Reading Challenge Progress

Here's the tracking of the challenges I am participating in at the moment

My Book Pledge (formerly 50 Book Pledge)

I'm joining again for 2020, pledging to read 200 books.
I read 141 books in 2019, but they closed the page down for maintenance and I missed adding the last few, so they show me at 129.


So far I'm at 50 books

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I've moved A Century of Books to its own page here now.

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I'll be back doing the European Reading Challenge again for 2020.

Again, I'll be going for the 5 Star challenge level of participation.

1. The Half Brother by Lars Saabye Christensen. Finished January 4 (Norway)
2. The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri. Finished January 5 (Italy)
3. The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton. Finished January 15 (Austria)
4. A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park. Finished March 2 (Romania)
5. Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain. Finished March 20 (France)
6. A Finer End by Deborah Crombie. Finished March 31 (England)
7. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson. Finished May 3 (Sweden)

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13th Annual Canadian Book Challenge

I'm definitely doing this challenge, as I'm the host this year.

1. What Happens Next by Susan Hughes, illustrated by Carey Sookocheff. Finished July 1

2. Peace River Country by Ralph Allen. Finished July 7

3. Girl of the Southern Sea by Michelle Kadarusman. Finished July 18

4. My Puppy Patch by Theo Heras, illustrated by Alice Carter. Finished July 29

5. Beyond Fate by Margaret Visser. Finished on August 1

6. The Gown by Jennifer Robson. Finished August 24

7. The Migration by Helen Marshall. Finished August 28

8. Lili Macaroni by Nicole Testa, illustrated by Annie Boulanger. Finished September 9

9. A Better Man by Louise Penny. Finished October 1

10. Triceratops Stomp by Karen Patkau. Finished October 12

11. Nutcracker Night by Mireille Messier and Gabrielle Grimard. Finished October 20

12. Prairie People by Robert Collins. Finished October 26

13. See What Flowers by Shannon Mullen. Finished November 19

14. Bad Ideas by Missy Marston. Finished December 9

15. Sugar Falls by David Alexander Robertson and Scott B. Henderson. Finished December 26
16. Bon Voyage, Mister Rodriguez by Christiane Duchesne & Francois Thisdale. Finished January 17
17. Finding Lucy by Eugenie Fernandes. Finished February 2
18. The Great Halifax Explosion by John U. Bacon. Finished February 6
19. Spinster Kang by Zoe Roy. Finished February 29
20. Parting Shot by Linwood Barclay. Finished March 11
21. How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa. Finished May 20

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Here's a new challenge for 2020

This is a challenge that sounds fun.

It's hosted here.

There are 20 categories that have you reading 10 fiction and 10 nonfiction books. This sounds quite doable, so we'll see how I do. 

Fiction: 7
Nonfiction: 3

The Categories are:

1. Crime fiction or True Crime

   The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri. Finished January 5 (Crime Fiction)

2. A book set in the country where you are currently residing (so that's Canada for me)

   The Great Halifax Explosion by John U. Bacon. Finished February 6 (Nonfiction)

3. A book with a (mostly) white cover

4. A book with day or night in the titles

5. LGBTQ related title (fiction or nonfiction)

  Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur. Finished March 12 (Fiction)

6. Book originally published in the 1990s

7. Book about mental health / dealing with mental illness

8. A humour book

9. A book from an author you chose for another category in this challenge

10. A book with 11 letters/characters in the title (excluding spaces and punctuation)
    Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain. Finished March 20 (Fiction)

11. An epistolary book

12. A book with a calendar month in the title

    March by Geraldine Brooks. Finished February 17. (Fiction)

13. A book you read in your childhood days

14. Book translated into English from another language

    Machiavelli by Patrick Boucheron. Finished April 20 (Nonfiction)

15. Book with more than 500 pages

    The Half Brother by Lars Saabye Christensen. Finished January 4 (764 pages)(Fiction)

16. A book that has something to do with sports

     Sky Girls by Gene Nora Jessen. Finished January 21 (Nonfiction)

17. An illustrated book

     What Cats Think by Mies van Hout, text by John Spray. Finished January 12 (Fiction)

18. A wartime book (fiction or nonfiction)

     The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton. Finished January 15 (Fiction)

19. A book that has won the Sahitya Akademi Award for English

20. A book earlier reviewed by the host of the challenge.

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Hosted here. this challenge has a number of interesting prompts.

