustard Seed (#2)
Harriet Vane and Peter Wimsey: Strong Poison; Have His Carcase; Gaudy Night; Busman's Honeymoon
Hawthorne and Horowitz (#1): The Sentence Is Death
Hogarth Shakespeare Project (Vinegar Girl; The Gap of Time): Macbeth
Hugo Marsten (#1-4): The Reluctant Matador (#5)
Inspector Lynley (#1-5, 7, 10-13, 15-20): Something to Hide (#21)
Inspector Rudd: Not One of Us (#1)
Libby Sarjeant (#1):
Maggie Hope (#1-11): caught up
Mary Russell (#1-10, 12-15): Riviera Gold (#16); Castle Shade (#17)
Mrs. Hudson and Mary Watson Investigations (#1): The Women of Baker Street (#2)
Murder on Location (#1): Death in an English Cottage (#2 of 7)
Penny Limelight: Limelight
Perveen Mistry (#1-3): The Mistress of Bhatia House (#4)
Phyllis Bowden: London Spies (#1)
Practical Magic (3): Magic Lessons; The Book of Magic
Rachel Getty and Esa Khattak (#1): The Language of Secrets
Roaring Twenties Mysteries (#1): Silent Murders
Rosie Winter (#1): The Winter of Her Discontent (#2)
The Giver (#1): Gathering Blue (#2)
Susan Ryeland (#1): Moonflower Murders
Verity Kent (#1):
Washington Whodunit (#1-3): K Street Killing (#4)
William Warwick (#1-4): Next in Line (#5)


TO START
Detective Inaya Rahman: Blackwater Falls (#1):
Dizzy Heights: The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds; A Baffling Murder at the Midsummer Ball
Dreadful Water: Dreadful Water
Harley Quin:
The Edinburgh Murders: Near Miss - A Cozy British Mystery (#1)

STOPPED
Inspector Lynley (#1-5, 7, 10-13, 15-20): DNF #21
Isabel Dalhousie
Jake O'Hare

📚 📗

I. '23 RC: Magical Mystery Tour ...............completed 10/24/2023
☀ 42 / 42
Who 7, What 7, When 7, Where 7, How 7, Why 7, Bonus 0
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... ..........message 4

WHO: 7/7
Solve cases featuring the main character (sleuth, perp, victim, or suspect) in one of the below fields.
☀ 1. Writer (author, journalist, etc.): Josephine Tey: Dear Little Corpses
☀ 2. Domestic (maid, nanny, etc.): The Maid
☀ 3. Finance (accountant, banker, etc.): Deadly Gamble
☀ 4. Fashion (designer, model, etc.): Design for Dying
☀ 5. Politician (MP-victims and suspects): Bleeding Heart Yard
☀ 6. Education (teacher, professor, etc.): teacher as suspect: A Score to Settle
☀ 7. Sports (coach, player, etc.): female sports writer: The Dead Pull Hitter

WHAT: 7/7
What makes your case distinctive?
☀ 11. A significant weather event: snow and avalanche One by One
☀ 12. A food or beverage in the title: Tea with the Black Dragon
☀ 13. Second or third in a series: Monk's Hood (#3)
☀ 14. A private investigator: A Sunlit Weapon
☀ 15. A person's name in the title: Daisy Darker
☀ 16. A paranormal element: Thale's Folly
☀ 17. Related to a monthly theme: Purple: book by an Irishman: The Day That Never Comes
derived from https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

WHEN: 7/7
When did the dastardly deed take place or get reported?
☀ 21. In winter: Texas: Heaven, My Home
☀ 22. In the 1900s: 1928: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
☀ 23. During a holiday: A Maigret Christmas And Other Stories
☀ 24. In the A.M. hours (midnight to 11:59): Midnight at Malabar House
☀ 25. During a group event (town festival): Exiles
☀ 26. Reported (published) in the decade you were born: 1952: The Friend of Madame Maigret
☀ 27. Reported (published) in 2023: The White Lady

