All About Books discussion

Unlike like year I'm doing to do a couple of different challenges but I'm not going to decide what books I'm going to read right away to make it a lot more easier on myself as the first half of 2014 will be stressful for me thanks to my dissertation.


CHALLENGES COMPLETED: 8/8
Date and Order Challenges Were Completed:

1. Challenge Three: 19th April.
2. Challenge Four: 4th June.
3. Challenge Eight: 29th June.
4. Challenge Two: 3rd June.
5. Challenge Six: 17th July.
6. Challenge Seven: 3rd August.
7. Challenge Five: 17th October.
8. Challenge One: 7th November.

Challenge 1:Read at least 26 fiction books with titles ranging from A-Z: (university books not allowed):

(Progress: 26/26)

A Angel City by Jon Steele (completed 23rd February)
B Behind the Locked Door by Lisa Procter (completed 14th January)
C Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir (completed 27th January)
D Darkness by Erin Eveland (completed 21st June)
E Ed Undead:The Chronicles of a Teenage Zombie by Edward Kent (completed 17th October)
F For Nick by Taylor Dean (completed 18th January)
G The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (completed 27th September)
H How I Became Stupid by Martin Page (completed 28th April)
I If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go by Judy Chicurel (completed 23rd August)
J Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (completed 29th June)
K King Lear by William Shakespeare (completed 19th October)
L Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (completed 6th March)
M Middlemarch by George Eliot (completed 21st February)
N Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (completed 3rd January)
O The One by Kiera Cass (completed 15th June)
P Path of Pins by Hannah Kollef (completed 26th February)
Q The Queen of Zombie Hearts by Gena Showalter (completed 20th October)
R Requiem by Lauren Oliver (completed 14th January)
S The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (completed 3rd January)
T To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (completed 7th February)
U The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (completed 3rd August)
V The Viscount's Christmas Temptation by Erica Ridley (completed 19th October)
W The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan (completed 20th February)
X X-Men by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (completed 21st October)
Y Your Mother Was a Neanderthal by Jon Scieszka (completed 21st October)
Z Zombies in Love by Nora Fleischer (completed 7th November)


Challenge 2: Read at least five poetry anthologies.

(Progress: 5/5) COMPLETED

1. The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan (completed 20th February)
2. The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy (completed 20th March)
3. Collected Poems by Philip Larkin (completed 24th March)
4. Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (completed 3rd July)
5. The Road Not Taken and Other Poems by Robert Frost (completed 3rd July)


Challenge 3: Read at least five non-fiction books. (University books/secondary reading not allowed)

(Progress: 5/5) COMPLETED!

1. I Should Know That: Great Britain: Everything You (and the Prime Minister) Really Should Know About GB by Emma Marriott (completed 4th January)
2. Walking to Lose Weight A 12 Week Walking Workout Plan - The Exact Plan for Losing Weight One Step at a Time by Susan J Campbell (completed 19th February)
3. Queen Victoria's Children by John van der Kiste (completed 19th February)
4. The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser (completed 22nd February)
5. A Brief History of the Wars of the Roses by Desmond Seward (completed 19th April)


Challenge 4: Read the books sitting in my kindle since the summer. (Finished books can be used in the other lists)

(Progress: 33/33) COMPLETED

I Should Know That: Great Britain: Everything You (and the Prime Minister) Really Should Know About GB by Emma Marriott (completed 4th January)
The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston (completed 1st June)
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (completed 4th June)
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (completed 30th May)
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (completed 11th January)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (completed 29th May)
A History Of Scotland by Neil Oliver (completed 27th May)
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire (completed 21st April
Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (completed 3rd January)
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (completed 31st May)
Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman (completed 31st May)
Angel City by Jon Steele (completed 23rd February)
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose (completed 20th April)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (completed 24th May)
Talented by Sophie Davis (completed 26th May 2014)
Season of the Witch by Árni Þórarinsson (completed 30th May)
An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde (completed 22nd February)
The Queen's Lady by Barbara Kyle (completed 26th May)
The Fallen Queen by Emily Purdy (completed 1st June)
Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd (completed 2nd June)
The Villain's Daughter by Roberta Kray (completed 2nd June)
The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan (completed 20th February)
The Lady Penelope: The Lost Tale of Love and Politics in the Court of Elizabeth I by Sally Varlow (completed 25th April)
A Brief History Of The Tudor Age by Jasper Ridley (completed 29th May)
The Last White Rose: Dynasty, Rebellion And Treason The Secret Wars Against The Tudors by Desmond Seward (completed 24th May)
Queen Victoria's Children by John van der Kiste (completed 19th February)
The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser (completed 22nd February)
The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London by Judith Flanders (completed 2nd March)
A Brief History of the Wars of the Roses by Desmond Seward (completed 19th April)
The Women of the Cousins' War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King's Mother by Philippa Gregory (completed 24th January)
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell (completed 23rd February)
For Nick by Taylor Dean (completed 18th January)
Behind the Locked Door by Lisa Procter (completed 14th January)

These books were all on my kindle on the 27th December 2013 If any books are read before January 2014, they will simply be deleted from the list.

