The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Finished any of the Perks Challenges?




You can let us know brag about it HERE!😊😉😎

I finished the ABC challenge in 2023 :) I'm not the best at follow through so super hype about it!! I think I'm going to do the zodiac challenge this year :)

Allison wrote: "I finished the ABC challenge in 2023 :) I'm not the best at follow through so super hype about it!! I think I'm going to do the zodiac challenge this year :)"

CONGRATULATIONS, ALLISON!!! WELL DONE!🥳🥳🥳

Allison wrote: "I finished the ABC challenge in 2023 :) I'm not the best at follow through so super hype about it!! I think I'm going to do the zodiac challenge this year :)"

Good for you. I did not keep track but will this year.

Way to go, Allison! I always end that one with just a couple books left to go.

Melindam wrote: "Allison wrote: "I finished the ABC challenge in 2023 :) I'm not the best at follow through so super hype about it!! I think I'm going to do the zodiac challenge this year :)"

CONGRATULATIONS, ALLI..."

Thanks Melinda!

Leona wrote: "Allison wrote: "I finished the ABC challenge in 2023 :) I'm not the best at follow through so super hype about it!! I think I'm going to do the zodiac challenge this year :)"

Good for you. I did n..."


You got this! I can't wait to see what awesome books you read this year :)

Kristie wrote: "Way to go, Allison! I always end that one with just a couple books left to go."

I lucked out finding some kindle unlimited reads for the hard letters like X and Z. The one I read for Z is not something I would have picked up otherwise but I really enjoyed it. That is one of the awesome parts about doing the challenges!

I finished my reading challenge :) 160 books/150 books

Delaney wrote: "I finished my reading challenge :) 160 books/150 books"

Great work.

Delaney wrote: "I finished my reading challenge :) 160 books/150 books"

Thats awesome Delaney! Great job!
Whats your challenge for the next year?
I always try to keep my goal number on the low side because if I put too much pressure on myself, I cave haha.

Allison wrote: "I always try to keep my goal number on the low side because if I put too much pressure on myself, I cave haha."

I know this feeling!
After being one book short of a challenging goal three years ago I felt down and am entering 150 books now - pretty low for me, plus I’m trying to reduce my reading to have some actual life and hope to get down to something in that area soon-ish.

As a new reader, (started December 2023), I made a goal to read 50 books this year and I am proud to say that I’m addicted and have read or listened to over 70 books since January!

Amy wrote: "As a new reader, (started December 2023), I made a goal to read 50 books this year and I am proud to say that I’m addicted and have read or listened to over 70 books since January!"

CONGRATULATIONS! Well done! 🥳🤗

Amy wrote: "As a new reader, (started December 2023), I made a goal to read 50 books this year and I am proud to say that I’m addicted and have read or listened to over 70 books since January!"

Good for you.

Finally updated the Wedding 4x4 challenge which I finished already on the 4/7

Congratulations, Agnieszka. :)

Finished the rainbow challenge for 2024:

Red: The Women by Kristin Hannah
Why We Love Baseball by Joe Posnanski
Identity by Milan Kundera
Erasure by Percival Everett
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi



Orange: The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson


Yellow: The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri


Green: Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell
The Annotated Arabian Nights by Yasmine Seale
The Utility of Boredom by Andrew Forbes



Blue: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
El Deafo by Cece Bell
London by Edward Rutherfurd
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie






Purple: The Direction of the Wind by Mansi Shah

Pink: Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
Dear California by David Kipen


Brown: The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

Black: The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher
Never Whistle At Night by Shane Hawk


White: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Cultish by Amanda Montell
The Catcher In the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss



Gray: Babel by R. F. Kuang
The Iliad by Homer
Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen

Looks great, Denise , well done!! :))

