2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This year my goal is to read 24 books. This is the first time I'm doing a reading challenge and I'm so excited.

I started Norwegian Wood on January 2. I chose Norwegian Wood because one of the few books I read last year was 1Q84 by the same author (Haruki Murakami) and I loved it. I'm hoping several more of his books will be on my list by December 31, 2014.

Completed book 1 of 24 on 01-14-2014


Read My Review here!

Completed book 2 of 24 on 01-21-2014


Read My Review here!

1) 01-14-14: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
2) 01-21-14: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
3) 01-22-14: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
4) 01-29-14: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
5) 02-08-14: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
6) 02-12-14 : Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
7) 02-13-14: Botchan by Sōseki Natsume
8) 02-18-14: Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

Here are my other challenges: I'll update these from this one post from now on.

Listopia Annual Challenge

Completed: 10 of 12
Total Lists: 4

World's Greatest Novellas
✔ Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (02-22-14)
✔ The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling (02-28-14)
✔ In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka (02-26-14)

The Great American Novel
✔The Color Purple by Alice Walker
✔Beloved by Toni Morrison replacing The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
✔The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (01-29-14)

Best South Asian Fiction
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
✔The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Favorite Magical Realist Novels
✔The Seventh Generation by Eugenia Fakinou (07-08-14)
✔South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami (06-25-14)
✔No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

Chinese Zodiac Sign Quarterly Challenge
Up'ed the goal from 6 to 9 on February 28.
Completed: 9 of 9 - March 7

✔The Goat. Takes place in your birth country: Currently working on The Help by Kathryn Stockett (completed March 7)
✔The Monkey:The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (completed Feb. 08)
✔The Rooster. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup (completed Feb. 18)
✔The Dog: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (completed Jan. 14)
✔The Pig: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (completed Jan. 29)
✔The Rat. Teaches you something: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg (completed March 5)
✔The Rabbit: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (completed Jan 21.)
✔The Dragon. Mythical or paranormal creature The Line by J.D. Horn (completed March 6)
✔The Snake: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (completed Jan. 22)

I've realized that I like to have one eBook and one physical book going at the same time. I'm currently struggling to get through Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun. I teach orientation and I thought it would be great lesson on how to engage even the least interested students but I'm losing my own interest trying to get through it. I resolved to read one chapter a day but that's only good if anything else I'm reading is worth deflecting.

9) 02-22-14: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
10) 02-26-14: In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka
11) 02-28-14: The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling

Currently listening to an audiobook: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

12) 03-05-14 Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
13) 03-06-14 The Line by J.D. Horn
14) 03-07-14 The Help by Kathryn Stockett
15) 03-14-14 Song Yet Sung by James McBride
16) 03-16-14 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
17) 03-20-14 The Reluctant Fundamentalist: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid
18) 03-22-14 Death with Interruptions by José Saramago
19) 03-26-14 No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez
20) 03-27-14 Identity by Milan Kundera
21) 03-30-14 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink


Goals for March : Deadline 3/31/14
Progress: 10 of 9

Well, This is a bit intimidating.

The Challenge Factory: March Monthly Challenge
✔Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
✔No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez
✔Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
✔Death with Interruptions by José Saramago
✔Song Yet Sung by James McBride

2014 Reading Challenge: Daylight Savings Time March Mini Challenge
✔Identity by Milan Kundera replacing The Help by Kathryn Stockett
✔The Line by J.D. Horn
✔The Reluctant Fundamentalist: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid
✔Song Yet Sung by James McBride

1st Quarter Challenge: The Chinese Zodiac (Shēngxiào)
✔Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
✔The Line by J.D. Horn
✔The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Here's my review of The Line by J.D. Horn

Great start! :) I read The Rosie Project as well...Great read! How was Twelve Years a Slave? It's on my kindle, just haven't read it yet, but it's gotten high reviews.
Keep up the great work!

Thanks Heather! Twelve Years a Slave was good although different than I expected. It's easy to understand why it was written off as fiction for so long but definitely an unique perspective on the multiple sides of slave life during that time period. I still haven't seen the move though.

