Reading Challenge 2015

This week I finished up the biography of Mary, Queen of Scots.  This is a toothy book - lots and lots of detail and footnotes - perfect for the history geek in me.  It's a bit of a slow read but very well researched with tons of references and specific historical documents footnoted, including the infamous "Casket Letters."  The hardest part for me was keeping all of the inter-relationships between the Scottish nobles straight and since various family members flipped sides frequently, I needed to keep some mental notes on who was which son, cousin or brother who was (or wasn't) loyal to the queen.  A well-written book and one I enjoyed putting on my thinking cap for.

I also zipped through Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas In Wales, which is really more of a long poem and one I read before, but delightful for a quick easy read.

I currently have the following left to read in the next couple of months:
a book with bad reviews: The Last Unicorn.
a book with a love triangle: Muse by Mary Novak.
a book set in the future: Cinder by Marissa Meyer.
a graphic novel: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.
a banned book: Beloved by Toni Morrison.

I plan to pick up Beloved at the library today (and possibly The Last Unicorn if it's in and available) and start that.

And I'm working on my to-read list for 2016!


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. FINISHED.

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.  FINISHED

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.