2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

⭐ TOC ⭐

1. 2018 Member Corner (tracker)
2. 2019 Goodreads Year in Books
3. 2019 Goodreads Challenge
4. 2019 Reading Summary
5. 2019 Challenge Tracker
6. 2019 Book Tracker

⭐ 2019 Reading Summary ⭐


Stats

Book & Reading Statistics
* Books read: 79/101+
* Pages read: 25,070/40,000
* Challenges completed: 16/40
* Average Rating: 3.7
* Average Length: 317 pages
* Average Days to Read: 5.73
* Longest book: The Passage at 766 pages
* Shortest book: Binti at 90 pages
* Most popular book: Animal Farm
* Least popular book: After You, My Dear Alphonse
* Highest rated book: The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row

Diversity
➢ Authors of color: 32 (40.5%)
➢ Women: 60 (75.9%)
➢ Author location (non US/Canada/UK): 27 (34.1%)
➢ LGBTQ+ (author or main character): 10 (10.1%)
➢ Non-fiction: 13 (16.5%)


Likes & Dislikes

Top Ten (in no particular order)
1. Stay with Me
2. My Sister, the Serial Killer
3. The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster
4. Educated
5. Homegoing
6. Life After Life
7. An American Marriage
8. The Orphan Master's Son
9. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
10. Station Eleven

Other Likes
➢ Favorite covers:

➢ Best title: My Sister, the Serial Killer
➢ Favorite literary fiction:
* Stay with Me
* Homegoing
➢ Favorite genre fiction: The Husband's Secret
➢ Favorite non-fiction:
* The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster
* Educated

Dislikes
➢ Least favorite books:
* The Plot Against America
* The Woman in the Window
* The Company of Demons


Ratings
★★★★★ 14
★★★★☆ 28
★★★☆☆ 33
★★☆☆☆ 2
★☆☆☆☆ 1


Reading Cloud



Giveaways
I only won two this year, compared to 6 last year. 1 in Kindle format, and 1 paperback.

⭐ 2019 Challenges ⭐

Goal: 16/40

1. ❌ 2019 Reading Challenge (79/101+)
2. ❌ Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (11/24)
3. ❌ Reading Women Podcast's 2019 Reading Women Challenge (18/26)
4. ❌ Yearly Challenge: Let's Turn Pages (25,070/40,000 pages)
5. ❌ Yearly Challenge: Clear the Shelves (24)
6. ❌ Yearly Challenge: Color Challenge (17/18)
7. ❌ Yearly Challenge: Genre Bingo (18/24 spaces, 0/13 bingos)
8. ❌ Yearly Challenge: A to Z - Stage Edition (12/26)
9. ❌ Yearly Challenge: #OwnVoices (13/26)
10. ✅ Q1 Quarterly Challenge: Looking Back at the Best (3/3)
11. ✅ Q1 Quarterly Challenge: Best of What's to Come - Book Adaptations of 2019 (3/3)
12. ✅ January Challenge: Book to the Future (2/2)
13. ❌ January Challenge: Marathon (3,642/6,000 pages)
14. ✅ February Challenge 1: Shades of Blue (2/2)
15. ✅ February Challenge 2: Celebrating the Blues (2/2)
16. ❌ February Group Read, Strange the Dreamer
17. ✅ March Challenge 1: Mysterious March (2/2)
18. ✅ March Challenge 2: Look to the Stars (2/2)
19. ❌ Q2 Quarterly Challenge 1: Globetrotter (3/5)
20. ✅ Q2 Quarterly Challenge 2: All the World's a Stage (3)
21. ✅ April Challenge 1: Feeling Fraternal (2/2)
22. ✅ April Challenge 2: Much Ado About Shakespeare (2/2)
23. ❌ May Challenge 1: TBR Blockbusters (1/2)
24. ❌ May Challenge 2: Hidden Treasures (1/2)
25. ❌ June Challenge: In the Name of Fashion (5)
26. ❌ Q4 Quarterly Challenge 1: Casting Call (9/15)
27. ❌ Q4 Quarterly Challenge 2: Let's Roll the Credits(2/5 challenges, 3/9 books)
28. ❌ Personal Challenge: ToB Finalists (11/24)
29. ❌ Personal Challenge: Every Year (18/28)
30. ❌ Personal Challenge: Finish 2018 DNFs (1/10)
31. ❌ Personal Challenge: Reread It (4/12)
32. ✅ Personal Challenge January: #24in48
33. ✅ Personal Challenge February: Black History Month (11/10)
34. ✅ Personal Challenge March: Women's History Month (13/10)
35. ✅ Personal Challenge April: Library Books (15/15)
36. ❌ Personal Challenge May-August: Camp ToB (3/6)
37. ✅ Personal Challenge June: Buddy Read (1/11)
38. ❌ Personal Challenge June-July: Buddy Read (0/1)
39. ❌ Personal Challenge September: Buddy Read (0/1)
40. ✅ Personal Challenge: Use of books in challenges (# unique titles)