04-05-14 Soy Sauce for Beginners by Kirstin Chen
23) 04-06-14 The Untelling by Tayari JonesKaye Gibbons
24) 04-22-14 Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
***CHALLENGE COMPLETE & Updated to 50***
25) 04-23-14 Astray by Emma Donoghue
26) 04-24-14 Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
27) 04-25-14 A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes

Goals for April
Progress: 6 of 6

The Challenge Factory: April Easter Egg Err Book Hunt
Deadline: 04/30/2014
Progress: 4/4

✔Something you eat or drink Kirstin Chen - Soy Sauce for Beginners (04-05-14)
✔A location Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (04-22-14)
✔A tragedy Astray by Emma Donoghue (04-23-14)
✔A girls name Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons (04-24-14)
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Read Women 2014 Quarterly Challenge
Deadline: June 30, 2014
Progress: 22/30 updated to 30!

✔Kirstin Chen - Soy Sauce for Beginners (04-05-14)
✔Tayari Jones - The Untelling (04-06-14)
✔Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain (04-22-14)
✔Emma Donoghue - Astray(04-23-14)
✔Kaye Gibbons - Ellen Foster (04-24-14)
✔Nikki Grimes - A Girl Named Mister (04-25-14)
✔Liz Moore- Heft (05-11-14)
✔Shin Kyung-sook - Please Look After Mom (05-29-14)
✔Anne Rice - Interview With The Vampire (05-31-14)
✔Kim Thúy - Ru (06-05-14)
✔Heidi Durrow - The Girl Who Fell from the Sky (06-21-14)
✔ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah (06-27-14)
✔ Julie Otsuka - When the Emperor Was Divine (06-28-14)
✔ Aimee Bender - The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (07-01-14)
✔Cristina Henriquez - The Book of Unknown Americans: A Novel (07-05-14)
✔Piper Kerman - Orange Is the New Black (07-08-14)
✔Eugenia Fakinou - The Seventh Garment (07-08-14)
✔Claire Messud-The Woman Upstairs (07-15-14)
✔Kate Atkinson-Life After Life (07-23-14)
✔ Meg Wolitzer- The Uncoupling (07-30-14)
✔ Gabrielle Zevin - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (08-06-14)
✔ Juliann Garey - Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See (08-07-14)

TBR:
Ayana Mathis
Mitsuyo Kakuta
Helene Wecker
Joanna Hershon
NoViolet Bulawayo
Hanya Yanagihara

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Alphabet yearly challenge - 2014
Duration: January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014
Level: Medium - Title only

A: Astray by Emma Donoghue (04-23-14)
B: Botchan by Sōseki Natsume (02-13-14)
C: The Color Purple by Alice Walker (07-20-14)
D: Death with Interruptions by José Saramago (03-22-14)
E: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons (04-24-14)
F: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (02-22-14)
G: Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (03-16-14)
H: The Help by Kathryn Stockett (03-07-14)
I: In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka (02-26-14)
J:
K: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (02-12-14)
L: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (01-21-14)
M The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling (02-28-14)
N: Norwegian Woodby Haruki Murakami (01-14-14)
O: Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman (07-08-14)
P: Please Look After Mom by Shin Kyung-sook (05-29-14)
Q
R: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (02-08-14)
S: Song Yet Sung by James McBride (03-14-14)
T: Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup (02-18-14)
U: The Untelling by Tayari Jones (04-06-2014)
V:
W: When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka (06-28-14)
X:
Y: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (01-22-14)
Z: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (06-27-14)


Fiction Novels by Toni Morrison
This is a "Never ending" challenge but I'm setting my goal for March 1, 2015
Progress: 1/10
(05-17-14) Beloved

28) 05-11-14 Heft by Liz Moore
29) 05-17-14 Beloved by Toni Morrison
30) 05-28-14 Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto
31) 05-29-14 Please Look After Mom by Shin Kyung-sook
32) 05-31-14 Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice

It's May!

It's sunny and I'm in a reading slump. I keep starting books and losing interest. These are all books that would typically catch my attention right away. I truly believe that you have to be at the right point in your life to enjoy some books - maybe that's the issue or maybe it's the sunshine that making me sleepy. I can imagine napping by the pool right now.