WHERE: 7/7
Where did the dastardly deed take place?
☀ 31. A national park or wilderness area: Iron Lake
☀ 32. A vacation destination: The Guest List
☀ 33. A ship or boat: Roseanna
☀ 34. A university: Miss Pym Disposes
☀ 35. A public venue (hotel, restaurant, airport, etc.): Cafe: Dead Dead Girls
☀ 36. On the road (commute, trip, etc.): safari: The Lioness
☀ 37. A tropical climate: Singapore: The Frangipani Tree Mystery

HOW: 7/7
For this category, each means of murder must be distinctly different.
For example, pistols and rifles are both firearms; knives and daggers are too similar.
☀ 41. Poison: Peanuts: Death's Favorite Child
☀ 42. Stabbed with a Knife: The Old Woman with the Knife
☀ 43. Hung from a chain: Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder
☀ 44. Smothered with a pillow: The Mother-in-Law
☀ 45. Strangled with a rope: 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers'
☀ 46. Shot with a pistol: The Bullet That Missed
☀ 47. Battered with books: Ghostwriter Anonymous

WHY: 7/7
What motivated you to choose a particular case?
☀ 51. A favorite mystery author or series: Lady Hardcastle: An Act of Foul Play
☀ 52. A favorite mystery subgenre: Historical Mystery: Murder on the Home Front
☀ 53. A Goodreads listopia: Best cozy mystery #69: The Secret of Chimneys
☀ 54. A literary prize winner for crime fiction: CWA New Blood Dagger (2013) Norwegian by Night
☀ 55. A celebrity book club pick: Reese's Book Club: The Lying Game
☀ 56. A cold case (among your TBRs for over a year): 2017: Swann
☀ 57. Average Goodreads rating of 4 stars or above: 4.17: The Violin Conspiracy

Rank
▪ Undercover Operative: 3 cases per category - 5/10/2023
▪ Forensic Analyst: 4 cases per category
▪ Special Agent in Charge: 5 cases per category
▪ Assistant Chief of Detectives: 6 cases per category
▪ Chief of Detectives: 7 cases per category
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Year-End Review:
5 Star books that I read for this challenge:
* A Magreit Christmas
* A Sunlit Weapon
* Exiles
* Midnight at Malabar House
* Norwegian by Night
* One by One
* The Lioness
* The White Lady
* Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers

My favorite prompt or section:
The Why section. Have more flexibility here and my favorite reads often end up here.:

My least favorite prompt or section:
The means of murder section. It is getting very hard to find 7 distinct methods. I had to stretch definitions a bit here.

A book I might not have read if not...(but I’m so glad I did!): 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers':

A book I might not have read if not ... (and I wish I hadn’t!) Ghostwriter Anonymous and Deadly Gamble:

Other "personal challenge" stats within the 42 books:
Gender: Women: 31 , Men: 11
New-to-me authors: women: 16, men: 3
Banned: 0
Debuts: 7
Translated: 3
Diversity: 8 (other than translated)
World: 1
Books purchased just for this: 13
Avg Rating: 3.9: high 5, low 2

J. '23 RC: T0 Boldly Go..........message 10
37 / 25 .......... 26 distinct countries
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Read up to two books per country based on the location and/or the author’s nationality

AFRICA
☀ Mauritius: The Last Brother
☀ Nigeria: My Sister, the Serial Killer
☀ Rwanda: All Your Children, Scattered
☀ Rwanda: Consolata
☀ Tanzania: The Lioness

AMERICAS
☀ Antigua: A Small Place
☀ Argentina: Who Is Vera Kelly?
☀ Canada: Swann
☀ Canada: The Maid
☀ Honduras: Don't Be Afraid, Gringo
☀ Peru: The Bedlam Stacks
☀ United States: The Violin Conspiracy
☀ United States: Sabrina & Corina

ASIA
☀ India: The Daughters of Madurai
☀ India: Midnight at Malabar House
☀ Israel: The Testament of Mary
☀ Korea: The Old Woman with the Knife
☀ Myanmar (Burma): Night Birds and Other Stories
☀ Singapore: The Frangipani Tree Mystery