⭐2019 Books ⭐

2019 Reading Challenge - Diane's 101+ in 2019

Goal: 79/101+

January
1. ★★★★☆ (2018) The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding, Jennifer Robson
2. ★★★★★ (1943) These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. ★★★☆☆ (1992) The Black Echo, Michael Connelly
4. ★★★★☆ (1971) The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
5. ★★★☆☆ (1962) On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894, Laura Ingalls Wilder
6. ★★★☆☆ (2018) The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn
7. ★★★★☆ (2018) Circe, Madeline Miller
8. ★★★☆☆ (2010) The Passage, Justin Cronin
9. ★★★★☆ (2018) All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir, Nicole Chung
10. ★★★★☆ (2013) The Circle, Dave Eggers

February
11. ★★★★★ (2016) Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood, Trevor Noah
12. ★★★★★ (2016) The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
13. ★★★★★ (2018) An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
14. ★★★★☆ (2017) An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon
15. ★★★★☆ (2017) The Changeling, Victor LaValle
16. ★★★★☆ (2015) Binti, Nnedi Okorafor
17. ★★★★☆ (2017) Piecing Me Together, Renée Watson
18. ★★★★☆ (2018) When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, Patrisse Khan-Cullors
19. ★★★★☆ (2018) The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, Anthony Ray Hinton
20. ★★★☆☆ (2017) Dear Martin, Nic Stone
21. ★★★★☆ (2018) The Proposal, Jasmine Guillory

March
22. ★★★☆☆ (2018) Then She Was Gone, Lisa Jewell
23. ★★★☆☆ (2016) The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware
24. ★★★★★ (2018) My Sister, the Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite
25. ★★★★☆ (2016) Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata
26. ★★★★★ (2017) Stay with Me, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
27. ★★★★☆ (2010) Orange Is the New Black, Piper Kerman
28. ★★★★☆ (2016) The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry
29. ★★★★☆ (2018) I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, Michelle McNamara
30. ★★★☆☆ (2017) This is How It Always Is, Laurie Frankel
31. ★★★☆☆ (2017) Home, Nnedi Okorafor
32. ★★★☆☆ (1992) Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon
33. ★★★★★ (2017) The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster, Sarah Krasnostein
34. ★★★☆☆ (2017) Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India, Sujatha Gidla

April
35. ★★★★☆ (2017) The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
36. ★★★★☆ (2014) Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
37. ★★★★★ (2013) Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
38. ★★★★☆ (2018) The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After, Clemantine Wamariya
39. ★★☆☆☆ (2004) The Plot Against America, Philip Roth
40. ★★★★★ (2016) Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
41. ★★★★★ (2018) An American Marriage, Tayari Jones (re-read for book club)
42. ★★★★★ (2018) Educated, Tara Westover
43. ★★★☆☆ (2019) The Current, Tim Johnston
44. ★★★★★ (1943) After You, My Dear Alphonse, Shirley Jackson
45. ★★★★☆ (2018) The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo
46. ★★★★☆ (2018) The Widows of Malabar Hill, Sujata Massey
47. ★★★★☆ (2014) The Bees, Laline Paull
48. ★★★☆☆ (2017) New Boy, Tracy Chevalier

May
49. ★★★★☆ (2006) The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, Sandy Tolan
50. ★★★★☆ (2003) Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear
51. ★★★★☆ (1999) Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
52. ★★★★☆ (1945) Animal Farm, George Orwell
53. ★★★★☆ (2012) The Orphan Master's Son, Adam Johnson
54. ★★★☆☆ (2004) Birds of a Feather, Jacqueline Winspear
55. ★★★★☆ (2016) Over the Plain Houses, Julia Franks
56. ★★★☆☆ (1997) A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson
57. ★★★☆☆ (2016) Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood

June
58. ★★★★☆ (2005) The Accidental, Ali Smith
59. ★★★☆☆ (2016) If I Was Your Girl, Meredith Russo
60. ★★★☆☆ (2018) Before She Sleeps, Bina Shah
61. ★★★☆☆ (2018) The Night Masquerade, Nnedi Okorafor
62. ★★★☆☆ (2019) Daisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid

July
63. ★★★☆☆ (2019) American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson

August
64. ★★★☆☆ (2018) A Place for Us, Fatima Farheen Mirza
65. ★★★☆☆ (2004) Case Histories, Kate Atkinson

