Reading Challenge 2015

This week, I started Antonia Fraser's biography of Mary, Queen of Scots.  Well-written and a fascinating glimpse into this historic figure's life - so far, I'm really enjoying it (although attempting to keep the warring Scottish factions straight in my head is a challenge - maybe almost as much as it was for Mary!).  I'm about halfway through this one and hope to have it finished up this week.

I'm also reading a really wonderfully fun book, The Quick. Multiple story lines set in Victorian England with a dose of vampires tossed in for good measure - a bit of Gothic horror in there as well. Also about halfway done this - but I'm only reading a bit at a time, so maybe another couple of weeks for this one.

I'll be in the home stretch with only 5 books left on my challenge list for 2015 once I'm done Mary, Queen of Scots!


WEEKS & TOPICS

1. a book with more than 500 pages: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth. FINISHED.

2. a romance: Katherine by Anya Seton. FINISHED

3. a book that became a movie: The Hours by Michael Cunningham. FINISHED.

4. a book published this year: The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck.  FINISHED.

5. a book with a number in the title:  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. FINISHED.

6. a book written by someone under 30: Eragon by Christopher Paolini. FINISHED.

7. a book with nonhuman characters:  The Greyfriar by Susan Griffith.  FINISHED.

8. a funny book: Bossypants by Tina Fey.  FINISHED.

9. a book by a female author: Fever 1793 by Laurie Anderson.  FINISHED.

10. a mystery or thriller:  Séance in Sepia by Michelle Black. FINISHED.

11. a book with a one-word title: East by Edith Pattou.  FINISHED.

12. a book of short stories:  Tapping the Dream Tree by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

13. a book set in a different country: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak. FINISHED.

14. a nonfiction book:  The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling.  FINISHED.

15. a popular author's first book: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.  FINISHED.

16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet: Forests of the Heart by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

17. a book a friend recommended: Botelo by Alyson Hagy. FINISHED.

18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. FINISHED.

19. a book based on a true story: The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry.  FINISHED.

20. a book at the bottom of your to read list: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J Watson.  FINISHED.

21. a book your mom or dad loves: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.  FINISHED.

22. a book that scares you: The Blackhouse by Peter May. FINISHED.

23. a book more than 100 years old: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.  FINISHED.

24. a book based entirely on its cover: Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot. FINISHED.

25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. FINISHED.

26. a memoir:  Two Rings by Millie Werber and Eve Keller.  FINISHED.

27. a book you can finish in a day:  India Black by Carol Karr.  FINISHED.

28. a book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. FINISHED.

29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Iceland by Betsy Tobin. FINISHED.

30. a book that came out the year you were born: Mary, Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser.

31. a book with bad reviews: The Last Unicorn.

32. a trilogy (the first):  Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clarke. FINISHED.

33. a trilogy (the second) Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clarke.  FINISHED.

34. a trilogy (the third)  Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clarke.  FINISHED.

35. a book from your childhood: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.  FINISHED.

36. a book with a love triangle: Muse by Mary Novak.

37. a book set in the future: Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

38. a book set in high school: The Small Rain by Madeline L’Engle.  FINISHED.

39. a book with a color in the title: Scarlet by A.C Gaughen.  FINISHED.

40. a book that made/makes you cry:  Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. FINISHED.

41. a book with magic: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price.  FINISHED.

42. a graphic novel: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.

43. a book by an author you've never read before:  My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira.  FINISHED.

44. a book you own but have never read: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro. FINISHED.

45. a book that takes place in your hometown: Magic America by C.E. Medford. FINISHED.

46. a book that was originally written in another language: Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende. FINISHED.

47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday): A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

48. a book written by an author with your same initials: Silver Lies by Ann Parker. FINISHED.

49. a play: The Odd Couple by Neil Simon.  FINISHED.

50. a banned book: Beloved by Toni Morrison.

51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs. FINISHED.

52. a book you started but never finished:  The Tudor Rose by Margaret Campbell Barnes. FINISHED.