Completed the Zodiac challenge:
√1. Read a book with stars on the cover: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery The Little Prince
√2. Read a book with a planet or planets on the cover:Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
√3. Read a book with the sun on the cover: The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
√4. Read a book with the moon on the cover: Never Whistle At Night by Shane Hawk
√5. Read a book with a house on the cover: Pemberley by Emma Tennant
√6. Read a book with an imagery on the cover related to one of the 4 seasons: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (snow)
√ 7. Read a book with the letters O*R*B*I*T in title and/or series title and/or author's name (any order): Braiding Sweetgrass...Indigenous Wisdom by Robin Wall Kimmerer
√8. Read a book with the letters P*L*A*N*E*T in title and/or series title and/or author's name (any order): Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
√9. Read a book with the word "ZODIAC" in title or series title or in text: Erasure by Percival Everett (contains ZODIACal)
√10. Read a book with the word "HOROSCOPE(S)" in text: Dear California by David Kipen
√11. Read a book where you can find at least 2 of the following words (elements) in the text "air", "earth", "fire", "water": The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh
√12. Read a book with 1 & 2 in the page number (any order): Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
√13. Read a book where the publication date contains 12 (can be year, month or day, any of the publication dates count even if it isn't your edition) : If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura (published 2012)
√14. Read a book from a series that has at least 12 instalments: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
√15. Read a book by an author who published at least 12 books: The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
√16. Read a book from the shelf gods: The Iliad by Homer
√17. Read a book from the shelf Astronomy: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterley
√18. Read a book from the shelf Future: This Impossible Brightness by Jessica Bryant Klagmann
√19. Read a book where there is a change of seasons: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
√20. Read a book with a character who is very active and/or forceful: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
√21. Read a book with a character who is inflexible or dislikes change: the Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons
√22. Read a book with a character who can be considered resourceful: Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
√23. Read a book where a character has some kind of elemental magic: The Annotated Arabian Nights by Yasmine Seale
√24. Read a book where one of the major characters is some kind of ruler: Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
√25. Read a book where a character is under the influence of another: The Direction of the Wind (character is under the influence of the live-in boyfriend, more would be a spoiler)
√26. Read a book with a fortune teller or a character who foretells some kind of future event: Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes--It's a creative use of "foretold" but Charlie DOES accurately predict/foretell when the surgery will reverse
√27. Read a book featuring interstellar travel: The Restaurant At the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
√28. Read a book set in one of the countries found on the Northern Hemisphere: K-Pop Confidential by Stephen Lee
√29. Read a book with the author's initials from the word TELESCOPE: The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
√30. Read a book where the title starts with a letter from the word ASTROLOGY: Apeirogon by Colum McCann

Awesome, Denise! Congratulations! :)

Finished the A-Z challenge

✔️Apeirogon by Colum McCann
✔️Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
✔️Catcher in the Rye (the) by J. D. Salinger
✔️Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
✔️Echo of Old Books (The) by Barbara Davis
✔️Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
✔️Girl Who Reads On The Metro (The) by Christine Feret-Fleury
✔️Hitch In Time (A) by Christopher Hitchens
✔️ If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
✔️Just Kids by Patti Smith
✔️K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee
✔️Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
✔️Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie
✔️Nickel Boys (The) by Colson Whitehead
✔️Only Way Is the Steady Way (The) by Andrew Forbes
✔️Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
✔️Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
✔️Restaurant At The End Of The Universe (The) by Douglas Adams
✔️Sun Also Rises (The) by Ernest Hemingway
✔️There There by Tommy Orange
✔️Utility of Boredom (The) by Andrew Forbes
✔️Viscount Who Loved Me (The) by Julia Quinn
✔️West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
✔️X Saves the World by Jeff Gordinier
✔️Year Of Reading Dangerously (The) by Andy Miller
✔️Z: Eats, Shoots, and Leave: A ZERO Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

Finished the World Book Day challenge. Now to focus on the Tolkien Challenge!