September
66. ★★★☆☆ (2019) The Farm, Joanne Ramos
67. ★★★★☆ (2011) The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt

October
68. ★★★★☆ (2001) Remainder, Tom McCarthy
69. ★★★☆☆ (2015) The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah
70. ★★★☆☆ (2018) Escape from Aleppo, N.H. Senzai
71. ★★★☆☆ (2017) Terra Nullius, Claire G. Coleman
72. ★★★☆☆ (2019) The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Kim Michele Richardson
73. ★★★★☆ (2013) The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

December
74. ★☆☆☆☆ (2018) The Company of Demons, Michael Jordan
75. ★★★☆☆ (2005) Still Life, Louise Penny
76. ★★★☆☆ (2007) A Fatal Grace, Louise Penny
77. ★★★☆☆ (2008) The Cruelest Month, Louise Penny
78. ★★★☆☆ (2009) A Rule Against Murder, Louise Penny
79. ★★★☆☆ (2019) The Wedding Party, Jasmine Guillory

❌ Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

Goal: 11/24

1. An epistolary novel or collection of letters
* Dear Martin, Nic Stone
2. An alternate history novel
* American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson
3. A book by a woman and/or AOC (Author of Color) that won a literary award in 2018
* The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster, Sarah Krasnostein
4. A humor book
* A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson
5. A book by a journalist or about journalism
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, Sandy Tolan
* The author is a journalist
6. A book by an AOC set in or about space
* An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon
7. An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America
8. An #ownvoices book set in Oceania
9. A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads
* After You, My Dear Alphonse
10. A translated book written by and/or translated by a woman
* Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata
* Written AND translated by a woman
11. A book of manga
12. A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character
* The Bees, Laline Paull
13. A book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse
14. A cozy mystery
* Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear
15. A book of mythology or folklore
16. An historical romance by an AOC
17. A business book
18. A novel by a trans or nonbinary author
* If I Was Your Girl, Meredith Russo
19, A book of nonviolent true crime
20. A book written in prison
21. A comic by an LGBTQIA creator
22. A children’s or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009
23. A self-published book
24. A collection of poetry published since 2014

* ❌ Reading Women Podcast's 2019 Reading Women Challenge
* My 2019 Reading Women Challenge Tracker

Goal: 18/26

1. A mystery or thriller written by a woman of color
* The Widows of Malabar Hill, Sujata Massey
2. A book about a woman with a mental illness
3. A book by an author from Nigeria or New Zealand
* My Sister, the Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite (Nigeria)
4. A book about or set in Appalachia
* The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Kim Michele Richardson
5. A children's book
* Escape from Aleppo, N.H. Senzai
6. A multigenerational family saga
The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
7. A book featuring a woman in science
8. A play
9. A novella
* Binti, Nnedi Okorafor
10. A book about a woman athlete
11. A book featuring a religion other than your own
* The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding, Jennifer Robson
12. A Lambda Literary Award winner
13. A myth retelling
* Circe, Madeline Miller
14. A translated book published before 1945
* While the translation can be published after 1945, the original text must have been published before 1945.
15. A book written by a South Asian author
* Before She Sleeps, Bina Shah
16. A book by an Indigenous woman
* Terra Nullius, Claire G. Coleman (Noongar/Australian aboriginal)
17. A book from the 2018 Reading Women Award shortlist
* Educated, Tara Westover
18. A romance or love story
* The Wedding Party, Jasmine Guillory
19. A book about nature
20. A historical fiction book
* Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
21. A book you bought or borrowed in 2019
* Daisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid
22. A book you picked up because of the cover
* The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry

23. Any book from a series
* Birds of a Feather, Jacqueline Winspear
* Maisie Dobbs #2
24. A young adult book by a woman of color (we define young adult as book targeted toward readers ages 12 - 18)
* Piecing Me Together, Renée Watson

Bonus
1. A book by Jesmyn Ward
2. A book by Jhumpa Lahiri
* Interpreter of Maladies

❌ Yearly Challenge: Let's Turn Pages

Goal: 25,070/40,000

January: 3,642
February: 3,155
March: 3,855
April: 4,715
May: 2,569
June: 1,413
July: 292
August: 774
September: 655
October: 3,004
November: 0
December:1,996

❌ Yearly Challenge: Clear the Shelves

Goal: 1/24 (12 fiction, 12 non-fiction), physical books that I own

Fiction:
1.