EUROPE
☀ Belgium: A Maigret Christmas And Other Stories (author's place of birth- book takes place in Paris, written while he was living in the US)
☀ Bulgaria: A Ballad for Georg Henig
☀ England: Bleeding Heart Yard
☀ England: Monk's Hood
☀ Finland: The Summer Book
☀ France: One Hundred Twenty-One Days
☀ France: The Friend of Madame Maigret
☀ Greece: What Strange Paradise
☀ Ireland: Home Stretch
☀ Ireland: The Guest List
☀ Norway: Norwegian by Night
☀ Scotland: The Living Mountain
☀ Scotland: The Geometry of Holding Hands
☀ Sweden: Roseanna
☀ Ukraine: The Memory Keeper of Kyiv

ANTARTICA AND OCEANIA
☀ Australia: Exiles
☀ Australia: The Mother-in-Law
☀ New Zealand: The Whale Rider

K. Published in 2023

* The Daughters of Madurai
* The White Lady
* Deadline
* Murder on the Home Front
* Hang the Moon
* Little Ghosts
* A Fire at the Exhibition
* Be the Bus: The Lost & Profound Wisdom of The Pigeon
* Happiness Falls

L. New-to-Me Authors
....................Women: 51
................................Men: 14

1... Viktor Paskov: A Ballad for Georg Henig
2... Gu Byeong-mo: The Old Woman with the Knife
3... Sara Nisha Adams: The Reading List
4... Hannah Gadsby: Ten Steps to Nanette
5... Nita Prose: The Maid
6... Michèle Audin: One Hundred Twenty-One Days
7... Nekesa Afia: Dead Dead Girls
8... Jessica Anthony: Enter the Aardvark
9... Brendan Slocumb: The Violin Conspiracy
10. Sally Hepworth: The Mother-in-Law
11. Carol Shields: Swann
12. Angie Cruz: How to Not Drown in a Glass of Water
13. Susan Glaspell: 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers'
14. Kali Fajardo-Anstine: Sabrina and Corina
15. Rajasree Variyar: The Daughters of Madurai
16. Khet Mar: Night Bird and Other Stories
17. Margery Sharp: The Gypsy in the Parlour
18. Nan Shepherd: The Living Mountain
19. Suzanne Collins: Hunger Games
20. Octavia E. Butler: Kindred
21. Julia Whelan: Thank You for Listening
22. Erin Litteken: The Memory Keeper of Kyiv
23. Renee Patrick: Design for Dying
24. Kathy Hepinstall: The Book of Polly
25. R.A. MacAvoy: Tea with the Black Dragon
26. Omar El Akkad: What Strange Paradise; American War
27. Anne Lamott: Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
28. Pema Chödrön: Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality
29. Alison Gordon: The Dead Pull Hitter
30. Tove Jansson: The Summer Book
31. Connie Shelton: Deadly Gamble
32. Ovidia Yu: The Frangipani Tree Mystery
33, Kelly Barnhill: When Women Were Dragons
34. Frankie Y. Bailey: Death's Favorite Child
35. Alice Feeney: Daisy Darker
36. Lucy Foley: The Guest List
37. Noreen Wald: Ghostwriter Anonymous
38. Lindy West: Shrill
39. John Scalzi: Kaiju Preservation Society
40. Colm Tóibín: The Testament of Mary
41. Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse: All Your Children, Scattered
42. J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit
43. Vaseem Khan: Midnight at Malabar House
44. Valerie Burns: Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder
45. Witi Ihimaera: Whale Rider
46. Robert Thorogood: The Marlow Murder Club
47. Jeannette Walls: Hang the Moon
48. Jamaica Kincaid: A Small Place
49. Shirley Jackson: the Haunting of Hill House
50. Charles A. Goodrum: Dewey Decimated
51. Amal El-Mohtar: This is How You Lose the Time War
52, Randy Rainbow: Playing With Myself
53. Derek B. Miller: Norwegian by Night
54. Gregg Dunnett: Little Ghosts
55. Nathacha Appanah: The Last Brother
56. Natasha Pulley: The Bedlam Stacks
57. Angie Kim: Happiness Falls
58. Oyinkan Braithwaite: My Sister the Serial Killer
59. Elvia Alvarado: Don't Be Afraid, Gringo
60. Clare Beams: The Illness Lesson
61. Kathy Hepinstall: The Book of Polly
62. Benjamin Stevenson: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
63. Rita Williams-Garcia: One Crazy Summer
64. Sarah Penner: The Lost Apothecary
65. Rosalie Knecht: Who Is Vera Kelly?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Year End Review
Banned: 1
Debuts: 10
Translated: 8
Series: 13
Diversity: 17 (does not include translated)
World Challenge related: 12 (all of them)

Avg Rating: 4.0
Genre: 41% mysteries/thriller/suspense; 26% fiction; 10% historical fiction; 7% nonfiction; 16% all other.