My challenge books:
√📖 Read a book with a character who is a writer: Erasure by Percival Everett
√📖 Read a book with a character who loves reading: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (Leni and Matthew)
√📖 Read a book with a character who is a librarian: What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
√📖 Read a book with the word "typewriter" in the text: This Impossible Brightness by Jessica Bryant Klagmann
√📖 Read a book where the main setting is a bookstore: Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell
√📖 Read a book with the word "LIBRARY" in the title/series title: I Work at a Public Library: A Collection of crazy Stories from the Stacks by Gina Sheridan
√📖 Read a book with the letters B*O*O*K in the title/series title and/or the author's name: The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
√📖 Read a book with the letters P*E*N in the title: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
√📖 Read a book with the author's initials in the word "READING": London by Edward Rutherfurd
√ 📖 (Re)read a book by a favourite author: The Women by Kristin Hannah
√📖 Read a book from a favourite genre: The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri (literary fiction)
√ 📖 Read a book of fiction where reference is made to a real book: Babel by R. F. Kuang
√ 📖 Read a book recommended to you by a GR Friend: Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
√ 📖 Read a book recommended by a favourite author: A Doll's House b y Henrik Ibsen (rec. by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
√ 📖 Read biography about or the memoirs/autobiography of an author: El Deafo by Cece Bell
√ 📖 Read a book with an author using a pen name: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
√ 📖 Read a non-fiction book connected to reading in some way (your explanation): Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries and Just One More Page Before Lights Out by Shannon Reed (title explains itself I think)
√📖 Read a book where the main setting is one of the countries listed in the post above: K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee (South Korea)
√📖 Read a book where one of the cities listed in the post above is mentioned: The Iliad by Homer (Athens)
√ 📖 Read a book from this list Portal: The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
√ 📖 Read a book with a title that starts with a letter from SHAKESPEARE (the/a(n) can be ignored): Pemberley by Emma Tennant
√📖 Read a book with a character or written by an author called William (or any of its variations): Daisy Jones and the Six (Billy)
√📖 Read a book whose author was born in April: Hamlet by William Shakespeare
√📖 Read a book that was first published between 1995 - 2024: Remarkably Bright Creatures b y Shelby Van Pelt
√📖 Read a book that is a retelling of one of Shakespeare's plays: Goodnight Desdemona by Anne Marie MacDonald
√📖 Read a book that contains (parts of) a poem or a collection of poems: Pathetic Literature by Eileen Myles
√📖 Read a play or read a book where a character is an actor/actress: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2 characters are actors)
√📖 Read a book originally written in a different language than your own: If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura
√📖 Read a book you have borrowed from a Library: The Love of My Life
√📖 Read a book you own and haven't read yet: The Direction of the Wind by Mansi Shah

You are on 🔥 Denise! Great job!

Glad you decided to join UNO this year and hope you'll have fun with the Tolkien challenge. 😊

Completed the wedding challenge:

Something old:
1: Still Alice Lisa Genova 6 Jan Have owned it for many years
2: In Five Years Rebecca Serle 16 Feb
Another book I've owned several years
3: The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde 21 Feb. Published in 1890, pretty “old” book
4: Walden, or Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau 22 Mar Published 1854

Something new:
1: A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare 24 Jan Bought 2 weeks ago for a book club
2: The Wedding People Alison Espach 26 Apr recent purchase
3: The Frozen River Ariel Lawhon 15 Jun recent purchase
4: The Berry Pickers Amanda Peters 25 Jun recent purchase for book club

Something borrowed:
1: How to Read a Book Monica Wood 20 Jan borrowed from library
2: Bibliolepsy Gina Apostol 1 Mar borrowed from library
3: Wow, No Thank You.: Essays Samantha Irby 24 Mar borrowed from library
4: How to Age Disgracefully Clare Pooley 29 Mar Borrowed from library

Something blue:
1: Sharon M. Draper 25 Jan Blue cover
2: Samuel Burr 15 Mar Blue cover
3: Matt Haig 29 Mar blue cover and its about depression (feeling blue)
4: Tommy Orange 11 Apr

COMPLETED: THE TOLKIEN CHALLENGE

Task set 1 - Private life
🍽️1. a book featuring multiple letters written (no email!)
The Nakano Thrift Shop (MC writes letters on postcards)
🍽️2. Author's initials in PHILOLOGIST:
Still Alice Lisa Genova 8 Jan
🍽️3. An author or character named Christopher, Michael, Priscilla or John
Table for Two Amor Towles 16 Feb "John"
🍽️4. MC has multiple children:
How to Read a Book Monica Wood 20 Jan (Harriet has 2 girls)
🍽️5. all letters in EDITH in title:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare 24 Jan
🍽️6. MPG Family:
A Match Made for Thanksgiving Jackie Lau 25 Jan
🍽️7. Character moves to a different country:
The Whisper Sister Jennifer S. Brown 6 Jan The MC moves from Ukraine to New York
🍽️12. a character who smokes:
In Five Years Rebecca Serle 16 Feb