1. The Half Brother by Lars Saabye Christensen. Finished January 4. Clunky (1)
2. An Island Christmas by Nancy Thayer. Finished January 11  (Bingo)
3. The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. Finished January 21 (Dusty)
4. Sky Girls by Gene Nora Jessen. Finished January 21 (Bingo)
5. Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto. Finished January 31 (Ladies)
6. The Blue Demon by David Hewson. Finished February 3 (Bingo)
7. The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club by Lexi Eddings. Finished February 10 (Dusty)
8. Something to Remember You By by Gene Wilder. Finished February 12 (Bingo)
9. Secrets at Cedar Cabin by Colleen Coble. Finished February 14 (Bingo)
10. March by Geraldine Brooke. Finished February 17 (Dusty)
11. The Prince and the Pilgrim by Mary Stewart. Finished February 22 (Ladies)
12. A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park. Finished March 2 (Dusty)
13. Parting Shot by Linwood Barclay. Finished March 11 (Bingo)
14. Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain. Finished March 20 (Bingo)
15. A Finer End by Deborah Crombie. Finished March 31 (Ladies)

16. Dangerous Waters by Anne Allen. Finished April 3 (Bingo)
17. Nothing Left to Mend by Matt Weaver. Finished April 16 (Bingo)
18. The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel. Finished April 26 (Bingo)
19. A Dance like Flame by Tammy Blackwell. Finished April 28 (Bingo)
20. Machiavelli by Patrick Boucheron. Finished April 20 (Bingo)
21. The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer. Finished May 15 (Dusty)
22. Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes. Finished May 24 (Bingo)

There is also a Bingo associated with the Challenge:

Whimsical - An Island Christmas by Nancy Thayer. Finished January 11 

Enlighten Me! - Sky Girls by Gene Nora Jessen. Finished January 21

Angels and Demons - The Blue Demon by David Hewson. Finished February 3

Soldier - Something to Remember You By by Gene Wilder. Finished February 12

Outlaws and Lawmen - Secrets at Cedar Cabin by Colleen Coble. Finished February 14

Fourth in a series: Parting Shot by Linwood Barclay. Finished March 11

Pick a number: Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain. Finished March 20

Mysterious: Dangerous Waters by Anne Allen. Finished April 3

Noir: Nothing Left to Mend by Matt Weaver. Finished April 16

Reality Check: The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel. Finished April 26

Steampunk: A Dance like Flame by Tammy Blackwell. Finished April 28

Renaissance: Machiavelli by Patrick Boucheron. Finished April 20

Whodunit: Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes. Finished May 24

Another part of this one is the Ladies of Fiction Bookology. This one is definitely a challenge, but sounds interesting, but I'm not sure which option I'm looking at for tackling it. 

Here are the details: 

Each month you'll have the opportunity to explore different authors, characters, countries, and genres.  There are a number of ways to complete the challenge, including but not limited to:  

• Spell out the author's name - one book per letter from the title on the cover.
• Read one or more books written by the author. 
• Read a book written in the country or time period of the author.

Have fun exploring

Ladies of Fiction
Hosted by Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks
Month	Author	Genre
January	Banana Yoshimoto	Literary Fiction
February	Mary Stewart	Mystery, Romantic Suspense, and Arthurian Fantasy
March	Deborah Crombie	Crime Fiction
April	Elizabeth Hunter	Romance, Contemporary fantasy, and Paranormal mystery
May	Sharon Kay Penman	Historical Fiction
June	N.K. Jemisin	Science Fiction / fantasy
July	M.M. Kaye	Historical Fiction and Mystery
August	Nalini Singh	Paranormal Romance
September	Sarah Dunant	Renaissance historical fiction and Thrillers
October	Jayne Ann Krentz aka Amanda Quick aka Jayne Castle	Romantic Suspense, Historical and Paranormal
November	Cherie Priest	Steampunk, Horror and Mystery
December	Rumer Godden	Literary Fiction

Another subcategory of this challenge that I'm considering is the Nobel Prize Winners. Here is the information for that:

The Nobel Prize Winners in Literature  

In 2010, I took a Nobel Literature class and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although it was a lot of work, I read several books that probably normally would never have considered reading including Jean Paul Sartre's Nausea, Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude,and Kenzaburo Oe's The Silent Cry.  After reading these books, it made me want to read more selections from the literature prize list. Since then, I've read books by one or two authors from the list each year. Join me in reading the authors who won the Nobel Prize for Literature.  

Baby Steps:  2 Books

Toddler:  4 books

Adolescent:  6 Books

Teenager:  8 or more Books

I'm thinking of going for adolescent on this one as I know I have some of these authors on my shelf, plus my book club has a Doris Lessing book picked for the year. 