Non-fiction:
1. Educated, Tara Westover

❌ Yearly Challenge: Color Challenge

Goal: 17/18





White


Pink


Red


Orange


Yellow


Green


Light Blue


Dark Blue


Purple


Brown


Black


Metallic


5 colors on cover


Geometric pattern


"Ugly" cover


Two or more color words in title


The word "Color" in the title


Word describing color in the title

❌ Yearly Challenge: Genre Bingo

Goal:
* 18/24 spaces
* 0/13 Bingos (including "blackout")



B
1. Graphic Novel
2. Self-Help
3. Memoir
* All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir, Nicole Chung
4. Trilogy (all by Nnedi Okorafor)
* Binti
* Home
* The Night Masquerade
5. Horror

I
1. Magical Realism - The Changeling, Victor LaValle
2. Literary Fiction - Remainder, Tom McCarthy
3. Humor and Comedy
4. Fantasy
5. Thriller - The Black Echo, Michael Connelly

N
1. Short Stories
2. Young Adult - Dear Martin
3. Free Space
4. Mystery - The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty
5. General Nonfiction - On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894, Laura Ingalls Wilder

G
1. Tragedy - New Boy, Tracy Chevalier
2. Travel
3. Paranormal - The Passage
4. Classic - Animal Farm, George Orwell
5. Romance - These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder

O
1. Chick-Lit - The Proposal, Jasmine Guillory
2. Family Saga - Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
3. Dystopian - The Farm, Joanne Ramos
4. Biography - The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster, Sarah Krasnostein
5. Science Nonfiction

❌ Yearly Challenge: A to Z - Stage Edition

Goal: 12/26

A: Animal Farm - 1954 and 1999 movies
B: The Black Echo - 2014 Amazon series Bosch
C: Case Histories - 2011 TV series
D: Death at La Fenice - 2000 German TV series Comissarrio Guido Brunetti Mysteries
E:
F: The First Four Years - 1974 TV series Little House on the Prairie
G:
H:
I:
J:
K:
L:
M:
N: The Nightingale - upcoming major motion picture
O: Orange Is the New Black - 2013 Netflix series
P: The Plot Against America - 2020 HBO TV series
Q:
R:
S: Still Life - 2013 TV movie
T: These Happy Golden Years - 1974 TV series Little House on the Prairie
U: The Underground Railroad - 2020 Amazon series
V:
W: The Woman in the Window - 2020 movie
X:
Y:
Z:

❌ Yearly Challenge: #OwnVoices

Goal: 13/26

1. African
* Stay with Me, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
2. Agnostic, Athiest, or Humanist
3. Asexual or Aromantic
4. Asian
* The Farm, Joanne Ramos
5. Bisexual or Pansexual
* When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, Patrisse Khan-Cullors
6. Black
* American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson
7. Buddhist
8. Christian-minority
* Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India, Sujatha Gidla
* Biography about a Christian family in predominately Hindu India
9. Differently-Abled
10. Gay Male or Lesbian Female
11. Hindu
12. Immigrant
13. Incarcerated or Institutionalized
* The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, Anthony Ray Hinton
14. Indigenous
15. Jewish
* The Plot Against America
16. Latin American
17. Living with a Mental Health or Cognitive Disability
18. Low-Income or Financially Insecure
* On the Way Home, Laura Ingalls Wilder
19. Middle Eastern
20. Mixed Race or Multi-racial
* Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood, Trevor Noah
* Black African/White German
21. Muslim
* A Place for Us, Fatima Farheen Mirza
22. Non-binary or Transgender
* An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon
23. Oceanic
24. Practitioner of a minor religion or another form of spirituality
25. Refugee, Migrant, or Asylum-Seeker
* The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After, Clemantine Wamariya
* Refugee/immigrant from Rwanda
26. Survivor of Sexual Assault or Domestic Violence
* Educated, Tara Westover

✅ Q1 Quarterly Challenge 1: Looking Back at the Best

Goal: 3/3

My "best of" source is Literary Hub's ultimate best books of 2018 list which tracks how many (American?) "best of" lists a book made it on to in the year.

1. Circe, Madeline Miller (18 "best of" lists)
2. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones (17 "best of" lists)
3. All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir, Nicole Chung (9 "best of" lists)

✅ Q1 Quarterly Challenge 2: Best of What's to Come - Book Adaptations of 2019

Goal: 3/3

1. The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn - 2020 movie
2. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead - 2020 Amazon series
3. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, Michelle McNamara - 2019 HBO documentary series

✅ Q2 Quarterly Challenge 1: Globetrotter

Goal: 5/5

1. Rwanda The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After, Clemantine Wamariya

This book meets the diaspora, exophony, walk in another's shoes, borderlines, transcontinental cruising, world traveler, global reader, and traversing the terrains prompts. It takes place in 9 countries - Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, DR Congo (Zaire), Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, the US, but the spirit of the story is Rwandan.