Challenge 5: Read at least ten books that you have always wanted to read. (Finished books can be used in other lists)

(Progress: 10/10) COMPLETED

1. The White Princess by by Philippa Gregory (completed 18th April)
2. Matched by Ally Condie (completed 10th June)
3. Requiem by Lauren Oliver (completed 14th January)
4. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (completed 15th March)
5. The Stand by Stephen King (completed 4th June)
6. 11/22/63 by Stephen King (completed 25th February)
7. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (completed 15th October)
8. Torn by Cat Clarke (completed 19th June)
9. Cinder by Marissa Meyer (completed 3rd October)
10. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (completed 17th October)

Challenge 6: Read at least two autobiographies /memoirs (No university books).

(Progress: 2/2) COMPLETED

1. Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History by Rhonda Garelick (completed 16th July)
2. Joseph Goebbels: Biographie by Peter Longerich (completed 17th July)


Challenge 7: Take part in at least six All About Books Group Reads (Finished books can be used in other lists.)

(Progress: 6/6) COMPLETED

1. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (completed 3rd January)
2. Middlemarch by George Eliot (completed 21st February 2014)
3. Persuasion by Jane Austen (completed 6th April 2014)
4. The Round House by Louise Erdrich (completed 17th June)
5. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (completed 15th July)
6. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (completed 3rd August)


Challenge 8 (AND LAST ONE): Read at least six Victorian classics (one every two months) (NOT CHARLES DICKENS) (Finished book can be used in other lists)

(Progress: 6/6 ) COMPLETED

1. Middlemarch by George Eliot (completed 21st February)
2. An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde (completed 22nd February)
3. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (completed 24th May)
4. Adam Bede by George Eliot (completed 22nd June)
5. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (completed 23rd June)
6. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (completed 29th June)

Alannah wrote: "Unlike like year I'm doing to do a couple of different challenges but I'm not going to decide what books I'm going to read right away to make it a lot more easier on myself as the first half of 201..."

Efficient! Always best to plan ahead.

Good luck Alannah. Sounds like you have a good plan.

Nice challenges! Just an editorial note - you say 10 nonfiction but only have slots for 5...

Leslie wrote: "Nice challenges! Just an editorial note - you say 10 nonfiction but only have slots for 5..."

Thanks Leslie for pointing that out.

Charbel wrote: "Alannah wrote: "Unlike like year I'm doing to do a couple of different challenges but I'm not going to decide what books I'm going to read right away to make it a lot more easier on myself as the f..."

Thanks, I didn't really do it for 2012 and 2013 and I ended up not finishing the 2012 challenge.

Sounds good and with lots of flexibility to chose your reading

Yes, I like the flexibility too, I'm going to do that with mine.

Thanks, I think it makes the whole challenge a lot more enjoyable rather than a chore.

Alannah wrote: "Thanks, I think it makes the whole challenge a lot more enjoyable rather than a chore."

Yes, definitely!

I like the flexibility this gives you, Alannah. I might look at something similar.
How does this work in a practical sense. Will you add the books to this thread as you read them?

Edited again. Excuse me being a bit gormless about this. Is the Challenge for listing potential categories/(either with or without book titles); and 'books of 2013 or 2014' to list books as they are read?

Gill wrote: "Excuse me being a bit gormless about this. Is the Challenge for listing potential categories/(either with or without book titles); and 'books of 2013 or 2014' to list books as they are read? ..."

Yes, the challenge thread is where you can record your goals or challenges. For example, Alannah wants to stretch her reading to include more nonfiction, so that is one of her personal challenges. The 'books of 2013' is just a list of what has actually been read. Both are optional of course!

Great goals Alannah! I've almost completed an A-Z of books for 2013 with another group, but I'm now stuck on X, Z and J (Jane Eyre is screaming at me to read it!)

I'll look forward to seeing what you pick for your poetry and non-fiction choices :)

Nice challenge Alannah! I will also be keeping an eye on what you chose for non-fiction and poetry.

@ Pink: *hint,hint* DECEMBER *hint,hint*

Jenny, yes we must read Jane Eyre before the end of the year!

Pink wrote: "Great goals Alannah! I've almost completed an A-Z of books for 2013 with another group, but I'm now stuck on X, Z and J (Jane Eyre is screaming at me to read it!)

I'll look forward to seeing what ..."

What about The Yellow Wallpaper if you are struggling to find a Y? I think Leslie used it for hers.

Good luck! I love the A-Z idea.

Thanks, I did end up using The Yellow Wallpaper for Y, I'm stuck on X and Z now!

Pink wrote: "Jenny, yes we must read Jane Eyre before the end of the year!"

Already scribbled it down onto my mighty reading schedule (the existence of which actually makes me chuckle in disbelief regularly)

Pink wrote: "Thanks, I did end up using The Yellow Wallpaper for Y, I'm stuck on X and Z now!"