M. GCAC Challenge
Current Year: ☀ 12 / 12
.........Previous Yrs: * 8 / 1

☀ Daisy Darker
☀ How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
☀ Other Birds
☀ Ten Steps to Nanette
☀ Thank You for Listening
☀ The Bullet That Missed
☀ The Kaiju Preservation Society
☀ The Maid
☀ The Violin Conspiracy
☀ True Biz
☀ When Women Were Dragons
☀ Wish You Were Here -read in 2022

PRIOR
* American War -2017
* Eleanor & Park -2013
* The Guest List -2020
* The Mother-in-Law -2019
* Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman -2016
* One by One -2020
* This is How You Lose the Time War -2019
* The Lost Apothecary -2021

N. READING THE WORLD CHALLENGE
2023: ☀ 13 / 12
........Total: 49 / 200
full list: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

☀ Antigua/Barbados: A Small Place
☀ Argentina: Who Is Vera Kelly?
☀ Bulgaria: A Ballad for Georg Henig
☀ Finland: The Summer Book
☀ Honduras: Don't Be Afraid, Gringo
☀ Korea: The Old Woman with the Knife
☀ Mauritius: The Last Brother
☀ Myanmar (Burma): Night Birds and Other Stories
☀ New Zealand: The Whale Rider
☀ Peru: The Bedlam Stacks
☀ Rwanda: All Your Children, Scattered
☀ Tanzania: The Lioness
☀ Ukraine: The Memory Keeper of Kyiv

O. Debuts

1. The Reading List
2. The Maid
3. One Hundred Twenty-One Days
4. Dead Dead Girls
5. The Violin Conspiracy
6. Iron Lake
7. Sabrina & Corina
8. The Memory Keeper of Kyiv
9. Tea with the Black Dragon
10. The Dead Pull Hitter
11. Deadly Gamble
12. The Daughters of Madurai
13. All Your Children, Scattered
14. Playing with Myself
15. Norwegian by Night
16. American War
17. Don't Be Afraid, Gringo
18. The Lost Apothecary

P. Banned / Challenged
☀ 2

☀ Eleanor & Park
☀ Night Birds and Other Stories - banned in Myanmar. The author then came to the US and entered the City of Asylum program in Pittsburgh, PA. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-kh...

Q. Diversity in Reading
continued from 2022 RC Challenge: the book must be written by an author(s) who is different from you: race, gender, sexual orientation, geography, nationality, religion, language, ability, etc. I have personally eliminated "straight white males" from this category.
☀ Completed: 42

Race or Ethnicity
born in the US, other than "white"
☀ Angie Cruz: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
☀ Brendan Slocumb: The Violin Conspiracy
☀ [author: Frankie Y. Bailey: Death's Favorite Child
☀ Marcie R. Rendon: Girl Gone Missing
☀ Nekesa Afia: Dead Dead Girls
☀ Kali Fajardo-Anstine: Sabrina & Corina
☀ Octavia E. Butler: Kindred
☀ Rita Williams-Garcia: One Crazy Summer
☀ Vaseem Khan: Midnight at Malabar House
☀ Valerie Burns: Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder

Geography, Nationality, or Native Language
Not born in the US. Possibly doesn't live in the US. Could be translated. Purposely limited the number of England's authors listed here, add 1 for every 10 reads.
☀ Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse: All Your Children, Scattered
☀ Jamaica Kincaid: A Small Place
☀ Jane Harper: Exiles
☀ Oyinkan Braithwaite: My Sister the Serial Killer
☀ Omar El Akkad: American War
☀ Omar El Akkad: What Strange Paradise
☀ Ovidia Yu: The Frangipani Tree Mystery
☀ Rajasree Variyar: The Daughters of Madurai
☀ Sara Nisha Adams: The Reading List
☀ Witi Ihimaera: The Whale Rider
☀ Angie Kim: Happiness Falls