2. State of Palestine The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, Sandy Tolan

This book meets the diaspora, borderlines, transcontinental cruising, and I Am Here prompts.

3. North Korea The Orphan Master's Son, Adam Johnson

This book meets the borderlines, transcontinental cruising, world traveler and I am Here prompts.

4. UK & Germany Life After Life

This book meets the diaspora, borderlines, world traveler, global reader, and home away from home prompts.

5. Canada The Cruelest Month

This book meets the fictionalized history, borderlines, multi-linguist, global reader, home away from home, and, traversing the terrains prompts.

✅ Q2 Quarterly Challenge 2: All the World's a Stage

Goal: 3/3

1. The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo
Meets prompt 10.
2. Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood
Meets prompts 7, 9, 10, 15, and 19.
3. Over the Plain Houses, Julia Franks
Meets prompt 12, tragedy.

❌ Q4 Quarterly Challenge 1: Casting Call

Goal: 9/15

1. Remainder
* Unnamed male, main character - Thomas Brodie-Sangster
2. The Nightingale
(this is based solely on their looks, because I've never seen them act)
* Vianne - Lea Seydoux
* Isabelle - Nora Arnezeder
3. The Husband's Secret
* Cecilia - Kylie Minogue
* Tess - Anna Torv (with blue contacts)
* Felicity - Bella Heathcote
4. The Wedding Party
* Maddie - Logan Browning
* Theo - Stephan James
And for fun... (the other two books in the trilogy):
* Alexa - Antoinette Robertson
* Drew - Adam Gregory
* Nikole - Alexandra Shipp
* Carlos - Wilmer Valderrama
5. The Company of Demons
* John Coleman - Liam Neeson
6. Still Life
* Chief Inspector Armand Gamache - a younger Jean Reno
7. A Fatal Grace
* Clara Morrow - Helena Bonham Carter
8. The Cruelest Month
* Jean-Guy Beauvoir - Marc-André Grondin
9. A Rule Against Murder
* Ruth Zardo - Angela Lansbury

❌ Q4 Quarterly Challenge 2: Let's Roll the Credits

Goals:
Challenges: 2/5
Books: 3/9

Challenge Q2 Globetrotter Challenge (2 books of 5 to finish)
4. Life After Life
5. The Cruelest Month

Challenge June Challenge: In the Name of Fashion (1 book of 5 to finish)
5. E Escape from Aleppo

✅ January Challenge 1: Book to the Future

Goal: 2/2

1. The Passage - most of the book is set in about 2109 I think
2. The Circle - set in an unspecified time in the near future?

❌ January Challenge 2: Marathon

Goal (pages): 3,642/6,000

1. The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding (400 pp)
2. These Happy Golden Years (289 pp)
3. The Black Echo (375 pp)
4. The First Four Years (172 pp)
5. On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894 (101 pp)
6. The Woman in the Window (431 pp)
7. Circe (393 pp)
8. The Passage (766 pp)
9. All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir (240 pp)
10. The Circle (504 pp)

✅ February Challenge 1: Shades of Blue

A shade of blue in the title or on the cover.

Goal: 2/2

1. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
2. Piecing Me Together

✅ February Challenge 2: Celebrating the Blues

Goal: 2/2

These books both meet multiple criteria for this challenge! Both are set in a country with blue in the flag (America), both are borrowed from the library, both about marriage/weddings, and both have blue covers.

1. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
2. The Proposal, Jasmine Guillory

❌ February Group Read

Goals:

1. Read Strange the Dreamer
2. Comment at least once on each of the four sections

✅ March Challenge 1: Mysterious March

Goal: 2/2

1. Then She Was Gone, Lisa Jewell
2. The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware

✅ March Challenge 2: Look to the Stars

Goal: 2/2

1. This Is How It Always Is, Laurie Frankel

This book was a star's book club pick (Hello Sunshine, Reece Witherspoon), there are stars on the cover, stars are part of the story-line, and there are characters in the story named after stars.



2. Home, Nnedi Okorafor

This book meets both the "Stars of the Night Sky" and "Starry Eyed" prompts.

✅ April Challenge 1: Feeling Fraternal

Goal: 2/2

1. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield

Meets the "Twinning is Winning," "Sibling Rivalry," and "Cinematic Siblings" prompts.

2. The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo

Meets the "Twinning is Winning" prompt.

✅ April Challenge 2: Much Ado About Shakespeare

Goal: 2/2

1. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel

Meets the "book about a character that appears in a Shakespeare play" prompt.

2. New Boy: William Shakespeare's Othello Retold: A Novel, Tracy Chevalier

Meets the Shakespeare retelling prompt.

