Chapter Adventure Reading Challenges discussion

Your task this month is to read at least 1 book that WON a book award in MARCH - any year.

Awards that have been announced in March include:
* The Audie Awards
* The National Book Critics Circle Awards

--- Comment below with ---
(1) the name book you're reading for the challenge,
(2) the name and year of the award it won
(3) CHALLENGE COMPLETE if you've finished reading the book.

In March, I'm going to read Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe, 2019 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.

I'm planning to read Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, narrated by Cathleen McCarron. It is the 2018 winner of Audie Awards in fiction category.

Melancholic wrote: "I'm planning to read Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, narrated by Cathleen McCarron. It is the 2018 winner of Audie Awards in fiction category."

Ooh I listened to the audiobook of this one too - loved it!!

Tanya Patrice wrote: "Melancholic wrote: "I'm planning to read Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, narrated by Cathleen McCarron. It is the 2018 winner of Audie Awards in fiction catego..."

I might go with this one too.

CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
by Patrick Radden Keefe
National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, 2019

I listened to this book on audio, and found it absolutely riveting. I went into it thinking that it was going to be mainly about the murder of Jean McConville, with The Troubles as background, but in fact it was something much better from my point of view.

Radden Keefe used the 1972 abduction and disappearance of McConville as the jumping-off point to relate the story of The Troubles themselves, giving an overview of the history of the struggle, the reasons for it, an up-close look at what it was like for both ordinary people and fighters to live through it day to day, and the long-term effects of those years on whole families and an entire nation.

This book would be a great introduction to The Troubles for those who don't know much about it at all. By focusing on a few individuals and demonstrating how their lives intersected, overlapped, diverged, and came together again over the course of decades, Radden Keefe offers the casual reader a manageable entry point to a large and complex story that could otherwise seem overwhelming.

As a librarian, I was captivated by the role that an academic library played in the story. That's where the book begins, and at first it seems incidental, but later it becomes clear that it's an essential and central piece of the story that Radden Keefe set out to tell.

If you are an audiobook listener, you get the bonus of hearing Matthew Blaney narrate the tale in authentic Northern Irish tones. Highly recommended!

While I was interested in reading this book, I may never have gotten around to it if it were not for this challenge. It also helped that I enlisted a read-along buddy to converse with about the book on Instagram chat. An Irish-American, she has family from both sides of the border, and was able to relate some family anecdotes that made the whole thing feel even more immediate.

I hope to read Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly
(2) It won for YOUNG ADULT in 2021
(3)Completed!

Poisoned

Sarah wrote: "CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
by Patrick Radden Keefe
National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, 201..."

This sounds amazing!

Challenge Complete- I read and really enjoyed One of Us Is Lying which won the SC Book Award Young Adult in 2020; looking forward to reading the follow up later this year

One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

https://titlesurfingwithtraci.blogspo...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Challenge Complete!
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw which won the 2020/2021 Story Prize.

A book with just 9 short stories - all feature black women and complex relationships - all types - between religion / sex / sexuality etc. Really good book and fairly short which makes it quick to get through.

Tanya Patrice wrote: "Challenge Complete!
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw which won the 2020/2021 Story Prize. ..."

I've had my eye on this one!

Challenge complete!!!

For this month's motif challenge I chose a book set in 1920s Brighton, England. This is one of my favorite series. The authors are a wife/husband duo. The MC is Lady Eleanor Swift and she always reminds me a lot of a younger version of Miss Marple. In this book (#5 in the series), her loyal butler is her sidekick. He reminded me of Dr. Watson.

Just in under the wire.

I had planned to listen to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith reading Nicholas Nickleby, which won an Audie, because I love his readings. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it any of the places I get books from, so I went with another Audie winner, namely the The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase: And Another Thing... The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Quintessential Phase which won the 2019 Audie for Sci-fi.

Of course, that meant I "had to" listen to previous installments again first. And book bingo I was doing has turn in end of March, so I had a few books to finish for that as well. So reading-wise I've had a busy month.

Anyway, CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

These days the plague in Hamnet (2021's National Book Critics Circle Award) doesn't seem quite that long ago. I'm glad I got my vaccination, and I hope everyone else will. =)

Suzanne wrote: "These days the plague in Hamnet (2021's National Book Critics Circle Award) doesn't seem quite that long ago. I'm glad I got my vaccination, and I hope everyone else will. =)"

Excellent choice!