2017 Reading Challenge: Week Five

Finished reading Prairie Girl and thoroughly enjoyed this one!  I loved all of the historical notes and tidbits, photos, drawings and generally in depth footnotes.

I take back what I originally said about I Shall Be Near To You (week #32) topic.  The first half was a bit of a tough go, but I'm glad I perservered and read this one through to the end.  The author really found the main character's voice in the second half of the book.  Not an easy read - this one made me cry, which doesn't happen very often - but the last 3 chapters were beautifully written and pulled this one together for me.  Recommended for historical fiction/Civil War buffs.  If you do decide to pick up a copy to read, zip to the back and read the 2-page author's note about the actual historical person she based this story on.  It doesn't really give away the story, and I felt like I would have enjoyed the first half a bit more knowing a back story on it. (See last week's post for a bit of a synopsis of the plot.)

And finally, I absolutely consumed Uprooted by Naomi Novik, which I read for week #45: A book with a 1-word title.  I LOVED this one!!  Not exactly a retelling of a fairy tale, but it draws on the fairy tale tradition, with lots of epic adventure, well-developed characters, magic, and great writing.  A win/win kind of book as far as I'm concerned.  I think it would even work as a "young adult" kind of book, but it's not really juvenile either (so adults will enjoy it).  Although it's early in the year, I think this one likely will go on my Top 5 list for 2017.  The author has several other books, so I may check those out as well.  This one I was devastated to see end - I wanted to spent more time with the Dragon and our heroine, Agnieszka, and wish I could spend a weekend with her wandering in the Wood. 


The 2017 List
1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016
2. A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view): Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce.
3. A book you meant to read in 2016
4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E":  
5. A historical fiction
6. A book being released as a movie in 2017 
7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title
8. A book written by a person of color
9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list:
10. A dual-timeline novel: 
11. A category from another challenge: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier.
12. A book based on a myth
13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors
14. A book with a strong female character
15. A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland)
16. A mystery
17. A book with illustrations:  Prairie Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
18. A really long book (600+ pages)
19. A New York Times best-seller
20. A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading
21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read
22. A book by an author you haven't read before:  The Secrets of Wishtide, by Kate Saunders.
23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list (link)
24. A book written by at least two authors
25. A book about a famous historical figure
26. An adventure book
27. A book by one of your favorite authors
28. A non-fiction
29. A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses (Simon & Schuster; HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Hachette Livre) - check all the editions
30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books (link)
31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre
32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle):  I Shall Be Near to You by Erin McCabe.
33. A magical realism novel
34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere
35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty
36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee (link)
37. A book you choose randomly
38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature
39. An epistolary fiction
40. A book published in 2017
41. A book with an unreliable narrator
42. A best book of the 21st century (so far)
43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold):  Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase.
44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next" (link)
45. A book with a one-word title: Uprooted by Naomi Novik.
46. A time travel novel
47. A past suggestion that didn't win (link)
48. A banned book
49. A book from someone else's bookshelf
50. A Penguin Modern Classic - any edition
51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays) 
52. A book set in a fictional location