❌ May Challenge 1: TBR Blockbusters

Goal: 1/2

1. 1984 (2,553,023 ratings)
2. ✅Animal Farm (2,319,130 ratings)

❌ May Challenge 2: Hidden Treasures

Goal: 1/2

1. Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood
2.

✅ June Challenge: In the Name of Fashion

Goal: 5/5

D: ✅Daisy Jones & The Six
I: ✅If I Was Your Girl
A: ✅ The Accidental
N: ✅The Night Masquerade
E: ✅Escape from Aleppo

❌ Personal Challenge: ToB Finalists

Read 24 of 32 ToB semi-finalists, and finalists by end of year. Reading the remaining 12 will be a goal for the first quarter of next year.

Goal: 11/24

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

❌ Personal Challenge: Every Year (since 1964)

Since I didn't meet this Challenge last year, and it's not being offered this year, I'm going to do it as a personal challenge. My goal is to do 50% (28) of the years, an improvement on 44% last year.

Goal: 18/28

2019: The Current, Tim Johnston
2018: Before She Sleeps, Bina Shah
2017: This is How It Always Is, Laurie Frankel
2016: Convenience Store Woman
2015: The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah
2014: The Bees, Laline Paull
2013: Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
2012: The Orphan Master's Son
2011: The Sisters Brothers
2010:
2009:
2008:
2007: The Cruelest Month, Louise Penny
2006: A Fatal Grace, Louise Penny
2005: The Accidental , Ali Smith
2004: Birds of a Feather
2003: Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear
2002:
2001:
2000:
1999: Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
1998:
1997: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson
1996:
...
1993:
1992: Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon
1991:
---
1972:
1971: The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
1970:
...
1964:

❌ Personal Challenge: Finish 2108 DNFs

Goal: 1/11

1. Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders
2. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
3. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
4. ✅ Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood, Trevor Noah
5. 1984, George Orwell
6. You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain, Phoebe Robinson
7. The Queen of the Night, Alexander Chee
8. An Unnecessary Woman
9. Possession
10. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
11. The Sparrow

❌ Personal Challenge: Reread It

Goal: 4/12

1. These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. Still Life, Louise Penny
4. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones

✅ #24in48 - January 26th & 27th

Stats:

Day 1
* 6.45 hours off and on, starting at about 10am and ending at midnight
* 305 pages of The Passage (ending on page 498)

Day 2
* 10.67 hours total starting at midnight, reading on and off until 11:30pm
* 5.67 hours finishing 268 pages of The Passage ending at 2:46 pm
* 5 hours reading 377 pages of The Circle ending at 11:30pm

Total
* 17.12 hours
* 2 books
* 950 pages

* 12.12 hours, 573 pages of The Passage
* 5 hours, 377 pages of The Circle

✅ Personal Challenge February - Black History Month

Read only Black authors in February for Black History Month. Trying for a minimum of 10 books.

Goal 11/10:

1. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood, Trevor Noah
2. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
3. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
4. An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon
5. The Changeling, Victor LaValle
6. Binti, Nnedi Okorafor
7. Piecing Me Together, Renée Watson
8. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, Patrisse Khan-Cullors
9. The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, Anthony Ray Hinton
10. Dear Martin, Nic Stone
11. The Proposal, Jasmine Guillory

✅ Personal Challenge March - Women's History Month

Read women, hard.

Total goal 13/10

Books:

1. Then She Was Gone, Lisa Jewell
2. The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware
3. My Sister, the Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite
4. Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata
5. Stay with Me, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
6. Orange Is the New Black, Piper Kerman
7. The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry
8. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, Michelle McNamara
9. This is How It Always Is, Laurie Frankel
10. Home, Nnedi Okorafor
11. Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon
12. The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster, Sarah Krasnostein
13. Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India, Sujatha Gidla

At least 1 differently-abled or ill:
1. Convenience Store Woman (main character is neuro-diverse)

At least 2 LGBTQ+:
1. Orange Is the New Black
2. This is How It Always Is
3. The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster

At least 3 non-fiction:
1. Orange Is the New Black
2. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
3. The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster
4. Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India

At least 4 non-US/UK/Canada:
1. My Sister, the Serial Killer (Nigeria)
2. Convenience Store Woman (Japan)
3. Stay with Me (Nigeria)
4. Death at La Fenice (Italy)
5. The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster (Australia)
6. Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India (India)

At least 5 non-white:
1. My Sister, the Serial Killer (black)
2. Convenience Store Woman (Korean)
3. Stay with Me (black)
4. Home (black)
5. Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India (Indian)

✅ Personal Challenge April - Library Books

Goal: 15/15

Read, or abandon, all library books and return them.

