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I suggest you plan carefully when choosing your first book.

Read one book. When finished, choose another book that shares a feature - the setting, a genre, a character’s occupation. Finish this book, choose a feature from it…
How many books can you link?

For example:
1 The thirty nine steps - includes train journey
> on a train
2 Murder on the orient express - author Agatha Christie
> same author
3 Murder at the vicarage - village/small town location
> similar location
4 Anne of Green Gables

If you complete a chain, you may want to try a new chain to beat your previous score.

Question: I often read books outside of our time range or religious books like Daily Devotionals which probably won't fit here. I understand there is a sequence of events to the reading, but would I need to start a new chain if I read something outside the parameters? Couldn't I just not mention that book and keep going with the chain?

These are things I have read:

Modernism Up In Michigan by Ernest Hemingway (1923) January 13, 2026 3*

Modernism - ??? Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf (1919) January 30, 2026 4*

Lynn, I think that many of us read more than one book at a time to cover various challenges in different groups. Choose the books you want to read & just add the relevant ones to your chain. Take a break when you want, then continue - whatever works for you.

I’m very impressed by the chain you have listed.

Tr1sha wrote: "Lynn, I think that many of us read more than one book at a time to cover various challenges in different groups. Choose the books you want to read & just add the relevant ones to your chain. Take a..."

LOL Let's see if I actually read them! About half of those books were supposed to have been read in 2025 according to the original plans.

Award Winning Author - Gothic The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart (1962) 400 pages
Gothic - Historical Fiction A Cry of Angels by Jeff Fields (1974) 392 pages
Historical Fiction - set in Cornwall Jeremy Poldark (Poldark #3) by Winston Graham (1950)
Set in Cornwall - Romance Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier (1941)
Romance - Young Adult Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery (1925)
Young Adult - Fantasy (or Science fiction) Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury (1957)

Lynn wrote: "Tr1sha wrote: "Lynn, I think that many of us read more than one book at a time to cover various challenges in different groups. Choose the books you want to read & just add the relevant ones to you..."

Plans? Yes, I’m over-optimistic when planning books. I’ve already signed up for too many challenges in 2026. There are so many books I want to read!

Book 1: The House in Lordship Lane by A.E.W. Mason
Mystery-British Author-French detective-20th century
⬇️
Book 2: We Know You're Busy Writing But.... by Edmund Crispin
Mystery-British Author-Short Story-20th century
⬇️
Book 3: Arson Plus by Dashiell Hammett
Mystery-Short Story-20th century-American Author
⬇️
Book 4: Why I Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty
Short Story-20th century-American Author- Family
⬇️
Book 5: The Saturdays by Elizabeth
Enright
Children's Book- 20th century- American Author- Family
⬇️
Book 6: Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Children's Book-19th century- American Author-Family- Boarding School
⬇️
Book 7: The Pothunters by P.G. Wodehouse
20th century- British author- Boarding School Story-
Sports -Mystery
⬇️
Book 8: Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse
20th century- Same British author- New York - Newspapers- Humour
⬇️
Book 9: Leave It to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse
20th century- Same British author-Same main character ((Psmith)- Humour- Country House
⬇️
Book 10: The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright -20th century-American author-Family- Country setting

Book 1.The Ohio River Trilogy by Zane Grey
Betty ZanebyZane Grey(1902)
✔7/1/26★ ★ ★ ★

Shared Feature:
Like Zane Gray,Laura Ingalls Wilder has based her story on her own family history.

Little Town on the Prairie: Little House, Book 7 (1942)
⭐✔7/1/26★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Shared Feature:
This book is another in the same "Little House" series.

These Happy Golden YearsbyLaura Ingalls Wilder(1944)
⭐✔8/1/26★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Shared Feature :This book is also set in South Dakota.

The First Four YearsbyLaura Ingalls Wilder(1971)
⭐✔8/1/26★ ★ ★ ★

Shared Feature both novels are set in United States during the 19th Century.

Riders of the Purple SagebyZane Grey(1912)
⭐✔13/1/26★ ★ ★ ★

Shared Feature:A love story which doesn't end in "Happily ever after."

A Farewell to ArmsbyErnest Hemingway(1929)
⭐✔20/1/26★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Shared Feature:Both Stories are audiobook versions.

Last Bus to Woodstock: The First Case in the Classic Inspector Morse SeriesbyColin Dexter(1975)
⭐✔23/1/26★ ★ ★ ★

Shared Feature:the titles of both books mention a form of transport.

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible VoyagebyAlfred Lansing(1959)
⭐✔5/2/26★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Shared Feature:Perseverance in adversity!

Little DorritbyCharles Dickens(1857)
⭐✔13/2/26★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Shared Feature:Both Main Characters go to the aid of the less fortunate.

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris & Mrs Harris Goes to New YorkbyPaul Gallico(1963)
⭐✔24/2/26★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Get in the middle of a chain reaction
You get a medal when you're lost in action

Chain Reaction! 2026


Current Progress - 5

⛓️1 Watership Down (1972) - Richard Adams Character named Hazel
⛓️2 Character named Hazel Cannery Row (1943) - John Steinbeck Contains fish
⛓️3 Contains fish One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (1960) - Dr. Seuss USA author
⛓️4 USA author The Dharma Bums (1958) - Jack Kerouac Extensive travelling
5 Extensive travelling Up and Down Australia (1911-1931) - Arthur W. Upfield Mystery author
6 Mystery author Postern of Fate (1973) - Agatha Christie

A great set, Vicky.

Tr1sha wrote: "A great set, Vicky."

Thanks,Tr1sha-I agree!

House of the Rising Sun Song by The Animals
“I got one foot on the platform
And another on the train
And I’m going back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain.”

Voyage
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Virginia Woolf – The Voyage Out 1915
Voyage → Seafaring
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Joseph Conrad – The Nigger of the “Narcissus” 1897
Seafaring → Haunting
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Jean Ray – Cruise of Shadows: Haunted Stories of Land and Sea 1931
Haunting →Phantom
Gaston Leroux – The Phantom of the Opera 1910
Phantom →Ghosts
Robert Walser – Girlfriends, Ghosts, and Other Stories 1932
Ghosts →Girls
Lygia Fagundes Telles – The Girl in the Photograph 1973

I'm starting a new post for things I have read:

Modernism
Up In Michigan by Ernest Hemingway (1923) January 13, 2026 3*

Modernism - ???
Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf (1919) January 30, 2026 4*

That’s a great list, Vit.