2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

2020 Reads
18/65




*Quicksand and Passing = two novels in one book

DNF 2020

Non-Fiction Challenge
5/12


Translated Books
2/6

(Italian, French)

Read Women
14/30
Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling), Lethal White
Rachel Burge, The Twisted Tree
Wayétu Moore, She Would Be King
Nella Larsen, Passing
Loung Ung, First They Killed My Father (NF)
Lucy Foley, The Hunting Party
Hallie Rubenhold, The Five (NF)
Isabella Tree, Wilding (NF)
Caroline Criado-Pérez, Invisible Women NF
Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend
Hannelore Cayre, The Godmother
Lara Maiklem, Mudlarking NF
Bridget Collins, The Binding
Rachel Joyce, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

New Authors
14/30
Rachel Burge [above]
Wayétu Moore [above]
Nella Larsen [above]
Loung Ung [above]
Lucy Foley [above]
Hallie Rubenhold [above]
Isabella Tree [above]
Caroline Criado-Pérez [above]
Elena Ferrante [above]
Peter May, Lockdown
Hannelore Cayre [above]
Lara Maiklem [above]
Bridget Collins [above]
Rachel Joyce [above]

Authors Revisited
3/10
Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) [above]
Rod Duncan, The Fugitive and the Vanishing Man
Ben Aaronovitch, False Value

Bookshelf Challenge
0/10


Borrowed Books
4/10
Lethal White (Library)
The Twisted Tree (Flatmate)
Quicksand and Passing (Library)
My Brilliant Friend (Flatmate)

Fiction
53 Countries Visited

(view spoiler)[
--------------------------------2012-------------------------------
1. England: Kraken by China Miéville
2. India: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry r. 2016
3. USA: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
4. Denmark: We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen
5. *Wales: The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart (English)
6. Italy: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante r. 2020
7. Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]: War With the Newts by Karel Čapek
8. Scotland: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
9. France: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo r. 2013
10. Russia: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
11. Greece: Seven Lives and One Great Love, Memories of a Cat by Lena Divani r. 2014
--------------------------------2013-------------------------------
12. China: Death Of A Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong
13. *Germany: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Australian)
14. Sweden: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
--------------------------------2014-------------------------------
15. *Iceland: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (Australian)
16. Faroe Islands: The Old Man and His Sons by Heðin Brú
--------------------------------2015-------------------------------
17. South Korea: The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang
18. New Zealand: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
19. Nigeria: Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor (Nigerian American)
20. Algeria: The Plague by Albert Camus
21. Poland: Chasing the King of Hearts by Hanna Krall
22. Taiwan: The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi
23. Australia: The Hunter by Julia Leigh
24. Ukraine: A Matter Of Death And Life by Andrey Kurkov
25. Iraq: The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon
26. *Spain: All Men Are Liars by Alberto Manguel (Argentine-Canadian)
27. Finland: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
28. *The Netherlands: The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas (French)
--------------------------------2016-------------------------------
29. Malaysia: The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng r. 2019
30. Japan: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
31. †Dominica: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - joint setting Dominica and Jamaica
32. Ireland: The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney
33. *†Tanzania: Shame by Melanie Finn (Kenyan/American) - joint setting of Switzerland
34. *†Egypt: Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar (Libyan) - set partly in Switzerland/UK
35. *Brazil: Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey (American - lived in Brazil)
--------------------------------2017-------------------------------
36. *The Chanel Islands: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (American)
37.†Ghana: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi -joint setting Ghana and America
38. Argentina: Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez
--------------------------------2018-------------------------------
39. Jamaica: The Long Song by Andrea Levy (British Jamaican)
40. South Africa: Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
41. Mexico: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
42. Turkey: The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
--------------------------------2019-------------------------------
43. Canada: Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
44. *Palestine: Khirbet Khizeh by S. Yizhar (Israeli)
45. Uganda: Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
46. Afghanistan: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
47. Senegal: So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
48. Sri Lanka: Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera
49. Northern Ireland: Milkman by Anna Burns
50. Pakistan: A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
51. *Switzerland: The Last by Hanna Jameson (British) (hide spoiler)]
--------------------------------2020-------------------------------
52. *Norway: The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge (British?)
53. Liberia: She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore

* Author does not come from said country. May later be replaced by author who does.
† Only half of book set in said country. May later be replaced by book set entirely there.
r. Replaced an earlier book that was either written by non-national or only half-set in country



Non-Fiction
10 Countries Visited

(view spoiler)[
--------------------------------2016-------------------------------
1. Egypt: The Tears of Re: Beekeeping in Ancient Egypt by Gene Kritsky
2. United Kingdom: Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary by Anita Anand
3. Afghanistan: The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
4. Venezuela: Bolivar: American Liberator by Marie Arana
5. USA: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
--------------------------------2017-------------------------------
6. Italy [Lampedusa]: The Optician of Lampedusa by Emma Jane Kirby
7. Greece: Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World by Tim Whitmarsh
--------------------------------2018-------------------------------
8. China: The Old Man of the Moon by Shen Fu (hide spoiler)]
--------------------------------2019-------------------------------
9. North Korea: Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
10. Russia: The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich
--------------------------------2020-------------------------------
12. Cambodia: First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung

Series Tracker

Books: 6
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (Cormoran Strike #4)
The Fugitive and the Vanishing Man by Rod Duncan (Gas-Lit Empire #6/Map of Unknown Things #3)
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London #8)
First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung (Daughter of Cambodia #1 - Memoirs)
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (Naples Quartet #1)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Harold Fry #1)

Series: 6
Cormoran Strike (up to date)
Gas-Lit Empire/Map of Unknown Things (up to date/completed)
Rivers of London (up to date)
Daughter of Cambodia (1/3)
Naples Quartet (1/4)
Harold Fry (1/2)

New Series Started: 3
Daughter of Cambodia
Naples Quartet
Harold Fry

Series Completed: 1
Map of Unknown Things

Series not continuing with: 1
Harold Fry