1. ❌ Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
2. ❌ The Bluest Eye
3. ❌ Queen Sugar
4. ❌Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
5. ❌ Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
6. ❌ Burning Bright
7. ❌ The Road
8. ❌ My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness
9. ❌ There There
10. ❌ Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women
11. ❌First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story
12. ❌ On the Come Up
13. ❌ A Place for Us
14. ❌ Death in a Strange Country
15. ❌ Strange the Dreamer

❌ Personal Challenge May-August - Camp ToB

Goal: 3/6

Read all the books in the Camp ToB list, by the date discussions start.

1. ✅Bowlaway (finish by June 5)
2. ✅Daisy Jones & The Six (finish by June 19)
3. Lost Children Archive (finish by July 10)
4. Trust Exercise (finish by July 24)
5. ✅American Spy (finish by August 7)
6. Black Leopard, Red Wolf (finish by August 21)

Note: I can abandon 1 book in the list, but only after 100 pages.

✅ Personal Challenge June - Buddy Read

Goal: 1/1

Read Before She Sleeps for the June Buddy Read and comment at least 3x on it.

❌ Personal Challenge June-July - Buddy Read

Goal: 0/1

Read A Brief History of Seven Killings for the June-July Buddy Read and comment at least 8x on it.

❌ Personal Challenge September - Buddy Read

Goal: 0/1

Read Cloud Atlas for the September Buddy Read and comment at least 1x per week on it.

Personal Challenge: Use of Books in Challenges

Exclusive of:
* My overall book reading goal (101+)
* Page challenges

Rules:
* Most books can count for only two goals.*
** *2018 DNFs, Reread It, Clear the Shelves, black history month, women's history month, and the ToB challenges can count towards two other goals.
* Most books cannot count for more than one growth challenge.
* Books cannot count for similar challenges. Eg. a Shakespeare play shouldn't count for both a "Shakespeare" goal and a "play" goal.

Goal fail (books used more than twice): 1/

Books used in challenges

A
1. The Accidental
* June Challenge: In the Name of Fashion (A)
* PCEY: 2005
2. After You, My Dear Alphonse
* BRRHC: Published prior to 1/1/19 with fewer than 100 reviews
3. All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir
* Q1 Challenge: Looking Back at the Best
* GB: Memoir
4. American Spy
* BRRHC: Alternate History
* YCOV: Black
5. An American Marriage
* Q1 Challenge: Looking Back at the Best
* February Challenge: Celebrating the Blues
6. Animal Farm
* May Challenge: TBR Blockbusters
* GB: Classic
* YCAtZ: A
7. Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India
* OV: Christian minority
* YCCC: Yellow


B
1. The Bees
* BRRHC: Animal or inanimate object is POV character
* PCEY: 2014
2. Before She Sleeps
* RWC: South Asian Authors
* PCEY: 2018
3. Binti
* GB: Trilogy #1
* RWC: Novella
4. Birds of a Feather
* PCEY: 2004
* RWC: Book from a series
5. The Black Echo
* YCAtoZ: B
* GB: Thriller
6. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
* RWC: A book about or set in Appalachia
5. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
* February Challenge: Shades of Blue
* YCOV: Mixed Race

C
1. Case Histories
* YCAtZ: C
* YCCC: Light Blue
2. The Changeling
* YCCC: Purple
* GB: Magical Realism
3. Circe
* Q1 Challenge: Looking Back at the Best
* RWC: Myth retelling
4. The Circle
* January Challenge: Book to the Future
5. The Company of Demons
* YCCC: White
6. Convenience Store Woman
* BRRHC: Written and/or translated by a woman
* PCEY: 2016
7. The Cruelest Month
* Q2 Challenge: Globetrotter
8. The Current
* PCEY: 2019

D
1. Daisy Jones & The Six
* June Challenge: In the Name of Fashion
* RWC: Bought or borrowed in 2019
2. Dear Martin
* BRRHC: Epistolary
* GB: YA
3. Death at La Fenice
* YCAtZ: D
* PCEY: 1992

E
1. Educated
* OV: Surviver of sexual assault or domestic violence
* RWC: Book from the 2018 RW award shortlist
2. Escape from Aleppo
* RWC: Children's book
* June Challenge: In the Name of Fashion (E)
3. The Essex Serpent
* RWC: Read because of cover

F
1. A Fatal Grace
* PCEY: 2006
2. The Farm
* GB: Dystopian
* YCOV: Asian

G
1. The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
* Q2 Challenge: Globetrotter
* YCOV: Refugee, migrant, asylum-seeker
2. The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding
* RWC: Religion other than my own
* YCCC: Black