Pink, are you do titles only or titles and authors? Shirley and I are reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston in November (although I actually am hoping to read Zuleika Dobson as my Z book sometime in the next 2 months).

Leslie, I do lists for both! Think I'm stuck on x and z in both cases though, plus a couple of other letters. At least it's pushing me to consider books I might otherwise overlook!

Wondering on whether or not to add a couple of more challenges in.

Do you have any ideas in mind?

I have loads of books on my kindle that need to be read.

Might be worth adding a category for kindle reads then. You can always remove it again before 2014 if you change your mind :)

Or I might make it easier and use them for the other lists as there are a couple of nonfiction books on there.

Alannah wrote: "Or I might make it easier and use them for the other lists as there are a couple of nonfiction books on there."

Well, you could have cross-over. Have a category to read, say, 10 books already on your Kindle; if you read one that is non-fiction, you can count it in the Kindle category AND the nonfiction category!

Leslie wrote: "Alannah wrote: "Or I might make it easier and use them for the other lists as there are a couple of nonfiction books on there."

Well, you could have cross-over. Have a category to read, say, 10 b..."

Good idea.

I will put all these challenges together in one post sometime during December.

That is me done! I am stopping myself from adding anymore challenges before I get too crazy! haha but hopefully the flexibility on most of the lists will make it a lot easier to finish the challenge without it becoming to gruelling for me.

I'm thinking on my 2014 challenge to add a challenge for readalongs as I am only doing two this year (Poe and city of Bones), I'd like to do a few next year too of books either on my tbr list or the ebooks on my tablet. I wish you luck on your challenges Alannah. ^_^

Amber wrote: "I'm thinking on my 2014 challenge to add a challenge for readalongs as I am only doing two this year (Poe and city of Bones), I'd like to do a few next year too of books either on my tbr list or th..."

Thanks Amber. That's a really good idea, even though I haven't put it as my challenge, I would love to take part in more readalong. Maybe if our City of Bones readalong goes well we can schedule another for City of Ashes. haha.

LOL,Maybe. I want to do The Child Thief by Brom but will probably get it from the Overdrive ebook library early since I am #3 on the holds list. and been wanting to read Wind in the willows too and stuff. As for Series readalongs, I'm trying to finish other book series I started before I start a new one. I'll be finished with Ridley Pearson's Kingdom Keepers series in April of 2014 since that is when the last book comes out. Have you ever read any of the Karen Chance books? Was just curious. I saw her Cassie Palmer series and they looked interesting. She also did a series which was about a half vampire half Human character like a female version of the Marvel character Blade but wasn't sure if that series would be any good. ^_^

No I haven't but I will keep an eye out.

Okay cool. They had them all online through the overdrive eBooks library through my local library and I discovered them at a Hastings bookstore but they were like $8 apiece (not spending that much, LOL). I spent that much for the whole Sweep series by Cate Tiernan when I was in middle school and it took me a year to get through the whole series. LOL.

Update
Changed the rule of the first challenge to make it more easier on myself since I have added many more challenges since then.

Update
Already deleted a couple of books from Challenge 4's list as they have already been read.

Cool Alannah. I finally finished Deception which is book 2 of the defiance series by C.J. Redwine and it was a pretty good read. Definitely check Defiance and Deception out. They are a great apocalyptic fantasy series and book three comes out in aug/September of 2014.

Amber wrote: "Cool Alannah. I finally finished Deception which is book 2 of the defiance series by C.J. Redwine and it was a pretty good read. Definitely check Defiance and Deception out. They are a great apocal..."

I think those books will be on my fifth challenge, I have heard so much about them.

Update:

Added a couple of books, Matched and The White Princess to challenge five.

Have also been thinking to make the A-Z challenge a lot easier on myself by allowing myself to add a book like The Great Gatsby for example to G.

Update:

Changed the rule on Challenge 7.

Update:

Added Requiem to Challenge 5.

Update:

As 2014 draws closer, I have decided to put all challenges together in the first couple of posts.

Impressive challenge, Alannah!

I notice that you say "except Dickens" at one point so between you and me we'll conquer the world yet! I'm doing Charles Dickens' novels for my challenge, and you're doing everything else!! LOL

Jean wrote: "Impressive challenge, Alannah!

I notice that you say "except Dickens" at one point so between you and me we'll conquer the world yet! I'm doing Charles Dickens' novels for my challenge, and you'r..."

It's only because I'm studying him this year, I want to try more Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell.

I knew it would be something like that :)

Anyway Charles Dickens really admired Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins was a good friend of his. It just seemed so funny, us putting those challenges up within days of one another :D

Jean wrote: "I knew it would be something like that :)

Anyway Charles Dickens really admired Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins was a good friend of his. It just seemed so funny, us putting those challenges ..."

That's interesting, did not know that.

Update:

Added To Kill a Mockingbird for Challenge 5.