Goal for this month: Finish what I've started
Progress: 2/4

The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
✔Beloved by Toni Morrison (05-17-14)
✔ Heft by Liz Moore (05-11-14)
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Bonus: May Mini Birthday Challenge
Progress: 2/2

✔1. Published year you were born: 1989 - Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto (05-28-14)
✔2. Author who shares a birthday: October 4 - Anne Rice - Interview With The Vampire (05-31-14)

I agree that sometimes books will impact you more at specific points in our lives.

Sunshine makes you sleepy? It's usually rain for me.

33) 06-05-14 Ru by Kim Thúy
34) 06-15-14 A Mercy by Tony Morrison
35) 06-21-14 The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
36) 06-25-14 South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
37) 06-27-14 Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
38) 06-27-14 Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
39) 06-28-14 When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
40) 06-29-14 The Giver by Lois Lowry

Happy June!

After last month I've decided to create a bookshelf called Try Again Later. I'm becoming more comfortable with the idea that I can start a book, decide it's not the right time and pick it up again later. Thus, this shelf was born and is currently nestling The Makioka Sisters and Life After Life so I can guiltlessly move on to other reads.

Goals for June
Progress: 5/6

✔South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

The June End of School Challenge
I created and I am leading this challenge!!
Progress: 4/4

✔Summer Break: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
✔Bad Teacher: A Mercy by Tony Morrison
✔Foreign Exchange: Ru by Kim Thúy
✔Junior Varsity: The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

Never Ending Author Challenge: Toni Morrison
Progress: 2/10

✔Book two: A Mercy (06-15-14)

Mini Reviews:
South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami - I seriously cannot decide what I think.Was it good? Was it bad? Am I digging too deeply for meaning? Were my expectations too high? Did I totally miss something?
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers - WTF. I know this is true but it is so...just WTF.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Just a lot of anxiety... or angst. Probably angst.

41) 07-01-14: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
42) 07-05-14 The Book of Unknown Americans: A Novel by Cristina Henriquez
43) 07-08-14 The Seventh Garment by Eugenia Fakinou
44) 07-08-14 Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman
45) 07-09-14 A Taste of Honey: Stories by Jabari Asim
46) 07-15-14 The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
47) 07-20-14 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
48) 07-23-14 Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
49) 07-24-14 The African Shore by Rodrigo Rey Rosa
50) 07-29-14 Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
***Challenge Completed again!!***
51) 07-30-14 The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer

July is the start of a lot of great changes for me. Also, woah - already at 40 books this year. So I'm setting my goals high!

Goals for July

✔The Seventh Garment by Eugenia Fakinou (07-08-14)
Satantango by László Krasznahorkai

Continue what I started: This is a weighty book and last months challenge to listen to the audiobook was a bust so I've resolved to read it slowly even if it takes a while.
Progress: 0/1
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

AA Historical Fiction Group Read
Progress: 1/1
✔A Taste of Honey: Stories by Jabari Asim

July Hoarders Challenge
Progress: 4/3
✔Physical Bookshelf: The Book of Unknown Americans: A Novel by Cristina Henriquez (07-05-14)
✔Recently added TBR: The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud (07-15-14)
✔Started but not finished: The Color Purple by Alice Walker (07-20-14)
✔Missed groupread: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (07-23-14)

Always a Nominee Quarterly Challenege
Progress: 4/12
✔Man Booker Prize: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
✔Best Translated Book Award: The African Shore by Rodrigo Rey Rosa (07-24-14)
Japanese Book Award: The Eighth Day by Mitsuyo Kakuta
✔GoodReads Choice 2010: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (07-01-14)
✔Carnegie Medals of Excellence in Fiction 2014 long list: Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See by Juliann Garey (08-07-14)

Mini Reviews:
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Cut out the bad parts and it would be an amazing novella.
The Book of Unknown Americans: A Novel - Absolutely a new favorite.
Life After Life - Good but over rated.

Wow, it's August already! I'm moving my updates to the 51-100 discussion topic since I completed my goal! My new goal is 80 books!

Here's the link to my new challenge!

Good luck on your personal challenge!