Translated
☀ A Ballad for Georg Henig -Bulgarian
☀ All Your Children, Scattered - French (set in Rwanda)
☀ Night Birds and Other Stories - Burmese
☀ One Hundred Twenty-One Days - French
☀ The Friend of Madame Maigret - French
☀ A Maigret Christmas And Other Stories
☀ The Old Woman with the Knife - South Korean
☀ The Summer Book - Swedish (set in Finland)
☀ Roseanna - Swedish
☀ The Last Brother - French
☀ Consolata -French (set in Rwanda)
☀ Don't Be Afraid, Gringo -Spanish (set in Honduras)


Sexual Orientation
☀ Ten Steps to Nanette
☀ Bleeding Heart Yard
☀ Dear Little Corpses
☀ Eleanor & Park
☀ Home Stretch
☀ Playing with Myself
☀ Who Is Vera Kelly?

Ability Challenges
☀ True Biz

Religious / Spiritual Beliefs
only if it doesn't fit in any other category or it (subjectively) appears to be on a much higher plane than the other categories
☀ Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality

R. The Agatha Christie Mystery Challenge
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...

Start Date: January 01, 2010
End Date: December 31, 2041
2023: ☀ 2 / 5
........Total: 9

2010-2019
The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Hercule Poirot #1
The Sittaford Mystery - standalone

2020-2022
The Secret Adversary - Tommy & Tuppence #1
The Man in the Brown Suit - Colonel Race #1
4:50 from Paddington - Miss Marple #8
Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective - Mr. Pyne #1
Murder at the Vicarage - Miss Marple #2

2023
The Secret of Chimneys - Superintendent Battle #1; Ariadne Oliver #1
The Seven Dials Mystery - Superintendent Battle #2

S. RC: WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Start date: October 1
End date: December 31
18 / 10

new releases
✸ A Fire at the Exhibition Sept 2023
✸ Be the Bus: The Lost & Profound Wisdom of The Pigeon

new-to-you authors
✸ Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House
✸ Randy Rainbow: Playing with Myself (also narrator and debut)
✸ Derek B. Miller: Norwegian by Night
✸ Charles A. Goodrum: Dewey Decimated
✸ Amal El-Mohtar: This is How You Lose the Time War
✸ Gregg Dunnett: Little Ghosts (also narrator and current release)
✸ Natasha Pulley: The Bedlam Stacks
✸ Nathacha Appanah: The Last Brother (also location)
✸ Angie Kim: Happiness Falls (also new release)
✸ Oyinkan Braithwaite: My Sister, the Serial Killer
✸ Benjamin Stevenson: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
✸ Rita Williams-Garcia: One Crazy Summer
✸ Sarah Penner: The Lost Apothecary
✸ Rosalie Knecht: Who Is Vera Kelly?

new-to-you audio narrators
✸ Dorcas Sowunmi: Consolata

new-to-you locations or settings
✸ Honduras: Don't Be Afraid, Gringo (also author)

Had a decent reading year, but- finally!- had a revelation. I bought so many books this year just to fill prompts that I wasn't really interested in and then had the books fall flat. For 2024, I will no longer do that. If the prompt can't be fit with a book that I already have and it holds little interest to me, I'm not going to fill it. I need to stop being so Type A! I will still stretch myself (translated, banned, new-to-me authors) but with more of a plan. If that means doing less of the prompts in a particular challenge, so be it. I'd rather quality over quantity at this point.

Of the 103 books I read this year, 75 were women, 65 were new-to-me authors of which 18 were debuts, 2 were banned books (way too low from my goal), 11 were translated. I made good headway on my "reading the world" challenge and read some wonderful books that I otherwise likely would have never read. I had a total goal of 440 prompts between challenges, buddy reads, monthly reads and book club; finishing with a total of 491. (Obviously one book is used in more than one challenge...)
My average rating was 4.0 for the year but I had the lowest 4-and 5-star reads since 2016 and conversely, the highest 1-2-3-star reads.