Task set 2 - Professor Tolkien
🍽️3. MC teaches:
Horse Geraldine Brooks 22 Feb
🍽️4. MPG English Literature:
The Complete Poems William Blake 17 Apr
🍽️6. MPG Classics:
Walden, or Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau 22 Mar
🍽️7. the word "fellow" or "fellowship" in text:
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers Samuel Burr 15 Mar
🍽️9. letters NORSE in title and/or author's name:
Reasons to Stay Alive Matt Haig 29 Mar
Spell out MERTON
🍽️12. R: RUBY How to Age Disgracefully Clare Pooley 29 Mar
🍽️13. T: America Fantastica TIM O'Brien 8 Mar
🍽️14. O: The Picture of Dorian Gray. OSCAR Wilde 21 Feb.

Completed task set 3:
Task set 3 - Middle Earth
🍽️4. book that features a journey:
The Book of Lost Names Kristin Harmel 4 May
🍽️5. a book with jewellery on the cover
Porochista Khakpour 19 Apr
🍽️6. Tree on the cover:
A Separate Peace John Knowles 3 May
🍽️9. book in which a burglary is committed:
The Wangs vs. the World Jade Chang 6 Jun
🍽️11. a book with a slow burn romance (your interpretation):
Five Winters Kitty Johnson 18 May
🍽️13. A book that includes some verse/poem/song lyrics:
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy Jamie Ford 16 May
🍽️14. Mountain on the cover
Sofia Robleda 5 Jun
🍽️15. the word "fireworks" in text:
The Wedding People Alison Espach 26 Apr

Task set 4 - Middle Earth on screen
🍽️2. A book containing illustrations
Why Cats Are Assholes Liz Miele 22 Jun
🍽️3. A book that has been adapted into a visual medium (movie, tv show, etc.)
The Quiet American Graham Greene 17 Jun
🍽️4. A book that has won a major award
Three Apples Fell from the Sky Narine Abgaryan 22 Jun (major in its home country)
🍽️8. A book published between 2001-2003 or 2012-2014
We Need New Names NoViolet Bulawayo 23 Jun
🍽️12. A book with more than 1 million ratings on GR
The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky 26 Jun
🍽️13. A book with a beautiful cover:
Ariel Lawhon 15 Jun
🍽️14. a book with both 'potato' and 'rabbit' (or 'conies') in the text:
Death of the Author Nnedi Okorafor 10 Jun
🍽️15. A book that has an audio version between 11 and 12 hours long
A Passage to India E.M. Forster 15 Jul (11 hours 2 Mins)

Task set 5 - Posthumous works
🍽️3. All letters in BEOWULF in title:
How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup J.L. Carr 24 Aug
Spell out Chris
🍽️7. C: Hitch 22: A Memoir Christopher Hitchens 24 Jul
🍽️8. H: series HITCHHIKER'S TRILOGY Mostly Harmless Douglas Adams 21 Jul
9. R
🍽️10. I: ISOBEL The Humans Matt Haig 10 Jul
🍽️11. S: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish Douglas Adams 17 Jul
🍽️12. a book that was published in 1924 or before
My Ántonia Willa Cather 14 Aug
🍽️14. A character who is or was in the military
The Razor’s Edge W. Somerset Maugham 25 Jul
🍽️15. Author's or narrator's initials in AVIATION
Three Days in June Anne Tyler 30 Aug

Task set 6 - The Inklings
🍽️1. A book first published between 1930-1949:
Man's Search for Meaning Viktor E. Frankl 9 Oct
🍽️7. MPG History or Historical Fiction
Atmosphere. Taylor Jenkins Reid. 13 Sep
🍽️8. Character has an older brother
Snowdrops in Spring: A Tale of the Sleeping Beauty Penelope Daniels 21 Sep
🍽️9. "Thursday" in text
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List James Mustich 6 Sep
🍽️10. a character drinks beer
Sandwich Catherine Newman 13 Sep
Spell out EAGLE
🍽️11. E: The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore Evan Friss 18 Oct
🍽️12. A: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness Jonathan Haidt 12 Oct
🍽️15. E: EVELYN The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Stuart Turton 12 Oct

💍💍💍💍💍🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔

Well done!!🥳🥳🥳