H
1. Hag-Seed
* May Challenge: Hidden Treasures
* Q2 Challenge: All the World's a Stage
2. Home
* March Challenge: Look to the Stars
* GB: Trilogy #2
3. Homegoing
* RWC: Historical Fiction
* GB: Family Saga
4. The Husband's Secret
* GB: Mystery

I
1. If I Was Your Girl
* June Challenge: In the Name of Fashion (I)
* BRRHC: Trans or nonbinary author
2. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
* Q1 Challenge: Best of What's to Come (book adaptations)
* YCCC: Word describing color in the title
3. Interpreter of Maladies
* RWC: Jhumpa Lahiri
* PCEY: 1999

L
1. The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
* Q2 Challenge: Globetrotter (Palestine)
* BRRHC: By a journalist or about journalism
2. Life After Life
* PCEY: 2013
* Q2 Challenge: Globetrotter

M
1. Maisie Dobbs
* PCEY: 2003
* BRRHC: Cozy Mystery
2. My Sister, the Serial Killer
* YCCC: Green
* RWC: Author from Nigeria or New Zealand

N
1. New Boy
* April Challenge: Much Ado About Shakespeare
* GB: Tragedy
2. The Nightingale
* YCAtZ: N
* PCEY: 2015
3. The Night Masquerade
* June: In the Name of Fashion (N)
* GB: Trilogy #3

O
1. On the Way Home
* YCOV: Low income or financially insecure
* GB: General non-fiction
2. Orange Is the New Black
* YCCC: 2+ color words in the title
* YCAtZ: O
3. The Orphan Master's Son
* Q2 Challenge: Globetrotter
* PCEY: 2012
4. Over the Plain Houses
* Q2 Challenge: All the World's a Stage
* YCCC: Brown

P
1. The Passage
* January Challenge: Book to the Future
* GB: Paranormal
2. Piecing Me Together
* RWC: YA by WOC
* PCEY: 2017
3. A Place for Us
* YCCC: Metallic
* YCOV: Muslim
3. The Plot Against America
* YCAtZ: P
* YCOV: Jewish
4. The Poet X
* April Challenge: Feeling Fraternal
* Q2 Challenge: All the World's a Stage
5. The Proposal
* February Challenge: Celebrating the Blues
* GB: Chick-lit

S
1. The Sisters Brothers
* PCEY: 2011
* YCCC: Red
2. Station Eleven
* April Challenge: Much Ado About Shakespeare
3. Stay with Me
* YCOV: African
* YCCC: "Ugly" cover
4. Still Life
* YCAtZ: S
5. The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row
* YCOV: Incarcerated or Institutionalized
* YCCC: Orange

T
1. Terra Nullius
* RWC: Indigenous
* YCCC: Geometric
2. Then She Was Gone
* March Challenge: Mysterious March
3. These Happy Golden Years
* YCAtZ: T
* GB: Romance
4. The Thirteenth Tale
* April Challenge: Feeling Fraternal
* RWC: Multi-generational family saga
5. This is How It Always Is
* March Challenge: Look to the Stars
* PCEY: 2017
6. The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster
* GB: Biography
* BRRHC: Woman or AOC that won a literary award in 2018

U
1. The Underground Railroad
* Q1 Challenge: Best of What's to Come (book adaptations)
* YCAtZ: U
2. An Unkindness of Ghosts
* BRRHC: By an AOC set in or about space
* UCOV: Non-binary or transgendered

W
1. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
* BRRHC: Humor
* PCEY: 1997
2. The Wedding Party
* RWC: Romance or love story
* YCCC: Pink
3. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
* YCOV: Bi or Pansexual
4. The Widows of Malabar Hill
* RWC: Mystery or thriller by a WOC
* YCCC: 5 colors
4. The Woman in Cabin 10
* March Challenge: Mysterious March
* YCCC: Dark Blue
5. The Woman in the Window
* Q1 Challenge: Best of What's to Come (book adaptations)
* YCAtZ: W

Personal Challenge: Reviews

Write a review of the good books that I read.

1. Review of The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding
2. Review of On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894
3. Review of Circe
4. Review of The Passage
5. Review of All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir
6. Review of The Circle
7. Review of Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
8. Review of The Underground Railroad
9. Review of An American Marriage
10. Review of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
11. Review of The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row
12. Review of Dear Martin
13. Review of The Proposal
14. Review of Convenience Store Woman
15. Review of Stay with Me
16. Review of Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India
17. Review of Station Eleven
18. Review of An American Marriage
19. Review of Educated
20. Review of The Current
21. After You, My Dear Alphonse
22. Review of The Poet X
23. Review of The Bees
24. Review of A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
25. Review of The Accidental
26. Review of American Spy
27. Review of Remainder