I'm also going to commit to the Dusty and Chunky subchallenge

I won't stop buying books (I know myself too well to even consider that, plus I have some subscriptions I want to continue), but I will commit to levels for both Dusty and Chunky.
For Dusty, I'll commit to Beyond the Sea level at 8 books, and for Chunky, I'll commit to Down to the Water Line to get some of those behemoths moving off my TBR shelf. 

Dusty and/or Chunky Mini Challenge

The dusty books are the ones that have been sitting on your shelves for a while - you know which ones.

The chunky books are more than 500 pages long and will take a bit more time, but oh so worth it. 

Dusty Books

Safe in the Harbor - 2 Books

Sail on Sweet Sister - 4 Books

Life in the Dark Water  - 6 Books

Beyond the Sea  - 8 Books

The Voyage  - 10 Books or more

Chunky Books - Come Sail Away 

The Tide is High  - 2 books

Down to the Water Line  - 4 books

Big Boat  - 6 books

 Big Ship Sailing  - 8 books

Mother Ocean  - 10 books or more

Chunky
1. The Half Brother by Lars Saabye Christensen. Finished January 4 (764 pages)

Dusty:
1. The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. Finished January 21 (on my shelf since at least 2012)
2. The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club by Lexi Eddings. Finished February 10 (on my shelf since 2016)
3. March by Geraldine Brooks. Finished February 17 (on my shelf since at least 2012)
4. A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park. Finished March 2 (on my shelf since September 2017)
5. The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer. Finished May 15 (on my shelf since August 2017)

I'm also going for the Feed the Muse challenge: 

Feed Your Muse 

For Writers and Readers

Read 52 poems, essays, and short stories 

Other options for this wide-ranging challenge that have appeal are the Sounds of Silence, The Well-Educated Mind,  

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Aussie Author Challenge hosted here

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I'm going for the Wallaroo level, of 6 books, at least 2 female and 2 male and 2 authors new to me.
1. The Elephant by Peter Carnavas. Finished February 15 (male author, new to me)
2. March by Geraldine Brooks. Finished February 17 (female author)
3.
4.
5.
6.

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Backlist Reading Challenge
Hosted here

I have far more books than I really should, but I just can't help myself. I usually do a TBR challenge every year, but my usual host stopped doing it, and I saw this one, so decided to try this.
It's a bit different in that you read books published before 2019 that have been on your TBR list for a long time, but you don't have to own them. I will probably choose books that I already own but haven't read (list here), but like the ability to choose from the ones I've want to read for a while, but don't own (list here). Both of these lists are from my Goodreads page and that shows the date I added them to my list, so I won't choose anything I added to the list after 2018.
I also like that I don't HAVE to pick them in advance, but can kind of go with the flow of what I feel like reading.
1. The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. Finished January 26. Added to my TBR list in November 2012
2. The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club by Lexi Eddings. Finished February 10. Added to by TBR list in January 2018
3. March by Geraldine Brooks. Finished February 17. Added to my TBR list in November 2012
4. A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park. Finished March 2. Added to my TBR list in September 2017.
5. A Finer End by Deborah Crombie. Finished March 31. Added to my TBR list in August 2017.
6. The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer. Finished May 15. Added to my TBR in August 2017

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This challenge is hosted here.
There are different levels of commitment, so of course I'm going for a Full House.

Here's the Bingo Card:

1. About The Woman: Sky Girls by Gene Nora Jessen. Finished January 21

2. In a Land Far Far Away: The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. Finished January 26

3. That Warm Fuzzy Feeling: Finding Lucy by Eugenie Fernandes. Finished February 2

4. In the Backdrop of War: The Great Halifax Explosion by John U. Bacon. Finished February 6

5. A Book Written by a WOC: Spinster Kang by Zoe Roy. Finished February 29

6. Ye Old Gods: A Finer End by Deborah Crombie. Finished March 31

7. A Genre I Don't Generally Read: A Dance like Flames by Tammy Blackwell. Finished April 28

8. Philosophically Speaking: Machiavelli by Patrick Boucheron. Finished April 20

What's in a Name Challenge
I've skipped this one the last couple years, but I've always liked it so decided to add it again.

It's hosted here.
This year the six things to have in a book title are:
* an ampersand
* an antonym
* 4 letters or less
* a given name
Spinster Kang by Zoe Roy. Finished February 29
* reference to children
* one of the four natural elements

Dangerous Waters by Anne Allen. Finished April 3